Lights Out (7 page)

Finally Ghost Face finished, his eyes were closed tightly, his head
back. Sweat was dripping off his pale forehead falling onto her semi naked
body. His hair flopped across his eyes, no longer the neat, slick back style
that he had arrived with. He looked down at the girl beneath him. Her face now
softened in death, her long black hair framing her head and shoulders, only her
wide eyes gave away the terror that she had endured. He removed his hand from
her crushed neck, leaving behind the indents of his fingers and the first signs
of the familiar bluish purple bruising. Her arms dropped down to the side of
her body.

He calmly made his way to her small bathroom, and turned on the
single naked bulb using the pull cord, careful to wipe away any fingerprints from
the small plastic end piece. There was just a plain, unframed mirror on the
wall over the sink, a toilet and a basic shower. He carefully removed his
clothes, folding them one by one, resting them on the toilet seat lid before
stepping into the shower. He scrubbed his body in the hot water, ensuring that
every last bit of her was cleaned away. Stepping out, he dried himself down
with one of her towels and wiped down the shower cubicle behind him. Next he
dressed himself, and meticulously wiped down every last surface. He walked out
of the bathroom and over to the bed, and looked at Ling
Ling
.
In that short time, deep bruises had formed across her neck, appearing like a
scarf. He had enjoyed her very much. He gazed at her for a moment
longer,
losing himself in his thoughts, then reluctantly
continued his clean up. He reached into her bedside drawer to retrieve his
$1’600 dollars, careful to wipe down the handle and anything that he touched
and put the money back into his pocket. Taking one last look at her body, he
switched off the side lamp taking with him the red silk cloth, a small trophy.
He walked over to his shoes and slipped them on, using the towel to wipe any
footprints that they may have been left behind. He undid the chain and silently
let himself out of the apartment taking the towel with him. He swiftly
retraced his steps down the winding staircase and back again onto the main
street. Satisfied that no one had seen him exit, Ghost Face crossed the road,
and made his way back towards the now silent
harbour
and to the refuge of his apartment.

Exhausted, Ghost Face had arrived back to his apartment at 4am and
managed to sleep fitfully for five hours. At 9am daylight finally stole his
sleep. His mind was immediately engaged before he climbed out of bed. The
previous evening was now a distant memory, stored away until he needed to draw
upon it. Now he had more pressing things to focus on.

The sound of his phone ringing quickly
brought Ghost Face back to the present moment. He reached across to his bedside,
swiftly scooping up the phone and pressed the answer button. Holding the
handset against his ear he simultaneously looked at his wristwatch whilst he
listened to the caller. A few moments later, without emotion or
acknowledgement, he simply ended the call, stood up and quickly started to
dress.

AUGUST 8: LIGHTS OUT

Ryan sat at his desk unable to concentrate. He had read and re read
the same email several times, but he couldn’t stand the noise. The renovations
at the Bank had been going on for weeks now. Early every morning the
contractors would clear out the rubble and rubbish from the previous days work.
Then throughout the morning, he would have to endure the scraping and banging.
It felt to Ryan like it was his head being pounded, not the walls. It was pulling
his concentration far away from his work.

Ryan looked at his calendar and sighed with despair. They had at
least another 10 days to go before all of the demolition work would be
complete.

Coupled with the distraction of the building work, Ryan’s morning had
been continually interrupted by his colleagues dropping by to see how he was
doing and to find out more details of Friday’s shooting incident. Finally, and
thankfully John called him into his office rescuing him from the constant flow
of people at his desk.

As Ryan entered John’s office he was pleased to see him sitting back
in his chair relaxed and smiling.

“Ryan, you seem to have a gained a bit of notoriety in this office’,
he spoke with a broad smile on his face. Ryan simply smiled back, not sure
whether it was meant as a jibe against his apparent lack of work or just a
friendly comment. He decided to lean towards friendly comment, preferring that
to any negativity generated from the event.

