by Ann Massey
‘Oh my god,’ groaned Tuff, rolling her eyes in mock horror and snuggling closer.
Joe looked at his Rolex. It was still two hours short of midnight. Tan would be at the casino where he hung out most nights and Joe knew he would have to call on his services. He was furious at having to ask a favour from his new partner, and he glared at his wife and younger son, who were huddled in a corner whispering. By the time he had phoned the Triad boss and arranged for Mei Li to be smuggled out of the country, Pau had arrived at the
flat.
‘Tan will send round his men tomorrow to pack the goods we’re shipping back home,’ Joe told his sons.
‘But how can you be sure she won’t talk when we get her back to Miri?’ Clarence still felt troubled. Mei Li was resourceful and it was his head on the chopping block. Joe knew it was too dangerous to take her back to Borneo, even if he cut out her tongue. ‘What makes you think she’s even coming back with us?’
‘I bet she’s off to Saudi as a sex slave,’ guessed Pau, and he laughed, pleased to settle an old score with David.
‘Got it in one,’ his father replied, the lie coming easily. He had something else in mind but he didn’t mention the gang’s lucrative trade in body parts. He’d ease his sons into the business bit by bit. He smiled to himself at the unintentional pun.
‘I wish there was some other way.’
‘Stay out of the kitchen if you can’t take the heat, Clarence,’ and Joe glowered at his weak younger son in disgust.
Chapter 34
MEI LI OPENED HER EYES TO DARKNESS – deep, dark and impenetrable. The dampness of the hard flagstone floor soaked into her clothes, chilling her skin and creeping into her bones. Her body felt numb from lying in one spot for too long. She listened to silence overlaid with the sound of her own rapid breathing. A violent spasm shook her and she curled up on the floor, her arms wrapped tightly around her shaking body. Never had she felt so lost and frightened. Fear like a dense, deep fog wrapped round her, intensifying her despair .She knew nobody would be able to find her. She was going to die in this cellar, in the dark … alone. Oh Grandma, she whispered, where are you? I’m scared. I don’t want to die.
But Mei Li was descended from a line of courageous, resourceful women. Her decision to live seemed to calm her: her heart rate steadied and the pounding in her ears subsided. She struggled to stand, but the shooting pains in her legs were too painful. Her legs buckled under and she sank to her knees. Gritting her teeth, she crawled blindly over the uneven flags until she bumped her head against a brick wall. Ignoring the pain, she used the wall for leverage and raised herself up, leaning her head against the rough wall as blood flowed like burning needles into her numb feet and legs.
Four painful sidesteps to the right took her to the door. Sliding her hands up, down and across the rough wooden surface, she found the doorknob. Her hand curled round the knob and she turned it. She swallowed a sob. Stupid to get upset, she told herself. She knew it would be locked. Think! she told herself. Maybe there was a light switch. She was rewarded when her probing fingers felt the smooth surface of the Bakelite wall plate. She let out a laugh that ended on a sob and pressed the switch down.
The bulb flickered on and off, on and off, and the brief, jerky flashes of light revealed a poky junk room. For years the disused coalhole had been used as a store for generations of trash: a wooden ladder was leaning against a heavy Victorian sideboard; a rusty obsolete mangle was wedged up against an old rocking horse; old-fashioned furniture and broken toys were piled up high against the brick walls on all sides of the room. There were all sorts of things that just seemed to have been thrown into the room. Tins and boxes full of forsaken odds and ends had been stacked on top of broken furniture and crates.
There was no other way out. Mei Li stared around the room at walls bare of window or another door. It would have been so easy to throw herself down on the tired old couch and sob her heart out.
Never! she vowed to herself. She was a Dayak and Dayaks were warriors. If she had to, she would fight her way out. She looked round for something she could use as a weapon.
