I never touched them, Nina, I wouldn’t, I promise. Please, Nina, let me go. I love you.’
‘You’re just like him. He used to come to Hong Kong once a month. He came for five days. He came to eat in our restaurant every night. He made me feel special. He took me out and he bought me things, clothes, shoes. We had to sneak in and out of here. He bought me wigs to wear, so no one would know it was me. He took me to bed. He promised we’d elope. He promised to take me away. I didn’t know I was pregnant until it was too late. Then he told me he was married. He never came back for me. He left me to face it alone.
‘The girls started to make fun of me in school. I couldn’t hide it any more. I didn’t know what to do. I was so frightened. The girls shouted names at me. The girls just like Rajini, just like that officer, Tammy. Just like her. They thought they were better than me then. I couldn’t hide it any more. I had to tell my parents. They were so ashamed. I was six and a half months pregnant when my grandmother held me down and my mother gave me an abortion with a skewer, on this bed. The same skewer we use on the tandoori. The same one I use to pierce a man’s heart. I was not allowed to see the baby, a baby girl. They threw her in the rubbish. I found her in there. Someone had thrown some old flowers in on top of her. She was covered in rose petals. I dried her body on the roof where its spirit could be free. I called her Rose.
‘I killed my mother in the kitchen. I held her head in the deep fryer. I have killed my grandmother. She deserved to die for her part and she has no one to look after her now. She hasn’t got me any more.
‘“Nina do this. Nina do that. Nina fetch the lobsters to marinate for the tandoori grill, speciality of the house.” I loved watching them eat those lobsters: crack open the claw and know that they were fed with human flesh, handpicked by me. All those men deserved to die.’ She stopped. She gave a sob in the darkness. ‘I think about him sometimes and wonder if he ever thinks about me.
‘He called me Ruby. “Hey Ruby,” he would joke. He talked like Michael Caine. “My Ruby Murray.”’
Chapter 114
‘How long since he’s been seen?’ asked Mann.
‘He never made it to the bar yesterday evening. He didn’t wear his wire and he hasn’t made contact. He was seen by one of the Africans, David, coming in here at four yesterday. I just talked to him. He hasn’t seen Shrimp since. He didn’t see him leave.’
‘That’s an hour before Victoria came here. What’s been done about it?’
‘You know the hair ornament you had in your pocket? I sent off the hair for analysis.’
Mann had to think what Daniel meant. His mind flipped back to that day in the corridor with Ali and the plaited hair ornament. ‘I was given that by Flo, Nina’s grandmother.’
‘Well, someone’s keeping the old woman sedated. She’s got Haloperidol in the hair. And that’s not all. The pin that secures that hair ornament is part of what was left of Ishmael.’
Chapter 115
Shrimp saw the light from the door when Ruby went into the other room. He turned and saw Sheng staring back at him, slumped, disembowelled, his intestines splayed out around him.
Shrimp pulled frantically on his arms to try and free them. He twisted his head to look up. He was chained to the wall behind. He pulled on the chains but couldn’t budge them. He looked down at his injuries. His body was being sliced open bit by bit. He heard the Indian music playing from the other room; haunting, a woman wailing. It was the same music he had heard on the stairs. He saw his clothes in the corner of the room. His gun was there, his microphone. He couldn’t reach any of it.
Nina returned. He could see her properly now. She was naked. Her long glossy black hair fell all around her shoulders to her waist. Even now he loved her. Even though it made no sense. ‘Please Nina, let me go…’ She came towards him with her hands holding a small object.
‘Kiss Rose, Shrimp.’ She held the dried parchment face of the mummified baby next to his mouth. ‘This was going to be your baby. You were going to be special. You were going to want to live with us forever, me and Rose. But, maybe this was the only way for us.’
‘No, Nina, we can still make it work. We can still get away from here. Please, Nina, let me go. I will help you. I love you. I will do anything it takes to help you. Don’t kill me, Nina.’
‘It’s too late for both of us, Shrimp. Don’t worry, I won’t let you die alone. I will come with you.’
Beside the bed she laid the scalpel and the skewer.
Ruby went quiet for a few moments and Shrimp watched her moving around the room. She lit a candle in the corner. She placed her dolls around the bed.
Chapter 116
‘Which flat does she live in?’
‘She lives with her grandmother on the fourth floor, flat B. No one is invited in there. She says she’s ashamed of the place. She always comes here when Kin Tak teaches us Mandarin,’ Lilly said.
‘He was teaching her too?’
Lilly nodded. Mahmud stood in the doorway. ‘I’m sorry.’ He had a key in his hand. ‘She does anything Victoria Chan wants her to. And more, much more. I didn’t realize she was killing men until now. Can I come with you?’ Mahmud handed a key to Mann. ‘Here is the key to the apartment. I can help. She will listen to me.’ Mann eased on his clothes over his bandages.
‘No Mahmud. You stay here. I promise we will do all we can to help her. Lilly, you and Michelle stay here too.’
Mann and Daniel left Michelle’s apartment and walked down the flights of stairs to the fifth floor. David was waiting for them. Mann looked at him and nodded. ‘You know who it is?’ David nodded. ‘I saw them in the shadows of the stairs, kissing when they thought no one saw. If she is the woman who murdered my brother I have to come with you.’
‘No, David, you stay here and guard this entrance with Daniel. I need to go in alone. I don’t want any mistakes in there. This is my one chance to get my friend out alive. If we make a noise, if we frighten her, it could be the end. I will call you if I need help. Just be here and be ready.’
‘Here, Mann, have my gun?’ Daniel took it out of his holster to give to Mann. Mann shook his head.
‘I trust Delilah now more than ever. I can’t afford to make mistakes.’ Mann had taken the feathers out of her hilt; she was clean, sharp. She was in his hand as he placed the key in the apartment door. ‘Which is Flo’s room?’ he asked Mahmud.
‘First one on the right.’
Mann turned the key and pushed the door. The place was dark. Inside was the fuse box, he tripped the main switch. He took out his phone, he found the light setting. A tiny bright beam shone out from the back of the phone. He shone it straight ahead into a small kitchen at the end of the hall. The smell of ham cooking hit him. His light glanced over a patella as it shone glossy from the top of the pot, the place was still steaming, the walls wet. He walked inside. The door closed behind him; he let it go.
He opened Flo’s door and flicked the light around the room. The room smelt of old, it smelt of neglect. He scanned it, it was full of human bones, bleached white, stacked in the corners, laid across the floor at the edges of the room. The bone dust covered everything. Flo was slumped in her chair. Mann inched closer to her. He shone his torch into her face. Her eyes stared back, bulging from her head. Her mouth gaped open. Around her neck was a ligature.
He heard the sound of wailing music coming from the next room. This was one of his nightmares: a corridor with no doors, no beginning and no end. Somewhere along it he could hear the sound of crying. He felt his way
