Kiss & Die - Lee Weeks [32]
‘Bits of it.’ Mia hid her face in her hands and chuckled. ‘Other bits are very hazy. I had a rough idea what happened when I woke up with “I love cock” across my forehead.’
Mann laughed. ‘You passed out on me.’
‘I’m not surprised. We used to drink a lot in those days. I don’t have any regrets. It was a great time. You were going to be the best police diver that ever was and stamp out all Triads along the way and I was going to be commissioner by the time I was thirty.’
‘Yeah. We were young.’
‘Christ, we’re not exactly old now.’ Mia tried not to frown.
‘I know but I feel it sometimes. I feel like I have seen too much to have any hope left.’ Mann drank his vodka and poured another.
Mia pushed her drink aside. Sometimes it made her melancholy. ‘Yeah, maybe we should have stayed in that bed. I should have certainly never taken up with Daniel, that’s for sure. Daniel made me think he was offering babies and eternity rings. When I got pregnant I found out he wasn’t free to give them, not to me anyway. I lost it. Now I can’t have kids.’
‘I’m sorry, Mia. I never knew.’
‘Yeah, I had complications. I had a premature baby – it didn’t survive. Daniel said he was sorry but our relationship wasn’t the same after. I think he was relieved.’ She smiled at Mann. ‘At least I had the sense to know all you wanted was a good laugh and a shag and a relationship wasn’t on offer. You were always honest about it and you were a good friend to me, always have been. You mean a lot to me, Johnny. I hope you know that.’ She reached over and touched his hand.
‘You know, Mia, I never saw you as the sentimental type,’ Mann said, surprised. It had been a long time since they had been off duty together. ‘But, you know, maybe it’s not too late for us…we can go back to that single bed in my room in the academy halls. I can see it now…’
Mia laughed. ‘Yeah, so can I. You’d love that, wouldn’t you? Your woman on tap and she’s your boss; you’d have me bent over every desk in the department. But…’ Mia finished her drink and shook her head, ‘…in the end you’d do a better job of breaking my heart than Daniel ever did.’
‘Forget men like Daniel and Sheng. You always pick the wrong ones – you attract them. You carry your emotional baggage with you like a third arm. It’s visible everywhere you go, Mia – get rid of it, cut it off, move on. He wasn’t worthy of you then and he isn’t now. You settled for less than you should have. You let your guard down too early. You got caught. You need to find someone outside the force. You shouldn’t bother with men like Sheng.’
‘Sheng isn’t that bad. He is going through a bad time at home. His daughter has got in trouble. He’s a good father. But, anyway, I don’t know why I’m listening to you. Your track record isn’t any better than mine.’ As soon as Mia said it she regretted it. ‘I’m sorry, Johnny. I didn’t mean it to come out like that.’
‘No, you’re right, Mia. My track record stinks. I treated Helen badly. I couldn’t commit to her. Something about the grass is greener. But you know what they say about greener grass, don’t you, Mia?’
‘Yeah. It still gets weeds and it still needs mowing.’
Chapter 21
The next morning Mann, Tom Sheng and Mia met at the far end of the incident room. In the background an Urdu translator could be heard on the phone. He had been brought in to phone the Indian groups and see if anyone could identify the dead girl.
‘We are pretty sure she came from the Mansions,’ said Mann.
‘Then we flood the place with uniformed officers asking questions—’ Sheng said.
‘No,’ interrupted Mann. ‘The Mansions are a volatile, unpredictable place. There are an awful lot of people who will run when they see