“I do have a bit more information for you with regards to Friday, but
didn’t want to bother you over the weekend, so I thought I’d wait until now.
Obviously there’s no question that there was a major mess-up with the security
cameras that morning. I’m not blaming you Ryan, but of course it’s Sod’s Law
that the only morning that the
camera’s
are not
rolling, is the very same morning that someone tries to get in. It is a smudge
on our faultless record. But, arguably, he didn’t get in, and that’s primarily
because your guys did what they were supposed to do.” He paused.

“So all in all it’s a bit of a back handed compliment.” He finished,
taking a look at Ryan to see his response. Ryan looked subdued and guilt
ridden.

“Are you OK? Are you up for being back at work so soon?” John’s face
suddenly looked concerned, it reminded Ryan of a look his Father gave to him
from time to time.

‘John, really I’m fine. Really. In fact Rob’s been baby-sitting me
pretty much all weekend. I’m actually fine. I was a little shaken up on Friday,
but OK now.” Ryan still wasn’t sure if that was true. However, he didn’t want
John to think that he wasn’t man enough to deal with it.

“OK, good. On Friday the Police were all over the Bank. They think
the old man could be from the mainland. Working for someone else, but they
don’t know who yet and definitely not an inside job. Which is always a relief.”
He smiled a half smile, taking small consolation in that fact.

“The Police think that it was just a bad attempt at a bank robbery.”
John said, his smile shifting into something more serious.

“You do know it’s impossible to break into this bank. With the new
camera’s and our security measures. Anyone would be a fool to try.” He said to
himself more than to Ryan.

“Busy day with this Lights Out thing tonight, Bloody protesters got
their way.” John sighed and looked at his watch, notifying Ryan that he had more
important things to be getting on with.

“Thanks John. I have to do a report for RSG in London by end of day,
so I’ll send you a copy once it’s complete.” Ryan said.

“Thanks Ryan, I’d be interested to read it”.

Ryan stood up and made his way back down the corridor and to his own
cluttered and busy desk. As he arrived, his next visitor was already waiting
for him.

“Hey buddy” Rob was sitting in Ryan’s office chair pushing it around
in a circle.

“Just thought I’d check in and see how you are?”

“I’m good. I’ve just had John asking me the exact same question.”
Ryan perched himself on the edge of his own desk. Ignoring Ryan, Rob continued
his own line of questioning.

“So tell me lover-boy, how’s it going with the lovely Lily?” Rob
teased.

“You know I don’t kiss and tell.” Ryan replied. “Suffice to say,
she’s a biscuit.” He gave Rob a
wink and a broad smile.

“C’mon man, don’t leave me in the dark.” Rob said pouting. “I need to
know.”

Ryan laughed, “don’t you have some stocks to trade or something?”
Ryan checked his watch.

“I’ll leave you to your sordid thoughts whilst I go for a run.”

Ryan stood up from the desk and lent down to grab his sports bag next
to Rob’s feet, as he stood up he pulled on the back of the chair that Rob was
sitting in and gave it a hard shove. Leaving Rob spinning in the chair.

‘I’ll have to prime you with a drink, if I’m going to get any gossip
out of you.” Rob responded with a laugh. ‘I don’t give up that easily.’ He
leaned back with his arms across his chest as the chair slowed to a stop.

“Well, you are persistent, I’ll give you that”, Ryan said gripping
his sports bag and giving Rob one last smile as he headed off down the
corridor.

It was 12.30pm. The hottest time of the day for running, but the only
chance that Ryan had would have that day. The air felt humid, which made it
hard for it to reach Ryan’s lungs. He breathed in again, sucking the sticky air
through his nose and expanding his chest. It was sweltering, around, 32
degrees. There was no breeze, just the wet heavy atmosphere making the sky
appear lower than normal. Ryan breathed in one last time, stretched his arms
above his head and slowly stepped into a gentle jog.

Increasing his pace Ryan tried to focus his mind elsewhere. His feet
were pounding hard on the pavement; his breathing was loud and heavy. He could
immediately feel the heat on the back of his neck, reminding him that he had no
sun protection.

