The Borrowed

by Chan Ho-Kei

  Again, Kwan had to suppress a chuckle as he placed his index finger against his lips. ‘Thank you for your report. We have to continue with our investigation now.’

  Kwan and Sonny walked away. The three women began muttering to each other before they were out of earshot.

  ‘“Good at keeping secrets.” Unless she turns mute, I don’t think she’ll ever be good at that, not in this lifetime. No, even if she couldn’t speak, she’d gossip in writing,’ laughed Kwan, once they were back inside the police cordon.

  ‘Commander, why’re we trying to find out about the three victims? Shouldn’t we be looking for suspicious individuals?’ asked Sonny.

  ‘The three victims are the main point,’ said Kwan. ‘Sonny, go back to the station and fetch the car, I’ll wait for you at Queen’s Road.’

  ‘Huh? Where’re we going?’

  ‘Queen Mary Hospital. If we want to crack this case, we’ll have to start with the wounded.’

  ‘Why? Wasn’t this a random attack?

  ‘Random? Not at all.’ Kwan stared up at the rooftop from which the culprit had flung his missiles. ‘This was carefully planned, and there was most definitely a target.’

  5

  SONNY RETURNED TO the station and started his blue Mazda. At the junction of Graham Street and Queen’s Road Central, Kwan stood clutching a small purple plastic bag and waving. When Sonny pulled up, he climbed into the passenger seat.

  ‘Queen Mary Hospital,’ he repeated. Sonny stepped on the accelerator.

  Pulling on his seat belt, Kwan said, ‘I went to tell Wang we were leaving. Turns out he just got an order to follow up on this morning’s fire in West Point too. Investigators think it’s suspicious, so the case has been handed over to the Hong Kong Island Crime Unit. It seems more than twenty residents have been hospitalized. The team’s just been at Queen Mary to take statements from the Graham Street victims, and now they have to stay to talk to the others. At least it’ll save them a trip. Hey, Sonny, are you listening?’

  Sonny started. ‘Ah, um, yes, sorry, Commander, I was thinking about what you said earlier. That the acid-thrower must have had some kind of plan, and a particular target.’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘To begin with, I thought this was a copycat crime,’ said Kwan.

  Sonny looked doubtfully at his commanding officer, wondering what this had to do with his question. ‘A copycat crime?’

  ‘On the face of it, the Graham Street case was fundamentally different from Mong Kok. At the scene, I was still full of confidence in this hypothesis at first,’ said Kwan slowly.

  Sonny understood now why Kwan had looked so dubious when he told Wang ‘it completely fits’ – the environment had given him a completely different answer from the one he expected.

  ‘Why fundamentally different? Both open-air markets, drain cleaner flung from a rooftop, large numbers of injuries...’

  ‘The Mong Kok cases took place on weekend evenings. This was a Friday morning. Doing it by daylight would be far riskier – you might be seen by people in neighbouring buildings, so you’d have to spend as little time as possible up on the roof. Even when leaving, you might be recognized by a passer-by, or captured on a security camera.’

  Sonny got it. They’d jumped straight away to the similarities between the cases, rather than considering how they differed, and why.

  ‘Also,’ Kwan continued, ‘Graham Street on a Friday morning would never be as busy as Ladies’ Alley at the weekend. If the culprit really is a madman who gets his kicks hurting other people, he picked the wrong time and place this time. If he’d waited till the weekend, he’d have had even more prey, and created a bigger commotion. Or he could have picked somewhere with more surrounding buildings to make his getaway easier, somewhere like Jardine’s Crescent Market in Causeway Bay or Tai Yuen Street Market in Wan Chai.’

  ‘So these were two different people?’

  ‘No. The evidence at the scene suggests it was the same person, or at least the same gang. And that contradiction gives us a motive.’

  ‘What motive?’

  ‘Sonny, haven’t you ever read one of those serial-killer novels? If the culprit isn’t some psycho who just enjoys murder, what’s his usual reason?’

  ‘...To hide who his real target is?’ As the answer came to Sonny, a chill of fear ran through him.

