Lights Out (15 page)

Unable to sleep, Lam decided that her time was better spent working.
She pulled herself out of bed before her alarm and quickly showered and dressed
herself. She gave her dog Sasha a rub on the head before leaving, a pang of
guilt sweeping over her, and a promise to herself that she’d take him for more
walks once this case was solved.

She pulled up to her normal parking space in the dark. Her colleagues
still had another few hours of sleep before the sun would come up.

She climbed out and scanned the parking lot. The Chiefs car was
parked in its usual spot.

A bit early
, she thought to herself and checked her watch. It
was 5.30am.

Lam could see a shard of light under her office door. She paused for
a moment and then walked in. The Chief was standing fixated. He was so
engrossed in Lam’s pin board that he didn’t even hear her enter.

“Chief.” She said, a little amused at the height at which the Chief
jumped at the sound of her voice.

The Chief composed himself and smiled at Lam.

“A bit early for you Lam?” He queried, looking at his watch.

“I may say the same about you?” She countered.

Motioning to the pin board, the Chief continued.

“This is impressive Lam. When did you do this?”

“Last night. It helps me to run through the facts, try a few theories
out, link things together.”

“Listen, whilst I have you here, there’s something that I’d like to
ask you.” The Chief sat himself down in her chair, rocking it back and forth
slightly with his weight. Lam chose to sit in the ‘guest’ chair on the opposite
side of her desk, not wanting to look down at the Chief when she answered him.

“Most importantly, have you been to see the Counselor yet?” This
question surprised Lam, she wasn’t used to the Chief being so nice, and this
was twice now that she’d experienced him showing empathy, however awkward it
was for him.

“I have an appointment set up for next week, but I’m actually fine.”
Lam lied.

“That’s good. Let me know how the meeting goes.” The Chief said with
relief. Please to have at least asked the question.

“In fact I’m pretty focused.” Lam continued. “I have a couple of new
leads and I’m a step closer to our main suspect, we had his prints confirmed
yesterday, and it definitely appears to be an inside job.”

“Do you really think it’s an inside job?” The Chief asked.

“We’ll know for sure when we catch up with Harper and his buddy
Black, but for now, the hard evidence is giving me a set of palm and
fingerprints that match, and a staff member that is MIA from his work place.”

“And what about Chow?” The Chief asked gently “Have we moved any
further forward there? Do you need more people?”

Lam sat quietly for a moment.

“I have a few guys working on Chow’s case Chief. How was the visit?”

The Chief shoulders slumped slightly as he remembered the stricken
faces of Chow’s wife and his mother. They had been perfect hosts to the Chief
upon his arrival, in true Chinese tradition. When he broke the news of Chow’s
death, his wife rocked silently back and forth in her chair, whilst his mother
howled, like any parent would who had outlived their child.

“It was as expected.” The Chief replied simply, not wanting to go
into detail.

Lam wanted to move away from Chow and back onto the Bank. She wasn’t
ready to discuss him yet.

“I think the bank job is only partly an inside job. I don’t think
that Harper was smart enough to set this thing up
himself
.
Someone else planned it, and he was simply a part of it. It was very well
organized, and normally when it’s well organized, it usually involves our old
friends. I think one of the Triad groups are involved, but I need to do some
more digging first to be sure. What has thrown me is that they have included
someone who is clearly not part of their normal family. They usually stick
within their own kind, especially for something this big.”

“I think you may be right.” The Chief agreed. “That brings me on to
my next subject. In fact the timing couldn’t be better. I was going to talk to
you about this later, but as we are both here and we have some privacy, now
would be a good time.”

Lam shifted in her seat. She didn’t like it when the Chief just threw
her a curve ball. It wasn’t her style. She didn’t like change, she needed to
chew on things for a while, and he was giving her the distinct impression that
he was about to make a change.

“I’m assigning a new partner to you from the Organized Crime Bureau.
He’s very experienced and specializes in organized crime. He’s covered many
situations like this before and I think you two will work well together.” The
Chief could hardly look at Lam in the eyes. He knew that she would fight him
over this, but he wouldn’t back down. She couldn’t manage these two cases
together, and he wanted someone to be there with her. Support her where she
needed it.

