Lee Weeks - Kiss and Die

‘What are you doing? You gone deaf in prison?’

‘No. I just don’t want the neighbours to hear what I have to say to you.’

Rizal swore and opened another beer as he turned his eyes to the television and ignored her.

Michelle threw the remote at him; it hit him on the side of his head. ‘You will listen to me. I can see what you’ve been doing here. You’ve been having sex with Lilly. Don’t think I haven’t seen the evidence before. I do her washing. I knew when she’d had sex and I knew when she’d been at home that night. You know what is the worst part? I chose to ignore it. I thought it couldn’t possibly be.’

‘What the fuck is your problem? It’s not as if she’s my own daughter and you turn tricks at the hotel. Do I get jealous? Lilly is no fucking angel and she’s no baby. She knows what she’s doing.’

Michelle made a lunge at him. ‘You’re a filthy pig. She doesn’t stand a chance with you here. This is my flat. Get out.’

Rizal looked at her and snorted in disgust. ‘You need me. You can’t do it all on your own. Anyway, I am the father of the twins. If I go, I take them with me.’

Michelle’s eyes turned dark. ‘Don’t touch my children. They’re not yours. They never were. Now get out!’ Her body was shaking from the anger.

Rizal got slowly out of his seat, a mock smile on his face. He came to stand next to Michelle. She stood her ground. Her chest rose and fell as her heart hammered.

‘Don’t worry. I’ll go. But I can tell you a lot of things about your daughter. The things she likes, the things she asks me to do for her. You wanna ask her where she goes at night. She doesn’t sleep here. She has a secret place where she goes. She stopped being your baby a long time ago.’

Michelle turned her eyes away from his. His beer breath was rank in her face.

He grabbed her face and turned her to look at him. ‘I’m going out with the boys. I need to get out. You make me sick.’ He squeezed her face until her neck was stretched and she began to feel the pain as his fingers dug. ‘But when I feel like it, I’ll come back. Do you hear me? I will come back when I am ready and you better have something good waiting for me and you better accept it.’

He pushed Michelle away and she landed painfully against the corner of the cabinet.

‘Remember, you don’t mean nothing to me. Lilly is getting somewhere. She’s making connections, wealthy ones. She is going to be somebody. You don’t have any moral high ground to stand on. You’re just an old junkie hooker.’

After he’d gone, Michelle sat on the sofa and cried. She realized it had been a long time since she’d done that. The television blared as her shoulders shook and a pain shot through her heart at the realization of what she had become. She looked around the flat; it was a stinking mess, it smelt of sweat and beer and decay. She felt a huge feeling of shame but she also felt something else. She felt a seed of hope inside her. She hadn’t had ice for the time she’d been in custody. She’d already weathered the worst of the withdrawal. She stopped crying. She got a bin bag and began throwing all Rizal’s belongings inside.

Rizal headed down to the bars. He was fuming. He took the stairs all the way until he saw Nina and Flo waiting for the lift on the fifth landing. They were making their way down to the Delhi Grill. The mourning was draining on them all. Hafiz’s body was in the morgue. More people arrived daily to pay their respects. Flo had been for a rest and was now ready to face it again..

Rizal stared at Nina. He stared at the flesh beneath the folds of sari. He didn’t bother to hide it. ‘You’re looking real pretty today, Nina.’

Flo’s head turned at the sound of his voice. She leaned on Nina’s arm. ‘Is that Michelle’s man?’ she asked in Urdu.

‘Yes, Grandmother.’

Flo smiled his way and nodded. ‘He’s a pig.’

Nina smiled to herself.

‘What’s so funny?’ Rizal was weaving on his feet. He stank of sweat. His eyes had turned nasty. The lift was a long time coming. There was no way they could turn back. It took her grandmother a long time to go anywhere.

Nina shook her head. ‘Nothing.’ She was feeling anxious now. Flo had a habit of speaking her mind.

‘He smells like a pig.’ Flo nodded her head. She grinned her toothless grin.

He shook his head angrily. ‘What is it, old woman? What’s so funny? I’ve had enough of people taking the piss. I will wipe that smile off your old mouth in a minute.’ He was getting riled.

‘She means no harm. She’s old. Her brain’s not right.’ Rizal looked ready to flip.

‘I said you are a pig,’ Flo spoke in English. ‘I said you smell like the meat you eat.’ She gathered up some phlegm and spat it out. It landed at his feet.

Rizal froze. He looked down at the phlegm and lifted up his hand to strike her. The lift doors opened. Mahmud stepped out. His eyes were on the floor. When he lifted them he saw Rizal about to strike his grandmother. He charged at him, his arm still in plaster. Rizal wasn’t expecting it. He fell back against the wall opposite and the open windows of the maintenance shaft. He grabbed on to them either side, and landed painfully against the edge as he stopped himself falling into the filthy shaft. Nina hurried Flo into the lift.

Mahmud stood his ground and glared at Rizal before stepping in to join Nina and Flo. ‘Don’t ever come near us again or I will kill you.’

Flo was back in her room when she heard the door open. Nina had brought her back for her nap. Nina was running errands.

‘Nina? Is that you?’ Flo called out. No one answered. She listened to the sound of soft feet walking towards her room. Her hearing was good. She could tell if it was a man or a woman, she could tell if they were tall or short. Something wasn’t right.

‘What do you want? Where is Nina?’ Flo asked as her door opened and she felt the presence of someone standing in her doorway. ‘What do you want?’ she asked again, trying to put force behind her voice. ‘I am tired, get out. Go away.’ No one answered her. Flo’s head turned as she followed the sound of the person entering her room and walking around to the side of her. ‘Nina. Nina…’ Strong arms held her tight. She clawed at the hands but she could not reach them. She was being strangled.

‘Tom?’ Mia stood in her office calling Sheng’s mobile. It went straight to answer phone again.

There was a knock at her door. Ng walked in with Shrimp behind.

‘Has Michelle been released?’ asked Mia. Ng nodded. She sighed and sat back down, exasperated. ‘With Mahmud cleared as well, we’re back to square one. I had them as our team. I thought they would turn out to be working it together. I keep coming back to Victoria Chan and

‘Mann’s going to try and take them on alone. He can’t do it at the moment. It takes someone with all his wits about him to take on one member of the family, let alone two. I know CK too.’ Ng was aware of Shrimp staring at him with a new respect. Ng glanced his way.‘Yes, you aren’t the only person to have gone undercover, Shrimp. I was a rookie then. I spent a time in the Triad ranks as a 49 and then a Red Pole. It was the most difficult thing I ever did. You have to be able to separate your mind from what is going on around you. You have to immerse yourself completely and still be aware it’s not really you. It’s a very hard thing to do.’

Shrimp patted Ng on the back. ‘Big respect, old man.’

‘It was a long time ago but that kind of experience stays in the mind and CK hasn’t changed at all. Mann is no match for him at the moment. Mann’s father’s estate is a curse. It is attracting trouble to him like an open wound in a shark-infested ocean.’