  ‘Exactly. I believe this case follows that pattern. Our perp started out in Mong Kok for two reasons – firstly, to create a history of cases, in order to “hide a leaf in the forest”; secondly, for practice. In Mong Kok he learned how to fling the stuff to create maximum damage, how to get away, how to observe the police investigation afterwards, and so on. When I thought this was a copycat, I assumed the imitator just hadn’t planned as well as the Mong Kok guy. But the methods are so similar that I believe it’s most likely the work of one person, which means Mong Kok must have been a rehearsal.’

  ‘Couldn’t Graham Street be a rehearsal too?’

  ‘No, too risky. Even if it had to be here, you’d pick Saturday or Sunday. More people would mean more chaos, and you’d get away more easily. This was the real thing, and so we ought to look at the most seriously wounded.’

  Sonny looked enlightened as he realized why his commander had asked Auntie Soso all about the three victims. Mong Kok had been the scene of trial and error, to see if the drain cleaner would do enough damage. The first time was a failure, which is why he tried the two-bottle method the second time, the first as a feint, the second to create chaos. Once he’d perfected his method, he struck. As it was morning, he used four bottles to create even greater confusion. Old Li, Brother Wai and Boss Chau – one of them must be the real target.

  Who was most likely? Sonny pondered. The practice run in Mong Kok had been six months before, so the target couldn’t be Boss Chau, who’d only taken over the stall three months ago. Brother Wai was well thought of in the neighbourhood. He might have been involved in secret societies as a young man, but had left the underworld to work in the marketplace a good decade ago. Even if he’d left bad blood behind him, no one would wait this long for vengeance. The most likely target was Old Li, also the most seriously wounded, now hovering between life and death – perhaps because the criminal had flung the acid directly at him. No one around here seemed to like him much, and it could well be a jealous husband deciding to teach him a lesson – though starting six months beforehand seemed too premeditated for a crime of passion.

  ‘Hey, drive carefully.’ Superintendent Kwan’s voice brought Sonny back to the present. He’d been carried away with his thoughts, and forgotten he was speeding down the highway with his hands on the wheel.

  ‘Right, right.’ Sonny brought his attention back to the road. They’d just passed the University of Hong Kong’s Haking Wong Building, meaning they were minutes away from Queen Mary Hospital.

  ‘Commander, what’s in your plastic bag?’

  ‘Oh, I bought this from Auntie Soso back on Graham Street.’ Kwan pulled out a brand new baseball cap. ‘She wanted thirty dollars, but I bargained her down to twenty – not bad. This’ll come in useful when I go walking in the countryside after retirement.’

  ‘But black absorbs heat – you might find it uncomfortable on hot summer days.’ Sonny eyed the cap, just coarse black material with no words or pictures, though on the right side of the brim was a grey arrow about the size of a coin, trying to imitate a famous fashion brand, but unable to hide that it was just a cheap knockoff.

  ‘Hot? Well, it might be.’ He returned the cap to the bag.

  Sonny couldn’t understand how Kwan had time to go shopping at this critical juncture, but in the past half year he’d learned that this commander liked to do things his own way.

  A few minutes later, the car turned into the entrance of Queen Mary, the biggest public hospital in Hong Kong, with half a century of service behind it. It had a full set of facilities, from the Emergency Room to various specialists and a psychiat
ric ward, whilst also being the teaching hospital of the University of Hong Kong. It consisted of fourteen buildings, the size of a smallish neighbourhood.

  ‘Building S,’ said Kwan on getting out of the car.

  ‘Huh?’ Sonny had been about to head towards the ER, in Building J. ‘Don’t we want to speak to one of the Emergency Room workers?’

  ‘The Orthopaedics and Trauma Unit would deal with chemical burns. It’d be simpler to just ask at reception there.’

  At the Orthopaedics and Trauma reception, Kwan flashed his badge at the duty nurse and asked how the three victims were doing.

  ‘Mr Policeman, didn’t I just tell your colleague? Doctor says the patients can’t answer questions right now,’ the young lady said rudely.

  ‘I’m sorry, that must have been a different department,’ Kwan replied equably. ‘Is their condition bad?’

