At the same time, at the other end of Hong Kong, Ka Lei stared into the bathroom mirror and began to hyperventilate. Her breath steamed the mirror. She wiped it furiously. Her arms tingled as she gulped the air down into her throat and her legs buckled beneath her. She hit the edge of the sink as she fell, cutting the side of her head. She didn’t notice. Heaving herself upright, she gripped the sink for support and swayed unsteadily on her feet as she wiped the glass with frantic hands and screamed:

Georgina … Georgina …

She stood, reeling, breathless and panting as she stared into terrified eyes – her own eyes.

Wait for me, Georgina, wait …

She ran out of the flat to the landing and yanked open the French doors that led to the balcony where washing usually hung, but which was empty now. A cold sheet of torrential rain momentarily blinded her as it hit her in the face, and she stood for a few seconds, disorientated. Then, shielding her eyes with her hand, she saw the railings. She came to the edge of the balcony and placed one foot at a time onto the first rail. She became unbalanced as a gust of wind almost tipped her over before she was ready. She swung backwards. Then she stepped up again, in control this time, and inch by inch she let her weight tip forward until she fell. Over and over she tumbled in the air.

Back on the silk-covered bed, Georgina slipped into unconsciousness and fell with her. They fell through the bottom of the world, arms outstretched, holding on to one another. They turned around and around in the rain and laughed so hard. Georgina had never felt so happy. But then her hands lost their grip and she was slipping away from Ka Lei. Suddenly the distance between them was too great, and all around her was darkening. She watched Ka Lei grow distant at the same time as she saw the room reappear. She hovered above her own body and watched it being brought back to life.

77

Lucy switched her phone back on as she exited the MTR station. There were five missed calls. She held a piece of card over her head to shelter from the storm and ran towards home. The pavement was awash with rainwater. Her legs were soaked as she ploughed through the puddles, making no attempt to avoid them. She didn’t care; she needed to get home as fast as she could. She had an anxious feeling that had been growing for the last two hours. She’d never meant to leave Ka Lei for so long. She knew in her heart that she shouldn’t have left her at all, but she also knew she must reel Big Frank in now that he was on the hook. And she had been right. He had asked her to marry him. She couldn’t just say ‘thanks very much, and I’ll be off now’. Still, she had felt very uneasy in that last hour; it had become torturous for her to stay. In the end he had let her go, with the promise that she would return the next day.

The cardboard over her head dropped, soggy and useless. The wind and rain battered her face. She was panting with exertion and there was a small wheezy noise like the squeak of a frightened animal in her lungs as they fought to keep pace with her legs. She wished she hadn’t worn heels, but she didn’t dare stop, she was nearly there now. Just around the corner, a few more strides and she would be able to see their block, make out their balcony, see the light glowing from within, and see Ka Lei just where she had left her.

She rounded the corner and slowed down. There was a group of people, standing with blown-out umbrellas, pieces of card, flapping plastic bags held above their heads. All gathered around an object on the pavement outside the supermarket entrance. Some of the people were talking about which balcony it must have been. Lucy listened. What did they mean? She didn’t know. They were looking at her balcony, and at the French doors swinging in the rain and catching the light. The crowd parted as she walked towards them.

78

Mann ran down the corridor and burst into the Superintendent’s office.

‘We’re ready to leave.’

‘How many are you taking?’ The Superintendent was on his feet. The place was buzzing with adrenalin.

‘Twenty.’

‘Is now the best time?’

‘Yes. We want to get there when the brothers are at work. I want to have a look around first.’ Mann’s heart hammered and his eyes burned with impatience, but he knew it had to be done right. He wanted to find Georgina alive.

Mann, Ng and Li parked outside the four-storey building situated three-quarters of the way along Herald Street, at the lower end of Sheung Wan, Western District, where the Fong family lived. Normally it was a peaceful, dusty old street with a permanent smell of rotting vegetation and an aura of general decay. But this evening there was a pink pre-storm light. The air was charged.

Mann looked up and down the street. It had once been busy – thriving with shops – but now it was waiting to be knocked down. There were only a few shopfronts still in use. A few kids were tinkering with their mopeds at the far end of the street. An old tramp sat waiting for nightfall.

They walked up to the house. A woman was coming downstairs. She was a resident of the top floor, on her way to the market. Mann showed his ID. He asked her about the Fongs. The brothers were not at home, she said, only old Father Fong was upstairs. They occupied the apartment on the first floor and they still rented the surgery and shopfront on the ground.

‘Is this the surgery?’ Mann pointed at the door just inside the entrance.

‘Yes. It used to be where the old man held his practice and sold his herbs. I haven’t seen anyone go in there for years. I don’t know why they keep it.’

Mann thanked her and sent her on her way. He radioed to the rest of the team waiting further down the street. They split into pairs and spread out along the road.

‘Ng, you and Li go on up and try to get the keys to this room for me. Don’t let the old man out of your sight.’

Mann went outside to check the metal shutter at the shopfront. It had been a long time since it had been opened – it was completely rusted up. There was no noise coming from the old surgery.

Ng returned with a set of keys.

‘How was the old man?’

‘A bit confused – agitated. He’s housebound – sick. He thinks it’s one of these keys, he doesn’t know which.’

‘When does he think his sons will be home?’

‘He expects Man Po at any time now. Max, not till the morning.’

‘Don’t let him out of your sight.’

‘Shrimp’s with him.’

The fourth key fitted. Mann nudged the door with his foot. It opened a fraction. He stood in the doorway. There was absolute darkness – thick and stagnant. There wasn’t a sound. But there was a smell. Herbs, disinfectant and something else. He knew, without entering, that this was the room. This was where the women had been kept. The air inside was rancid with a musty heat – the smell of fear and sweat trapped within the walls. This place had been a prison.

Someone had been held here recently – he felt their presence, smelt their adrenalin. He nudged the door a little further. Directly opposite him was a mattress. On the mattress was a discarded piece of duct tape and a length of rope, one end still attached to the wall.

He stepped further in and shone his torch around. At the far end of the room, twenty feet away, were the old metal shutters. He flashed his torch to the right of them and saw a shelf stacked with specimen jars. Inside one of the jars, something glittered. A black wig that was hanging from a hook beneath the shelf caught his attention. He looked at it again. It wasn’t a wig, it was a human scalp and next to it hung bunches of skin, taped together. It was then that he felt the hairs on the back of his neck prickle and he knew he was being watched.