Cal Rogan Mysteries, Books 4, 5 & 6 (Box Set)

by Robert P. French

  His forehead furrows. “Yes. I remember. There was a big dinner in the hotel that night. We were very busy. I called a taxi for her.”

  “How did she seem?” I ask. “Was she worried, or happy, or excited?”

  “Oh very happy. Looked like she was in love.” He gives a big smile.

  “Why do you say that?” I ask.

  “She was with her boyfriend. They looked very in love.”

  Now it’s my turn to furrow my forehead. Zelena’s boyfriend, Harvey Lim and the spiky-haired Chad left Hong Kong on the Thursday, the day before Zelena vanished. Harvey, Chad and Steph already confirmed that. Could Leo have come over to pick her up? “Would you recognize the boyfriend if you saw him again?” I ask.

  “Of course,” he laughs. “He’s a regular guest here. He’s staying here now.”

  “Do you mean Harvey Lim?” I ask.

  “Yes, Mr. Lim.”

  “It couldn’t be. Mr. Lim flew off to California the day before.”

  He taps the computer mouse and after a couple of clicks, he nods to himself and types and clicks some more.

  “Sorry sir. You are mistaken. Friday was definitely the night of the big party. That was when I saw them. Mr. Lim didn’t check out until the Saturday.”

  Could Harvey be involved in Zelena’s kidnapping? If he didn’t leave on the Thursday, could Chad and Steph both have lied to me? But why would they? I think over my conversations with each of them. Steph and Zelena didn’t go to the airport with the boys so Steph wouldn’t know for sure whether Harvey actually left. But Chad did see Harvey leave… I think over my conversation with him. He and Harvey checked in together… except that’s not what he said. They were on different flights, Chad to Vancouver and Harvey to somewhere in California. When Chad went through airport security, Harvey was still lining up at the check-in desk and after he went through security, he didn’t see Harvey again. It could all have been a ruse.

  Why didn’t I see this before? It’s so obvious. He and Leo are working together. Harvey procures girls and Leo puts them to work as sex slaves. I can see it all. On the Friday night Harvey calls Zelena and gives her some line, something like he couldn’t be without her so when he got to California, he missed her so much he took the next plane back to be with her. He asks her would she come down and meet him in the lobby right now. She rushes down and falls into his arms and he takes her off to the Golden Dragon and Leo. He and Leo are big buddies from way back. It makes complete sense.

  Except that it doesn’t.

  There’s one thing that doesn’t fit.

  Phil had the security manager at the hotel check videos from the front door cameras. Zelena got into a cab alone and Phil tracked down the cab driver from his licence plate. He took her to IF, not to the Golden Dragon.

  I turn back to Mr. Zhao, who is standing patiently ready to help. “She took a taxi by herself that night. Do you know where Mr. Lim went?”

  “I don’t know sir. They walked past me towards the front door and I had to help another guest. Maybe ask one of the doormen.”

  I thank him effusively and head for the front door.

  I pull out my photo of Zelena but neither of the doormen have any memory of seeing Zelena on that Friday night.

  I get in a cab and head for the Hilton.

  This time he picks up. “Nick, it’s Cal.”

  “What the hell are you doing at the Hilton? We were worried sick about you.”

  “I called you a couple of hours ago but you didn’t pick up.”

  “Oh crap. Was that you? I thought—ˮ

  “Never mind. I got taken by Leo and his thugs. They tried to kill me but I managed to escape.”

  “What happened?”

  “I’ll give you the details later. I found out it’s the boyfriend who set her up.” I tell him about my conversation with Mr. Zhao.

  “Jeez. What a slime. What are you going to do next?”

  “It’s two in the morning here. I’m going to go see Phil Jiang first thing and see if we can put together a plan. I’m thinking we could turn the tables on them and kidnap Harvey Lim. He’s still here staying at the Kerry.”

  “Committing a crime in a foreign country may not be the smartest plan you ever had Rogan. You should definitely talk it over with Phil first. He seems like a good guy.”

  “You talked to him?” I ask.

  “Yeah.” He hesitates for a second. “Yeah” he repeats, with another pause. “When you went missing I phoned him to see if he knew where you were.”

