“On the subject of Harvey, I’ll need to talk to both him and Chad. Can you give me their full names and phone numbers?”
“Sure.” She taps at her phone and turns it towards me. It’s the contact info for Chad Tucker. I scribble his number and address into my notebook. More tapping and she tells me Harvey’s cell number.
“Do you have his full name?” I ask.
“No,” she says. “I know it sounds crazy but I never knew his last name. I’m sure Zel must have known but I don’t remember her ever telling me.”
Odd, but no big deal. I’ll find out when I talk to him.
“One last thing, we’ve been checking out Zelena’s social media. The stuff she posts on Facebook looks like it’s done for her parents’ benefit. We couldn’t see her Instagram posts because her account is private.”
She laughs. “Yes, Zel wouldn’t want her parents seeing that or her Snapchat. I can give you her username and password and you can log on as her and see everything.” With an odd little smile, she takes my notebook, writes down the details and hands it back to me.
“Can you give me her username and password for Snapchat and any other sites?” I ask.
“It’s the same. Zel used the same silly password for everything, that’s how I know it.”
I look at what she has written. Zelena’s password is 'zelrocksit.’
“You’ve really been helpful, Steph. I can’t thank you enough. I won’t keep you from your friends any longer.”
She gives a light-up-the-room smile. “No prob. If there’s anything else you need to ask me about the trip, you can call me.”
I stand and extend my hand. Without getting up, she takes it and gives a firm shake. And doesn’t let go. It feels a bit disconcerting. I search for something to say and come up with, “I’m sorry it didn’t work out between you and Chad.”
She looks up unwaveringly into my eyes. “Don’t be,” she says. “Chad was way too immature for me. I think Zel had the right idea.” Again she runs the tip of her tongue over her top lip and, this time, pauses it there for a moment. Holding my gaze, she lets go of my hand and says, “I think I would really enjoy a relationship with an older man.”
A maelstrom of thoughts swirl through my mind but one comes to the fore: I need to keep this girl cooperative because I might want to interview her again. I smile innocently. “Sounds like a great idea, Steph. Can you give me your cell number because I’m sure I’ll need to get in touch with you again.”
“I was hoping you’d say that.” She takes a piece of paper from her purse and hands it to me. Written on it is a phone number with a heart drawn underneath it.
Without another word, she stands, turns and walks out.
Zelena
Tuesday
Today a guard stood beside me while I ate. Yesterday, he just managed to get to me before I could push the knife up into my brain. But at least I cut myself. The old woman had to bandage it and it kept me out of the star room for the day, so it was worth it.
But today’s another day.
He came today.
He told me if I ever tried it again he would pull out my toenails, one each day for ten days, starting today. I had to beg him not to and he only agreed after I did what he wanted. I hated doing it. It means no one will ever find me. But I had to.
And now I’m following him down the corridor with the guard by my side.
As we get to the end, I hear the voices. Shouting the words I don’t understand… but I know their meaning.
He opens the doors and I see the stars.
They make me want to cry.
But I must not.
7
Cal
It’s a nice house, not opulent, but the house of a family who have achieved a certain level of financial success in life. The furnishings in the living room are elegant yet simple, in stark contrast to the conversation I need to have with the occupants.
I sip my coffee and look across the table at Janusz and Francesca Gutkowski. They both sit on the edge of their chairs, their faces hoping for, yet doubting, the possibility of good news.
“I’ve learned Zelena wasn’t completely honest with you.” I look at them. There is puzzlement in his eyes but something different in hers. “She didn’t win the trip to Hong Kong—ˮ
“Then how did she pay for it?” he interrupts.
I ignore the question and look directly at his wife. “Mrs. Gutkowska,” I say, hoping that the correct form of address will build some level of trust with her, “did you know Zelena had a boyfriend?” Her face says it all but before she can speak, her husband interrupts.
“I told you before that she didn’t have—ˮ His wife grips his arm and he stops in mid-sentence.