  ‘Li Fun in ICU is in critical condition, but his life isn’t in danger.’ Seeing that Kwan wasn’t going to lean on his authority, the nurse softened. ‘The other two, Chung and Chau, were hit in the face. Forcing them to talk now might stop their skin healing, and getting them agitated won’t help their recovery at all.’

  ‘Oh, in that case... Can we ask their doctor a few questions?’

  The nurse reluctantly picked up the phone and said a few words. A short while later, a tall, good-looking man of about thirty, wearing a white coat, strode over from the far end of the corridor.

  ‘Dr Fung, these two officers want to ask about the three acid victims.’ With that, she lowered her head and promptly went back to her work.

  ‘Call me Kwan.’ The superintendent shook the doctor’s hand. ‘So we can’t ask the victims any questions?’

  ‘That’s right. From a medical standpoint, I can’t permit anything that might worsen their condition. I hope you understand.’

  ‘That’s fine. Could I ask you a few questions instead?’ smiled Kwan.

  Dr Fung didn’t seem to have expected this, but said, ‘If I can help, just say.’

  ‘How serious are Li Fun’s injuries? I heard he might have been blinded.’

  ‘Yes, the liquid went into both his eyes. When he’s stabilized, I’ll ask my colleagues in ophthalmology to take a look.’ The doctor shook his head. ‘His left eye is more badly hurt, and there’s probably no hope. But I’d say we had a sixty per cent chance of saving the right.’

  ‘What about Chung Wai-shing and Chau Cheung-kwong? Were their eyes hurt?’

  ‘No, that’s the one good thing in all this. Chung was hit on the shoulder, and it splashed onto his lower face. Neck, mouth and nose are all badly damaged. Chau was struck full in the face, but fortunately was wearing sunglasses, so his eyes were spared.’

  ‘Any injuries to their limbs?’

  ‘Yes, but only mild burns on arms and legs. Chung’s left arm and leg were hit, while with Chau it was both his hands – he must have tried to wipe the stuff off his face, so both palms are burned too.’ Dr Fung placed his hands over his own face to show what he meant.

  ‘Will they be in the hospital for long?’

  ‘It’s hard to say for now, but I think two weeks is a reasonable prediction.’ Fung glanced at a wall calendar. ‘I’ve planned for all three to receive skin grafts tomorrow. Chau will have to go first. The responders didn’t do enough for him, so although his injuries weren’t any worse than the other two, his skin’s the most damaged.’

  ‘Didn’t do enough?’

  ‘I’m talking about how quickly the ambulance crew was able to wash the acid off, neutralize what was left on the skin, bandage the damaged areas to prevent infection, and so on. My colleagues in ER said they only discovered how bad his condition was when they examined him, so even triage must have dropped the ball there. But there was so much going on this morning, I can’t really blame them. First the fire, then this attack, and finally an escaped felon – they had their hands full.’

  ‘This morning was truly terrible,’ Kwan nodded.

  ‘It was the same in our department.’ Fung smiled grimly. ‘There were already several burns victims from the West Point fire, then the wave of acid victims came. Fortunately that truck accident didn’t cause any casualties, otherwise I’d still be working on patients now.’

  ‘You mean the accident this morning on Des Voeux Road?’

  ‘Yes, I was telling an officer how busy today had been, and he said if the truck in the Central accident had been carrying something corrosive, rather than just a harmless emulsifier, the hospital would have exploded from overcrowding. Though it’s pretty much exploding now. And actually, if not for the traffic jam in Central, some of those thirty-plus acid cases would have been sent to Tang Shiu Kin Hospital in Wan Chai, and our ER wouldn’t be quite this busy.’

  ‘I wanted to ask – who did the paperwork for these three men’s admission?’ Kwan dragged the subject back to the matter at hand. ‘If we can’t talk to the patients, I’d like to have a chat with their families.’

  ‘Now you bring that up, we did have some trouble there.’ Dr Fung looked frazzled. ‘Li Fun has no immediate family, and we haven’t been able to get in touch with any of his relatives, so there’s a lot of forms waiting to be signed.’

  ‘And the other two?’

  ‘You just missed them, Superintendent. Chung Wai-shing’s wife was here earlier, and Chau Cheung-kwong was accompanied by a family member – I think also his assistant. Visiting hours are over, so they’ve gone now. They should be back at six.’

