by BK Duncan
‘You killed him.’
The words hung in the silence.
‘I know you won’t regard this as any sort of defence, but I really had no alternative: as far as the Tong were concerned, it was him or me. Their profits were being threatened by the increased activity of the other drug gangs and they set their sights on Anchor Wharf as a new base of operations. Well, I owed them-’
‘Gambling debts. That’s why you were in the den, not paying protection money at all.’
‘It was as it happens, but, you’re right, I did have a few other things to tie up. How did you know anyway? No matter. So, back to Miles. They instructed me to get Elliott Shipping off the wharf. Well, I knew the only way the old man would give up his lease was if something so terrible happened out here that he couldn’t bear to be reminded of the place.’
A little of her reasoning returned and May remembered the wood chips Dr Swan had found during the post-mortem. ‘If you murdered him in the timber shed, then why was his body found in Limehouse Causeway?’
‘None of my doing I’m afraid, the best laid plans and all that. But as a consequence it began to look as if my bright idea wouldn’t get the desired result which, as you must by now be aware, was very, very important to me so I had to produce another business-closing trick from up my sleeve. Which brings us neatly back to your snooping. And I haven’t got all night while you make up your mind to tell me a pack of lies, I’ve the sleeper to Glasgow to catch where another undoubted triumph awaits me. Did I tell you I brought the house down when I made the little girl vanish? It was shortly after that I had to perform another little disappearing trick on Vi.’
The bastard was smiling. But he was also pressing the needle of the hypodermic against Alice’s neck; May could see the flesh dimple.
‘We found a blackmail letter from the Tong in the safe.’
‘Very good; now you’re playing the game. And who was with you?’
‘Jack. Jack Cahill. A newspaper reporter.’
She’d been hideously wrong about Barley-Freeman coming to rescue her, but there was always a chance that Jack might. He must be growing fretful by now at her not turning up for the loose arrangement they’d made for a drink at the Spotted Dog. Except, of course, he would be doing nothing of the sort; he’d simply think she’d gone back to being stand-offish with him. But Barley-Freeman didn’t know their history.
‘I told him I was coming here to pick up Alice. We were to meet at my house and when he realises we’re not there, he’ll come looking. I expect he’s on his way even now.’
‘Then maybe some things are beginning to go my way at last. When he turns up on his white charger he can keep poor Vi company.’
‘You’ll never get away with it.’
‘Oh, but I shall because everyone, naturally, will think it the work of the Tong. How does this sound?... Mr Cahill came out here hot on the trail of the story of why the Bow Kum were so interested in Anchor Wharf. Except, unfortunately for him, it led to his stumbling into the midst of another terrible episode in the ongoing turf war between the drug barons and, having seen and heard too much he was dispatched and his body dumped in a nearby open warehouse... No coroner could prove that didn’t happen. As for Vi, she had enough of a reputation for indulging in snow for everyone to believe she was after further supplies, thereby becoming an inconvenient witness. With the inevitable results.’
May was beginning to realise just how clever this man was, which meant that he must already have a plan for her and Alice. She clenched her fists and felt the reassurance of pain arcing through the cuts across her palms.
‘What... what...’ she could hardly get the words to un-stick from her mouth ‘...about us?’
‘I have to admit that I had been in two minds about your particular fate, that is, until I had that inspired misdirection concerning Alice possibly rowing out to East India Pier. Once your acceptance of the idea confirmed such a thing was possible, I secured the services of an obliging sailor and a rowboat now awaits you at the bottom of the wharf ladder. Indulge me for a moment.’ He laughed. ‘Not that you can refuse. Imagine if you will, that the two of you decided to go for a jaunt on the river to see the stars shimmy on the water - after all, stranger fancies have been known to come to the best of us in the thrall of cocaine. Which was such a thoroughly reckless thing to do because who knows where you might end up? Most probably right in the path of one of the ships leaving the busiest docks in the world; now, what are the chances of a ocean-bound captain noticing a matchstick of a craft when there’s a tide to catch?’
The snakes of fear in May’s stomach started to uncoil. Any moment now and she would scream. Her eyes burned from staring at the hypodermic as she tried to see if he had loosened his grip enough for her to leap forward, knock it out of his hand, and grab Alice. Except what good would it do when there was nowhere to run except across the vast desolation of an empty quayside? She could hear herself panting like a rabid dog.
‘Just me. Let Alice go. She knows nothing of the investigation. I doubt she’s even heard a word of what we’ve been saying.’
‘That’s as may be on both counts. But I’m really not to blame here because it was Vi who made your sister’s demise inevitable. When I found out what you did for a living, I wanted to keep Alice close as a sort of gambling chip I could play if it became necessary. I was even prepared to go so far as to offer her the role as my assistant. Thank God that little ruse was never put to the test; such a cocky show-off would’ve been a disaster with her inclination to upstage me at every turn. However, all that aside, Vi became fixated in her over-imaginative mind that I wanted to have Alice by my side, and in my act, for entirely different reasons. A woman of her dramatic and possessive temperament was bound to do something to remove her rival for my affections sooner or later. Poor Vi-’
‘For Christ’s sake stop bloody well saying that.’ It just slipped out; May didn’t want to provoke him but his crocodile concern was twanging her already taut nerves.