  “Good idea. You’re right. He is a good guy. I’m sure we can work this out together.”

  “Maybe you should go to the police. With the evidence of the concierge guy and the hotel cameras plus Phil talking to the taxi driver who took her to that nightclub, it’s probably enough for them to pick up Harvey and ask him some hard questions.”

  “Normally, I’d agree, but Phil and I worked out Inspector Ho is dirty. He tipped off the guys at the place where I found Aleksander. By the time he got his act together to raid the place, they’d cleared out.” As I say it, something picks at my mind. I stifle a yawn. Maybe I’m too tired to think straight.

  “Inspector Ho’s not the only cop in Hong Kong. Phil must know at least one clean cop.”

  “You’re right. I’ll talk to him tomorrow.”

  “You sound like you need a good night’s sleep.”

  “You’re right again. Before I go, how’s it going there?”

  He tells me about his plan for Big Bob Pridmore and I feel a wave of relief hit me. I can feel my old optimism return. With Stammo Rogan Investigation restored and a good result with Zelena we’ll be back on top.

  I knock on the door. Five hours of sleep and a Hilton English breakfast have restored me. No response. I stare at the door. There are five company names in both English and Chinese. Jiang and Lee is at the bottom. I wonder if Phil and his partner, the taciturn Mr. Lee, own all these companies. I raise my hand to knock again just as he opens the door. Phil’s face is priceless: surprise, followed by an instant of puzzlement and then a broad smile. “Cal, I am so glad to see you. Where have you been?” He opens the door wide and I step inside.

  Everything is the same as on my previous visits except Mr. Lee is sitting at one of the desks with the computer monitors on them. He gives me a glance so I smile and nod, but he turns back to his screens and studiously ignores me.

  Phil gestures towards the sofa and chairs in the corner of the office. “Sit down. Make yourself comfortable,” he says.

  As I do, he asks again, “Where were you?”

  “Leo’s thugs kidnapped me. They tried to kill me.”

  “What happened?” he asks.

  I tell him in detail about my abortive attempt to follow who I thought was Leo and how they turned the tables on me outside the Buddhist temple.

  “When I woke up, I was in a room, like a hotel room, and Leo came to interrogate me.”

  “What about?”

  “It was odd, he only had one question. He asked me how I knew Zelena and Aleksander were being held at one-oh-five Temple Street.”

  “How did you know?” Phil asks.

  “Didn’t I tell you, we’ve been—ˮ I stop in mid-sentence. I just saw the implication in Leo’s question. “Wait a minute…” I think it through again. Why the hell didn’t I see this before? “I’ve made a big mistake,” I tell him. “When Inspector Ho raided one-oh-five, no one was there. We assumed Ho had tipped off Leo so he could get the girls and most of their stuff out of there. But earlier that morning, I told Ho how I knew about one-oh-five. If Ho’s working for Leo, Leo would have known too. He wouldn’t have needed to ask me. I’ve done Ho a disservice. He can’t be working for Leo. I need to go and see him.”

  Phil digests this for a moment.

  “Maybe Ho is playing a clever game,” he says. “He takes money from Leo for warning him about possible actions against him but keeps the source of his knowledge a secret. When you’re taking bribes you don’t want
to reveal too much to the people who are bribing you.”

  “Wheels within wheels,” I murmur. Maybe I won’t go to see Ho after all.

  “So how did you know?” he asks.

  I chuckle. “I gave Leo a cockamamie story about seeing it in Aleksander’s papers. The truth is, Leo, or someone, makes Zelena post stuff on social media. They’re obviously trying to keep up the pretence she’s a free agent and everything is fine. However, she is a smart cookie and we have found out a way to communicate with her over Instagram.”

  “Are you serious!”

  I tell him about Zelena’s H E L P messages and how we have been communicating via the fictitious Matt Standing.

  “That’s amazing.ˮ

  He’s cut off by the loud scraping of a chair across the floor. I turn and see Mr. Lee getting awkwardly to his feet. The normally quiet Phil snaps rapid-fire Cantonese at his partner who looks embarrassed for a moment before flopping back down into his chair. He replies with three syllables. Phil gets up and walks over to the filing cabinet. He opens the top drawer, riffles through until he finds a file folder, which he pulls out. Without a word he drops it on Lee’s desk, turns and comes back to sit across from me.

