“Sure, contact my brother he will sort all of those things for you.”
Behind Leo, the door clattered open.
“Thank you for coming,” Jamie said reaching out and touching Leo on the back of the hand. “Believe me, I haven’t done anything. I’m innocent. You find Isobel and I can have my life back.”
“Out now,” the guard said, putting his hand on Leo’s shoulder.
“I’ll look into it,” Leo said as he was led out of the room and back into the warren of grey corridors.
Chapter 25
The final tourists of the day shuffle up to the Victoria Peak viewing platform. Behind them, Hong Kong stretches back into golden twilight as though posing just for their photos. The lights of the buildings clustered around the slope begin to flicker to life. Each building strains to reach upwards, although none are as high as The Peak itself.
In the middle’s a girl with red hair tied high on her head. She’s pretty. She’s talking to the people around her as though they’ve known each other for months when, in reality, it’s been minutes.
Behind her, the silver slither of Kowloon Bay is flecked with the Star Ferries, junk boats and floating restaurants which cruise between Hong Kong island and Kowloon.
As the sun descends behind the final wisps of cloud, a cruise ship – a wall of white against the grey-blue channel – sounds its horn as it breaks from the land.
The group smiles for pictures. Gazing into lenses, they think of likes, digital thumbs up and jealous friends.
Isobel doesn’t; she’s long since forgotten social media, she doesn’t care about that. That’s one compromise with pretending to be dead. But there’s no one she wants to talk to anyway. She’s here, and that’s all that matters now.
Behind her, Kowloon stretches into nothing. Neon lights will soon flicker into a chaos of multi-coloured promises. The smells of fish sauce and stir-fried onions will tumble into the street and a new kind of day will begin. The man-made day which cities like this are dragged through every time the sun goes down.
Beyond Kowloon, mainland China lurks. A monolithic landmass stretching almost halfway back to London. A place to which Isobel has no want to return.
The phone call was a stroke of genius and it was so easy to do. Just a few shouts down the phone with some recorded noise playing in the background. She just needed something, something to guarantee he’d be charged. To guarantee they wouldn’t come looking for her.
Watching the glimmering buildings against the angry sky, Isobel unclips her hair and lets it fall over her shoulders.
The journey to Hong Kong wasn’t easy. First overland from London to Paris on the coach. She knew passport checks on leaving the UK to Europe on coaches were random, and she was lucky to avoid it. Then more busses and trains, arriving in Istanbul three days later. From there, a flight to Hong Kong. Her hope was that if anyone was looking for her, they wouldn’t think to check flights from that far away. So far, it’s seemed to work. There’s been no knock at the door, no dark figures waiting for her – no one seems to be interested at all.
But it’s tomorrow when the real fun will begin. The job she’s always wanted. The job she deserves. The only issue remains. She must become Jamie Price.
Chapter 26
The first few days of an investigation were always the hardest, Leo thought as he and Allissa sat around their coffee table, piled high with maps and notes from the Edinburgh case. The start was hard because not only did they know nothing, but they didn’t know what they were looking for. As such, everything had to be kept and logged, in case, at some point soon, its relevance became clear.
“This could be an interesting one,” Leo said, explaining what Jamie had told him. Leo knew if it went well it also had the potential to become a high-profile case.
“But is there actually anything to suggest he’s telling the truth?”
“I suppose not. There’s nothing concrete, but I feel like he’s telling the truth. It would be pointless to hire someone to investigate if you thought what they might find would incriminate you further.”
“Alright,” nodded Allissa. “Where do we start?”
“I’m going to call the brother, get anything I can from him sent over. Bank statements, ID, login to his social media if possible. We need to gather everything we can about both people involved. Jamie and Isobel. Who they are, where they’re from, what they do. Get to know them. Then we’ll see if anything jumps out at us.”
“Sure.” Allissa reached for the laptop as Leo started to clear the coffee table. The maps of Edinburgh would have to go away. Leo had almost finished passing it on to his local contact anyway. Now they needed space to think about this new case. To draw things together and make connections. Anything that would give them a clue where Isobel, if she was alive, would have gone.
Chapter 27
“Hi,” Isobel mouthed silently to the receptionist who was speaking quickly into her headset. Behind the reception desk the open plan office of OZ Architecture occupied the entire floor. Through the full height windows, the outlines of the surrounding towers of Hong Kong Island glimmered in the bright morning.
Despite the size of the office, no more than a dozen people seemed to be working. Isobel tried to swallow her nerves. She had imagined the company employing four times that. She thought it would be a company so big she could join the team and work unnoticed.
“Hello, can I help you?” the receptionist said, switching to English from the telephone conversation she’d just ended.
“I’m Jamie Price,” Isobel said, patting down her skirt and straightening the shirt which she knew hinted at her curves beneath. “I start work here today.”
“Welcome,” smiled the young lady, microphone and earpiece dangling from her head. “Take a seat and I’ll let the director know you’re here. He likes to welcome new staff personally.”