‘Yes, quite right, it is a tad hypocritical. Bad enough, I suppose, to lead her on in believing ours was more than a theatrical dalliance without insulting the truth further.’
He mimed a slice across his throat. Too late: it was the one moment the needle hadn’t been pressed on Alice’s flesh but his revelation that he’d had no compunction in cold-bloodedly murdering his lover had forced May to double over in a paroxysm of dry-retching.
‘Oh, dear; the smell in here is a little overpowering, isn’t it? I think it’s time you were out in the fresh air anyway.’
He took a handful of steps backwards. The doorway was now clear, but Alice was out of reach.
‘As I was saying... Vi took it upon herself to remove temptation from me. During the two days I thought your sister was nursing her wounded pride as far away from the theatre as possible, she was, in fact, sedated and locked in a storeroom under the stage. I only found out yesterday morning quite by chance. I needed to reclaim Alice, and Vi didn’t want to give her up; I’m afraid some of that over-heated exchange will be - despite the drugs - lodged in your sister’s memory. Not least of which will be that I lied to you about not knowing Miles. My tongue must’ve run away with me on occasion because it seems I had shared with Vi some of the details of my arrangements with him. In vino veritas, eh?’
‘The note setting all this up came from you, didn’t it?’
‘Every conjurer knows the planning of an illusion is every bit as important as the execution and, if you’ll forgive me a moment’s indulgence, I do seem to have pulled everything off to perfection. Vi didn’t suspect a thing when I suggested a little private celebration here after the show. And a waiting taxicab meant I could watch you enter the warehouse, lock the place up, and be back in the theatre for yet another toast to my success before my absence became noteworthy. As ever, attention to detail - aided and abetted by slick timing
- always pays dividends.’
He pulled something from his pocket. It was a small packet of white powder. He tossed it at her feet.
‘And now for the grand finale: I want you to take some of this - not too much, mind - and rub it into your gums. Do it nice and slowly. Remember who it is I have in my arms. You can be out on the river sharing your last moments together or I can push the needle in and she will die in agony.’
As Clarice Gem had done. The thought of Alice suffering so horribly made May exaggerate her movements in pinching up some the cocaine so that he could see she had made her choice. She held it up for a moment and then bent her head as she moved her fingers to her mouth, contriving for at least half of it to blow away in the quickening breeze. He didn’t appear to notice and, when she looked up at him again, seemed satisfied.
‘Time to go; here, take your sister from me. I’ll be on the edge watching and won’t leave until you’re well on your way so there’ll be no sneaking back up. You’ll be better off conserving every bit of the empty energy that’ll soon be firing through your muscles for keeping yourself out of trouble on the water.’
In the long walk towards the end of Anchor Wharf May could hear the river slapping against the quayside as the outgoing tide sucked at the depths and set up eddies; the wind trapped between the spars of the sailing ships in the far-off Graving Dock making the rigging cry. And another sound from the distance that hadn’t been there before. Was it the cocaine or the realisation that these could be the last moments her feet would ever touch land that made her senses so keen? The screech of metal as the dock gates down at Fore Street scraped stone. Someone was coming onto the wharves. Could it, after all, be Jack? Had he persuaded the watchman to let him through? Had he brought the police? If she could slow time then perhaps she stood a chance of finding out. Her movements were calculated as she sat Alice on the ground and pretended to be having difficulty untying the rowboat’s mooring rope.
The soft purr of a coasting motorcar. Then the explosion of headlight beams being flicked on; the searing light stretched out over the water, thrusting a giant shadow of Barley-Freeman onto the rippling surface. He held up his arm to cover his eyes. May leapt into life and dragged Alice as far as she could towards her rescuer before her legs betrayed her and they both collapsed onto the cold concrete.
Chapter Fifty-Two
The vehicle pulled up a few yards away in front of the timber warehouse. A figure stepped out and walked with a smooth glide into the lamplight. It was Brilliant Chang. He didn’t look surprised to see them.
‘Good evening, Miss Keaps. I was expecting to receive a consignment tonight but to find you here instead gives me the more pleasure; I cannot tell you how relieved I am to see the threat you brought to me for translation was an empty one.’ He slipped his coat off his shoulders and held it out. ‘I think the young lady is in more need of this than I am.’
May snatched the garment from his hand, too agitated to worry about pleasantries. She bundled Alice up until everything but her feet was covered, and her nose poked out from the fur trim. Her sister wasn’t safe yet but May knew she needed to wait until the quivering in her own muscles slackened before she could attempt to move her. With Alice’s head in her lap she cradled her like a baby and waited for the silence to break. Brilliant Chang was sweeping his gaze beyond the end of the quay along the stretch of water May thought she’d now be rowing. She wondered why the only thing her mind could hold onto was how long the watchman had been in the Chinaman’s employ.
‘Mr Barley-Freeman, this is the happiest of coincidences. I have been waiting to meet you for some time. Yours is a name I have heard often. A coroner’s officer is not the only person with access to information and I have been receiving many answers to my questions. And so I come to the one I have been waiting to ask you. Can you tell me why you have taken it upon yourself to cause me so much trouble?’