Lam could feel the tension come into her neck and her cheeks flushing
hot. She hated having new partners. She worked just fine on her own, and she
certainly didn’t need someone new to come and give
their
opinions and change the course of her investigation. She was making headway on
her own.
No, no this is not going to
happen
, she thought to herself.

“Chief, with all due respect” Lam started.

The Chief cut her off mid sentence knowing what was coming. “It’s
decided, you have no say in the matter. You need someone else on this with you.
Now that you don’t have Chow, you need someone to pick up the slack, and he’s
good.
Very good.
You have a case that is getting
bigger and more complicated by the day. You have one dead contractor and a dead
partner on your hands. Not forgetting two missing bank employees of which one we
know is on the run.”

“Oh, and if that’s not enough, then you have to deal with me,” The
Chief said, pointing a finger to his own chest and stabbing himself to make a
point. “I’m putting you under pressure to solve this case, and whilst I have
the board of Directors and Commissioner breathing down my neck, I’ll be
breathing down yours.” The Chief pointed a finger toward Lam.

Lam got the picture. She realized that she would have to pick her
fights with the Chief. This was not one that she was about to win. She held her
tongue and nodded an affirmation across the desk.

“Now, if there is nothing else, I have work to do”, The Chief stood
up leaving Lam’s chair gently rocking backwards and forwards, and without
another word he left her sitting at the desk.

Lam remained sitting, silently fuming.
I don’t need anyone else on this. Damn it!
She grabbed her bag and
headed out of the office, she couldn’t face looking at the pin board, not now.
Any chance of her focusing had long since gone. Now she had a new partner to
worry about.

Lam climbed into her Porsche and sat quietly for a moment. Then she
turned the ignition and allowed the car to growl under her seat. The sound of
the car calmed her and she positioned the vents to blow cool air onto her face,
the
colour
slowly disappeared from her cheeks.

She smiled to herself then. There was always one thing that helped
when her head was too busy to work.

Lam pushed the car into gear, and sped out of the parking lot. Sasha
would get his run after all.

Lam stood staring at the pin board in front of her with her arms
crossed. Refreshed from her run, she had spent the last three hours arranging
and re-arranging the sequence of the last few
weeks
events, following up leads and chasing up reports. Her initial enthusiasm was
waning as her leads began to dry up. Her theory regarding the triads were now
leading her down dead end pathways and she’d hit a wall.

She had several photographs on the board, which she had separated by
case. The face of the dead Chinese man was staring back at her with his black
eyes. Chow had been the one to photograph his body.

So Ironic
, Sarah sighed, and wondered who had photographed
Chow’s dead body.

She had photographs of Harper and Black, pinned up high on the board
next to the old man along with Harpers finger and palm prints, the only thing
that so far linked Harper to the robbery. Black, it seemed, had simply
disappeared off the planet.

She was no further with the gun at this stage and there were no other
fingerprints that forensics had been able to pull except from the dead man.

She looked again at the unknowing smiling face of Chow to the right
of her board, and then to the picture of his body as he had been discovered.
She was no closer to finding Chow’s murderer. No weapon found, no traces of
DNA, nothing left behind at the scene to help her.

“What had he found out that I didn’t know?” Sarah questioned out
loud.

“Idiot”, she said under her breath looking at his picture.

“You were so keen to do well and to prove yourself that you just decided
to go off on your own, now look at you.”

When Lam first looked at Chow’s photographs, she didn’t feel shocked
or repulsed. His body was positioned in such a way that he could have been
asleep. His head was gently resting against his knees. It was only the awkward
position of his feet tucked under his legs that gave it away.

When they had tried to move Chow his head slipped to the side
revealing a grotesque and deep wound. He had been cut so deeply that he had
almost been decapitated. Whatever
knife
the killer had
chosen to use, it had been razor sharp. It would have been a forceful and swift
movement, and almost certainly Chow would have died instantly.