  Making no reference to the odd scene that he and his partner just played out, he asks, “How did you escape from Leo’s people?”

  I tell him about last night’s grave digging episode, followed by the change of plan and the attempt to fill me full of drugs.

  “Why didn’t they just kill you and dump your body in the grave?” he asks.

  Now it’s my turn to look embarrassed. I take a deep breath. “I used to have a drug problem. I guess they figured it would be best for me to be found in an alley, dead from a massive overdose, than to go missing. Everyone would think I just relapsed and had one final high.”

  “But how would they know about your problem?” he asks.

  “That is the mystery,” I sigh. “Maybe Ho made some inquiries with the Vancouver Police Department.”

  He thinks for a while. “Did you tell your partner about this?”

  “No. I talked to him at two o’clock this morning. I told him they’d kidnapped me but I didn’t talk to him about the details.” It reminds me of what we did talk about. I tell him about my conversation with Mr. Zhao, the night concierge.

  “That makes complete sense,” he says. “When I looked at the video of Zelena getting into the taxi, just before she got in she looked back and smiled. At the time, I thought she was smiling at one of the doormen but she must have been smiling at Harvey. Son of a—” he looks crestfallen. “I should have thought of that.”

  “You couldn’t have known,” I tell him.

  “So what were you planning to do?” he asks.

  “I think I need to take it to the police. Inspector Ho is out of the question but I was wondering if you knew any cops who could be trusted.”

  “Yes, sure. I know a couple, do you want me to call one of them?”

  “I think we should.”

  He pulls out his phone and is soon having a conversation with his contact. In the stream of Cantonese, I recognize my name and Zelena’s but nothing else. He hangs up with a big smile. “It’s all good,” he says. “My contact wants to meet with us. I mentioned Inspector Ho, and he told me Ho is under investigation at the moment. Anyway, he’s at the court house right now, he has to give evidence at a trial this morning but he said he’d meet us here at two this afternoon.”

  “You don’t know how relieved I am,” I sigh. “Leo’s pretty tough but I think Harvey Lim may very well break under interrogation. Maybe by this evening, we’ll know where Zelena is.” I check my watch. “It’s just after six in the evening in Vancouver, I should call Nick and give him an update.”

  Phil chuckles. “You know what, Cal? You should relax a bit. From when we sit down with my guy, it’s going to be all action for a while. Take a break. You’re a block and a half from Nathan Road. Why don’t you go and buy some stuff for your girlfriend and your daughter?”

  I feel a pang of guilt that I haven’t even thought about Tina or Ellie, or Sam for that matter. “You’re right.”

  I stand up and shake his hand. “We’ll soon have this all tied up.”

  “We sure will,” he says with a big smile.

  I like working with this guy.

  He’s one of the good ones.

  “Hello, this is Tina Johal.” My heart skips at the sound of her voice and I find myself tongue-tied for a second. “Hello,” she repeats.

  “Tina, it’s me,” I say.

  She’s silent for a moment… a long moment. “Hello?” I say.

  “Why didn’t you call me? I’ve called you so many times over the last two days.”

  “I got kidnapped by the people who stabbed you. They held me captive for a day and a half. I only just bought a cellphone.” Even I can hear the guilt in my voice caused by the fact I didn’t call her sooner.

  “Oh,” she says, “That’s why I didn’t recognize the number.”

  “How are you?” I ask.

  “Much better now,” she says, “They kept me in VGH for a day and a half then my parents brought me home. They have been driving me batty. I only managed to convince them to go home this evening.”

  Another bout of uncomfortable silence.

  I break it with, “I am so sorry about what happened.” The words tumble out of me. “It was my fault. I should never have taken you with me. I should have known it would be dangerous. I am so, so sorry. I shouldn’t have put you at risk.”

  She gives a little laugh. “It wasn’t your fault. And if you remember, you didn’t take me, I took myself.”

  “I love you,” I say.

