CK pressed his fingertips together. He sat back in his chair. In the dusky light his eyes glowed.
‘All this talk of death in one so young. All this talk of fear and fighting. Is there not one piece of your soul that longs for happiness? Money can buy you a little joy in this difficult world. Everyone deserves that, don’t they, even you, Inspector? Dine with me tomorrow and let us continue our talks. I needn’t be your enemy. I could be the best friend you ever had.’
Chapter 16
Ruby closed the door behind her. She hummed to herself as she took off her disguise and unbuttoned the front of her uniform. She opened the cupboard and placed her wig back on its stand. She went into the bathroom and switched on the light. She removed her make-up meticulously. She stood looking at herself. She turned her head from side to side to examine her face from all angles. She saw a blank canvas. Ruby was lucky to have good bone structure. Her skin was light. Her features were regular, nondescript. Only her eyes gave away her roots but that too she could disguise with make-up if she wanted to. Her eyes filled with tears as she stared into the mirror at her reflection. She asked herself: who did Ruby want to be? She wanted to be the person she once was: the child full of hope, the girl with dreams still intact. She wanted to turn back the clock and decide her own destiny. There had been a time when she was happy. A long time ago when she had sat on her mother’s lap and her mother had brushed her hair and sung to her. She had felt loved. But that was before it all went wrong. That was before it happened. Ruby had believed in love once. She had trusted a man. She had been betrayed.
She glanced towards the locked door. She loved the feeling of knowing he was waiting for her, of knowing he was all hers. She undid the last few buttons and slipped the dress from her shoulders, then glanced at the clock on the wall. She had time. She would use him one more time before the end. She heard a noise. She paused as she slid her knickers to the floor. She held her breath as she listened and then she grinned in the darkness of the room that never saw the light of day.
She picked up one of her dolls and tipped it upside down. It cried one long realistic cry like a baby. Ruby held it to her breast and cooed to it as she pressed her nipple into its plastic mouth. ‘Come on, baby. Mummy wants to feed you.’ Ruby’s nipple grew hard as she brushed it against the doll’s cheek. She stopped to listen; he was calling her. He was in a lot of pain. She felt her stomach tighten. She felt her pulse quicken as her imagination took her down that delicious dark road of torture and sex. This was Ruby’s favourite place now. It was all she ever thought about, all she had left.
‘Coming, my love.’
Ruby picked up a small handheld saw and pulled back the curtain and opened the door, saw in one hand, baby doll in the other. The room was pitch black, sweltering hot. She switched on the electric light – one bulb hung down from the ceiling. The white on the walls gave off an eerie sheen. There were hooks hanging down from the ceiling. In the centre of the room the man lay naked on a plastic mattress. His arms were tied to a chain above his head. His legs were tied together and chained to the floor. The room had a toilet in the corner, a wash basin, a hose for washing and a drain in the floor that had once been enclosed behind a small screen. Ruby had removed it. The room was tiled completely with white tiles. Most of the Mansions’ guest rooms had white tiles. It made them easier to keep clean. It meant the bedbugs and cockroaches had fewer places to hide. For Ruby it meant that she could hose off the blood easily.
Steve was strapped into the bonds waiting for her. Naked, his body now stripped down to its bare functions. Ruby put down the saw and finished injecting the penis. He was sweating. Of course he was, the heat in the room was 40° C. His chest hair had turned black as it stuck in wet rivulets and waves across his skin. It was hot in the room because there was no air con. She only switched the air con unit on afterwards. He was breathing deeply. He was scared but his cock was raging. She had injected four doses into the shaft’s base. It would keep it hard long after he was begging her to end his life.
Steve stared at her. His chest rose and fell. He tried to talk but the black rubber ball gag filled his mouth. Ruby set the doll down, propped up against the wall, level with the man’s head.
‘There, you can watch Daddy now.’
Ruby knelt beside him and covered his cock with the hard plastic sheath. She taped it down. Then she stood and went over to the sink, bent down and picked up a weapon, a metal whip. In the confined spaces of the room she had to be careful not to hurt herself when she wielded it. She stood in the corner of the room by the door and lifted it above her head and brought it down across his body. He squealed in pain and twisted his body, trying to get away from the strokes. The wounds opened up before her eyes. The razors were so sharp that at first they slid through his flesh invisibly and then the delay and they split open. Now his body was bleeding onto the plastic mattress, the blood making its way down onto the tiled floor. He was frantic now.
‘You see, baby, Daddy didn’t come back for us, did he? And so Daddy has to be punished.’ She struck him again, three more times across his legs, his chest. His flesh flew out in slithers. The doll’s face was dripping with his blood. ‘Daddy said he was single. Daddy said he loved us but Daddy was a liar, wasn’t he?’
Ruby picked up the saw and pressed the button to start the motor. Unearthly noises escaped from the man’s gagged mouth as he shook his head and pleaded with his eyes. Ruby took off the plastic sheath from his cock, straddled him and eased herself on him. She rocked, forgetting the saw in her hand that bounced and sang. It came to rest on the ball gag and slid back and forth across his face. Ruby didn’t see it – she was coming close to orgasm. Only when she had finished did she remember that she had the saw in her hand. She looked at him and laughed. It had taken off most of his face.
She looked at the doll, its bright blue eyes still sparkling, the blood dripping from its face. Its mouth open in a sweet chuckle. ‘Now that’s not very nice, is it, baby? You mustn’t laugh at Daddy.’
Chapter 17
Ng took one look at Mann when he walked back into the office that evening. He’d come straight from CK’s.
‘Don’t bother taking your jacket off, it’s late. We’re going. That’s enough work for you. I’m taking you home.’
Mia appeared in the doorway. ‘Any news on the girl’s identity?’
‘Not yet,’ answered Ng.
‘Mann…did you see CK?’
‘Yes, I saw him and I arranged to see him again tomorrow night. He’s going to show me the world he thinks I belong in.’ Mann shook his head.
Mia looked at Ng. ‘Ng’s right. You need some time out. Let Ng take you home. Grab an hour’s rest. I’ll see you in three hours. Now go.’
Mann started to protest but gave in. He wasn’t going to win an argument with Mia and he knew she was right. This was no time to be slack.
Mann sat beside Ng in the passenger seat of his brand new Mazda and laid his head back on the leather headrest. The car was Ng’s pride and joy, but then Ng didn’t have to spend his money on his family or a mortgage. He’d inherited a flat from his parents, in what was once a slummy part of town – now the chicest address in Wanchai.
Mann watched the neon whiz by. He didn’t know if he was drunk or just so tired that his world was spinning. He caught Ng looking across at him as he rested his head on the back of the seat, his eyes half closed.
‘A couple of hours’ sleep, something to eat, a few coffees, you’ll be sorted,’ Ng said.
‘Yeah.’ Mann looked out of the window. ‘Somehow I think it’s going to take more than that, Ng.’
The two fell silent. Ng switched on the radio and then switched it off. He had something he wanted to say.
‘I don’t think you should be the one to talk with CK or Victoria Chan. You’re vulnerable right now. I see it in you. All the years we have known one another I have watched you struggle with things but I have never seen you so withdrawn. It’s as if you don’t exist in this life sometimes. You are not listening. You are not hearing what is said. I see your eyes always on the horizon, Mann. But the way is in the heart, not in the sky. Be kind to yourself right now. Stop punishing yourself and accept some help. I will take over talking to CK.’