In Denial (48 page)

*  *  *

‘
You know her, don’t you? This Gabrielle Brooks, you know her.’ They were outside and walking back towards Argyll Street, looking for a taxi.

‘
If it is who I think it is then, yes I know her. But I can’t give you a reason for her being in Hong Kong.’

‘
Mai Ling gave us that. She was looking for you.’

‘
Yes, but who are the Elliotts? I’ve no idea who they are.’ Adam steered Leila to one side so that she would miss a group of youths coming towards them.

She gripped Adam’s hand a little tighter. ‘How well do you know your brother?’ she asked.

‘
I recognised him but that’s all. I don’t think I could say that I’ve ever really known him, but now -’

Leila pulled Adam into a shop doorway. ‘As I keep telling you, he’s a very dangerous man.’

‘
I gathered that,’ Adam said, smiling. ‘You were ordered to kill me, remember? And unless I’m dreaming, here I am still on this earth and holding hands with my potential assassin. How bizarre is that and what does it tell you about my brother?’

‘
It tells me that maybe I have fallen in love with you, but it also tells me that your brother is no less dangerous.’ She looked up at him. ‘The Elliotts and your friend Gabrielle Brooks are in a lot of danger.’

*  *  *

Eric Elliott turned on the kitchen light. He wanted to make Elizabeth a mug of Ovaltine and one for himself. But then again perhaps he would have Drinking Chocolate tonight for a change. It was all a matter of routine. They had said very little since Gabrielle left, but they both knew what the other was thinking. She had been in their lives for only a few days and yet she’d become part of their lives. Initially she was a pleasant alternative, such a nice figure and a remarkably sweet face. But then her depth, her personality, her warmth had engulfed them both.

It was almost as though she was there because of the daughter they had just lost.

Gabrielle was the last person Eric Elliott ever thought about.

As the razor sharp knife was drawn across his throat his breath left him as swiftly as his life blood gushed towards the floor.

There was not even any pain.

*  *  *

‘
Where are we going?’ Gabrielle asked. The streets were darker and more threatening.

‘
As I said, this is a short cut.’

‘
You’re lying.’ She shivered. ‘Where are you taking me?’

‘
Gabrielle,’ Patrick Yong said, his voice confident, ‘you and I have a few things to discuss before we meet your Adam.’

‘
What do you mean? And he is not my Adam.’ Gabrielle looked through the side window of the car. They were entering what she could only guess was the docks area. The buildings were a mixture: offices and warehouses. ‘What is there to discuss?’ She felt desperation creeping into her voice but had no idea why.

‘
That’s for me to decide,’ Patrick Yong told her as he stopped his car at the entrance to a small and very old looking quayside warehouse. ‘May I suggest you do as you are told?’

‘
Where are we?’

‘
You will see.’ Patrick Yong turned the key in the ignition and the engine died.

There was silence.

‘
What the -?’

‘
Miss Brooks, the time for informalities is over,’ Patrick Yong said as he rested the muzzle of the 9mm Beretta against Gabrielle’s temple. ‘If you’ll just do as you are told, please.’

Gabrielle froze.

Her brain told her what was happening but it would not take her thoughts that one stage further and provide her with an explanation. ‘What -?’

‘
Miss Brooks, I’m going to get out of the car and then you and I are going to walk into this building. Do you understand?’

*  *  *

Mai Ling remembered her master writing the Elliotts’ address on a piece of paper. She had found it in the bin by the phone and gave it to Adam and Leila. They were twenty minutes away from Plantation Court when Number Seventy-Five put his hand over Elizabeth Elliott’s mouth a second before drawing his knife across her throat.

*  *  *

Gabrielle stumbled.

It was dark and the air smelt dank.

‘
Over there,’ Patrick Yong said from behind her. ‘Go towards that door in the corner.’

In the dim light it wasn’t easy to see what was in the large space they were crossing but Gabrielle assumed it was an open-plan office that had been allowed to rot after it was emptied. The surface underfoot felt like a carpet and she could see the outline of rows of desks on either side of the aisle. Through the filthy windows the lights from other buildings gave her some hope.

She reached the door.

‘
Open it,’ Patrick Yong ordered.

She did as she was told and waited.

‘
Inside.’

*  *  *

Number Seventy-Five slipped out of the building the same way he went in.

The job was done so Number Sixty-Six would be pleased.

He had not taken anything.

There was no point.

He would burn his clothes and then wait for the next assignment.

Reaching his car, Number Seventy-Five smiled. He had seen nobody and there was no reason why anybody would notice him.

As he left Plantation Court and began to turn left, a car was parked too close to the junction and he had to pull out into to the road to see if it was clear. As he did he only just missed the taxi which was indicating to pull into Plantation Court.

The taxi driver swore and apologised to his passengers.

Leila smiled but Adam was preoccupied with the fact that Gabrielle Brooks was in Hong Kong and looking for him.

Why?

Patrick Yong stood in front of the chair to which he had tied Gabrielle. ‘Miss Brooks, whether you leave this building alive or whether I feed you piece by piece to the fish is dependent on your co-operation. Do you understand?’

Gabrielle’s arms were already aching. Her wrists were fastened behind the chair and her ankles were also tied together.

‘
I ... I understand that,’ she said in as steady a voice as she could manage, ‘but what ... what I don’t understand is why you, Adam’s brother, have … have brought me here and … and why you feel the need to tie me up.’

