She’d skyped him once or twice while she’d been away, but usually the time difference or her activities prevented it, so she was looking forward to telling him all about her adventures when she got home. She got out of the tub, dried herself and then put on a sarong for dinner, the cotton cooling the slight burning sensation on her shoulders. Lucy seldom wore much make-up, but she made sure to apply face cream. She didn’t want to reach middle age looking like a wrinkled old prune. They were going to dine in one of the hotel’s restaurants; in the open air overlooking the beach. She wondered what the Thai for al fresco was. As she made the short walk to the restaurant she noticed that heavy clouds were moving in from the east. It was November and she knew that the weather could be unpredictable, but although the rain was heavy at times it passed quickly, as if specially ordered to simply freshen up the air.
“I’m really going to miss you guys,” Lucy said.
It was Suzie and Dale’s last night. Tomorrow morning they’d be leaving for the airport. Dale had persuaded Suzie to spend the last two days of her vacation in the Philippines, so they’d fly there tomorrow and Suzie would fly home from Manila a couple of days later. Lucy would be visiting the elephants by herself tomorrow. She was an independent kind of person and she’d enjoy the remainder of her vacation on her own, but she’d always cherish the memories of the past few days with her new friends. It was the kind of friendship which could only be forged on a vacation, she thought, where they all knew that they had to make the most of every waking minute.
“We’ll miss you too, Lucy,” said Suzie, “but we’ll keep in touch. It’s been a blast.”
It was said in earnest but inside they all knew that they were never likely to see each other again. A chance meeting had led to a wonderful week and that was enough. They ordered local cocktails and raised their glasses to each other.
“It’s a bit like the Last Supper,” Dale said.
They walked together back to their respective rooms and agreed to meet for breakfast. Lucy lay on her bed and within minutes fell into a deep, untroubled sleep.
At breakfast the next morning Suzie was excited about her trip to Manila.
“It’ll only be a couple of days Lucy but you’ve gotta cram in all you can. You never know what the future has in store for you.”
As Dale was loading their bags into the taxi Lucy and Suzie hugged each other.
“Maybe there’s a future for the two of you,” Lucy said.
“It’s just a holiday fling, Lucy,” she said. Then she whispered in Lucy’s ear: “Too young to die yet, kiddo.”
Lucy waved them goodbye and went back to her room to prepare for her day with the elephants.
On the way back to the hotel that evening Lucy felt like some company so she asked the taxi to drop her in the local town which was a single street with small shops, restaurants and bars. There was an area where she’d sat one evening with Dale and Suzie with about a dozen Bar Beers. Lucy thought the name must be a misprint when she’d seen it in the tourist guide. Surely they must mean Beer Bars? But no, that was what they were actually called: Bar Beers. Each bar had a few local girls with whom you could chat or play games. She played checkers with one of the girls and repeatedly lost. When you lost you had to buy the girl a drink. She played pool with another local girl and she lost that too; but the girls were fun. She knew that they’d accompany a customer home for a fee, but that was okay. It was prostitution, but it wasn’t in your face, and she learned that prostitution in Thailand didn’t carry the same stigma that it did in the West. She ate a burger and drank a coke and then caught a taxi back to the hotel. It was almost ten o’clock when she went to the reception desk to get her key and there was a message for her at the desk. It was from Suzie and there was a cell phone number with an international prefix which she didn’t recognize but she assumed must be the Philippines. She went straight up to her room and made the call. Suzie answered the phone immediately. She was breathing heavily and Lucy could tell she was trying not to cry.
“Whatever’s the matter Suzie? What’s happened?”
“It’s Dale,” Suzie said. “He was arrested at the airport in Manila. I don’t know what to do.”
“Arrested?” Lucy said. “What for?”
“Lucy, he’s been arrested for murder,” she sobbed.
