Lights Out (20 page)

He looked around the bathroom and located some toothpaste and spent a
long time cleaning and brushing his teeth, swilling and washing out his stale
mouth until it felt refreshed.

When Ryan finally stepped out, with his dirty clothes rolled up and
inside the plastic bag, he was greeted by Sasha the dog, still very excited at
the sight of a new guest, but no longer jumping up. He followed Ryan dutifully
toward the kitchen where he could hear Lam banging and clanking around.

When Ryan popped his head around the corner it made her jump.

“Oh.” Lam said. She was on her haunches digging out what looked like
a mug.

“Coffee, tea? Lam asked Ryan, holding up the mug.

“Coffee please, milk and sugar.”

Lam stood up and looked at Ryan. For the first time since they had
met, she considered that he was actually quite good looking. Feeling her face
grow hot at the thought, she quickly busied herself with the tea making.

“Make yourself at home, just go and grab a chair, I’ll bring the
drinks out.” Lam said.

Getting the hint, Ryan walked back into the lounge and chose one of
the comfortable leather club chairs close to the window. The view was amazing.
Not quite the three sixty that he had, but spectacular all the same. To the
right palm trees swayed in the breeze along with century old bow trees and
rubber trees all so dense and green. It was like a having a private jungle for
a garden. Several white parrots circled around the trees before settling
themselves on the branches of one of the massive rubber trees. It was stunning,
and felt so colonial. The water from the top of the peak ran down into a ravine
next to the building. Ryan could hear the faint sound of a waterfall. The view
directly in front of Ryan swept down the mountain towards the CBD and he could
clearly see his bank, then beyond out into Victoria
harbour
and to the ocean. He suspected that at night time the view would be even
better, probably also having a birds eye view of the light show that took place
in the
harbour
every night.

He was pondering this when Lam came through with two steaming mugs.

She placed them on the coffee table in front of the two chairs and
went to her bag to get her moleskin notebook and pen that she always carried
with her.

Ryan settled himself into the chair and took a sip of his coffee. It
tasted so good.

“OK”, Lam said. “We have a lot to go through, so let’s start from the
very beginning, everything that you know.”

Ryan nodded, then proceeded to tell Lam everything, starting with the
morning of the shooting at the bank.

Every now and again, Lam would interrupt Ryan to ask a question, or
to clarify a date or a time.

When they got to the point when Ryan first met Ghost Face, she
interrupted him.

“Where did you meet? Lam asked.

“I’d asked Lily to come with me to the Café in
Tsim
Sha
Tsui
”. Ryan explained.

“When you realized that Rob had been kidnapped, did you ever consider
that he might also be involved? He knew Lily after all, and introduced you
both” Lam asked Ryan, looking for his response her pen poised above her
notebook.

Ryan thought this through for a moment, and then dismissed the
notion.

“I really don’t think so. I don’t think he ever had a clue
who
she really was. I think they were very good friends. I
don’t believe that she ever thought that Rob would be killed. She wouldn’t have
had that as part of her plan. That I’m sure of.” Ryan said, taking another sip
of coffee.

“Do you think that Lily planned it all?” She asked.

“For sure this was very carefully planned, and successfully executed.
They just walked straight out.” Ryan stopped and corrected himself and with a
wry laugh said, “I mean WE. We walked away with twenty million US dollars in
cash.” He continued. “She’s very clever, and she is definitely the brains
behind it all, but I don’t think she’s a natural killer. I don’t think she ever
thought that anyone would die. It was just about the money.”

“Who do you think she is? Who does she work for? Lam asked.

“I think she’s part of some kind of Chinese Triad gang.” He said. “To
be tied up with a man like Ghost Face, and robbing an International bank, using
every sophisticated method possible, requires funding and support. Where else,
or who else would want to be a part of something like that.” He asked Lam.

“We also suspect that the local triad gangs are involved.” Lam
stated. “That’s an avenue that we are exploring.” She refrained from saying too
much else on the subject of what they were working on.