In contrast to what she had seen earlier, the room they were in now was decorated and furnished and contained all the extras you would expect in a working office. Patrick Yong was leaning against a large rosewood desk and he was smiling.

‘
Miss Brooks, there are things you need not know and things you should not know. The difference between the two is neither great nor significant because we’re here for me to obtain information from you, not the other way round.’ The smile stayed on his lips and he tilted his head to one side. His eyes were not smiling.

‘
Has ... has it crossed your mind that I could tell you what you want ... what you want to know without all this melodrama?’ Gabrielle held Patrick Yong’s gaze. ‘Let me ... let me try something. I met your brother only a few weeks ago. I fell in love with him and I’ve come to Hong Kong to find him and tell him exactly how I feel. Do I need to be here and tied up to tell you that?’

Patrick Yong stared at her for a few seconds before the smile left his lips. ‘Admirable,’ he said, his eyes narrowing. ‘But not what I wanted to hear.’ He reached behind him and a flick knife appeared in his hand. He pressed the button on the side of the knife and the blade swished into place. ‘This is very sharp,’ he said, ‘and you are very beautiful. It would be a pity if I had to cut you to make you tell me the truth.’

Gabrielle frowned, her eyes fixated by the knife’s blade. ‘I ... I
am
telling you the truth.’

‘
Really? I don’t think so.’ Patrick Yong moved closer to her. ‘Your story might be the sort of thing people want to read in books but I would prefer the truth.’ He rested the tip of the blade on Gabrielle’s chin. ‘Let us start with an admission that you are a policewoman.’

‘
A ... what?’ The knife was still touching her chin. Any slip and she would be cut. ‘I am not -’

Patrick Yong moved the knife to the top of Gabrielle’s blouse. With a steady downward flicking motion, his eyes never leaving hers, he cut the flimsy cloth all the way down the front, the buttons popping with the movement of the knife. He shook his head. ‘I told you that if you lied I would use this knife.’

‘
I’m not ... I am not lying, I -’

Patrick Yong placed the tip of the knife between Gabrielle’s breasts. With a further flick her bra fell away. ‘As good as I expected,’ he said, looking down and smiling. ‘So shall I start with them?’ Once again he rested the tip of the blade between her breasts. ‘Or your face?’

Gabrielle strained against the chord round her wrists as she automatically tried to cover herself. She dropped her head and squeezed her eyes shut trying to make everything go away. ‘I told you ... I told you, I am not -’ She stopped dead as she felt the blade of the knife under her chin. She lifted her head.

Patrick Yong’s face was only inches from hers. ‘‘Miss Brooks, you’re being very stupid. I do not make idle threats.’ His fingertips whispered across her left breast, but then he squeezed her nipple as hard as he could between his thumb and forefinger.

Gabrielle’s face contorted with the sudden pain.

She screamed.

*  *  *

‘
There’s no reply,’ Adam said more to himself than to Leila. He stepped back and looked up at the height of the building. ‘Mai Ling didn’t have a telephone number for them, did she?’

‘
No. I asked,’ Leila said. ‘It was only this address.’

Adam checked his watch. ‘It’s not late. They’re probably out somewhere.’

Just then a European man and woman came up the steps, eyeing Adam and Leila with suspicion. ‘Can we help you?’ the man asked. He was tall, almost bald, in his sixties and was wearing a dinner jacket. The woman, who stayed slightly behind the man, was a similar age, her silver-grey hair piled on top of her head and gold jewellery hanging from her ears, neck and wrists. Her red evening gown smelt of money.

‘
Er, yes, you might be able to,’ Adam suggested. ‘We’ve come to see the Elliotts,’ he told them, ‘but they aren’t answering.’

‘
The Elliotts,’ the man repeated, turning to the woman. ‘Do we know the Elliotts?’

The woman stepped forward. ‘Yes, dear, they live on the top floor, but I thought they were in England. They lost their daughter and …’ She stopped as though she thought she was saying too much.

The man was looking at Leila. ‘That could be why they aren’t answering,’ he said, switching his attention back to Adam.

‘
Would you be so kind as to let us in so that we can check, I -’

‘
They are back from England,’ Leila said, interrupting. ‘We telephoned them earlier this evening from the hotel. We only arrived in Hong Kong late this afternoon. They’re expecting us.’

‘
Come on, Archie,’ the woman said, ‘stop being so suspicious.’ She produced a key from her evening bag and walked towards the door. ‘You don’t look the sort of people who are here for any other reason than to visit friends,’ she added as the door swung open. ‘I apologise for him. He thinks any stranger is up to no good.’

‘
Thank you,’ Adam said, smiling.

A couple of minutes later they were outside the Elliotts’ flat.

Adam checked the number but as he went to press the bell he noticed that the door was slightly ajar. He looked at Leila and pushed the door with one finger.

It swung open.

Stepping inside, he heard the sound of the television but nothing else.

‘
Hello!’ he said, not too loudly.

No reply.

‘
Hello!’ he repeated. ‘You check that way,’ he told Leila, ‘and I’ll go this way.’

Eric Elliott’s blood had spread over the white tiled kitchen floor. His eyes were open and his lips were slightly apart, but it was the deep gash across his throat on which Adam’s eyes focussed.

The flashback was immediate.

*  *  *

‘
You’ll be wondering where you are,’ Patrick Yong suggested. He was still leaning against the desk, smiling down at Gabrielle. ‘I’m sorry I had to hurt you but you really must understand that I am serious.’