A Spoonful of Murder

by Robin Stevens

  I paused. Then I pulled the door open a crack.

  ‘You can come in,’ I said to Daisy. ‘Ping – please leave us alone for a while.’

  ‘Yes, Miss Hazel,’ said Ping, her voice catching. I heard her walking slowly away – and then Daisy put her shoulder to the door and barrelled inside.

  ‘Ow!’ I said, rubbing my arm where she had hit it.

  ‘I do apologize, Hazel, but it was necessary,’ said Daisy, not looking apologetic at all. ‘You’re upset, which is perfectly understandable, but you mustn’t be upset at me. I am your best friend, after all, and your Detective Society President, so it’s treason as well as bad manners if you don’t speak to me.’

  ‘It’s not treason!’ I protested, but I felt myself smile. Daisy could always lift my mood.

  ‘There!’ said Daisy. ‘That’s my Watson. Now listen, I know you’re in a dreadful state. After all, it’s your brother who’s gone missing and your maid who’s died. I’d be awfully bothered if someone kidnapped Squinty – although I don’t know who else would. He doesn’t have many talents, apart from being a dreadful annoyance. And if anyone killed Hetty, why, I think I’d want to kill them. But all this doesn’t change who we are. There has been a terrible crime, Hazel, and we must solve it. You must solve it, because you are a detective.’

  ‘But—’ I said. ‘I ought to have been there, and I wasn’t, and the worst thing is that I was angry with Su Li and I don’t even like Teddy!’

  ‘Hazel, you utter chump,’ said Daisy. ‘Trust you to think you’re awful for not being utterly loyal. Your father sprang a little brother on you, and told your maid to look after him. It’s terribly bad form, and I would be furious if it was me. I would throw things, Hazel. You haven’t thrown anything. You’ve been a model of restraint, if you ask me. And, anyway, this is not your fault. You are not the person who kidnapped Teddy, or the person who killed Su Li. Now, you do care. I know you do. You’d care if it was any little baby taken off the street, and you care even more because it’s your brother. And you care that Su Li is dead, even though she’s been horrid to you all this visit.’

  ‘I do!’ I said. ‘Of course I do. She – she was only doing her job, Daisy. And … she was part of my family.’

  ‘Exactly,’ said Daisy. ‘It doesn’t matter how horrid family are, they’re still family. So, shall we work out what happened, so that we can avenge Su Li and get Teddy back again?’

  ‘All right,’ I said shakily.

  ‘Good,’ said Daisy. ‘Excellent. I’m glad you said that. Now, this case seems quite straightforward, does it not? A woman and a baby get into a lift with a man. Twenty minutes later, the lift is found stopped between floors. The woman is dead, and the man and the baby are gone. What are we to assume? The woman didn’t do it, because she is dead. The baby didn’t do it, because he is a baby. There is a large bloody handprint on the half-open lift grille – a man’s handprint – and another on the lift buttons, and the lift is paused between floors in a way that only a trained lift operator, which the man is, could manage. So what are we to assume?’

  ‘That the man stopped the lift, killed the woman and crept out onto the eighth floor with the baby,’ I said. ‘Unless – what if someone else got in the lift?’

  ‘Then where is the lift operator, if he’s innocent?’ asked Daisy. ‘And what signs of any other person did we see? And anyway – remember, we watched the lift go up. We saw it go to the fifth floor before we turned away. It’s very unlikely that someone got into it on the sixth or seventh floor. No, Hazel, the simplest explanation seems the best to me in this case. That the lift operator is the person who killed Su Li and took Teddy. So what we have to understand is why he did it, and where Teddy is now. And – well …’

  She paused. ‘There is one other thing that turns what ought to be a very simple case into a much odder one.’ She looked at me, and the expression on her face suddenly made me feel cold. ‘Hazel, the pin that was jabbed into Su Li’s neck. I know what it looked like. It was exactly like the one you were wearing last night.’

  ‘It wasn’t!’ I said, panicked. ‘It was just a coincidence; it must have been—’

  ‘Ah, but you don’t think it was, either, do you?’ asked Daisy, her blue eyes flashing. ‘Before you upset yourself, let us be logical about this. What innocent, simple explanation could there be for your pin turning up at the murder scene?’

