He got to his feet unsteadily and walked back down the alleyway. Mandy watched him disappear before going back inside. Georgina looked questioningly at her as she returned to the bar. Mandy just shook her head, wiped her eyes and went back to work.

Mann went home. He didn’t want to. He was ordered. White had caught up with him in one of the bars in Wanchai and frogmarched him back. He didn’t want company. The Superintendent made sure he was safely inside his front door and then he left.

Mann didn’t bother drawing the curtains. He slumped in the armchair, drank his vodka, and thought about Helen. He needed to think about Helen. He needed to take the responsibility, the remorse and the regret full on his shoulders. He needed to wallow in it, just for a while. He got up and walked around the flat. He felt her presence in every room. Normally he tried to ignore it, but tonight he drank it in. He went into the kitchen. He could still see her, hand on one hip, the other resting on the work surface, recounting her day to him while he pretended to listen but was really looking at her and wondering if she could get any sexier. He went into the bathroom. Her perfume, Miss Dior, was still there on the side of the bath. He unscrewed the top and held it to his nose. He closed his eyes and remembered how he always smelt it on her neck when she tilted her head to one side and waited for his kisses. She would be laughing because she knew it would tickle, and they would end up in bed and she never refused him. He replaced the bottle and went back to his vodka.

Two days later he surfaced. Superintendent White sent him home again. He needed a shave and a shower. Instead, he went to the gym. He ran for an hour solid. He ran and he sweated and he cursed the whole of the human race. He felt that anger intensify. His defensive wall was building itself back up. But he wasn’t quite there yet. He needed the comfort of a woman. Just for a while he wanted to hold another human being, soft and warm in his arms and fall asleep touching another living person. He wanted to forget all his sadness and he wanted to put his head somewhere else for a while. He rang Kim’s number. It went straight to answer phone. He phoned Honey’s number. It was engaged. He scanned down the page. His eyes stopped – now that was someone to give him comfort; make him forget his troubles … He rang it. She answered. She had the night off. No, she didn’t mind skipping the meal, having a drink at his place. She understood he was upset. She would be glad to keep him company. She would call a taxi and be with him in half an hour.

The next morning he awoke and saw Georgina lying next to him. She smiled and reached for him. He just couldn’t. He felt sick with guilt, vodka and regret.

Mandy called him the next day.

‘How the hell could you? She’s such a sweet girl. Why didn’t you just go and find yourself some tart for the night? Why did it have to be Georgina?’

‘I’m sorry, all right. I’m not pleased with what I did. I don’t want to make excuses. I like her. I do.’

‘What? So you don’t even take her out on a date, you trick her into bed, screw her, then drop her off the next morning as fast as possible? Just a “thanks very much”? “See you around”? That’s caring?’

‘How many times, Mandy? I am sorry.’

‘Yeah, well, it’s not me you should say it to. She’s a decent girl. When are you ever going to grow up, Mann? It’s almost as if you don’t want to find happiness with someone. As fond of you as I am, I have to tell you – you’re a self-destructive bastard! For Christ’s sake let go and let yourself feel something for someone before it’s too fucking late!’ She slammed the phone down.

He went into the Operations Room on the ground floor. When he walked in, the animated voices of police officers on computers and telephones became instantly hushed and a sudden busyness developed that meant no one had time to look up and make eye contact.

He stood in the middle of the room and waited until they stopped their pretend chatting and looked at him.

‘Okay, I want every one of you to hear this. My ex-girlfriend has become the latest victim to be found. This investigation has just become personal to me. But it doesn’t stop me from being a professional. Don’t for one fucking second think that I am not here. I want to be brought up-to-date with any new developments and I want to be briefed NOW.’

There was a shuffle and a muffled chorus of ‘Yes, sir’. Mann walked out and down to his office.

62

‘Ng?’

‘She was probably held for several months. Weight loss, systematic torture. Extensive bruising and deep wounds around the wrists. Measurements indicate that she was tied at the wrist and suspended for long periods of time, certainly in the last twenty-four hours of her life.’

‘Was she dissected by the same man, Li?’

‘Yes, boss.’ Li kept his head down while he answered.

‘Trophies?’

‘Yes.’

The three detectives were finally alone, inside their office behind closed doors. Mann could ask the questions he didn’t trust himself to ask downstairs in the Operations Room with so many eyes on him.

He stood at the window, opened the blind, and filled his eyes with the last of the day. A whisper of purple cloud edged the bold and orange streaks that stretched themselves across the sky. The sun set beautifully on a truly horrible day. Mann watched it in silence as Li and Ng sat waiting at their desks. He felt the anger in him dive deep into his soul. He felt it settle into a growling magma layer of hate. Welcome to the world of raw emotions. Mandy was right – it wasn’t a world he chose to visit. Since the death of his father he had avoided it at all cost.

He let the blind slip and fall as the last of the sun died. Then he turned back to Li and Ng.

‘I want you to picture in your head exactly what happened to these women from the minute they said hello to the murderer to when they were found in the bag. Ng – reopen Beverly Mathews’ file. See if there’s any forensic to rework now. See if they ever pulled anyone in for questioning in the original investigation. Shrimp – start swotting up on your torture and find out as much as you can about the sites where the bodies were found, link them up for me and see about tyre prints. When you’re working out scenarios tell me how the bodies got to where they ended up – dragged, thrown?’ Li was writing it down as fast as he could. ‘I want you in the clubs, posing as a tourist – shouldn’t be too difficult – you talk like a Yank. Find those films that Annie talked about. Ask for the foreign girls, or girls that specialise in S&M.’

‘Yes, boss.’

Mann took copies of everything with him and headed home. The police station was not the place for him to be. He needed peace and seclusion. He was going to devote the next twelve hours to getting inside the heads of dead women.

He called in at the supermarket. He loaded up with two carrier-bags of decent food and carried them up to his floor. He found his key, opened the door, jammed his foot in it to stop it shutting and picked up his bags. He went straight into the kitchen to unload.

Then, he took a shower, poured a large vodka and made himself a stir-fry. He switched on the news while he ate his dinner. There were pro-democracy riots on the horizon. Mann didn’t blame them. If he wasn’t a policeman he’d be out there demonstrating as well. The region was being shafted. The Chinese government was working its way down its list of promises, pre-Handover, and reneging on every one. There was a group of visiting Russians, mafia types, being entertained by top triads – a great combination. The only difference being that the Russians liked everyone to know they were gangsters. The triads liked to keep it a secret.