Chapter Two
Fragrant Harbor Revisited
I was sitting in my living room drinking my umpteenth coffee of the morning and periodically checking my watch to see if the sun was over the yard arm yet so that I could treat myself to a real drink. I was reading Breakfast of Champions and waiting for the phone to ring. I’d been waiting for the phone to ring for several days; I was having a fallow period in my professional life. Lucy had taken herself off to the Orient for a vacation and so I’d had a week or so to enjoy some peace and quiet; but you can have enough peace and quiet. There was a temporary secretary in the office whom I’d never met; I hadn’t spoken to her either. Her name was Brenda and she was working her way through college. Lucy had told her that the job was ideal for her since there wasn’t much to do at the office so she could work on her assignments and she could make up some of the classes she would miss in the evenings, so Brenda had agreed to hold the fort while Lucy was away. I assumed that the reason my cell phone hadn’t rung was because nobody was beating a path to my door. It was a period of investigative void the like of which I hadn’t experienced for some time. I was okay financially though because my most recent client had insisted that I take a handsome bonus for a job well done. Since I’d been taught from an early age never to look a gift-horse in the mouth I graciously accepted. His daughter had faked her own kidnapping to try to extort money out of the old man, but he was simply delighted to have her back. It was a cry for help, he explained to me; he blamed himself. I didn’t much mind who was blamed so long as nobody blamed me.
Lucy was tanning herself on a beach somewhere in Thailand. Well, not at that precise moment, I thought, since it would be night time. As sometimes curiously happens, while I was having these idle thoughts some kind of mental telepathy must have occurred across the ether because the telephone rang, and when I picked it up it was Lucy.
“Kane, I need you,” she said.
“This is so sudden Lucy.”
“Seriously, listen to me. I need you to come here right away.”
“To Thailand?” I said.
“No, to Manila.”
“I thought you were in Thailand.”
“I am; but I’m leaving for Manila in the morning. I can’t fly there direct, I’ll have to go to Bangkok first, or maybe Hong Kong; I haven’t decided yet. I’ll have to see what flights are available in the morning.”
“I think you better slow down Lucy. What’s happened?”
“I met some friends here in Thailand; Dale and Suzie. They’re both from the States. We hung out together and became pretty close. Yesterday they left for Manila – Dale lives in the Philippines, but he’s only on a tourist visa, and Suzie was going to spend a couple of days with him before going home. When they got to Manila Dale was arrested in connection with a murder. I don’t know anything else at the moment but Suzie needs me there. She doesn’t know anybody and doesn’t know what to do. I told her to go to the U.S. Embassy and she said she’d go tomorrow, but we all know they won’t do anything much. I told her I’d call you because you’d know what to do. I told her I’d get you here to help.”
“I don’t see what I can do.”
“You can find out what’s behind this. It’s probably just some stupid mistake but Suzie’s worried. She’s spent quite a bit of time in Asia herself and she’s not a big fan of law enforcement in Asian countries. It’s not like the States. She doesn’t know too much about Dale and she can’t afford to stay beyond Tuesday, but she doesn’t want to abandon him.”
“Lucy if I thought I could help in some way I would, but I’d be like a fish out of water over there. I don’t know anybody, I’ve n
o contacts and I can’t even speak the language.”
“Everybody speaks English there – well, not everybody but most people do, and if there’s a problem we can get an interpreter. If I thought that Dale was even capable of murder I wouldn’t ask, but I got to know him pretty well over the past week. The whole thing’s ridiculous. Dale’s been away from the Philippines for several weeks, and if he’d murdered somebody before he left he’d hardly go back there. Anyway I want you to come and that’s an end to it.”
So that being an end to it I cranked up the computer to check for flights. I couldn’t fly direct. I could go via Amsterdam or Dubai or London or a million other places. Then I had an idea. I’d been promising John Carter, an old friend in Hong Kong, that I’d stop by and see him sometime. He’d helped me on a recent case too. I booked a ticket to Hong Kong via JFK. I’d spend a night in Hong Kong and fly to Manila the next day. That would get me there by Thursday lunchtime. I’d have time to check with the embassy and try to find out what it was all about; if I was lucky I might even get to see the officer in charge of the murder investigation. Lucy was due back at the weekend, so if all went well we could fly back to Boston together.