“Go on” she prompted Ryan.

“Ghost Face was definitely in control. Lily was the organizer, she
had everything planned to a ‘t’, but he made sure that it went through without
a hitch. He seemed to have every angle covered. It was a very smooth
operation.”

“So how did you get the money out? I understand about the camera’s,
that’s very clever, but how do you simply walk out with all of that cash?” She
asked.

“We didn’t,” Ryan said. “That’s the beauty of what she had planned.
“We didn’t have to. We deposited all of the money into rubble sacks and left
them on the fourth floor where all of the construction work is being carried
out.”

Ryan laughed to himself. “It’s actually brilliant. Every morning at
7am, a construction truck comes and parks along Bank Street. They have a
special permit and one hour to unload materials and pick up the previous day’s
rubbish. There’s a rubble shoot, a big plastic tube that is directed out of one
of the big windows and down into the back of the truck. They throw the rubble
bags down the shoot. Once they are done, the tube gets packed away, the window
closed and secured, and the truck drives off.”

Ryan sat back in the leather chair. “It’s amazing really.” He said.

Lam was astounded. They’d been looking for witnesses who could tell
them if they’d seen people carrying large duffle bags, or suitcases. She
couldn’t believe that no one had seen them. They had wasted time questioning
hundreds of people there that night. But now she knew. Of course no one had seen
them. The money was still inside the bank. Safely hidden in rubble bags, and
before anyone even knew that the bank had been robbed, they would be loaded and
dispatched somewhere else.
So clever
,
Lam thought.

“Look Ryan, I need to call my colleague and ask him to start checking
the fourth floor, and also to contact the construction company. Somebody
somewhere knows something about the rubble bags. Do you mind?” she asked
digging in pants pocket for her phone.

“OK, but no mention that I’m here?” Ryan asked sternly.

“Don’t worry.” Lam stood up and dialed a number. She walked into
another room and Ryan could hear muffled talking as she was telling someone
about the robbery.

She came back into the room and looked at Ryan as she sat down.

“Thanks’, she said brightly. “This is all really interesting. Please
go on.”

“Well that’s where my role ended. Once we had managed to get back out
again, I was taken back to the car and then knocked out.” Ryan turned his head
to show
Lam
the cut on the base of his skull.

“I woke up hours later, I was really groggy. I think they must have
given me something to sleep that long and to feel that bad. There were sleeping
pills on my coffee table. That’s when I heard the knock on the door and panic
set in when I saw
who
it was. I knew that Rob’s life
was at stake and if I ended up in custody, then I wouldn’t be able to help
him.” Ryan said truthfully.

“How did you find Rob?” Lam asked trying to keep her voice calm.

Ryan described his phone call from Lily, the warehouse and the young
Chinese man. He talked through how he and Lily managed to release Rob out and
then his lucky escape. He skipped the part of when Rob was shot.

Lam pushed Ryan gently. “How did Rob die?”

Ryan sighed, knowing that he had no choice but to re live his
friends’ death. He slowly explained the sequence of events of the fatal
shooting. How Rob had pushed Ryan out of the way saving his life. He remained
still for a moment remembering his friend.

“Why did Lily suddenly decide to help you and
Rob.
Why would she risk everything? She would have known that the guard would make a
call and Ghost Face would immediately know that she was involved.”

“I’ve also thought about that.” Ryan said, “Rob truly was her friend,
and I think she knew in her heart that Ghost Face wouldn’t let him live. I think
she had no choice. She did the right thing.” Ryan said.

“You’re a liability for them both now, especially now that Rob is
dead. You could identify Ghost Face, and you know Lily already. You could
expose a triad gang.” Lam finished.

“I know”, Ryan said. “That’s why I’m not ready to come in. If he
wants me dead, then he’ll do it any way he can, whether I’m in Police
protection or not. I’m better on the run for now, I can lay low for a while.”

“What happened to Lily?” Lam asked.