“Okay, thanks,” Isobel said, swallowing hard. Today was risky. There was a chance she would be found out instantly. But she needed this so much. She deserved it. This was the only way. It had to be worth the risk.
Before leaving, Isobel had done her research. Jamie had been interviewed and recommended for the position by an agency in the UK. She knew he hadn’t visited the company in Hong Kong, but his details would have been passed on by the agent. What she was counting on, what she was betting her life on, was that they hadn’t received a photograph. Or if they had, it wouldn’t be remembered.
She hadn’t expected the team to be only twelve people and to be meeting the director on her first day.
Sitting on a minimalist plastic moulded chair, Isobel crossed and re-crossed her legs. She already had her excuse prepared if he noticed. She’d look confused, make some noise about there being a mix up at the agency. Would they believe that the agency had got the details wrong without checking? It was possible.
Opening her bag, Isobel gripped the passport she’d had forged before leaving the UK. The fake was good, it looked and felt just like her own passport stashed back in her hotel. This one had previously belonged to someone from Essex. They’d used it well. Isobel had been through it at least ten times and made sure she could say a few words about each of the places she was supposed to have visited.
Of course, Cambodia. I spent a week at Angkor Wat, incredible place.
The previous owner’s address was still printed in it, now beneath her picture. She’d already used it to set up a bank account for her wages to be paid into.
Although the fake was good, she’d been warned it wouldn’t pass an electronic scan. As such, she’d used her own passport on the flight from Istanbul to Hong Kong. It hadn’t seemed to raise any alarms. Maybe no one was even looking for Isobel Clarke.
“Jamie,” came a male voice.
Isobel shut the passport and pushed it back into the bag.
“Yes,” she stood, holding the bag awkwardly in front of her for a moment before letting it drop to her side.
“I’m Sam Yee,” said the man crossing the
office towards the reception area. Isobel noticed his eyes drift across her figure before meeting hers.
“Jamie Price,” Isobel said, using the name she had practised in the mirror numerous times and taking Yee’s hand.
“I trust your journey was fine, and you’re settling in well,” Yee said. “Come with me, we will have coffee in my office, then you’ll meet the team.”
Chapter 28
Allissa smiled as she navigated through the first few pages of her search. Beside her, Leo cleared the coffee table of their previous case’s notes and files. Having a clean slate to start with was one of their favourite parts of the job. They’d start with nothing and build up a working knowledge of a person or people until they knew them like friends. Although Allissa had never been trained in psychology, she enjoyed making assumptions about people she’d never met. So far, most of her assumptions had turned out to be close to the truth.
As Leo dropped the piled-up papers from the Edinburgh case into a large plastic box and slid them beneath the table, Allissa scrolled through the search results for “Jamie Price Architect.”
“That’s interesting,” she said looking down the results.
“What?”
“None of these results are about our Jamie Price. You’d expect someone like that to have a LinkedIn account or something, especially if he was looking for work.”
Leo agreed, dropping to the sofa next to Allissa.
“Jamie Price is a common name. There are a few of him, but you’d expect him to have been in the top couple of pages.” Allissa clicked through to the next page of results.
“You’re right. He wasn’t a shy or introverted type of guy. He definitely would have used social media,” Leo said leaning in to better see the screen. Then, feeling Allissa’s arm brush his, he shuffled awkwardly away.
“Particularly if he was planning to work abroad. It would then become especially important to keep in touch with friends and family,” Allissa said.
“Yes, let me check with his brother. I’ll get him to send over the links to the accounts he knows about. Want a drink?”
Allissa nodded as Leo crossed the room, picked up his phone from the desk and walked into the kitchen. Allissa could hear him fill the kettle and then switch it on.
“Yes, he definitely has Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram,” Leo said, coming back into the room a few minutes later with two cups of coffee. “His brother is going to look them up and send us over the links now. He’s also going to make the down payment and send us the other bits we need to really get started.”
“Okay, cool, maybe they just weren’t coming up for some reason. I think I’ve found a picture of Isobel Clarke though, based on the description.” Allissa turned the screen to show Leo the picture of a slim red-haired woman in a revealing dress. “Pretty girl, isn’t she?” Allissa watched Leo examine the picture.
“I suppose so,” Leo said dismissively as his phone rung in his hand. “It’s Jamie’s brother again,” he said answering. “What… Right… No that shouldn’t have happened… that’s really interesting, thanks… okay…”
“So that’s interesting,” Leo said, ending the call and looking at Allissa. “For some reason all of Jamie’s social media accounts have been deactivated.”
“Could he have done that?”
“He wouldn’t have had a chance to do that himself, and he hadn’t asked his brother to.”
“Very strange,” Allissa said frowning. This case was starting to get interesting.
Chapter 29
“Come in, sit down,” Yee said, holding the door of his office open. Walking past him, Isobel noticed his eyes sink across her figure.
“This is one of my favourite parts of the job,” Yee said, indicating the leather chairs in the corner, beside the wall of glass. Finishing their wander, his eyes met Isobel’s. “Welcoming new members of the team, I mean, it’s so exciting. I love it.”
