‘Save it, Lilly. I could see it was just a lucky hit.’

‘Thanks. You never touched me, you know.’

‘Yeah. I know.’

‘I put Rohypnol in your drink. Victoria Chan gave it to me.’

‘And, you know one another?’ Mann asked Kin Tak.

Kin Tak nodded, and looked away guiltily.

‘He’s been teaching me to read and write Mandarin,’ said Lilly whilst dabbing at Mann’s wounds.

‘She’s an excellent student.’ Kin Tak covered his mouth and giggled into his hand. ‘There you are – finished.’ Kin Tak stood back to admire his handiwork.

There was a knock at the door. Michelle went to answer it.

‘I need to speak to Mann. Is he here?’ Daniel Lu stood in the doorway.

‘I haven’t seen him,’ Michelle lied.

‘He was seen being helped in here.’

‘He doesn’t want to talk to you.’

‘I’ll speak to him. Come in, Daniel,’ Mann shouted from the bedroom. Daniel walked in and stood next to the bed. They were left alone to talk.

‘Mia is mad with you. She says there’s a warrant out for your arrest for the murder of CK Leung. I went there to clean up. I’m sorry about Ng. Now, I have to tell you something, I know you’d want to know but looking at you, I’m not sure how much help you can be Shrimp’s missing.’

Chapter 113

Roses are red. Rubies are too. My heart was broken. Now yours is too.

Shrimp heard how far the echo of the woman’s voice went to the wall and then stopped. He realized it was a voice he knew. ‘Nina?’

‘You betrayed me, Shrimp. I gave you my heart and you betrayed me.’

‘Nina…please, where am I? What’s happened? Put a light on; let me see you.’

‘You were going to be different. I gave you the chance to be the one. I saw you at that bar. I saw you playing with your wedding ring. You didn’t notice me. I was tucked behind you, out of sight. I had a long caramel-coloured wig. For a second I thought you had recognized me but you didn’t. That evening I watched you taking girls to your room, one after the other. You make me sick. You’re no better than all the rest. I thought you were the love of my life. But you lied, cheated on me. You are just like he was…how could you, Shrimp? I loved you.’

‘I was working undercover. If you saw me pick up girls it was because I’ve been working on a case, that’s all. 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.’