  ‘What if Su Li found my pin, and wore it today?’ I asked. ‘Then the lift operator might have snatched hold of it to use as a weapon.’

  ‘That won’t wash, I’m afraid,’ said Daisy, shaking her head. ‘You lost it at the party last night, and Su Li wasn’t there. Try again.’

  ‘The – the lift operator might have been at the party,’ I said, scrabbling rather. ‘He might have another job as a waiter.’

  ‘Only I didn’t see him,’ said Daisy. ‘I made a careful catalogue of faces, as I always do, and I don’t remember him. Did you?’

  ‘No,’ I said reluctantly, shaking my head. ‘I’ve never seen him before. But – I think Su Li had.’

  ‘Yes, I agree with that,’ said Daisy, nodding. ‘That is an avenue to be explored. But let us remain with this question. Is there another explanation for the pin?’

  ‘One of the people at the party might have given it to the lift operator this morning!’ I said. ‘Daisy, that’s it! Remember, at the scene of the crime, someone said that the Triads were behind it! One of the local Triad gangs uses jade pins as their calling cards. The lift operator could be working for someone, a gang – they’re very common here, Daisy; most crime is organized. It’s not like England.’

  I was so relieved. It all made sense. One of the waiters at the party must have been Triad. They had found my pin, and given it to the lift operator, to use in the crime. A Triad gang had taken Teddy.

  ‘Hazel,’ said Daisy. ‘I don’t like to say this, after we have worked on so many cases together, but you are being utterly ridiculous.’

  ‘I am not!’ I said, stung. ‘Triad gangs are quite real. I haven’t made them up.’

  ‘I am not disputing that for a moment,’ said Daisy, raising one eyebrow. ‘I am, however, saying that the explanation you have just put forward is fantastical. A member of a Triad gang found your pin at random, and at random, out of all the millions of easily obtainable jade pins in Hong Kong, decided to give that one to the lift operator mere hours before a planned murder?’

  ‘Yes?’ I said weakly.

  ‘No,’ said Daisy. ‘I want a simple explanation, Hazel. What would we think if this was any other crime, and we found an easily identifiable clue on the body?’

  ‘That the person it belonged to was the prime suspect,’ I whispered. I felt colder than ever.

  ‘Now, I know you didn’t do it,’ said Daisy, ‘because you are my Hazel, and I know every thought in your head. If you wanted to murder anyone, you would have told me about it. I also know, because I was with you, that you had no opportunity to give the lift operator the pin this morning. But on paper – well. It was obvious to everyone how you felt about Teddy. You were threatened by him. And now he’s gone missing, and your pin has been found on the body of his murdered maid – a maid who used to be yours. So if you didn’t do it – which you did not – what does this mean?’

  ‘Someone wants it to look like I did,’ I said.

  ‘Exactly!’ cried Daisy. ‘Someone who was at the party last night helped the lift operator plan and carry out the murder and the kidnap. And that someone – well, they’re trying to frame you.’

  9

  ‘But—’ I said. ‘Why?’

  ‘Well,’ said Daisy. ‘That is what we must deduce. Quite obviously, in solving that we will solve the case. Now, Hazel, will you please explain a bit more about these Triad people? What are they?’

  ‘Triads are criminal gangs,’ I said. ‘Men who make money by swindling people, and kidnapping children, and – well, worse. They’re fearsome. Everyone’s afraid of them, and they�
�re everywhere here.’

  ‘Ooh!’ said Daisy, eyes wide. ‘Hazel, how exciting – I mean, how awful, if they’ve got Teddy. Do they do this sort of thing often?’

  I nodded. It was odd to have Daisy not knowing all the facts, and me having to explain things to her. ‘All the time,’ I said. ‘It’s one of the things we’re always taught to be on the lookout for, as children. That’s why the dogs are let out at night, and why we can’t go out alone. It happened to the Chengs – Alfred’s uncle and aunt. Victoria Cheng’s big sister was kidnapped when we were about May’s age. The Chengs got her back, but they had to pay lots of money for her.’

  ‘So it makes sense that the Triads might be behind this?’

  ‘Yes,’ I said. ‘Triads are good at finding out about their targets. This kidnapping was very well planned. Going up in the lift to the doctor’s office is practically the only time that Teddy wouldn’t be guarded by Wo On as well as Su Li. Even if my mother had come, she would have stayed downstairs in the car, to rest her feet. If a gang had been watching our family, they would know that.’