  I hold my breath for two long seconds before she says, “I love you too.” A beat and then, “When will you be home?”

  “With a bit of luck this will all be over tonight or tomorrow and believe me, I will be on the first plane out of here.”

  She laughs, then yelps. “It hurts when I laugh. No need to rush. I’ll be here when you get home. Besides, my stomach is still stitched together—inside and out—so I won’t be very active for a couple of days. Nudge, nudge, wink, wink.”

  I laugh, not because I understand what the last four words mean—I don’t have a clue—but because I’m happy.

  I’m sitting in a restaurant across the road from Phil’s office. It’s twelve-thirty. The meeting with his colleague in the Hong Kong police is not for another ninety minutes. I didn’t eat anything yesterday and I am compensating with a large array of deliciously smelling dishes and a glass of Heineken. It’s nice, but I do miss my craft beers.

  My phone rings. The first call on my cheap-o cellphone. “Hello. Cal Rogan.”

  “Hi Daddy, why do you have a new phone number?”

  “Hi Sweetie, thanks for calling me back. What time is it there?”

  She giggles. “Past my bedtime. And you didn’t answer my question.”

  Sheesh! You can’t get anything past this girl. “Some bad guys stole my old one.”

  “Have you found the missing girl?”

  Did I tell her about this case? “Not yet, but I’m hoping we are going to know where she is tomorrow.”

  “Is Uncle Nick over there with you?”

  “No he’s in Vancouver dealing with another bad guy. I’m working with a local private detective over here. His name’s Phil. He has a partner too but his partner’s a bit weird.”

  “Not like Uncle Nick.”

  “No Sweetie, not at all like Uncle Nick.” I can’t suppress a chuckle. There was a time, not so many years ago, when I thought Nick was a bit weird… and a lot worse than just weird. When I think back to the time of Kevin’s death, Nick and I pretty much hated each other. We’ve come a long way. Maybe I should cut Mr. Lee some slack.

  Ellie switches gears. “You know it’s only two more sleeps until Mommy and I arrive in Vancouver.”

  “I do know that,” I say, the big smile on my face getting wider. “I can’
t wait.”

  “I’ve been messaging my friends at St. Cecelia’s. I’ve really missed them. Did you know what Ariana said the other day…”

  As she prattles on about a bunch of girls I don’t really remember, I dip a shrimp dumpling into some soy sauce and pop it into my mouth. As I chew appreciatively, my gaze drifts across the street. One man stands out from the lunchtime crowd thronging the sidewalk. He has a pronounced limp, which gives him an unusual rolling gait. I recognize that gait. I have seen this man before. Then I get it. Two nights ago, he left the Golden Dragon with the thug I thought was Leo. At the time I thought he looked familiar but now I know why. He steps off the sidewalk to avoid a gaggle of students and I can see his face clearly.

  A bolt of electricity gallops up my spine.

  It’s Phil’s partner, Mr. Lee.

  I watch as he pushes through the doors into Phil’s building.

  I interrupt Ellie’s ramble. “Sorry, sweetie, I have to go.”

  “You sound excited, have you seen the bad man who stole your phone?”

  “Kind of. I’ll talk to you tomorrow, OK?”

  We make kissy sounds at each other and hang up.

  I take three deep breaths to calm the maelstrom that is my consciousness. I need to think this through calmly. OK. Another deep breath. I saw Phil’s partner walking and chatting with one of Leo’s gang members two nights ago. The most charitable take on it is that Lee was staking out the Golden Dragon, just as I was, and he approached Leo’s guy to try and pump him for information. Even as I think it, I reject it as unlikely. I have to assume Mr. Lee is part of the same triad as Leo.

  But I’ve gone wrong before by assuming stuff.

  What if—

  And then it gets worse. On the sidewalk, I spot two old friends, one with his nose encased in bandages. It’s Steroids and Fats. They too push through the doors into Phil’s building.

  So where does Phil Jiang stand? All my instincts tell me he’s a heads-up guy. Maybe he doesn’t know about Lee’s connection with the gang. Maybe Lee is using him. I think through all my interactions with Phil. Nothing seems wrong. Except for one thing.