Lee Weeks - Kiss and Die

So here he was listening to ‘The Gambler’ by Kenny Rogers and staring into his glass.

Ruby passed the window and stopped to glance in. She saw Peter Thorne. She’d seen him before at the bar in the Vacation Villas. Tonight he wasn’t looking so happy. It was early evening. He sat at a table, rather than the bar. Ruby watched Annie saunter up, her holsters squeezed over her ample hips. Her laugh good and loud as she threw her head back and tried too hard. Even Annie didn’t stop long. Ruby got that gut feeling she always got when she knew he was perfect.

‘So nice to see you again, Inspector.’ Victoria Chan was waiting outside Mann’s block of flats when he came out. ‘I would love to think that it was my charm that you could not resist.’

Mann climbed into the back of Victoria’s Bentley. ‘I decided to accept your explanation of my officer’s death, although I don’t like it. I have to take some of the blame on my own shoulders. I have also realized that my father’s estate will not wait forever. It needs me to deal with it.’

Victoria looked more stunning every time he saw her. It was as if she wanted to show him that she could be every woman rolled into one. Today she wore jeans and a boxy white denim vintage jacket. Her hair was in a pony tail. She looked young and fresh faced.

‘I wanted to show you it doesn’t have to be all about money. It can be about holding on to something precious. We all have regrets, Mann. I have them like everyone else. But I don’t want any more. I want to look forwards from now on.’

They drove out to the New Territories then exchanged the Bentley for a helicopter. They flew over the reservoirs and nature reserves, hugging the coastline.

‘I wanted to bring you here to this coast. Do you know it?’

‘Of course I know it, every keen surfer knows it. It’s the only beach you can surf in Hong Kong. It’s beautiful.’ They looked down on the fine white gold sand and rolling coastline where the forest came right up to the beach. ‘I’ve been coming here since I was young. It’s a trek but worth it. I’ve never come by helicopter before, of course.’

They set the helicopter down on a stretch of level beach and Mann and Victoria alighted. The pilot switched off the engines. Victoria stripped off, tugging at her jeans and giggling as she nearly fell over. She had on a simple black bikini that drew all the attention to her perfectly toned body. She laughed at him.

He stripped down to his Calvins. The thought of getting into the water was all that mattered to him right now. He longed to feel the sand beneath his feet, the cool water creep over his body. He ran after her as she tried to beat him to the water. He floated on his back, felt the cold water creep over his scalp; he closed his eyes and listened to the dull sound of water filling his ears. He thought of Helen. This would be her idea of heaven. They had come to the beach together many times. Mann dived beneath the water and tried to forget everything just for a while, he wanted to feel his body tired, his mind empty. They stayed in the water for an hour. Victoria talked anything but business. She talked about the scenery, the fish, the shells. She asked him about the things he loved.

‘This is my idea of heaven. In the sea, sun on my face.’

‘Is that what you’d like to be, a Robinson Crusoe? On a desert island, a beach hut?’

‘Yes, absolutely.’

After their swim, they lay on the hot sand. Mann turned on his side and ran a fistful of sand through his fingers. He hadn’t felt so relaxed in ages. But he had to give himself a reality check. He looked across at Victoria. She was sunbathing. Mann could see her freckles coming out. Her strong features softened as she relaxed. Her face looked pretty as it turned pink in the sun. Her hair was wet and loose and splayed out on the towel. She was showing him that she wasn’t Miss Immaculate; she could take the make-up off and get sand in her hair. She was his type of woman.

‘Why is it you look like an angel but you behave like a devil?’ he asked.

She opened one eye, put up her hand to shade her eyes and looked at him. ‘Haven’t you realized yet?’ She lay back down and closed her eyes whilst she talked. ‘I am everything you ever wanted in a woman, a partner, lover. We are the same, you and I. We were caught between two worlds when we were young. We were lied to by our fathers. We have a legacy whether we like it or not. Okay – I might be a little more self-serving than you. We can’t all devote our lives to public service, but I need someone like you in my life to balance me. Of course,’ she sat up and rested on her elbows, ‘it helps that the someone is just as rich as me. I could never settle for anything less.’

‘You play a deadly game, Victoria. Your Outcasts are killing people, not just other gang members. They are running through the Mansions in vigilante groups. They are killing anyone they don’t like the look of. Is that what you had in mind?’

She closed her eyes again. ‘They are the product of society, not me.’

‘Oh, I think they’re your babies. Whether you can control your offspring, the monsters that you have created, I don’t know.’

‘I have been honest with you, Mann. I want to redevelop the Mansions. I told you that. I promised them a place in that redevelopment.’ She sighed and smiled. ‘I can see you’ll take some persuading to trust me.’

‘Yeah. Don’t hold your breath. The more I see the less I trust.’ Mann got up and got dressed. ‘Let’s go. I need to get back to the office.’

Victoria looked momentarily disgruntled but she recovered. ‘Okay, of course, Inspector. Your wish is my command.’

They got back into the helicopter. The pilot circled around the beach area one last time.

‘It’s so beautiful, isn’t it?’

‘Yes,’ Mann answered. ‘Beautiful, remote, unspoilt, and hard to get to.’

‘Yes. The perfect place to build the most expensive beach resort in Asia.’

Mann looked at her incredulously. ‘You’ll never get permission. This is owned by the Park.’

‘It was. I bought it. Well, to put it precisely, we bought it. You and I. If you want, we will keep it as it is. Then you can build yourself a shack on the beach and have your own private slice of the sea. We don’t have to develop it. We can keep it just for ourselves. We can come out here every weekend and lie naked on the beach and swim in waters that no one else swims in.’ The helicopter circled in the air, its shadow like a dark flying dragonfly buzzing over the surface of the water. ‘Or, you can see the place you love turned into an all-inclusive spa resort. You see, you have the choice. You can join me and influence the decisions I make. You can haggle with me for the amount of government housing I erect alongside plush residential developments or you can refuse and let me do it my way. But then, we all know what my way is, don’t we?’

She smiled at him and Mann could see that the sun had already brought a golden glow to her face.

‘So what’s it to be?’

Mann looked down as the sea turned turquoise in the shallow waters and folded along the shore.

‘Your beach to leave alone, unspoilt, untouched for whatever reason you choose or you can leave me to build my beach resort. It’s up to you. You have the power in your hands to build a better Hong Kong, a better world.’ She laughed. ‘But only with me, of course.’

It was late by the time Mann got dropped off back at Headquarters. Mia was waiting for him.

‘What is it?’ he asked.

‘A man’s head has been dredged up by some fishermen. It has been in the water a few months. They’ve pulled it up at Aberdeen. I need you back on the job now.’