Ryan sat up in the passenger seat and looked out of the window. Finally he recognized where he was. It was close to his own home in Mid Levels. Lam took the next turning to the left and pulled into what Ryan recognized as Bowen Road.
“Where are we going?” Ryan asked, a bit puzzled.
“My place.” She said looking at him. “It’s probably the safest place to be right now. I figured that anywhere public that I took you, it would be too obvious. No one will think to look at my apartment. You can clean up, take your time and we can talk without being worried about anyone listening in. It’s totally secure.” She said. “You don’t have to worry.”
Ryan sat quietly thinking about being safe. It seemed like such a long way away. He didn’t know if he could ever feel completely safe again.
Lam parked the car and led Ryan into the building and up to the third floor. She let herself in and immediately had her dog Sasha bounding up to her and jumping up.
“Get down boy”, Lam said, gently chiding him and pushed him into her kitchen and closed the door.
“He gets a bit excited, especially when I have new visitors”, she said apologetically.
“Come in.” Lam opened the door fully so that Ryan could step inside.
He glanced around at her apartment. It was big and spacious. It looked like an old 1950’s apartment with beautiful high ceilings and polished parquet wooden floors.
He took in the old tan leather club chairs, well worn on the arms. The walls of bookshelves stuffed to the hilt with books. An old wooden dining table took up most of the space, making Ryan think that she must like entertaining at home.
Lam pointed Ryan in the direction of her guest bathroom.
“You’ll find fresh towels, and shampoo, and shower gel in the bathroom”, she said as she handed him the shopping bags.
“Just take your time.” She said.
Ryan took the bag and walked to the bathroom, closing and locking the door behind him.
It was a clean and modern bathroom. Over size white tiles on the walls, and pale marble tiles on the floor. There was an old roll top bath in the centre of the room, and an open shower in the corner. The tiles had been laid to allow the water to drain towards the corner so as not to flood the rest of the bathroom. Clever, Ryan thought to himself. He located the guest towels and the shampoo in a vanity unit. He took the plastic bag and carefully emptied out the new clothes and toiletries onto the top of the toilet seat lid to keep them dry. He placed the plastic bag on the floor and started to undress.
He carefully peeled off his shirt taking care not to drop anything horrible onto the floor and turned it inside out, dropping it onto the open plastic bag. He noticed that the blood had changed from bright red to dark brown making the fabric feel stiff. He took off his shoes and placed them neatly together at the door, then removed his socks, his pants and finally his boxer shorts, dropping them all into a pile near the door. He walked over to the mirror and looked at himself.
He hardly recognised the face looking back at him. He never went more than a day or two without shaving. Now he’d gone three days and his stubble was starting to turn into a dark beard. It was itchy and course. His face had speckles of dried blood, smudged in places across his forehead and matted into his hair. Ryan felt suddenly exhausted as he looked at himself. He was fatigued beyond what he thought was possible, and yet he still kept going.
Ryan opted for the shower for fear of falling asleep in the bath. He turned on the large tap, and let the water run over him. His whole body felt tired. He stood like that for five minutes until he felt that every bit of bloody flesh and sweat had been washed away. Then he spent another five minutes scrubbing and washing his entire body until his skin was pink and raw.
The towels here felt like pure luxury after the grey scratchy towels in the Hotel. He dried himself down and looked at his new pile of clothes.
Everything was neatly folded still with the price tags in place. He took out the pants first. Jeans, his size, exactly right. He rummaged through the pile and almost laughed out loud, when he saw that Lam had even bought him underwear. Plain black boxers. She’s so practical, he thought to himself.
He took all the labels off and pulled the boxers on, then the jeans. Both fitted perfectly and felt good on his clean body.
He went through the rest of the pile and pulled out socks, and a t-shirt. He put the socks on, they were a little short, but after all he hadn’t told her his foot size, so she’d had to make a guess.
The t-shirt was marl grey jersey cotton with a picture on the front depicting a Hawaiian surfer with “surfs up” on the reverse. Not really his thing, Ryan thought, but it was clean and his size. He pulled it over his head and smoothed it over his torso.
He looked around the bathroom and located some toothpaste and spent a long time cleaning and brushing his teeth, swilling and washing out his stale mouth until it felt refreshed.
When Ryan finally stepped out, with his dirty clothes rolled up and inside the plastic bag, he was greeted by Sasha the dog, still very excited at the sight of a new guest, but no longer jumping up. He followed Ryan dutifully toward the kitchen where he could hear Lam banging and clanking around.
When Ryan popped his head around the corner it made her jump.
“Oh.” Lam said. She was on her haunches digging out what looked like a mug.
“Coffee, tea? Lam asked Ryan, holding up the mug.
“Coffee please, milk and sugar.”
Lam stood up and looked at Ryan. For the first time since they had met, she considered that he was actually quite good looking. Feeling her face grow hot at the thought, she quickly busied herself with the tea making.
“Make yourself at home, just go and grab a chair, I’ll bring the drinks out.” Lam said.
