Chapter 101
My love is like a red, red rose, Ruby hummed quietly to herself.
Sheng was staring at her. She stopped humming and let go of his intestines, twenty feet of blue-grey tube spilled from her lap; she crawled over to him. She was naked, covered in his blood. She reached behind his head and undid the gag mask. His mouth was full of blood where he had broken his teeth biting into the rubber ball.
‘Have you got something you want to say to me?’ she said.
Sheng stared at her. Blood spat from his mouth as he tried to talk.
‘I can’t hear you,’ said Ruby. ‘Speak up.’
‘Go to hell.’
Ruby picked up the saw and switched it on.
Chapter 102
Shrimp was back at the hotel, getting ready for the evening’s undercover work, when his phone beeped – he had a message. It was from Nina.
Please Shrimp…I have to see you.
He knew he shouldn’t go. He paced about the room. He tried the rest of his surveillance team; no one else was in situ yet. It was four o’clock. He had an hour. If he slipped in the side entrance to the Mansions, he could get away with it.
He didn’t manage to escape the eye of the watchful Africans. David saw him arrive. He didn’t stop him. David could see as Shrimp flew past him that Shrimp had other things on his mind.
When Shrimp reached her she was in her usual place on the landing. She was agitated, more than he’d ever seen her before.
‘I am sorry about Hafiz.’
‘It was so horrible, Shrimp. I can’t forget it. Chief Inspector Sheng wants to meet with me and talk about it. I don’t want to. He’s a horrible man. Do I have to see him, Shrimp?’
‘No. I’ll talk to him. When I see him, I’ll sort it out, don’t worry.’
‘Thank you.’ She came towards him and wrapped her arms around him and held on to him tightly.
‘Nina. I am sorry, I am working. I can only stay a few minutes.’
She drew back and looked at him panic stricken. ‘Will you come back later?’
He shook his head. ‘I am sorry, Nina, but I won’t be able to see you for a bit after today.’ She pulled away and looked up at him. His heart was breaking. ‘I’ll be back, I promise. I’ll never stop thinking about you, not for one second. It’s just for a few days.’
‘Please don’t leave me now. I need you so much. You have to help me, Shrimp. I feel so afraid.’ Her eyes were fearful, starting to fill with tears. ‘We don’t have time to be apart. Shrimp, please…’ She wiped her eyes. ‘The wedding has been brought forward because of the problems with the Mansions, I’m going to be married next week. The man has money and my father thinks he can help us.’ She clung tightly to Shrimp. ‘You must help me, Shrimp. I need you to take me away.’ The panic was etched in her face. ‘Please. I love you.’
Shrimp pulled back and looked at her. He had never known love before and his heart was aching for her. He wanted to be with her every moment of the day. He couldn’t bear the thought of another man touching her, of her belonging to someone else. He knew this was real because all he wanted to do was to hold on to her and not let go.
Shrimp breathed in the smell from her hair. It was a smell of jasmine or rose and patchouli.
He didn’t want to let go. ‘Will you run away with me, Shrimp?’
He looked down at her and felt himself completely lost in her beauty and whispered, ‘Yes, I will but I can’t leave yet, Nina.’
‘No…’ She started crying.
‘Nina, please, don’t cry. I don’t have a choice. I’m sorry. So sorry. I would do anything for you but I can’t go anywhere right now. As soon as I can I will be with you all the time, I promise. I can talk to your father. I can ask him to call the marriage off. I can tell him how we feel…’
Nina turned away from Shrimp and shook her head. Her shoulders slumped and she began to cry. He laid a hand on her arm.
‘I am so sorry, Nina. I am sorry to let you down. It’ll be the last time I ever do. I promise.’
‘Have you got someone else?’ she asked, her voice shaking.
‘Of course not.’ He smiled at her concern. He hugged her and kissed her head. ‘I promise you, no one else.’
‘Please just sit with me a little longer.’ They moved to sit on the stairwell. ‘I brought you some sweets.’ She handed him two, wrapped in a napkin. ‘Coconut sweets for lovers.’
He smiled, her face was so sad, trying to be brave, he couldn’t say no. She watched him eat them.
‘It’s all over for me then, Shrimp.’ She turned and smiled and in her eyes was more than sadness, it was desperation and something else that Shrimp hadn’t seen before – desire. She kissed him, her mouth hard on his. Shrimp drew back. ‘I don’t want to give myself to an old man and never know what it is to feel the pleasure of someone’s body who means something to me. I want us to lie together, Shrimp. Then we will never be apart again.’ She leaned forward and kissed him lingeringly on the lips and then she held him tightly.
‘Not like this, Nina.’
‘I know. I shouldn’t say it but I’m begging you, Shrimp. Just hold me. Come to my room, please.’
‘Now?’
‘Yes. My grandmother is asleep.’ She took him by the hand.
‘If I have to get married I’d rather get married knowing what it is to feel love.’
Shrimp followed her, feeling desire and despair at the same time.
Chapter 103
The Mansions were a flurry of activity. Hundreds of CK’s employees slipped in unnoticed amongst the thousands of Mansion dwellers. They flooded the place with pieces of brightly coloured paper that seemed to appear from nowhere. They dropped leaflets in mail boxes, stacked them in the lifts, pasted them on all the walls, the stairs, the doors, landings – everywhere. They carried a simple message:
The Mansions are being demolished. You will all lose your homes. No one will be rehoused. No restaurants will be given new premises. It has all been a lie.
The leaflets littered the floors of the Mansions. Panic spread. By five o’clock everyone knew that Victoria Chan was their enemy.
Rizal had tried to warn her. He had not made it in time. His body was at the bottom of the maintenance shaft where it had been dropped. He had crossed Ruby too many times. He had not been worth the effort of kidnapping; anyway, Ruby did not have the room. She had another in mind for her bed. He was very close to it now.
It was six o’clock in the evening when Victoria had her driver drop her around the corner from the Mansions. She had come to see PJ and the others. She wanted them to sign her deal. If they all signed then she could show Mann she had good intentions. She slipped in unnoticed, keeping her head down. She had dressed down for the occasion. But there was no hiding the fact that her jeans were designer, her sandals Gucci. There was no masking the smell of her expensive perfume. She felt watched. The Africans saw her coming. David and his friends sat on the steps whilst the world passed them by. Mahmud saw her pass. An Outcast pulled a whistle from his pocket and gave three small sharp bursts, gliding it beneath his hand as he did so. The Mansions echoed with the sound of answers.
She kept her sunglasses on as she walked towards the lift. She felt as though her heels were stuck in tar. She moved reluctantly forwards as she watched the people staring at her. She stopped at the lift on the left. She had