A collection of old tools was heaped up against the wall. She moved a rake and the whole lot clattered to the ground with a resounding clang. Under the jumble she saw the blade of a coal shovel glittering in the flickering light. The rusty, short-handled spade, used to fill the scuttles with coal to heat the household, had lain forgotten for over sixty years. She grasped it, felt its solid weight with satisfaction. She gripped it tightly, brought it back across her body and tried a practice swing. All it would take was one good blow. Now there was nothing else to do but wait. She lay down on the couch, facing the door, prepared. With a weak splutter the naked bulb fizzled out and the cell was once more shrouded in darkness. After the short respite, incarceration in the pitch-black cellar seemed twice as bad and Mei Li finally broke down and bawled.
Always, in times of trouble, Lada had sent her spirit to guide Mei Li. Why now, when she needed her counsel as never before, had she abandoned her? There was only one thing to be done, Mei Li decided. Her own spirit would have to seek out her grandmother. It was a perilous undertaking and the consequences were dire. Unsanctioned travel was prohibited and punishable by divine law.
Mei Li knew that the gift of metaphysical travel was only bestowed on exceptional women. Women who defied the spirits and attempted to travel without first winning the approval of the spirits fell into layu, a state of lifelessness. Mei Li feared layu as much as the next woman. She knew you never recovered and death was the only release. But her need was great, greater than her fear of breaking the taboo.
Mei Li stared off into the distance, focusing on her grandmother. Pictures formed in her mind as she hummed a soft, wordless melody. She saw again the long, low wooden house on stilts in a leafy clearing at the edge of the jungle; welcoming; rich with the sweet spicy aroma of shared feasts; resounding with the swelling, untamed symphony, with every insect, bird, reptile and animal playing out its heart. In that house she knew there would be a tiny, formidable old woman with wise eyes and a brown leathery face weaving an intricate pattern she’d learned in a dream.
Mei Li’s own song burst from her lips and she chanted it passionately, like an anthem:
‘The vast river captures me,
The current like white water over rocks spurs me on.
I mount the riding moon.
The starry sky lights my way.’
The air was redolent with the intoxicating scent of the jungle, the sweet, spicy, pungent aroma of home. Rising from the couch, Mei Li gazed down for a moment at her frozen sheath. Set free, she soared toward the hidden shore.
Dawn on the Pangup, and the early-morning mist was just clearing. In a sandy cove where dazzling white sand blinded the eye like sunlit snow, Dayak women, their hand-woven sarongs clinging to their wet bodies, scrubbed their clothes with smooth river rocks while their naked children splashed in the shallows. Mei Li looked about in wonder. How could she have forgotten the peaceful pleasures of home?
Rounding a bend in the river, by the edge of a mangrove swamp where the morning mist was still lingering, she saw Lada sitting cross-legged under a casuarina tree and staring into the distance. Immediately she began to paddle faster, desperate to reach the one person in her life who had never let her down, the wise woman who would tell her what she should do. Straining every muscle, she paddled swiftly through a sudden tropical storm as arrowheads of rain like stinging poisoned needles from thousands of warriors’ blowpipes pierced her bare arms and face.
Huge waves broke over the tiny canoe. The strong current was pushing her back, and although she paddled harder and harder her grandmother seemed to be moving further and further away. Mei Li knew she had to act quickly or it would be too late; the water was rising and the gathering mist was fast obscuring the tiny figure on the distant riverbank.
Standing precariously in the rocking boat, she shouted over the din of the raging torrent, ‘Oh Grandma, help
me.’
‘This time you have to weather the storm under your own strength, Little Lotus.’
‘But I’m locked in a dungeon,’ screamed Mei Li, hoping her grandmother would hear her cry over the rumbling thunder.
Flash lightning lit up the sky. For a few mystical moments a haloed figure shimmered with a brilliant radiance before swirling mist, as thick as smoke, concealed the shining vision – but not the far-off response. The gusty vibrations whispered on the winnowing wind: ‘Look for another way out. Look, look!’
Mei Li looked towards the shrouded shore. What had been vibrant and intense moments ago now seemed vague and filmy. She felt disorientated and very confused. What would happen if she got stuck in the astral plane and wasn’t able to return to her physical body? Would she be forever trapped twixt the Land of the Living and the River of the Dead, a homeless entity, belonging nowhere?