I checked the hotels in Hong Kong on the internet and got a special deal for the Peninsula in Kowloon. I didn’t want to put John on the spot by announcing my arrival at short notice so that he’d feel obliged to put me up. Lucy had suggested that I travel light − it would be warm in Manila and if I needed anything I could buy it there cheaply enough. I packed a lightweight linen suit, so that I’d look the business when I went to the embassy, and threw in an assortment of underwear, T shirts, jeans and a handful of paperbacks. All done, I decided to put in an appearance at the office, so I drove downtown on the way to the airport and parked in the office parking garage. I’d leave the Chevy there and take a cab to the airport.
I opened the office door as stealthily as I could, put my head inside and said, “Boo!”
Brenda jumped and hurriedly scrambled to put away whatever work she had been absorbed in.
“Oh, don’t mind me,” I said. “I’m Kane and this is a rare and brief visit to the helm of my business empire.”
“I’m sorry Mr. Kane. Lucy said it would be okay if I …”
“It’s fine, Brenda,” I said. “You just carry on. I hope you’ve settled in alright. I just called in to say hi and to let you know I’ll be away for a few days. Maybe longer than a few days; I’m not sure.”
I handed her a note I’d scribbled to John Carter. “Can you fax this to Hong Kong? I’ve written the number there. I’m going to the Philippines to meet Lucy and she’ll keep in touch with you. It’s possible we might need you to stay a little longer; would that be alright?”
“Yes, of course. No problem. There doesn’t seem much to do here; is it always like this?”
“I don’t really know; I don’t come here much. Have you had any contact with my colleagues?”
My colleagues were a motley assortment of individuals who shared the office facilities, such as they were, and helped to pay the rent.
“Bill, er, that’s Mr. Slocum called in to see if there were any messages, and Mr. Davis has phoned a couple of times. Apart from Mr. Slocum, and you of course, I haven’t seen any live human beings.”
“Well, you never know,” I said. “No doubt as soon as I leave the country there’ll be scores of potential clients anxious to see me. It’s one of the Creators little jokes, like how it always rains on your day off. I’m in a bit of a rush now so I’ll let you get back to your studies.”
I took a cab to the airport and flew to JFK. I had a long wait there before my Cathay Pacific flight to Hong Kong, which didn’t leave until after midnight; quite a bit after midnight actually as it was delayed due to some unspecified problem. On the upside it was a non-stop flight and it would arrive early in the morning and give me a full day in Hong Kong. On the downside it was a sixteen-hour marathon; but I managed to charm the check-in girl into allocating me an emergency exit row seat with extra legroom. I didn’t plan on eating a meal on the plane so I headed to the bar to drink my dinner there instead. On the plane I struggled to stay awake until the seat belt sign went out and then drifted off to the land of Nod.
It was the first time I’d visited Hong Kong since I’d helped with a police sting many years before. I’d lived there for a couple of years as a teenager with my brother, Duncan, and my parents. My father had been transferred there by the investment bank he worked for and Duncan and I attended the California International School in Kowloon. I knew that it was now called the American International School; nothing stays the same for long in Hong Kong. Duncan and I were always up to antics of one kind or another; the teachers used to call us as the Kane mutiny.
In those days Hong Kong was still under British administration, but in 1997 it reverted to Chinese sovereignty. To coincide with that momentous event, I knew that a new airport had been constructed. It was named Chek Lap Kok and it was built on reclaimed land on the largest offshore island called Lantau. It replaced the old single-runway airport at Kai Tak which was adjacent to a heavily built-up area in Kowloon and the planes had almost clipped the rooftops of the apartment buildings as they came in to land before the pilot did a swift left turn to line up with the relatively short runway. A couple of planes had overshot the runway over the years and landed in the water, but surprisingly there’d been no other serious accidents.
The new airport was vast, with its cathedral-like arched ceilings, so that even though it was teeming with people it seemed relatively empty. That was until I reached the immigration counters where the line stretched for several hundred feet. It didn’t really matter since it was not yet six in the morning and I wouldn’t be able to check into my hotel until after lunch. I’d lost a day on the journey because Hong Kong was twelve hours ahead of Boston; so although I’d left New York in the early hours of Tuesday morning it was Wednesday morning already in Hong Kong. No matter; I’d reclaim my lost day on the way home. I had no baggage checked in so I zipped through the green channel at customs, past the inscrutable eyes of the customs’ officers, and out into the arrivals hall. I found the ticket counter and purchased a return ticket to Kowloon and then caught the Mass Transit Railway straight to Kowloon, the journey taking just nineteen minutes.