“Janusz, please.” Her voice is not loud but it is firm. “Zelena wasn’t ready to talk to you about it. Yes Mr. Rogan, I did know.” Her accent, unlike his, is not Polish but upper-class English.
“Why didn’t—ˮ but she squeezes his arm again and he goes silent. He puts his hand in his pocket, takes out his heart medication and pops a pill under his tongue.
“She told me she had a boyfriend a few weeks ago,” she says to me, then turns to her husband. “She was worried about telling you. She said she would wait until the time is right.”
He just looks confused and shakes his head, more in disbelief than in denial.
“Did she tell you his name?” I ask.
“Yes, it’s Harvey.”
“I need to talk to him, do you know his last name or anything that might help me track him down?”
“No, I’m afraid not. She showed me a photo of him.” She glances at her husband. “He’s Chinese.”
The expression passing over his face tells me why his daughter didn’t want to confide in him. My respect for my client just dropped a couple of notches.
With some trepidation about the effect it may have on his heart, I give them a précis of the details I gleaned from Stephanie White last night. When I finish, they sit in silence for a while, which he breaks with, “And to think, I sent Aleksander to find her. If I’d known…”
“Now, Janusz,” his wife says in admonition. She turns to me. “Do you have any news of Aleks?”
“No, I’m afraid not. I will have to go to Hong Kong and retrace his steps.”
“Spare no expense,” Janusz says. “Go as soon as you can. I am happy to pay an advance on your expenses.” I feel a wave of relief that I don’t have to ask for the money—it’s something I’m never comfortable doing—and also that Nick will be delighted because he’s always comfortable asking a client for funds. Thinking of Nick, I remember what Adry asked me when I left the office after 'morning prayers.’
“Did Zelena have a computer?” I ask.
“Yes, but it won’t be of any use to you. She had a password that she refused to share with us.”
“I don’t think that will be a problem,” I assure them. They seem impressed.
“One other question, did you look up the name of the detective agency Aleksander hired?”
“Yes, I checked my credit card statement online. It was Jiang and Lee Investigations Company Limited.”
“I thought you said the detective’s name was Wang,” I say.
“It was, I’m sure. He must work for the company.”
Five minutes later, with Zelena’s laptop under my arm, I am saying my goodbyes to her parents when my phone rings. I pull it out of my pocket. It’s Zelena’s friend, Steph White. “Excuse me, I have to take this.”
I listen and try to keep the surprise from my face. It’s a result I hadn’t expected. I hang up.
“I have some good news. Your daughter is alive.”
For a moment, their faces light up, but when I tell them how I know, Janusz looks me in the eye. “Mr. Rogan, please go to Hong Kong and find Aleksander for me. If you happen to run into Zelena you can tell her she is no longer a daughter of mine.”
This time, his wife doesn’t admonish him.
I’m only here be
cause I made an appointment to see him. Now that we know Zelena’s alive and well and that her father only wants to pay for us to find his son, this interview may be moot. However, maybe it can shed some light on where Aleksander has got to. And I really want to know how to get hold of the mysterious boyfriend, Harvey. I have texted Harvey on the number Steph gave me but none of the texts have been answered. When I phoned, there was no reply and no voicemail. I’m guessing it’s a burner phone, which in my book makes Harvey a suspicious character.
I can see why her mother would not have approved of Steph’s choice of boyfriend. Every visible area of his scrawny body, not covered by leather, bears an array of tattoos and his hair is styled in a green mohawk. It would disqualify him from just about any job, anywhere. Except for here. I have waited patiently while he finished tattooing a lotus flower on a girl’s thigh and, although tattoos are not my thing, I have to admit he did an excellent job.
We are now standing in the sun outside his place of work on Granville Street. I maneuver myself upwind of him to avoid the pot smoke from his joint. Pot’s something else that’s not my thing and, since I’ve been with Tina and regularly attending meetings, heroin seems not to be my thing any more either. Or am I tempting the fates with that thought?