There was a flash. She dipped to avoid the bolt, and landed with a jolt in her empty body.
Chapter 35
‘KEEP THE CHANGE,’ SAID DAVID WITH A FROWN. He didn’t have time to wait while the cabbie searched through his wallet. All he was interested in was finding out if there’d been any fresh information about Mei Li’.
‘Thanks, guv,’ said the taxi driver with a pleased grin. ‘I’ll be back at eleven-thirty on the dot.’ He pulled out in front of a removal van and headed back to the city.
David stepped to the side to allow the removalists to pass by him. They were struggling with a pine packing case, which they humped into the van. He watched them for a moment and then strode up the cobbled path.
Madame Ling answered the door, quite unlike herself still in her dressing gown at ten in the morning.
‘Oh, David,’ she said, looking flustered. ‘You find us in chaos. As you know, we’re going home tomorrow and the packers are here. Mr Soames, the gentleman we rented the flat from, offered to let us buy any of the furniture we liked and, well, there are quite a few nice pieces. But that’s not why you’re here. Is there any news of Mei Li?’
He shook his head. ‘No. I would like to speak with Clarence if he’s home.’
‘Of course, David, but I don’t think he can tell you any more than what he said last night. Please have a seat and I’ll see if I can find him, and then I’ll organise some tea for us. Adele’s gone shopping with the maid. She wanted to buy some last-minute presents for her little friends at home and that’s the reason you find me answering the door and running my own errands.’ Nervously, she tightened the sash of her dressing gown and reknotted it, thankful she’d had the foresight to make sure Adele was out of the house. Relying on her daughter to confirm her brother’s story was precarious as a pile of eggs.
‘Please don’t put yourself to any trouble, Madame Ling. If I can just have a quick word with Clarence,’ said David, feeling very much in the way.
‘I’ll be right back,’ she said, and went out of the room, closing the door behind her.
Too restless to sit, David walked over to the windows. One of the brawny packers took a drill out of a bulky tool bag and screwed down the lid of the packing case. He shoved the trolley underneath its front edge and rolled it up the ramp. A few minutes later the men came out carrying a stack of flat cardboard boxes. David screwed up his eyes and stared at them; they were Chinese. His father had mentioned that the company was expanding its export division. He looked at the logo on the van – Global Logistics – and made a mental note to look them up.
Twenty minutes passed before he heard the door open.
‘Mother told me you wanted to talk to me about Mei Li,’ said Clarence, a look of concern on his moonish face. ‘I don’t know what else I can tell you. Like I told you on the phone, I dropped her off outside Victoria Street Station. I waited until a cab pulled up. The passenger, I’m sure it was Tuff, rolled down the window and said something to Mei Li and she got in. And that was the last I saw of her. I’m sorry, David. I feel terrible. I suppose it’s much too soon for the police to get involved. Doesn’t a person have to be missing for two or three days before they’ll look into it?’
‘It’s a common misconception that a person must be absent for seventy-two hours before being legally classed as missing, but this is rarely the case and certainly not in these circumstances. Mei Li has disappeared in the company of a prime suspect in a murder case,’ said David, sounding like a lawyer.
David got to his feet as Madam Ling came through the door carrying a tray of pastries.
‘Surely you don’t believe Tuff would harm her own daughter,’ said Madam Ling, looking around for somewhere to put the tray. She’d changed into loose, wide pants and a flowing top, but she still seemed edgy and distracted. ‘I think you’ll find that she’s just frightened that the media is going to give her a hard time and she’s trying to keep her hiding place secret. Wouldn’t you, in her shoes?’
‘I hope you’re right, Madame Ling.’ She sounded impatient and David could tell she wanted to get on with organising the move. He shook his head when she offered him a pastry. ‘No, thank you. I won’t take up any more of your time. I can see how busy you are. Have a safe journey home. Mother and Father send their regards.’
As he was leaving Pau came into the room, yawning. ‘I hear the bird has flown the coop,’ he said, helping himself to a Danish. ‘Well, you know what they say. If she comes back she’s yours, if she doesn’t she never was.’
