Kiss and Die

Chapter 73

As Mann walked into the incident room that evening Mia’s expression told him she had something she wanted to say. He’d missed two calls from her but he’d had a rush to get back from the morgue after the autopsies. Mann raised his eyebrows and nodded towards the door. She shook her head. Whatever it was would have to wait.

‘We have identified four so far. All of the heads are less than a year in the water. The two newest, less than a week. We haven’t identified those two. It’s likely that they haven’t been reported missing yet.’ Ng turned to the white board and the photos of the dead men. ‘The four we know about are: Max Kosmos, a man named Louis le Poul, went missing five months ago on a stopover from Singapore, worked for an oil refinery, selling parts to rigs. A man from the UK, a Welshman called Colin Humphreys, bit of a playboy, worked for a luxury cruise company out here to take on staff. He’d been in the water about eight months. The other is a Korean engineer called Sam Lee, doing a tour of Asia, overseeing projects for Hyundai, his wife reported him missing three weeks ago.’

‘Do these men have any connection to each other?’ Mann asked.

‘No. All frequent visitors to Hong Kong, all travelling married businessmen.’

‘Where were they staying?’

‘All in hotels around the Mansions. All off Nathan Road, big hotels with twenty-four-hour cocktail bars. They were all married, all well known for playing away. Their disappearance was never traced directly to Hong Kong because they moved all over Asia. Some airline records were accurate about who bought tickets but some weren’t.’

‘This is her serial killer ID: she kills foreign businessmen who play away,’ Sheng said, fiddling with his watch strap, a sports Rolex. He looked as rough as ever. His face was blotchy, sweaty. His shirt button strained across his stomach.

‘They have to be married,’ added Mia, ‘but they don’t have to be Caucasian. We have a Korean amongst the dead. Saheed estimated the other heads had been in the water anything from two days to a year. The head that the fisher – men found seems to be the longest in the water of the seven. Saheed said it was in the water about a year. It’s hard to tell because the lobsters do a pretty good job of stripping the flesh and eating the bone as it breaks down. We only have a partial skull left. But Saheed said he is pretty sure it’s not Caucasian. He thinks it’s African.’

‘Have them check the rubbish dumps, building sites, alert all fishermen. She must be disposing of the bodies somehow,’ said Sheng. ‘Post surveillance in Stanley.’

‘Perp won’t use that site again,’ said Mann, sipping his coffee. ‘They’ll have seen us, I’m sure.’

Sheng flashed him an irritated look. He looked like he was about to add a comment but decided not to. Mann was beginning to feel like he’d been the subject of some conversation and it wasn’t friendly.

‘We have thirty million visitors a year; most of them come here for business,’ said Ng. ‘The average stay is three days. We are a major stop-off point for other countries. Every few seconds men pass through on business trips and every few weeks some men go missing in Asia.’

‘It’s easy to see why: burnout. They’ve had enough of being mortgage slaves and opt out,’ said Sheng. ‘They get so used to being on the road. Their wives don’t even care whether they come home or not in the end as long as the bills get paid. You go and set up home in the Philippines or Thailand, it costs pence to live there. Find a few girls to double as bed mates and cleaners, no one need ever be found again.’

‘Seems like you’ve thought this through…’ smiled Mann.

‘I’ve been working, if that’s what you mean. Doing my job. We can’t all be lying on a fucking beach getting a sun tan.’ Sheng was tapping his foot, fiddling with his coffee cup.

Mann was beginning to get the gist of what must have been said between Sheng and Mia. He knew he would be hearing all of it by the end of the meeting. Sheng had a lot of pent-up aggression that wouldn’t stay behind bars.

‘Okay, we get two hundred plain clothes officers out there sitting in bars, listening to talk,’ said Sheng. ‘I want every sex worker who is seen working the plush hotels pulled over and discreetly interviewed. At the risk of pissing the guests off we have to step up security. Anyone not seen by hotel staff when they are expected? Anyone not answering their door for cleaning for more than twelve hours, security in that hotel go in. Shrimp, we have your ID ready. Your team is ready to go. You are the Manhattan VD in a book distribution company. You will be staying at Vacation Villas. We need to move this along now. You ready?’

Shrimp nodded but he thought of Nina. He would not be able to see her. For the first time he felt a conflict in his heart. He had never believed in love at first sight until now. Now he couldn’t imagine loving anyone else.

‘I don’t see that working. She’s smart and cocky. She’s not going to get caught in a bar by us. I think we should wait to go in heavy.’ Mia stood, arms crossed. ‘She’s on a roll now. She’s speeding up. The first head was a year ago, the rest have all been in the last six months. Three of the heads are within the last month. She’s bound to trip up sooner or later. If she gets freaked now and goes underground she might just emerge worse in six months’ time.’

‘I agree,’ said Mann. ‘Get Shrimp in Vacation Villas undercover. Let’s try and coax her out of her web.’

Sheng stopped fidgeting and eyeballed Mann.‘Your role in this investigation is being reconsidered, Mann. Until that time you won’t be required to attend meetings. If we want to find you we’ll contact the Leung Corporation. You concentrate on what you’re good at, sucking up to Triad bosses.’

There was a stunned silence around the room.

Mann looked across at Sheng and smiled as he shook his head. ‘It’ll take a lot more than you to get rid of me, Sheng. You’ve tried so many times over the years and yet I’m still here.’

‘Yeah, well I’ve suspected there’s been a mole in the OCTB for some time. Busts that don’t come off, tip-offs that look set up. Now Tammy’s dead. My money’s on you, banana boy.’

Mann shook his head and almost smiled ruefully. It had been a long time since anyone called him that to his face. The room went silent. They waited for Mann’s retaliation. Sheng’s racist views were well known. It amused Mann more than made him mad. He kept his cool.

‘I have access to CK’s world and I intend to use it. But I’m not the only one. CK has prior knowledge about a lot of things. Things that only someone in this department could know. You were undercover, Sheng, you reaped the rewards. Maybe you kept in contact with your old buddies? Tammy died because someone countermanded my order. It had to be someone high ranking: that’s you or Mia. You know what I think?’ Mann’s eyes turned black as he glared at Sheng. ‘I think it’s you who can’t be fucking trusted.’

‘That’s not the way it looks on paper, son of a Triad. Who are people going to trust – you or me?’ Sheng rocked on his feet as he grinned at Mann. His eyes lit with triumph. ‘Fuck off, Mann. You don’t belong here any more.’