addict. She will try and leave out more than she says.’
‘Everyone’s capable of murder if they have to.’
Chapter 48
Rizal took the back stairs up to the apartment. The flat was on the fourteenth floor, a landing where several families lived long term. Rizal texted Lilly on the way. He knew she couldn’t be far away. She would come if he worded it right. Rizal smelt the familiar aroma of pork curry along the landing. Nina had done a good job but she had left Rizal feeling frustrated; his mind was still on her body. He turned his key in the lock and stepped inside. The babysitter, a young woman who lived nearby, was watching TV, the twins were in bed. He dismissed her and she scurried off. She’d had trouble with him before. He opened a beer and sat on the sofa and waited.
‘I got your text. You said she needed me?’ Lilly stood in the doorway, leaning on the doorframe, a defiant look on her face. She was out of uniform she had on a micro mini and a tight top. She eyed the collection of empty beer bottles around Rizal’s chair and her expression changed to one of disgust. ‘What do you want? I thought my mother was back. I smelt the curry. Where is she?’
‘Still at the station.’ Rizal swigged from the beer bottle. ‘I want to talk to you. I don’t want to worry your mother. I thought we could sort it out between the two of us. You’re in trouble with the law?’
Lilly shrugged, with a cocky smile. ‘They got nothing on me.’
‘I knew you’d get in trouble hanging about with those Indian kids. You think you’re smart running with those mangy kids, the Outcasts? You think it makes you into someone big?’ Rizal swigged his beer. ‘Is he your boyfriend? That Mahmud?’
‘No. It’s nothing to do with the Outcasts.’
Rizal wasn’t listening. His mind had moved on to other thoughts. His eyes slipped down her body as he swigged his beer.
‘I’ll be out of here soon. I have plans. I am going to make it big: live in my own penthouse, drink the best wines from France. I won’t have to live in this pit and smell your sweat and listen to you fart all night.’
Rizal stood, swayed on his feet a little. ‘You can’t do it alone. I can help you. You’re a little princess. I know what you like. You like it here. I’ve seen you watching us at night. I’ve seen your eyes open. I’ve seen you looking at me when I’m giving it to your mother. You listen to her moan. She loves it.’
‘She makes money whilst you sit on your drunken arse.’ Lilly made a dash for the bedroom.
Rizal knocked over the table in his speed as he lurched out of the chair and made it the couple of metres to the bedroom door and pinned Lilly to the wall.
She shrieked. ‘Don’t do it, Rizal. Dad, don’t hurt me. Please.’
He held her pressed against the wall and slammed the door shut as her siblings started to cry; his beer breath was in her face. ‘Don’t call me Dad. My name is Rizal. Your father was some Chinese john that your mother dropped her knickers for. Just another john and she was just another whore, still is. She’ll never change. She has no ambition, not like you, my little princess.’ He released his grip a little and stroked her face. ‘You’re prettier than your mother. You’re a pretty girl and smart. You know what it takes for a girl to survive around here. She has to have something to give. You got money to give me, Lilly? You’re living here in my house. You got money, huh?’
Lilly shook her head.
‘Then you got to give me something else.’
She squirmed beneath his probing hands.
‘You like it. I know you do. Why else do you come back here? You’re a little whore like your mother. I will teach you a few lessons. Now…’ He took her hand and pressed it hard against his crotch. She squeezed her eyes tightly shut and turned away in disgust. ‘It needs working, no?’ He held her face in his hands as he locked the door and made her look into his eyes. He looked at her mouth. ‘It needs something to bring it to life.’
Lilly left Rizal snoring. She felt sick to her stomach. She stood in the hallway outside the flat and took out her phone and called Victoria Chan. ‘I have thought about it. I want to do it,’ she said. ‘I am ready.’
‘Take ten officers with you. Teach her a lesson.’
Chapter 49
Tammy had been staring at the text from Mann for most of the day. It was 9 p.m. She had four missed calls from him. She was following new orders. Tammy understood but it didn’t feel right. She had no choice. It was just after 9 p.m. She was on the way to meet Lilly. In preparation for her initiation, Lilly was going to introduce her to someone further up the Triad ladder, a Red Pole in the Outcasts. She hoped it would lead her to Victoria Chan. That would be the ultimate prize for Tammy. It’s what Mann had wanted. If she could find evidence against Victoria then she would be doing him a massive favour. Her loyalties lay with him. Tammy hoped he’d understand that in the end. She hoped he’d know she didn’t want to disobey his orders, she had no choice.
Lilly was waiting for her outside the MTR station.
‘Where are we going?’ Tammy stepped in beside her as they walked away from the station.
They walked along the backstreets of Yau Ma Tei for ten minutes, dodging in and out of the stallholders setting up along the way, wheeling their stalls along the street. They moved in and out of the crowds of tourists making their way through the night market: two skinny Chinese girls with attitude.
‘I told you, the boss wants to meet you,’ answered Lilly. Tammy knew something was wrong; Lilly wasn’t able to look her in the eyes. ‘You do want to meet her, right?’ Lilly was texting, looking around. She seemed nervous.
‘Yeah, sure. But…does she live around here?’ Tammy knew the area well. It was not a prestigious address. It was a sprawling low rise of old tenement blocks and a place where jade was sold, where old men bartered their bright canaries in the bird market.
‘No, but we just have to meet the others first.’
Tammy followed Lilly as they slipped past the tourists and onto Saigon Street, a side road that led to the night market. It was ten thirty and the market was in full swing. Bubbling tanks offish and crustaceans blocked the pavement as they stepped into the road and Lilly led Tammy into the side entrance of the Seafood Grill.
They passed the owner who scowled at them, looked like he was about to object but was in too much of a flap, his once-white apron covered in fish entrails, his face bright red from working in the heat of the kitchen.
‘Come on,’ said Lilly as she led Tammy through to a basement stacked high with boxes of defrosting prawns.
Tammy looked around her as they left the road behind. One way out, one way in. If Lilly planned to kill her then this was the ideal place to trap her. She looked at Lilly’s demeanour, the tension in her upper back, the way she walked purposefully as if she only had to get somewhere as fast as possible. Lilly sensed her hesitation, caught her glances over her shoulder at the diminishing exit and she moved quicker down the corridor. Lilly looked at the kitchen porter as he stood back to let them pass, his pale face pocked with volcanic acne. He glanced first at Lilly and then at Tammy. She slowed, levelled with him and looked into his eyes. They flicked towards Lilly’s back as she carried on down the corridor and then he gave a small, almost twitch-like shake of the head as he looked back to Tammy.
Tammy turned and ran. Lilly was a second behind. Tammy pulled the boxes of prawns over behind her as she bolted past. The waiting staff, their arms laden with dishes, yelled at her to stop, but she didn’t. She ran through to the street outside. She knew it would take Lilly just a minute to catch her. She heard the telltale whistles calling for back-up. She knew it wouldn’t take long before they found her. She ducked into an alleyway and phoned Mann.
‘I need you, Boss.’ She hadn’t hesitated. Mann was the one she trusted to help her now.
‘Where are you, Tammy?’ Mann was stood in Mia’s office.
‘I’m in the night market, Boss. They’re coming after me, the Outcasts. I need help. I thought I was meeting Victoria Chan. I’m sorry, Boss.’
‘Stay out of sight. I’m coming.’