Getting the hint, Ryan walked back into the lounge and chose one of the comfortable leather club chairs close to the window. The view was amazing. Not quite the three sixty that he had, but spectacular all the same. To the right palm trees swayed in the breeze along with century old bow trees and rubber trees all so dense and green. It was like a having a private jungle for a garden. Several white parrots circled around the trees before settling themselves on the branches of one of the massive rubber trees. It was stunning, and felt so colonial. The water from the top of the peak ran down into a ravine next to the building. Ryan could hear the faint sound of a waterfall. The view directly in front of Ryan swept down the mountain towards the CBD and he could clearly see his bank, then beyond out into Victoria harbour and to the ocean. He suspected that at night time the view would be even better, probably also having a birds eye view of the light show that took place in the harbour every night.
He was pondering this when Lam came through with two steaming mugs.
She placed them on the coffee table in front of the two chairs and went to her bag to get her moleskin notebook and pen that she always carried with her.
Ryan settled himself into the chair and took a sip of his coffee. It tasted so good.
“OK”, Lam said. “We have a lot to go through, so let’s start from the very beginning, everything that you know.”
Ryan nodded, then proceeded to tell Lam everything, starting with the morning of the shooting at the bank.
Every now and again, Lam would interrupt Ryan to ask a question, or to clarify a date or a time.
When they got to the point when Ryan first met Ghost Face, she interrupted him.
“Where did you meet? Lam asked.
“I’d asked Lily to come with me to the Café in Tsim Sha Tsui”. Ryan explained.
“When you realized that Rob had been kidnapped, did you ever consider that he might also be involved? He knew Lily after all, and introduced you both” Lam asked Ryan, looking for his response her pen poised above her notebook.
Ryan thought this through for a moment, and then dismissed the notion.
“I really don’t think so. I don’t think he ever had a clue who she really was. I think they were ver
y good friends. I don’t believe that she ever thought that Rob would be killed. She wouldn’t have had that as part of her plan. That I’m sure of.” Ryan said, taking another sip of coffee.
“Do you think that Lily planned it all?” She asked.
“For sure this was very carefully planned, and successfully executed. They just walked straight out.” Ryan stopped and corrected himself and with a wry laugh said, “I mean WE. We walked away with twenty million US dollars in cash.” He continued. “She’s very clever, and she is definitely the brains behind it all, but I don’t think she’s a natural killer. I don’t think she ever thought that anyone would die. It was just about the money.”
“Who do you think she is? Who does she work for? Lam asked.
“I think she’s part of some kind of Chinese Triad gang.” He said. “To be tied up with a man like Ghost Face, and robbing an International bank, using every sophisticated method possible, requires funding and support. Where else, or who else would want to be a part of something like that.” He asked Lam.
“We also suspect that the local triad gangs are involved.” Lam stated. “That’s an avenue that we are exploring.” She refrained from saying too much else on the subject of what they were working on.
“Go on” she prompted Ryan.
“Ghost Face was definitely in control. Lily was the organizer, she had everything planned to a ‘t’, but he made sure that it went through without a hitch. He seemed to have every angle covered. It was a very smooth operation.”
“So how did you get the money out? I understand about the camera’s, that’s very clever, but how do you simply walk out with all of that cash?” She asked.
“We didn’t,” Ryan said. “That’s the beauty of what she had planned. “We didn’t have to. We deposited all of the money into rubble sacks and left them on the fourth floor where all of the construction work is being carried out.”
Ryan laughed to himself. “It’s actually brilliant. Every morning at 7am, a construction truck comes and parks along Bank Street. They have a special permit and one hour to unload materials and pick up the previous day’s rubbish. There’s a rubble shoot, a big plastic tube that is directed out of one of the big windows and down into the back of the truck. They throw the rubble bags down the shoot. Once they are done, the tube gets packed away, the window closed and secured, and the truck drives off.”
Ryan sat back in the leather chair. “It’s amazing really.” He said.
Lam was astounded. They’d been looking for witnesses who could tell them if they’d seen people carrying large duffle bags, or suitcases. She couldn’t believe that no one had seen them. They had wasted time questioning hundreds of people there that night. But now she knew. Of course no one had seen them. The money was still inside the bank. Safely hidden in rubble bags, and before anyone even knew that the bank had been robbed, they would be loaded and dispatched somewhere else. So clever, Lam thought.
“Look Ryan, I need to call my colleague and ask him to start checking the fourth floor, and also to contact the construction company. Somebody somewhere knows something about the rubble bags. Do you mind?” she asked digging in pants pocket for her phone.
“OK, but no mention that I’m here?” Ryan asked sternly.
“Don’t worry.” Lam stood up and dialed a number. She walked into another room and Ryan could hear muffled talking as she was telling someone about the robbery.
She came back into the room and looked at Ryan as she sat down.
“Thanks’, she said brightly. “This is all really interesting. Please go on.”
“Well that’s where my role ended. Once we had managed to get back out again, I was taken back to the car and then knocked out.” Ryan turned his head to show Lam the cut on the base of his skull.
“I woke up hours later, I was really groggy. I think they must have given me something to sleep that long and to feel that bad. There were sleeping pills on my coffee table. That’s when I heard the knock on the door and panic set in when I saw who it was. I knew that Rob’s life was at stake and if I ended up in custody, then I wouldn’t be able to help him.” Ryan said truthfully.