“I don’t know, I ran, I assume she did too. I don’t know where she
lives, or where she would go, but she’ll be a target too. He’ll want her dead
for sure.”

‘Where will you go now?” Lam asked Ryan.

‘I have a place to go and I still have my phone, so we can stay in
touch, although I need to charge it.” Ryan said fishing his phone out of his
new pants. “Do you have a charger by any chance?”

“I think I have a spare that you can have.” Lam said getting up.

Lam went into her bedroom to rummage through her drawer where she was
sure she had a spare charger. “Give me a minute.” She shouted through to the
lounge. There was no answer. Lam stood up and padded back through to where they
had been sitting. Ryan was gone. She walked through the apartment, and into the
guest bathroom. No Ryan.

He’d slipped out of the apartment as quietly as a mouse.

Lam stood for a moment with the spare charger in her hand, wondering
which lead she should follow up first.

Lam was in a taxi on her way to the Station after dropping her car
off to be cleaned. It would be ready to pick up at 7pm that evening.

She’d already briefed forensics to go through the fourth floor of the
bank with a fine toothcomb, whilst her new partner Jimmy went to the
construction company to see what he could find out about the driver and truck
used the morning after the robbery.

She headed straight to the forensics lab as soon as she arrived.

The lab always impressed Lam. It was the latest addition to the
station and gave them serious kudos amongst the other stations. Not only was
the lab state of the art, so was the forensics team. If there
was
something to find, then they would find it. She trusted
their results and view implicitly, and they respected her for it.

Lam swiped her security card at the door and breezed into the lab
looking for Cheng. She found him hunched over a microscope in his white jacket.
He was the lab whizz kid. Always in skinny jeans and the latest Adidas shoes,
always wearing some form of designer t-shirt. The only formal thing about Cheng
was his white lab coat.
An essential that he couldn’t get
away with not wearing.
His hair was thick and straight and had been
worked up into a messy Mohawk and held stiffly into place with hair putty, the
latest in Japanese hair technology.

Lam watched him for a few seconds before interrupting him.

“Cheng” she said her voice low, so that she didn’t startle him.

“Oh hey Sarah,” Cheng said smiling brightly at her. He liked Lam. She
was tough, he knew that from some of his other colleagues, but she’d always treated
him well, and was always pretty friendly, so he shook off the bad vibe that his
colleagues gave him when they talked about her, and was friendly back.

“I don’t have anything yet for you. Two of the guys are still at the
bank, they’ll be done in about an hour.” He said apologetically, knowing that
that’s what she was chasing him for.

“It’s OK, as soon as you have anything for me, then please just call
me, OK?” She asked pausing to look over Cheng’s shoulder.

“What are you working on, she looked past Cheng and across at the
clear glass slide underneath the microscope.

“We’re still trying to find something concrete on the prostitute
killings. This is the third death in the space of a couple of weeks, he’s busy,
and he’s thorough. We managed to get more of the semen this time, and we’re
still running a DNA match through our database.
Nothing yet.
Normally he doesn’t leave a thing behind. He always wipes everything down, and
he always showers before he leaves. It’s the same M.O.” Cheng shrugged
disappointed.

“If anyone can find anything, you can.” Lam gave Cheng a hopeful
smile.

“Thanks Sarah, let’s hope so.” He said truthfully.

Lam smiled. He was the only person on the team that called her Sarah,
and she let him. She liked it.

‘Is Detective Wong still handling the case?’ Lam enquired, curious to
know if he was.

‘Yeah, he’s working night and day to catch this guy. No-one seems to
care because it’s prostitutes, but he does.’ Cheng said, a little impressed.

After thanking Cheng again,
Lam
wandered
back to her office. One thing that she despised most of all was
men
that fed on women. That used their strength and violence
to control and violate in the worst possible way. Then after everything to just
kill them afterwards, it was vile. She’d quite like to get her hands on this
one herself, she mused.