‘I haven’t done any such thing. Do you think you could switch those lights off? I feel at a disadvantage being so blinded I can’t see who I’m taking to.’
‘I fail to appreciate why I should do that when you have endeavoured for so long to keep me in the dark. Do you not think it terrible, Miss Keaps, when an honest businessman is forced to close his nightclub for no reason at all? And then think how much worse it becomes when he is accused of something he is innocent of and could not have done because he was not even there. Do you think it a reasonable conclusion to draw that this man could be left with the impression that he is being persecuted? Do you now know who I am, Mr Barley-Freeman?’
‘The Chink who started all this off in the first place.’
‘The very same. Except I prefer you to observe the formality of calling me Mr Chan. It is so much more respectful, do you not think?’
May was swamped by the sensation that they were speaking in a language she couldn’t understand. The cocaine had made her ears sharp, but her mind as skittish as a flea-bitten kitten.
‘You! You are the one at the head of the Bow Kum Tong.’
He surprised her by unveiling a smile of the most perfect symmetry. May could see his teeth glisten in the lamplight.
‘I suspect someone of your capabilities does not often find herself in the wrong, Miss Keaps. However, on this occasion, and at the risk of wounding your pride, I am compelled to correct your erroneous assumption. I have not, and will never, lash my fortunes to the mast of a ship that requires a crew to sail her. There is always the risk of mutiny - as Mr Barley-Freeman here knows to his cost.’
‘What are you implying? I did everything they asked of me. They’ll be waiting on street corners with cleavers if you go spreading the word otherwise.’
Why was Horatio worrying about that when he was undoubtedly going to hang for the murders of Miles Elliott and Vi Tremins? The unreality was growing into such proportions that May began to hum one of Alice’s favourite nursery rhymes under her breath.
‘Is it not more treacherous to turn on your friend in preference to those you would not seek to make your enemies? A statement with which I am sure Miles Elliott would agree.’
At last her wits were together enough for something to penetrate.
‘You knew all along who’d killed him.’
‘No, Miss Keaps. I did not. Do you think I would have kept such a thing from you and your handsome coroner when I had taken a solemn oath under peril of my eternal conscience? However, I was aware that Elliott Shipping was importing opium and cocaine on behalf of the Bow Kum Tong. This I would have revealed had the question been asked.’
But she hadn’t known that at the time. Her bitter anger switched focus from her persecutor, to the rescuer who appeared to be taunting her with no less pleasure.
‘If you hadn’t been so bloody inscrutable when you delivered that warning to me in court then I might’ve made the smuggling connection sooner. Liza, at least, would still be alive.’
‘What you fail to appreciate is that had you done such a thing, you, too, would be dead. You are a young woman of much passion but without the commensurate restraint and therefore would have been sure to try to approach the Tong directly, whereas what was needed was to wait until this shark masquerading as a fish with a hook in his mouth came to you.’
May’s head felt as though it was going to explode. ‘They blackmailed Miles Elliott. I read the letter. It was vicious and evil. They threatened to slash his fiancée’s face.’
And then she saw behind Brilliant Chang’s words. Miles Elliott had kept the note because it had been written by Horatio Barley-Freeman. A man May now knew would have no compunction in carrying out his threat. She held onto Alice tightly.
‘You self-serving bastard. First you run up gambling debts, then you make Miles pay for them with his life. And Vi. Gullible, heartsick, Vi who had her head turned by your easy charm and empty promises. You killed her not because her foolish kidnapping of
Alice might have unravelled your arrangement with the Tong, but because she had the temerity to try to play you for a fool.’
She bent to kiss her sister who could so easily have become another victim of this man’s ruthlessness. For a long moment she couldn’t stop crying. Once she thought she had herself under control again she looked up at the Chinaman standing in front of her. His face was contorted with the same deep empathy she’d witnessed when he’d communicated his grief to Mrs Gem for her loss. He blinked, once, and his soul retreated.
‘Life and death are your business, Miss Keaps, mine is the altogether more straightforward world of commerce. One in which the only currency of any value is reputation. As you can imagine I have been hard at work clearing my name from any association with this unfortunate affair brought about by the fact that the Tong leader - with whom I have a longstanding enmity - had the body beaten and placed outside my restaurant in the hope it would result in my swinging from the end of a rope.’
‘No one would have thought it was anything other than a hop-head’s death if those slit-eyed sons of monkeys hadn’t decided to try to capitalise on it.’
‘Although I do not approve of their ways, I am prepared for them. What I cannot, and will not, countenance is a man who knows nothing of honour thinking he can treat mine as a commodity without value.’
He walked back to the motorcar and flicked off the lights, and Barley-Freeman was no longer pinned to the night.
‘This. This I wish for you to see.’
He reached around under the back of his jacket. May saw him pull something from the waistband of his trousers; the cut of his suit so perfect she wouldn’t have known anything had been concealed there. She caught the gleam of metal as he revealed the object in his hand. Two short, fat, lengths of wood tethered together at one end by a chain. She’d heard talk of the Chinese nunchaku fighting sticks but never seen them.