“How did you find Rob?” Lam asked trying to keep her voice calm.
Ryan described his phone call from Lily, the warehouse and the young Chinese man. He talked through how he and Lily managed to release Rob out and then his lucky escape. He skipped the part of when Rob was shot.
Lam pushed Ryan gently. “How did Rob die?”
Ryan sighed, knowing that he had no choice but to re live his friends’ death. He slowly explained the sequence of events of the fatal shooting. How Rob had pushed Ryan out of the way saving his life. He remained still for a moment remembering his friend.
“Why did Lily suddenly decide to help you and Rob. Why would she risk everything? She would have known that the guard would make a call and Ghost Face would immediately know that she was involved.”
“I’ve also thought about that.” Ryan said, “Rob truly was her friend, and I think she knew in her heart that Ghost Face wouldn’t let him live. I think she had no choice. She did the right thing.” Ryan said.
“You’re a liability for them both now, especially now that Rob is dead. You could identify Ghost Face, and you know Lily already. You could expose a triad gang.” Lam finished.
“I know”, Ryan said. “That’s why I’m not ready to come in. If he wants me dead, then he’ll do it any way he can, whether I’m in Police protection or not. I’m better on the run for now, I can lay low for a while.”
“What happened to Lily?” Lam asked.
“I don’t know, I ran, I assume she did too. I don’t know where she lives, or where she would go, but she’ll be a target too. He’ll want her dead for sure.”
‘Where will you go now?” Lam asked Ryan.
‘I have a place to go and I still have my phone, so we can stay in touch, although I need to charge it.” Ryan said fishing his phone out of his new pants. “Do you have a charger by any chance?”
“I think I have a spare that you can have.” Lam said getting up.
Lam went into her bedroom to rummage through her drawer where she was sure she had a spare charger. “Give me a minute.” She shouted through to the lounge. There was no answer. Lam stood up and padded back through to where they had been sitting. Ryan was gone. She walked through the apartment, and into the guest bathroom. No Ryan.
He’d slipped out of the apartment as quietly as a mouse.
Lam stood for a moment with the spare charger in her hand, wondering which lead she should follow up first.
Chapter 27
Lam was in a taxi on her way to the Station after dropping her car off to be cleaned. It would be ready to pick up at 7pm that evening.
She’d already briefed forensics to go through the fourth floor of the bank with a fine toothcomb, whilst her new partner Jimmy went to the construction company to see what he could find out about the driver and truck used the morning after the robbery.
She headed straight to the forensics lab as soon as she arrived.
The lab always impressed Lam. It was the latest addition to the station and gave them serious kudos amongst the other stations. Not only was the lab state of the art, so was the forensics team. If there was something to find, then they would find it. She trusted their results and view implicitly, and they respected her for it.
Lam swiped her security card at the door and breezed into the lab looking for Cheng. She found him hunched over a microscope in his white jacket. He was the lab whizz kid. Always in skinny jeans and the latest Adidas shoes, always wearing some form of designer t-shirt. The only formal thing about Cheng was his white lab coat. An essential that he couldn’t get away with not wearing. His hair was thick and straight and had been worked up into a messy Mohawk and held stiffly into place with hair putty, the latest in Japanese hair technology.
Lam watched him for a few seconds before interrupting him.
“Cheng” she said her voice low, s
o that she didn’t startle him.
“Oh hey Sarah,” Cheng said smiling brightly at her. He liked Lam. She was tough, he knew that from some of his other colleagues, but she’d always treated him well, and was always pretty friendly, so he shook off the bad vibe that his colleagues gave him when they talked about her, and was friendly back.
“I don’t have anything yet for you. Two of the guys are still at the bank, they’ll be done in about an hour.” He said apologetically, knowing that that’s what she was chasing him for.
“It’s OK, as soon as you have anything for me, then please just call me, OK?” She asked pausing to look over Cheng’s shoulder.
“What are you working on, she looked past Cheng and across at the clear glass slide underneath the microscope.
“We’re still trying to find something concrete on the prostitute killings. This is the third death in the space of a couple of weeks, he’s busy, and he’s thorough. We managed to get more of the semen this time, and we’re still running a DNA match through our database. Nothing yet. Normally he doesn’t leave a thing behind. He always wipes everything down, and he always showers before he leaves. It’s the same M.O.” Cheng shrugged disappointed.
“If anyone can find anything, you can.” Lam gave Cheng a hopeful smile.
“Thanks Sarah, let’s hope so.” He said truthfully.
Lam smiled. He was the only person on the team that called her Sarah, and she let him. She liked it.
‘Is Detective Wong still handling the case?’ Lam enquired, curious to know if he was.
‘Yeah, he’s working night and day to catch this guy. No-one seems to care because it’s prostitutes, but he does.’ Cheng said, a little impressed.
After thanking Cheng again, Lam wandered back to her office. One thing that she despised most of all was men that fed on women. That used their strength and violence to control and violate in the worst possible way. Then after everything to just kill them afterwards, it was vile. She’d quite like to get her hands on this one herself, she mused.
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