She arrived back at her office and sat down at her desk ready to go
through the robbery file but with fresh eyes. The information that Ryan had
given her had totally opened up her case, but she still needed to get more on
Ghost Face and Lily. They would lead her straight to the money and also the
Triad gang.

She started to work through the reports. She turned the first page
and started to read. She had a lot to follow up on, and now more than ever she
was missing her old partner. He was always so good at this part of the job. She
missed Chow and thought about him for a moment. The investigation was still
ongoing. The Chief had given the case to another team to follow up on, freeing
Lam to continue with the robbery investigation, especially now that she had so
much to work through. She had been interviewed and they pulled together
everything they had on Chow, it didn’t amount to much. The Chief was desperate
to nail this killer. “One of his own.” He had said to
Lam
.
But they had nothing. There was no evidence left at the scene after the
overnight down pour, no fingerprints, and no weapon. Just Chow’s almost
decapitated body. She didn’t know why he was there, or what he’d been working
on. He had nothing on his body when they found him, his wallet and ID was
missing. They concluded that it may have been a tragic case of a mugging gone
horribly wrong, but there was something about the way that Chow had been
murdered that didn’t sit well with Lam.

Lam sat drumming her fingers on her desk. Then she stopped suddenly,
her fingers raised, hovering above the desk as though she had been momentarily
frozen.

“
Oh my God
.” She whispered slowly under her breath.
She quickly grabbed her moleskin and scanned through her roughly scribbled notes.
After flicking through the pages, she stopped and turned back one page. There
it was in black and white.

8
^th
August, Ryan meets with Lily and ‘Ghost Face’ at a Café
in TST.

The realization dawned on Lam, like having a glass of cold water
thrown on her face, bringing her to her senses. The Café in
Tsim
Sha
Tsui
, which Ryan
described, was directly opposite the alleyway and the 7Eleven where they found
Chow’s body.

Chow was watching them
, Lam thought horrified.
He had a lead, he knew something and they killed
him for it.

‘What did you know?’ Lam said out loud. As though Chow was in the
room in front of her.

“I don’t know, what did I know” came the reply from behind her.

Lam jumped, swinging her chair around quickly to face Jimmy
Luk
. The very last person that she would discuss Chow with.

“Nothing,” Lam said straightening up her back and closing her
notebook quickly.

“Any news for me?” She asked abruptly.

“Well that depends. “ He teased. “ I may have a bit of information
that you might be interested in.”

“OK, I’m waiting,” Lam responded, irritation seeping into her voice.

Jimmy walked over to Lam’s board showing all of the crime information
so far. She hadn’t yet updated Rob’s or Ryan’s status, she’d do that later
after Jimmy had left.

“You were right. The rubble bags definitely were full of the cash.
Twenty-six rubble bags were sent down the disposal shoot that morning from the
bank. Only 16 bags were delivered to the construction site to be disposed off.
The vehicle has been taken away and put in the pound. I’ve arrested the driver
and he’s here, ready to be interviewed. He seems eager to talk.” Jimmy
finished. Giving Lam wide smile as though he expected her to tap him on the
back or give him a well-done sticker.

Lam nodded, the best that she could muster, and stood up.

“OK,” she said. “Let’s go and chat to our driver.”

The driver sat in the interview room looking absolutely petrified. He
was young, somewhere in his mid-twenties and wore jeans and a long sleeved
t-shirt. Lam could see tattoos just showing around the wrist area below his
t-shirt. His hair was cropped short. She noticed that he was sweating.

Both DI’s sat down opposite the driver. Lam switched on the tape
recorder. She spoke first.

“Please could you state your name for the recording”
.

“Anthony Choi’, he said nervously, wiping his forehead with the back
of his hand.

“You have been brought here because you are thought to have
information regarding the Bank Robbery of the World Asia Bank four days ago. Do
you understand?” Lam spoke slowly and clearly as she always did during recorded
interviews.

The young man nodded.

“Please speak so that we are clear of your understanding.”

