Death of a Red Mandarin (A Case for Detective Inspector Bao Zheng Book 3) by Christopher West

Author:Christopher West [West, Christopher]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: police procedural, international crime fiction, murder mystery, crime story, Chinese detective, detective
Publisher: Corazon Crime
Published: 2018-07-02T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

The Toyota was unmarked, but its blaring horn and full-beam lights left nobody in any doubt that it was to have a passage made clear. Even the queue for the Cross-Harbour Tunnel seemed to melt before it.

‘The description matched his?’ said Bao.

‘Oh yes.’ Inspector Luard shook his head. ‘Height, weight … He’d disguised himself as well as he could, but …’

‘And the guards let him in?’

‘People have a right to see an attorney. In private.’

‘And then he got away.’

‘We don’t check afterwards that prisoners haven’t been attacked by their attorneys!’

Bao thought of a cutting reply, but what was the point? Luard had shown consideration in insisting that Bao accompany him, and was clearly upset by the murder.

The Toyota roared past the Huangpu boat, a landbound vessel that actually contained a Japanese department store, an ice rink and a couple of expensive restaurants.

‘He’ll hardly be home now, will he?’ said Bao.

‘There may be some clue as to where he’s gone.’

They screeched to a halt outside Fat Man’s apartment block. Luard, Bao and two constables ran up the stairs. Another car drove a block down and the driver got out and trained his binoculars on the flat’s balcony.

‘Open up!’ Luard bellowed in Cantonese.

There was no reply, so Luard nodded to the constables, and they began smashing down the door.

Fat Man Lee hadn’t had time to clear out much stuff. Drawers were upturned, clothes in piles, bedclothes strewn on the floor. An exercise bike stood forlornly by the window, like a horse abandoned on a film set.

‘The Su Fong have safe places for their hit men,’ said Luard sadly. ‘It’s an international organization. Lee will turn up in London or Singapore or San Francisco, with a new ID, a new history, a new life. And the same character.’

‘Interpol will be alerted, won’t they?’

‘Oh yes. But a lot of Triad members manage to disappear all the same.’

‘Interpol’s largely run by Westerners,’ Bao thought, but didn’t say.

Luard went through into the bathroom, where a constable was taking fingerprints off a mirror. Bao stared round at this place. That old feeling of guilt came over him. If he hadn’t set this investigation going, Veronica Chow would be alive. A woman who had done nobody any harm, just lived outside the rules and paid the price … But policemen didn’t create crime, only tried to solve it.

‘At least we know one thing,’ said Luard, reappearing.

‘What?’

‘That the Su Fong are in deadly earnest about this business.’

Bao nodded. ‘So you’ll be hauling in the Dragon Head for questioning?’

Luard hesitated.

‘It’s a murder investigation! Probably a double murder!’

‘I need more information.’

‘More information?’

‘Yes,’ Luard added defensively. ‘Look, I know what you’re thinking.’

‘What?’

‘That if Veronica were Western, or even rich, we’d pull the Dragon Head in. Am I right?’

Bao paused. ‘Yes,’ he said finally.

‘Well you’re wrong. I’ve worked here all my life. I regard myself as a Hong Konger, and so was Veronica Chow. Her death is as upsetting as any other Triad murder, but it’s not the first I’ve seen, and it’s unlikely to be the last.

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