Lucy would be in Manila by now. She’d phoned again when I was at JFK waiting to board my flight. She couldn’t fly direct from Samui to the Philippines, so she’d booked a flight via Bangkok. They wouldn’t let her fly to Manila without a return ticket, but that was okay because she was routed to fly back to the States from Bangkok anyway.
“I’ve always wanted to see Bangkok. I didn’t leave the airport on my way to Phuket so maybe I’ll stop over on my way home,” she said. “Wanna come?”
“Let’s just take this one step at a time, shall we?”
“I’ve booked a cheapish hotel in a district called Ermita in Manila because it’s near the embassy. Call me when you’re on the way. I’m not coming to meet you at the airport; the traffic’s terrible apparently.”
When I came out of the station in Kowloon I took one of the ubiquitous red taxis straight to the hotel. There’s no tipping in Hong Kong I remembered so I just paid the flag fall. The hotel took my small suitcase and gave me a tag. I could check in at twelve, they said, although the usual time was two o’clock. It wasn’t yet eight o’clock so I ate breakfast in the hotel restaurant and then went for a stroll. Apart from the street names the district was unrecognizable to me. The relocation of the airport had removed the need for height restrictions and in place of the buildings that I remembered were skyscrapers. I walked along Nathan Road. The jewelry shops were still there, the windows stacked with jewelry and ornaments of pure twenty-four carat 999 gold. The Sikh security guards were still outside the shops too, with their shotguns prominently displayed in case anyone had any ideas. As I wormed my way along the narrow sidewalks I frequently had to step onto the pavement because o
f the crowded streets. It was rush hour and everyone was on their way to work, holding their smart phones in front of their faces and apparently negotiating the sidewalks by radar.
The twenty-four hour drinking laws hadn’t changed so I sneaked into a bar for a heart-starter and ordered a cold beer. The sun was nowhere near the yard arm, let alone over it, but it was evening time in Boston and that was good enough for me.
I walked up Nathan Road to Mongkok after my beer, steering my way past slow-walking locals with their heads buried in their smart phones. It was ten o’clock and the shops were opening for their twelve hour stints. I walked into a department store I recognized called Chinese Arts and Crafts which, unsurprisingly, sold Chinese arts and crafts; everything that you associate with China, from intricately carved ivory and colorful ceramics to silk embroidered with traditional Chinese motifs. I thought maybe I should buy something for Lucy but I was on a bit of a tight budget so I went back to the street and located, without difficulty, a man selling fake Luis Vuitton bags. At least I assumed that they were fakes, but the vendor assured me in broken English that they were in fact the genuine articles, although factory rejects because of slight imperfections. I selected a lady’s purse and he challenged me to find the imperfection that had resulted in the purse being sold by a Mongkok street trader rather than Bloomingdale’s. When I failed the challenge I parted with the equivalent of twenty-five dollars and tucked the purse under my arm. No-one was going to call me cheap.
At twelve I went back to the hotel, collected my suitcase and went up to my room. It was on a high floor and the windows faced north towards the hills that separated Kowloon from the New Territories beyond. I could make out the nine peaks that lent their name to the peninsula − Gau Lun in Cantonese, meaning nine dragons. I showered and then had a warm bath. I lay there for a while, adjusting the temperature by controlling the faucet with my toes. It was time to take stock of the situation. I had no idea what I was expected to do in Manila, and I doubted whether Dale was going to be able to pay me much of a fee. I didn’t even know what his last name was yet. Maybe they wouldn’t even let me see him. After all I had no official standing there; I didn’t even have a work visa. I’d need to be Charming Kane if I wanted to make any progress.
The Black Widow - Mark Kane Mysteries - Book Three: A Private Investigator Crime Series of Murder, Mystery, Suspense & Thriller Stories...with a dash of Romance Page 2