  ‘But are Triads usually vindictive?’ asked Daisy. ‘Leaving your pin in the dead body – if this was England, I’d say that it’s the mark of someone who is personally angry at you.’

  I frowned. ‘I know,’ I said. ‘It – it doesn’t make sense, Daisy. I’ve never done anything to the Triads, and neither has Father – not that I know of, anyway.’

  Daisy blinked. ‘Hazel,’ she said. ‘I think you just said something very useful. Your father. At the party last night – we were there because he brought us. Framing you makes no sense, but what if someone did it because they wanted to punish him?’

  ‘No, that could be why Teddy was kidnapped,’ I said. ‘Teddy is the important one to him, not me.’

  ‘Oh, Hazel—’ Daisy began crossly. Then she shook her head. ‘Pretend for a moment, all right? Pretend that your father is the target, not you. Who was at the party last night who doesn’t like your father? Well, that’s easy. Mr Svensson, Mrs Fu and that angry old man – what was his name? Mr Wa something? Get out your casebook, and let’s make a proper list.’

  I had Daisy’s brand-new book in my bag. I pulled it out with a pang. These days I am never without a notebook, but all the same I did not think for a moment I would start using Daisy’s present on this trip.

  I took a deep, rather wobbly breath. ‘Mr Svensson first,’ I said. ‘We saw him arguing with my father last night. Mrs Svensson said that he’s trying to get my father to invest in something, and my father won’t. He knew that Teddy’s appointment was today, and we saw him at the bank.’

  ‘We did!’ said Daisy. ‘And there’s confusion about when he left. Why should it take him nearly ten minutes to walk from the bank hall to the main doors? It’s a minute-long journey at most.’

  ‘We saw Mrs Fu at the bank too, Daisy! She was actually walking away from the middle lift, so she had the opportunity to give the lift operator the pin. And she argued with Father last night as well – something about business. Father said, Things have to change now, and Mrs Fu looked so upset.’

  ‘Excellent, Hazel,’ said Daisy. ‘Write that down! Now, what about— Oh, what was his name?’

  ‘Mr Wa Fan?’ I asked. ‘He used to be friends with my grandfather, but last night he was so fierce. He was saying that Father wasn’t doing his duty as a son, and he was angry with him. But – was he at the bank?’

  ‘We shall have to investigate,’ said Daisy. ‘There, see? Three suspects that aren’t Triad, all with excellent personal motives to dislike your father, and therefore you.’

  ‘I think we ought to put down the Triad gang too,’ I said. ‘It could be them. It’s the simplest explanation – we can’t discount it. And we still can’t be sure that it wasn’t just the lift operator. I saw how he looked at Su Li. I really think they knew each other, and she didn’t like him. What if he had some personal reason to want to kill her, and then decided to take Teddy and make some money as well?’

  ‘I suppose,’ said Daisy. ‘You’re quite right, Hazel: we must consider every possibility. In fact, can we even rule out Ping and Wo On being part of this plot?’

  ‘Daisy!’ I cried. ‘Ping was with us all this morning, so she couldn’t have given the pin to the operator, and neither could Wo On.’

  ‘Irrelevant,’ said Daisy, tossing her hair. ‘We’re only saying that they might have helped plan. We must interview them and make sure they’re innocent. We must also discover what happened after Su Li’s murder. How did the lift operator make sure no one saw him after the crime? How did he get Teddy out of the building? Where did he take him? In this case we have two things to focus on – Teddy and Su Li.’

  I nodded, and wrote it all down.

  ‘Now,’ said Daisy suddenly, ‘my detective senses are currently telling me that we ought to go downstairs immediately.’

  ‘Why?’ I asked.

  ‘Someone new has just driven up to the front of the house,’ said Daisy. ‘Can’t you hear the guard dogs barking?’

  10

  There was indeed someone walking through the wide front doorway of our house.

  He was of middling height for a Chinese man, but he was built like a barrel – not fat, but full of muscle. His hair was cropped short, and he had a long scar down the side of his cheek that made his face look off-centre, and somewhat forbidding. His eyes were rather large too, and there was a black fleck in the white of the right one. He looked at me across the length of the hall, and I breathed in nervously.