“So Chad, how did you and Steph first meet? Was she a customer?” I ask him.
“Steph? You’ve met her. Can you see her getting a tat? A few months back, she came in with her friend Zel. Now she was a wild one. I gave her a big red tongue on her stomach, way below her waistband. You know, like the design on the Rolling Stones’ album.”
“I would have thought Zel was more your kind of girl,” I say.
“Believe me, I would love to do Zel. She would be… like I said: wiii-iild.” He takes in a lungful of smoke, holds it then breathes out the next words. “But she’s Harvey’s and he was paying for the tat. Steph was a Zel wannabe so I thought she might be interesting. Turns out not so much.”
“Tell me about Hong Kong.” I give him a smile he doesn’t deserve.
“Fuckin’ fantastic. Harvey picked up the tab for everything. He wanted me to come along and take care of Steph, so he could have uninterrupted time with Zel.” He makes a lewd gesture.
“Did you go places together?”
“Sure, we went out together for meals and clubs but apart from that it was pretty much all at the hotel.” He repeats the gesture and I can feel disgust starting to crawl into my gut.
“So while you and Steph were in her room, Harvey and Zel could have gone off somewhere together?”
“I s’pose.”
“Did you ever meet Aleksander, Zel’s brother?”
“Nah. I never knew she even had a brother.”
“I need to talk to Harvey. Do you have any contact info for him?”
He shrugs as he holds in another lungful of smoke.
“No one seems to know his last name, I don’t suppose you do?”
He lets out the breath with a contented sigh. “Funny you should say that. We always try and get the details of people who come in for tats. I tried to get his name but he wouldn’t give it. Paid in cash too, so I didn’t get to see his name on a card.”
Why would this Harvey character hide his last name from everyone? One thought pops into my mind: drug dealers love anonymity. I mentally kick myself for not asking Steph if Zelena was into drugs. “Any chance he was a dealer?” I ask.
“Harvey? Nah. Didn’t even use pot.”
“When was the last time you saw him?”
“In the Hong Kong airport on the last day of the trip. He was flying to LA and his flight was a couple of hours after mine and on a different airline. We were in separate lineups. Mine was faster so I went through security a few minutes ahead of him. That was the last time I saw him.”
His words trigger a thought.
“On the way to Hong Kong, did you and he fly out together?”
“Yeah, we took Cathay Pacific, first class.”
“So you checked in together?”
“Yeah.”
“So you must have heard someone use his last name.”
“Yeah. Of course.”
“I thought you said you didn’t know it.”
“No.” He pauses and looks at me like I’m an idiot. “I said I didn’t know it when he first came in to get Zel’s tat done.” He drops the tiny remains of his cigarette on the ground and grinds it out with his Fluevog shoe.
The worm of disgust turns to a mounting anger, which I try to keep out of my voice. “So what is his last name?”
He takes a long, supercilious look at me. “If he wants to keep his name private, why the hell should I tell you?”
I look up and down Granville Street carefully. No sign of any impediments to my just-devised plan of action.
My hand snakes out and grabs the front of his leather vest. I lift him bodily off his feet, turn and slam him into the window of the tattoo parlour. I push my face close to his and can smell the stale smoke.
“Listen to me you piece of shit, Zelena and her brother are missing and they could be in all sorts of trouble. Harvey may know something that could help me find them. I need to speak to him. So if you want to keep your teeth you’ll tell me his last name now.”
The fear in his eyes brings a smile to my face. “Lim,” he says. “His name’s Harvey Lim.”
I lean in hard, crushing his puny chest into the glass. “How can I get hold of him?”
“I don’t know.” I straighten the arm holding him and make a fist with the other hand. I pull it back, ready to smash into his face. “I don’t know,” he squeaks. “Honest. I don’t. All I know is he sometimes goes to the Roxy. He told me it was where he first hooked up with Zel. Honest, that’s all I know!”
