Kiss & Die - Lee Weeks [97]
‘Do these men have any connection to each other?’ Mann asked.
‘No. All frequent visitors to Hong Kong, all travelling married businessmen.’
‘Where were they staying?’
‘All in hotels around the Mansions. All off Nathan Road, big hotels with twenty-four-hour cocktail bars. They were all married, all well known for playing away. Their disappearance was never traced directly to Hong Kong because they moved all over Asia. Some airline records were accurate about who bought tickets but some weren’t.’
‘This is her serial killer ID: she kills foreign businessmen who play away,’ Sheng said, fiddling with his watch strap, a sports Rolex. He looked as rough as ever. His face was blotchy, sweaty. His shirt button strained across his stomach.
‘They have to be married,’ added Mia, ‘but they don’t have to be Caucasian. We have a Korean amongst the dead. Saheed estimated the other heads had been in the water anything from two days to a year. The head that the fisher – men found seems to be the longest in the water of the seven. Saheed said it was in the water about a year. It’s hard to tell because the lobsters do a pretty good job of stripping the flesh and eating the bone as it breaks down. We only have a partial skull left. But Saheed said he is pretty sure it’s not Caucasian. He thinks it’s African.’
‘Have them check the rubbish dumps, building sites, alert all fishermen. She must be disposing of the bodies somehow,’ said Sheng. ‘Post surveillance in Stanley.’
‘Perp won’t use that site again,’ said Mann, sipping his coffee. ‘They’ll have seen us, I’m sure.’
Sheng flashed him an irritated look. He looked like he was about to add a comment but decided not to. Mann was beginning to feel like he’d been the subject of some conversation and it wasn’t friendly.
‘We have thirty million visitors a year; most of them come here for business,’ said Ng. ‘The average stay is three days. We are a major stop-off point for other countries. Every few seconds men pass through on business trips and every few weeks some men go missing in Asia.’
‘It’s easy to see why: burnout. They’ve had enough of being mortgage slaves and opt out,’ said Sheng. ‘They get so used to being on the road. Their wives don’t even care whether they come home or not in the end as long as the bills get paid. You go and set up home in the Philippines or Thailand, it costs pence to live there. Find a few girls to double as bed mates and cleaners, no one need ever be found again.’
‘Seems like you’ve thought this through…’ smiled Mann.
‘I’ve been working, if that’s what you mean. Doing my job. We can’t all be lying on a fucking beach getting a sun tan.’ Sheng was tapping his foot, fiddling with his coffee cup.
Mann was beginning to get the gist of what must have been said between Sheng and Mia. He knew he would be hearing all of it by the end of the meeting. Sheng had a lot of pent-up aggression that wouldn’t stay behind bars.
‘Okay, we get two hundred plain clothes officers out there sitting in bars, listening to talk,’ said Sheng. ‘I want every sex worker who is seen working the plush hotels pulled over and discreetly interviewed. At the risk of pissing the guests off we have to step up security. Anyone not seen by hotel staff when they are expected? Anyone not answering their door for cleaning for more than twelve hours, security in that hotel go in. Shrimp, we have your ID ready. Your team is ready to go. You are the Manhattan VD in a book distribution company. You will be staying at Vacation Villas. We need to move this along now. You ready?’
Shrimp nodded but he thought of Nina. He would not be