  I have met plenty of detectives by now. There are quick ones and slow ones, pompous ones and serious ones. But I have learned that you can tell a good detective at once. It is not what they look like, but how they look at you. My first sight of our English detective, Inspector Priestley (I do think of him as ours – Daisy and I have now solved three cases with his help), left me feeling as though I had been pinned to a board like a butterfly, and that was almost how I felt now. This man saw me, and I knew in one dizzy second that he was one of the good ones. He would be a formidable ally, and an even more formidable adversary.

  My father had just arrived back to the Big House himself. He stood at the entrance to the Library and frowned at the man.

  ‘Who are you?’ he asked.

  ‘I am Detective Leung,’ said the man, bowing respectfully. ‘I have been sent by Mr Wa Fan and the Tung Wah Foundation to help you look for your son.’

  ‘The police are already looking for him,’ said my father, scowling even more. ‘I don’t need the Tung Wah sticking their noses in. Didn’t I tell Wa Fan before that I’m done with them?’

  ‘The Hong Kong police are no good for Chinese people, sir,’ said Detective Leung. ‘These cases often do not end well while they are in charge. Mr Wa Fan thought you might need additional help, and so he chose me.’

  ‘I said no!’ snapped my father. ‘Does no one listen to me?’

  ‘What’s a Tung Wah?’ hissed Daisy in my ear.

  ‘A – a sort of local government board Grandfather was on,’ I whispered back to her. ‘A Chinese one. They organize things like hospitals and policing for Chinese people. Father says they’re too meddling and not progressive, and he doesn’t like them at all.’

  Daisy looked at me significantly, and I felt my skin prickle.

  ‘Sir,’ said Detective Leung. ‘I understand, but surely any help is useful? And it is clear that this is a dangerous crime. I have heard about the pin.’

  I jumped.

  ‘What about the pin?’ asked my father sharply.

  ‘The pin that was in the victim, Su Li. A jade pin is the sign of one of the most dangerous local gangs, the Five Jade Figures,’ said Detective Leung. ‘If their leader Sai Yat is involved, you are not merely up against one man, working on his own. Sai Yat’s gang has power, and you will need all the help you can get.’

  ‘Don’t tell me what I need,’ snapped my father. ‘I am managing this. Maxwell is waiting by the telephone, a
nd I have our guard, Baboo, on the front gate and on the lookout for any delivery of a letter.’

  ‘Sir,’ said Detective Leung. ‘I understand, but let me help. It is your son.’

  My father paused. For a moment I was sure he would tell Detective Leung to leave – but then he waved his hand brokenly. ‘All right,’ he said. ‘Help if you can. But, if you cannot, I do not need you giving me false hope.’

  ‘I understand,’ said Detective Leung, bowing. ‘Would you allow me to speak to your household this afternoon, to see if they know anything? Whoever planned this knew exactly where the boy would be, and when. I suspect they may have had help from inside.’

  ‘If you must,’ said my father. ‘I have ordered that no one will leave the house this afternoon. I will be by the telephone.’ He turned to stare at me and Daisy. I longed to tell him that everything was all right, that we would detect, as well as Detective Leung – but I knew I couldn’t. After a moment my father went back into the Library. I heard his low voice speaking to Maxwell, and Maxwell replying. I knew then that nothing else would interest him until he had heard from the kidnappers. He was only Teddy’s father now, and that hurt.

  Daisy and I were left with the detective.

  I bowed and nudged Daisy, who began to curtsey, checked herself, and bowed too.

  ‘Good afternoon,’ said Detective Leung.

  ‘Good afternoon,’ I said.

  ‘You must be the eldest daughter,’ said the detective. ‘I understand you were at the bank at the time of the kidnap. Did you see anything, or hear anything, that you think is important?’

  ‘I am Miss Wong’s bosom friend, the Honourable Miss Daisy Wells,’ said Daisy, moving into the centre of the conversation. ‘We don’t remember much, do we, Hazel? We are, naturally, distraught at this terrible event. We saw Teddy and his maid get into the lift, and then we went into the bank and looked about. Then we came back down to the foyer, and the chauffeur came in looking for Teddy. We all went up in one of the other lifts together, and then we opened the middle lift and – well – there she was!’