That’s the only saving grace
, Lam thought to herself sadly. Death
came quickly for him.

Lam was so absorbed in her own thoughts that she didn’t hear her
office door open.

Only when she heard a deep cough behind her, did she realize that
there was someone in the room.

Lam spun around quickly to be faced with an outstretched hand and a
beaming smiling face.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you, I’m D.I
Luk
,
your newly assigned partner”. The man behind the smile remained with his arm
outstretched waiting for Lam to take his hand.

Lam didn’t offer her hand immediately. He had caught her off-guard.
Lam wasn’t ready for D.I.
Luk
. She hadn’t prepared
herself for an introduction so soon.
Luk
was younger
than Lam had assumed, with so much experience she thought she’d be getting a
forty-something know it all. She wouldn’t put him quite at forty, thirty-five
perhaps. He didn’t look like a typical D.I either. Casual to the point of
scruffy, she thought, observing his slogan t-shirt, worn jeans and converse
shoes. Lam thought it made him look more like a student than that of a
Detective Inspector. She disliked him immediately.

“Hi” Lam said reaching forward with her hand. She shook his hand
quickly and dropped it almost immediately.

“I need a coffee”. Was all that Lam could think to
say.

“I’ve been looking at this board now for three hours. I’ll show you
where the coffee machine is.” Lam said as she walked straight past an amused
Luk
and towards the canteen.
Luk
followed her, the faintest pull of a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

This is just how the Chief said she
would be
, he thought
to himself as he followed his new partner down the corridor.

Ryan lay on the Hotel bed and tried to get comfortable. He had tossed
and turned all night, and now his back ached. He pulled the thin grey sheet
across his body and tried to will himself back to sleep, pulling his knees up
to his chest. But it was too late. His mind was already busy. Sleep would have
to wait until later. Ryan climbed out of bed and pulled back the curtain from
the small window and was greeted with darkness. He checked his watch and he
groaned aloud. It was just before six am.

He had a waiting day today. He couldn’t make any plans or really do
anything until he had spoken to Lily, and since he had no idea when she would
call, he knew that he was in for a slow day.

Ryan looked at his cell phone. He could see that he only had two bars
left before his battery would run out and he had no way of charging his phone.

He certainly didn’t think that it would even be worth asking at the
Hotel reception, so he would need to try and buy a charger from a stall vendor
or a phone shop. Today of all days he couldn’t risk being without his phone.

Ryan dragged himself into the tiny shower. The water pressure was so
low that he only managed to get a slight trickle of warm water out of the
shower, but it was enough for him to soap himself down and get clean. Feeling a
little better, he quickly dried himself down on the almost threadbare rough
towel.
Shaving would have to wait
, he
thought as he brushed his chin with his hand feeling the stubble growing
through quickly. He dressed himself in the same clothes as the day before. His
growling stomach reminded him that he needed to eat. He walked down to the
reception and looked around. The desk was deserted. There was no sign of the
old man from the night before. Rather than hand in his door key, Ryan stuffed
it into his pocket and made his way outside. He walked the next few blocks to
where he could see some local cafes dotted along the pavement. Even at this
time of the morning with the sun just coming up, the streets felt busy. The
café owners were noisily pulling up the metal shutters. Vans were busy
unloading and delivering fresh supplies and newspaper kiosks were beginning to
open along the road. Stacks of newspapers sat in tall pies on the pavement,
tied with old bits of nylon string.

Ryan scanned the kiosk closet to his Hotel as he walked past, hoping
to find an English newspaper, but there was nothing for him to read. This was
too much of a local Chinese area. Ryan suddenly felt quite conspicuous. There
wouldn’t be too many other white men wandering around the streets at this time
of the morning. Knowing that he wouldn’t blend in, he tried to keep himself to
himself and not draw any further attention. He walked up and down the road
once, and decided upon a relatively busy looking café. It was small, but looked
clean and the smell that greeted him at the entrance was enough to entice him
in.

