The Sweet and Sour Kill by Terry Harknett

Author:Terry Harknett [Harknett, Terry]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: crime story, Crown, Terry Harknett, Hong Kong, Police procedural, action adventure
Publisher: Piccadilly
Published: 2022-06-30T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

WHEN CHANG REACHED the top of the hill Crown was just closing the Viva’s boot lid. The old woman was in the doorway of the dairy shop again and Crown moved across the parking area to talk to her. Chang looked down the sharply falling ground and saw a man in a wet suit and wearing an aqualung drop over the stern of the police launch. Another man was on the beach, picking up pieces of wreckage, examining them and discarding them. A rubber dinghy was inflated and lowered over the side of the launch. The blond inspector and two Chinese dropped into the dinghy which began to be rowed from one piece of floating wreckage to the next.

It would all prove a waste of time, Chang knew. If the junk could be identified and its ownership traced this would just add up to another segment of the clumsy frame-up aimed at incriminating Lin Yi. But it was necessary, of course. Routine police investigation of a type which irritated Crown intensely and which he therefore delegated at every opportunity.

A police patrol car came barrelling along the track as Chang reached the Viva. Crown was still questioning the woman in the doorway of the dairy and Chang gave the uniformed sergeant and constable instructions, telling them no more than had been given to the Marine District men. They accepted the report impassively and started down the pathway to head out towards the promontory. Chang checked the call sign of the patrol car and slid into the passenger seat of the Viva. He thought he could smell the evil taint of death from the boot but decided this was imagination. It was too soon. He unhooked the radio microphone from the dashboard transmitter and reported in to the central control room. Just the bare details. That a man had died in an attempt to kill Crown and Chang. The crews of a patrol car and Marine District launch were carrying out on-the-spot enquiries. Crown and Chang were following up a side issue.

When the Australian returned to the car, Chang had completed his radio report and was sitting hunched in the seat, staring through the windscreen with the kind of blank expression which suggested he was not seeing anything. It was hot in the car and his wet clothes were steaming.

“Not just damp anymore?” Crown asked softly.

Chang snapped out of the limbo of delayed-action shock. “I’ll be okay.” His grin was fragile and he had to clasp his hands together in his lap to prevent them trembling.

“You want to just sit here for a while?”

“Where do you want to go?”

“Take what’s left of Lin’s man back to his boss.” He lit a cigarette, stuck it between Chang’s lips and lit another for himself. “We’ve got a while before it starts to stink up the car.”

Chang nodded. “I’ll be okay by the time we get up to the Peak, Mr. Crown.”

Crown started the car and set it rolling. He drove slowly along the rutted track, as if worried that a jolting ride would hinder the young Chinese’s recovery.

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