  ‘Then we’ll have to wait,’ said Kwan. Sonny looked at his watch – it was only 3.30, two and a half hours still to go.

  ‘I have to go on my rounds. Excuse me.’ The doctor nodded to the two policemen.

  ‘Oh, one more thing, which wards are Chung and Chau in?’ asked Kwan.

  ‘Ward 6, third door on the left. They’re in the same room.’

  After Dr Fung had departed, Sonny whispered, ‘Commander, are we going to sneak in and talk to them when no one’s looking?’

  ‘Even if we did that, they might not be willing to speak to us,’ said Kwan breezily. ‘Let’s just wait. A couple of hours will go by very fast.’

  He settled himself into one of the waiting-room sofas, while Sonny remained standing, puzzled. Who’d have thought Superintendent Kwan would pick this moment to start obeying the rules?

  He sat next to Kwan, feeling helpless. Just as he was about to ask how they’d ever find clues to the culprit’s identity from these three victims, Kwan began talking a blue streak about chemical burns, everything from emergency treatment to antibiotic medication and non-steroidal anti-inflammatories, chatting artlessly about skin grafts and how artificial skin helped heal wounds. Sonny thought the people around them must imagine Kwan was some kind of specialist, explaining a course of treatment to a relative.

  ‘Commander, I’m going to the bathroom,’ interrupted Sonny, just at the point when Kwan was explaining that burns victims’ skin was constantly losing moisture, so it was important to keep them hydrated. Sonny needed to get away from this bombardment.

  ‘How on earth does the commander know all this?’ wondered Sonny as he followed the signs to the bathroom. On his way back, he was heading towards the waiting area when a sign caught his eye: ‘Building J – This Way’.

  Building J housed the Emergency Room, which Sonny had no interest in, but he was enticed by the bathroom upstairs in its east wing. The bathroom whose window Shek Boon-tim had escaped out of.

  Although he was here with his commander to look into the acid case, he was still an investigator. Shek Boon-tim was public enemy number one, and if Sonny had the choice, he’d definitely go after Shek than probe some small-time acid attack.

  ‘I might as well have a look,’ he thought, glancing at his watch.

  At the other end of the walkway to Building J, he found himself in a stairwell, with signs pointing towards the various departments. Just as the prison officer had said, the first floor was Medical Social Services, with the Emergency
Room downstairs. On the eighth floor was a ward reserved for Correctional Services, where they could detain unwell suspects or bring convicts in need of treatment.

  If those two officers had been a bit more cautious, and taken Shek to the eighth-floor bathroom, he’d never have escaped, thought Sonny.

  Following the staircase, he made his way to the scene of the escape. The bathroom was in a corner of the east wing, with no offices or wards nearby – the whole place had a deserted look about it. Sonny thought it was no wonder they’d brought Shek here. There were no police officers around, but they’d probably unsealed the room after gathering evidence. Keeping watch on the place now wouldn’t help capture Shek Boon-tim.

  The bathroom was bigger than Sonny had expected. Three cubicles on one side, a urinal trough and long sink on the other. There was no door – instead, it was shielded from outside by a wall immediately within the entrance. Walking in, you found yourself facing a large window.

  Sonny inspected the cubicles first of all, hoping to find some clue others had missed. Only the wooden door with the ‘Out of Order’ sign was half closed. He pushed it open, to see the toilet seat had come off and the chain for the flush was snapped. Otherwise, it was exactly the same as the other two. All three cubicles had metal handrails, though after studying them for several further minutes, Sonny still couldn’t tell if Shek had been handcuffed in the second or third cubicle. He’d expected the handrail to show some signs of his hasty escape, but he seemed to have left no marks at all.

  With nothing gained from the cubicles, Sonny turned his attention to the window, which gave a clear view of the driveway outside Building J. Looking out, he guessed Shek’s accomplice must have had the car waiting about thirty metres away. The drop to the ground was about four or five metres, but there was a shallow ledge outside the window, with numerous pipes to the left. A man could probably climb down them safely if he were careful. In fact, if he were agile enough, even leaping straight down to the ground might be okay.