“Yes, I understand,” he said.

“Please can you talk us through August 9
^th
, starting with
loading up the truck with the rubble bags.” Lam said.

“My job that day was to load the bags of rubble, take it back to the
yard, then once we’ve sorted it we dispose of it in one of our land fills. It
normally take a few hours from start to finish.” He said.

“And what was different this time.” Lam prompted.

“I was asked to make an unscheduled stop.” He said.

“Who asked you to make the stop?” Lam asked

“A – A Woman”, he stuttered a little embarrassed.

“Did she ask you in person, or over the phone?” Lam said.

“In person. That morning I was waiting for the bags to be loaded and
she just climbed into the cab next to me. She really took me by surprise.” He
said, clasping his hands in front of him on the table to keep them from
shaking.

“Go on” Lam prompted.

“Well, she went into her bag and showed me an envelope. She said that
if I gave her a lift to a particular road, which was on my way to the yard, I
could have the envelope. She opened it to show me. It was stuffed with cash, a
lot of cash.” He said, his voice trailing off.

“I just thought it was my lucky day. A beautiful woman climbs into my
cab, and offers me money to drop her on the way to the yard. So I said OK. I
was stupid.” He said, casting his eyes down.

“So you took the woman with you, and did you drop her where she
asked?” Lam said.

“Yes, it was all a bit weird really. She wasn’t very chatty at all.
She just made one phone call, I assumed to her boyfriend, and so after that I
put the radio on so that it wasn’t too quiet. Then once we got close to her
drop off, she guided me down a wide off ramp and into a disused quarry. There
was a van waiting, I just thought it was her boyfriend or something. But then
four men got out, and I got scared.” He said.

“She told me not to worry, and to just stay in the truck. She said
that they just had to pick up something that belonged to them, and before I
could argue they had jumped onto the back of the truck and were throwing off
the rubble bags. I thought it was so odd. Why would they want rubble? They took
ten bags and loaded them into their van. Then she handed me the envelope,
climbed out of the truck and she was gone, they were gone. So I just drove back
to the yard and unloaded as usual.’

“How much money was in the envelope?” Lam asked.

“Fifty thousand Hong Kong dollars. A lot.” He said.

“Do you know what was in the bags?” She asked.

“I think I do now,” he said.

“I saw the news later in the day, and I kind of thought that’s what
it probably was.” He said.

“I didn’t really know what to do. I’d taken the money, and was
worried that if I came forward that the police may think that I’m involved.” He
finished, shrugging.

“Do you need to have the money back?” he asked earnestly.

“Yes, we’ll need to check the money and the envelope for finger
prints. It’s also probably part of the stolen cash from the Bank.” Lam said.

“We’ll only know that once we can cross check the serial numbers.”

“I have it still, I didn’t take anything out. I was too scared to use
it after seeing the news, so I was planning to wait and maybe use it later, you
know, once things had died down.”

“OK, I’ll need you to give a detailed description of the van, the
woman and the other four men that got out of the vehicle.” Lam said. She turned
to look at
Luk
, who had remained silent throughout
the interview.

“Anything else that you would like to ask?” She said.

“No, I think that covers everything. “
Luk
replied offering her one of his best smiles.

He leaned in toward the recorder and said.

“Interview with Anthony Choi finished at 15:32hrs.” He clicked off
the machine and turned to Choi.

“Come with me and I’ll take you to one of the officers to take down
the descriptions and write up a report.” He stood and waved for the young man
to follow him leaving Lam sitting in the room.

A few moments later
Luk
returned to the
room.

“Is everything alright?” he asked her.

Lam turned to look at
Luk
, thoughtful for a
moment.

“It’s all very, very clever.” She said. “
Luk
,
come with me, I want to show you something.” Lam stood and led the way out of
the room and down the grey corridor to her office.

They stood in front of her board looking at everything involving the
bank case so far. They scanned the pictures, starting with the dead contractor,
through to images of the vault and Bank exits.