It’s my turn to give him the long, supercilious look. Then I slide him down the glass until his feet reach the sidewalk. I let go of his vest and with a smile, straighten out the wrinkles I put in it. “If I find out you lied to me, I will be back and you’ll be saying a painful goodbye to your teeth.”
I turn and walk off, half hoping he has lied and that I’ll have the satisfaction of coming back and making good on my word.
“I’m sorry to hear he reacted like that,” Adry says. “Disowning his own daughter is harsh.”
“You gotta see it from his point of view,” Nick says. “For years he has this idea that his daughter’s like a good girl from the old country who’s never had a boyfriend. Then he hears from Rogan that she’s been shacking up with a guy in Hong Kong. Then, on top of that, she posts on Instagram saying 'My new guy’ with a picture of her in a slinky dress fawning over some sleazeball. That’s gotta be a shock to poor old Janusz’s system.”
“Yeah but disowning his own daughter and telling Cal to just concentrate on finding the son.” Adry shakes her head.
“I’ve been thinking about it,” I say. “My best way to track down Aleksander may be to find Zelena first. Maybe I can talk some sense into her and get her to go home. I’m pretty sure her mother could talk the old man into taking her back into the family.”
“We could contact her through her Instagram account,” Adry says. “I can log on as her and then post a message as her saying to contact us. She’d be sure to see it.”
“Don’t do that,” Nick says. “If you do she’ll know we have her password and she’ll change it right away and we won’t have any way to see her posts.”
Adry mulls that over. “You’re right. But what I can do is create a phony Instagram account with a name similar to one of her friends. Then I can log in as her, make her friends with the new account. We can follow her through the new account.”
“Good idea,” Nick nods enthusiastically.
I hand Zelena’s laptop to Adry and tell her the password I got from Steph. “See what you can find, especially contact information for the boyfriend, his last name is Lim by the way.”
Stammo cuts in. “Why don’t we have Lucy do that. This isn’t our only case you know. We need Adr
y on another case. She discovered one of our missing persons had a girlfriend on the side. She needs to go interview her.”
He’s right of course. I nod. “What about the Connor McCoy case. Any further communication from the blackmailer?”
“Nada,” he grunts. “I’m gonna feel bad about billing him come the end of the month after we helped him lose twenty-five grand.”
“You’ll get over it Dad,” Lucy grins. She opens Zelena’s laptop and enters the password. It works. “I’ll see if I can find something on Harvey Lim.”
“Show me her Instagram and Snapchat feeds,” I say.
After a few clicks she says, “Ta dah!” I sit down with her and look at the latest Instagram post, from eight hours ago. Zelena is in a very short designer dress with her arm draped round a well-dressed man. His face is partly hidden by a large-brimmed fedora. All I can see is about the bottom one-third of his face. It’s night time and they are standing in what is obviously a street market. Behind them is a stall with what looks like thousands of watches. Her face looks serious. The post says, 'My new guy. Isn’t he dishy?’
The previous post shows her and Steph, grinning like goofy kids in a candy store, as they toast the phone with brightly-coloured cocktails. I scroll down. There are lots of pictures of the holiday, showing Zelena in all sorts of happy poses with Steph and a few of them with Chad, his green mohawk looking very out of place. There are only three with Harvey. He is tall, good-looking and wearing clothes that I would bet cost more than the holiday. Something’s bothering me; something’s out of place but I can’t quite see what. I scroll down further going back in time until I come to a picture that is obviously the Vancouver Airport. She and Steph are posing in front of the Bill Reid sculpture. I continue scrolling. There are a few pictures with Harvey. I stop at one. He is posing, standing at attention, in front of a dark grey Lamborghini Huracán. Unfortunately, his legs completely obscure the registration. We could have called in a favour at VPD—if we still have any favours to call in—and got an address.
Cal Rogan Mysteries, Books 4, 5 & 6 (Box Set) Page 53