Ryan always ran on the same road. Hidden away half way up the
mountainside it was a running and walking path. It spanned a total of eight
kilometers weaving and snaking around the mountain. Trees hung over sections of
the path offering some shade, but the majority of the run was open to the
elements. Along the road there were just two exit paths forking off down the
left side of the mountain, offering those less fit or willing to take an early
exit.

When Ryan ran this path in the mornings he would often see old
Chinese men and women doing their early morning exercise. Stretching their
bodies as best they could trying to remember old Tai Chi moves that they could
no longer do effectively.

Running always made Ryan feel relaxed. He was in his own world here.
The running path was close enough to the City to still feel the hustle and
bustle. Overlooking the high-rises and the skyline, but far enough up the side
of the mountain to block out the drilling, shouting, honking and chattering. It
allowed him to lose himself for a short while. Today there was no view. The
clouds hung low and sat like hats on top of all the high-rise buildings. Ryan
just focused on the path and his breathing.

Lost in his own reverie, Ryan jumped when Detective Lam unexpectedly
paced herself next to him.

“Hey, sorry if I startled you”, Sarah said, slightly breathless.

Ryan looked at Detective Lam. He was surprised to see her running
here, and impressed that she could keep pace with him.

“Hi, no problem, I was in a world of my own” he said embarrassed by
his sudden reaction to her arrival.

“It helps me to get out of the office for a while. The renovations
are really distracting.”

“Oh”, Sarah replied simply. “Me too. Running helps me to clear my
head and arrange my thoughts. It’s a good working process.” She glanced
sideways at Ryan. He looked uneasy with her running there beside him.

They ran alongside each other for some time in silence, each
concentrating on their own thoughts.

Ryan spoke first.

“Any closer to finding out who the dead guy is?”

Sarah knew that they weren’t, but didn’t necessarily want him to know
that they had no new leads yet.

“Yes, we are making headway, it may be a while before we can announce
or confirm anything.” She said slightly breathless using her professional
police response rather than the truth.

‘Oh” Ryan replied, not knowing what else to say.

He started to feel a bit awkward running alongside a Police
Detective. Had she followed him here? He started to wonder if this was just a
coincidence.

“So, I guess you’ll just let me know if you need me for anything else?”

Sarah picked up the hint from Ryan. This wasn’t her usual style,
bumping into a witness on a social level, however incidental.

“Yes of course.” She said. “Enjoy your run, I need to start heading
back.”

Sarah swiftly turned around and stepped up her running pace, leaving
Ryan running in the opposite direction bemused by their encounter.

Before Ryan had a chance to respond she had disappeared around the
side of the mountain.

Sarah felt irritated as she ran back toward her apartment. She was
frustrated that she couldn’t close the bank case. The Chief was still getting
pressure from the top, so likewise he was re-directing his frustration down to
her and her team. As for Harper, there was something about his involvement that
made her feel unsettled; she couldn’t put her finger on it. She just had a
feeling that things were not as they seemed with him. Or maybe she was just
imagining it. She chided herself for letting her thoughts run wild. Facts.
That’s what she needed, facts and leads, of which she had precious little of
either.

Ryan finished his run, but didn’t feel any better for it. Hoping that
the run would free up his mind from the noise at the Bank, all he had managed
to achieve was to fill his head with thoughts of the dead Chinese man. Flash
backs of his pale waxy skin, the soaked overalls, wet with blood, the coffee
cup slowly rolling across the floor, spilling the brown liquid content onto the
white marble. He couldn’t shake it. He wondered if it was like this for
everyone who had ever seen a dead body. Constantly appearing at inappropriate
and unwelcome moments.

Ryan stood under the hot shower in the
staff changing rooms for a few minutes. Finally thoughts of the old man began
to wash away and were replaced by thoughts of his afternoon ahead. Suddenly his
head was filled with deadlines and reports pleased that he had something that
would keep him busy for the rest of the day.

He grabbed his towel and dried himself
down, then pulled out his clothes and sports bag from the locker.

Once dressed, Ryan made his way back to
his desk and listened to the scraping and banging of the renovations.