David hadn’t trusted himself to answer. He wished he could have wiped that smug smile off Pau’s face. He looked up and down the street and checked the time, again. Where was that damned taxi? He’d wasted the whole morning on a wild goose chase. Clarence was a decent guy and he had no reason to doubt he’d told the truth. Now if Mei had gone off in a car with Pau, well, that would be a different story, he told himself, still angry.
A pretty, heavy-set young woman with dark hair was walking up the square holding a small boy’s hand. The child was holding a bright yellow soccer ball. He dropped it and it rolled under the truck. David bent down, picked up the ball and gently kicked it back to him. The boy smiled and waved goodbye to him all the way up the avenue until he and the au pair had turned into the park.
David looked at his watch. Damn it, where was that taxi?
Adele was feeling tired. It was a long walk from the tube station and even though her maid was carrying three-quarters of the shopping she was still weighed down with carrier bags.
‘Not much further now,’ said the maid as they turned into the square.
‘It’s miles,’ said Adele petulantly. ‘And they haven’t finished yet. The van’s still there.’ She stopped. In an instant her bad temper evaporated as she recognised the familiar figure pacing up and down the pavement. ‘Oh look, it’s David,’ she cried. ‘Thank goodness we came back early. I might’ve missed him.’ She still had a crush on him and she was pleased he’d come alone. Mei Li must be having a sleep-in. She knew it had been late when Clarence took her around to David’s flat.
She raced off but she’d only got a few metres when she rushed back again. ‘Where’s that present I bought for Mei Li? Is it in one of your bags? Quick, have a look.’
Several minutes elapsed before the small package containing a carefully wrapped crystal figurine was found at the bottom of the last bag.
‘You bring the rest,’ yelled Adele. She ran ahead, holding the package against her chest and calling out David’s name.
A taxi pulled up next to the van. Oh no, thought Adele, quickening her pace, running faster than she’d ever run in her life. David was talking to the cab driver and if she didn’t do something now he’d drive off. The plump little girl ran and ran. Her heart was beating faster and faster and she was so tired that it seemed to her that she couldn’t run another step. Gasping, she screamed David’s name. The choked cry was absorbed by the dull roar of the passing traffic.
‘Sorry, guv, the traffic’s all snarled up.’ The cabbie opened the door for his passenger, the five-pound tip still fresh in his memory.
Red-faced and panting, too out of breath to yell again, Adele half walked and half ran, but she was too late. The cab sped off. In the back of the cab, unaware of how close he’d been to finding out the truth, David once again called Tuff’s home number as Adele staggered the last ten metres home.
It was late morning when Mei Li woke. Rays of morning sun illuminated the narrow gap round the rim of the coalhole cover, a hatch in the pavement above the underground cellar that had been installed so the coal could be delivered straight to the bunker and the coalman didn’t need to enter the house with dirty sacks of coal. Perplexed, Mei Li stared at the glowing circle that had appeared as if by magic on the ceiling. Could that be the way out that her grandmother had told her to find?
She remembered seeing a ladder in the corner of the room and closed her eyes, trying to recall its location. Kicking aside or clambering over the jumble of junk, she found the ladder propped against a wall. By pulling, pushing, twisting and turning, Mei Li finally managed to get the rickety old ladder where she wanted it. When it was in position it was less than a metre short of the ceiling. Fear of falling didn’t enter Mei Li’s head. Used to shinning up trees since she could walk, she climbed up the ladder swiftly, like a monkey up a palm tree. The coalhole cover was almost directly above her head and she was able to reach it easily from the last but one rung. Curious, she ran a finger round the illuminated edge, probing with her nail the tiny gap between the rim of the lid and the raised metal frame through which the light was gleaming. Suddenly an exciting thought occurred to her: could it possibly be daylight?
Instantly her chest felt tight and she couldn’t breath. It felt like all the air had been squeezed out of her and she was conscious of the blood pounding in her ears like a surging tide. Mei Li realised that the basement was accessible from above, hopefully from the street, which meant that the only obstacle to escape was a mere metal lid.