The décor was straight out of the 1960’s with old wooden tables, each
nestled within a private booth. The dark red plastic seats long since worn and
torn along the seams looked comfortable to Ryan. The floors were covered in
white tiles, and the walls had been papered so long ago that the once flowery
pattern was now faded and peeling. In the top corner of the café, a small box
TV had been mounted on the wall. The Chinese news channel was on, and the
handful of customers that were already inside, were all facing the TV. No one
paid any attention to Ryan as he slipped into one of the booths by the window.
He scanned the restaurant to see what everyone else was eating. It looked like
steaming noodle soup was the popular choice, so when the waiter finally came
over, Ryan simply pointed to the man in the next booth and silently mimed
eating the imaginary food.

By the time the noodles arrived, Ryan was starving. He realized that
he hadn’t eaten in over twenty-four hours, but sitting in this tiny, busy café,
with all the smells and steam coming from the kitchen his appetite was well and
truly awake.

The waiter placed the bowl in front of Ryan and he watched as the
soup swished and slopped in front of him, a few drops landed on the table. Ryan
peered into the bowl at the contents and stirred it with his spoon. The thick
white noodles swam around in the steaming grey watery soup. A few pieces of
chicken rose and fell in the liquid. He took the plastic chopsticks and worked
his way through the noodles, scooping the soup with his spoon. Once the noodles
and chicken were finished, then Ryan put down the spoon and lifted bowl to his
lips and drained the contents into his mouth. He placed the bowl down on the
table, and leaned back against the comfortable booth chair, satisfied and full.

Ryan thoughts moved swiftly to Rob. He imagined his friend bound and
terrified. He’d been held now for three days. Not knowing where he was being
held and
who
the people were that held him.

Ryan wondered for a moment whether Rob even knew that Lily was
involved in his abduction, and the reason behind it.

He considered the chances of successfully getting Rob out without
getting them both killed or caught. He just didn’t know what to expect. He had
never used a gun or knife before; he’d never been in a life-threatening
situation. And here he was, hiding out in a tiny café, on the run from the
Triads and the Police.

He wouldn’t be much good in a fight. That much he knew, so Ryan
concluded whilst he sat at the plastic covered table that at this stage, the
best that he could hope for, was proof of life before turning himself in to the
Police.

Ryan checked his watch. It was just before 7am, and still far too
early for any of the shops to be open. Ryan raised his hand and caught the
attention of the waiter. He pointed at his empty bowl and signaled for a second
helping. The waiter smiled a toothless smile and nodded, quickly turning on his
heel towards the kitchen to place Ryan’s order.

One hour, and a second bowl of noodles later Ryan stood at a small
electrical kiosk and was trying to explain to the man that he needed a phone
charger. He presented his phone and pointed at the final single bar.

This time the communication was easy and Ryan walked away with the
correct charger and still had some change in his pocket. As Ryan walked back
down the street toward his Hotel, he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He
quickly pulled out the phone and was relieved to see Lily’s name appear on the
small screen.

“Ryan, it’s me”. Lily
said quietly as though trying not to let someone hear what she was saying.

“Hi, look we have to talk quickly, I have no battery left. Where can
I meet you?” Ryan said, not wanting to waste any battery life on idle chatter.

“OK, there’s a Go-Down Warehouse in Chai Wan. It’s on Chai Hong Road,
number 48, the Win Sun Industrial Building. Go into the building and take the
lift up to the top floor. When you get out, walk up the last flight of stairs.
Knock on the white door when you get there. I’ll be waiting there with Rob.”

“OK, I’ve got it. When” Ryan asked.

“Now”, Lily replied finishing the call with a click.

Shit
, Ryan thought. His phone was about to shut down
at any moment, and now there was no time to recharge it. Ryan estimated that it
would take him at least forty minutes to get to Chai Wan from his current
location. Lily and Rob were close to the last stop on the underground train on
Hong Kong Island and he was way out in the far side of Kowloon.

Without delay, Ryan walked a couple of blocks until he could see the
nearest red and white underground sign. He then quickly entered the station and
waited impatiently for the next train.