Isobel paused to look out of the window. Although the view from the main office was impressive, from here it was better. The buildings outside lined up in a tonal tapestry of glass around a golden strip of shimmering sea.
“Yes, it’s a beautiful view isn’t it?” Yee said.
“It is beautiful,” Isobel repeated, pulling herself away from the view. Checking her skirt was in place she lowered herself into the chair opposite Yee.
Yee undid his dark jacket and leaned back into the chair, folding his arms. The rising sleeve exposed a gold watch on his left wrist.
“Coffee?” Yee asked, the leather creaking as he shifted in his seat.
Isobel nodded. Yee removed his phone and pressed a few buttons.
“You have a lovely office,” Isobel said, looking around. Dark wood contrasted the light streaming through the windows and white walls were adorned with bright modern art.
“Thank you, we designed this building,” Yee said extending an arm. “It was the first time we’d designed anything on Hong Kong Island. At the time, we couldn’t afford to have a place here. A few years later though, when things were going well, this top floor became available. I had to take it. It was a sign.” Yee’s voice was high-pitched, sibilant and hinted at an expensive education.
“Do you believe in signs, Jamie?” Yee asked, leaning back into the chair again, his arms folded tightly.
“How do you mean?”
“Do you believe that the universe gives us signs to tell us something is right?”
Isobel thought for a moment.
“Yes, I suppose I do,” she said. “Although you have to work for these things too,” she added.
“Yes, of course, you’re quite right. But it has seemed to me that if you focus on something enough,” Yee said, fixing Isobel with a stare. “If you want it enough, somehow it’ll happen.”
“I suppose so,” Isobel said. “I’m very ambitious if that’s what you mean. When I know I want something, I work towards it for years if I need to, like this job.” Isobel straightened her back as she spoke.
“Yes, of course.” Yee spun his phone between thumb and finger.
The door opened and the receptionist entered with two cups on a tray. Placing them on the small table between the pair, she retreated again.
“You have to drink it when it’s hot.” Yee reached across, picked up one of the cups and sipped from it flamboyantly.
Isobel watched as he drained the steaming cup, then placed it back on the table.
“We’re all very intimate here,” Yee said, looking directly at Isobel. She wasn’t sure what he meant. “We’re a small team. I hand-pick the people I want to work with, a very intimate group of people.”
“Yes, I’m looking forward to meeting everyone,” Isobel said, smiling and reaching for the coffee.
“You’ll fit right in.” Yee looked through the window beyond Isobel. “Tell me,” he said, focusing on Isobel again. “What do you think is your biggest success so far?”
Isobel talked about one of the projects she’d worked on last year. A new office block in Hounslow. She tried to keep as close to the truth as possible in case he looked it up. Only her personal involvement was exaggerated.
“What about outside of work?” Yee asked, his gaze unfaltering.
Isobel felt a prickle of sweat on her forehead as she thought. She’d run a half marathon two years before. Yee nodded impressively as she told him.
“Tell me, Jamie. What do you make of that picture, the large one in the centre?” Without taking his eyes off Isobel, Yee pointed to the wall behind him. The painting was colourful. Shapes of blue, black and green danced in what seemed like chaotic and senseless circles across an orange background.
“I’ve never…” Isobel started, before pausing. Yee turned briefly to look at the painting. When he turned back, he was grinning.
It’s a sign, Isobel thought, he’s looking for a sign. Saying she didn’t really get modern art definitely wouldn’t wash.
“Hmm,” she said bristling, arching her shoulders and squinting at the canv
as. Yee’s eyes didn’t leave her. “It’s interesting, I’ve not seen it before.”
“Yes, it’s one of my favourites. What do you think it’s about?”
Isobel inhaled slowly; it as though the office had got hotter.
“It… Well it looks, to me at least, like there’s some kind of pain there.” She lifted an arm as though pointing something out. “Like the artist is trying to escape something, you know? I think I’d have to know more about it to make a proper judgement.”
“Interesting,” Yee hissed.
“It’s great, I like it,” Isobel added in case the director was going to say he had painted it himself.
Yee looked at her unblinking.
“Good, me too,” Yee said, standing. “We’ll meet the team now.”
“Yes, of course. It is a lovely painting,” Isobel said, trying to suppress the shiver she felt as Yee indicated she should walk first.
Chapter 30
Beyond the glass of the bay window, seagulls swooped in the clear springtime air. From inside, through the old windows, their mournful cries were still audible as Leo and Allissa continued with their research.
Leo had to remind himself that this part of an investigation always moved slowly. It took a great effort to get things going; there were always dead ends and wrong turns. Sometimes it would feel like it wasn’t worth continuing, like they were stuck, until finally something would click into place. On other occasions the challenge came when information started to be uncovered but didn’t fit together yet.
“Any luck?” Leo turned to Allissa who had got up and crossed the room to the printer. A picture of Isobel slid from the humming machine.
Hong Kong Page 6
