The Inspector Walter Darriteau Murder Mysteries - Books 1-4 David Carter (autobiographies to read txt) 📖

Process of elimination. Two of them she had already used. Selected one she hadn’t, slipped it in the keyhole, turned over with the tiniest of squeaks, as Karen joined them, gun in hand, and Walter was happy to see that, because the other two, so far nameless guys, could be inside, and they were known to be dangerous, and if things ran to form, could well be armed.

Walter nodded Jun on, and she opened the double doors and they all stepped inside.

Big plant.

Big room.

Big area.

Long benches.

Sophisticated machinery, sophisticated products.

Lots of people, hard at work.

Orientals, to a woman.

A gentle hum of creativity, making money for someone.

No men around, so far as any of them could see.

Gibbons joined them, anxious not to miss a thing.

Walter glanced around the huge space. Away to the left was a mezzanine floor set high on metal stilts. Looked like some desks up there, maybe computers too, though he couldn’t be sure, but it sure as hell looked like a management area, the kind of place where decisions were made, the kind of area where the under-bosses hung out.

Then something weird happened.

That hum of creativity, the gentle noise of dozens of people hard at work, slowly faded away. People were stopping and staring, gaping at the open doors, for the doors were never left open, and gawping at the strangers, the big black bloke, the fit young white man, the white blonde, and the one they all recognised, the one who had slipped away only the day before.

Shu was working at the far end of the bench and was one of the last to notice the slowdown and hush, and when she glanced up to see what was wrong, in her heart she was expecting some kind of bad news or bad karma, she glanced the way all the others were staring, and saw Jun Woo standing there, a gentle smile on her pretty face, and a slight nod to tell her it was all over.

Shu let out a happy squeal and came running.

Leapt into Jun’s arms, the girl Shu knew as Lily Sang.

Jun said, ‘This is Shu Lang, she’s eighteen, she came across with me, she’s a trainee nurse. These are English police. You’re safe now. You’re all safe now.’

Walter nodded and tried a gentle smile.

‘Does she speak English?’

Jun said, ‘Not much.’

‘Ask her where the other two men are?’

Lots of frantic talking and pointing and the answer came back. She didn’t know. They hadn’t been seen since earlier that day, and Shu pointed to the dispatch bay and the closed doors there, and it was obvious Shu thought it possible they could be on the other side, but before that Walter wanted to check out the mezzanine floor, from where two Chinese women were now staring down from over the rails.

He moved over toward the stairs, the others close behind, as Shu asked Jun about Fenfang.

‘They are looking for her now,’ assured Jun. ‘They’ll find her,’ and by then they were all ascending the stairs.

At the top, Monica and Debs turned to face the strangers, their hands folded across their chests, faces looking confused and concerned.

Walter glanced at Jun, and said, ‘Who are these women?’

‘This one, they call Monica; she’s the assembly plant manager when the Englishmen are not here. You don’t cross her. Big trouble if you do. She’s also Brinton’s sex slave.’

‘I am not!’ Monica spat out, revealing her command of the language. ‘We love each other. We are planning on getting married.’

Seemed a weird place to be considering marriage, they all thought, and under an even weirder set of circumstances.

Gibbons stared at her and wondered what was wrong with Brinton. If he had the choice of more than a hundred women, Monica, as they called her, would have been about the last one he would have chosen. Seemed odd, that’s all.

Jun was talking again.

‘They call the other one Debs, she’s Monica’s deputy.’

‘Where is Jessica Stone?’ asked Walter.

Debs said, ‘Who?’

‘The white girl! The model! She was held here. Where is she?’

Monica shook her head, looked as if she was weighing up her options whether to say anything at all.

Karen guessed they didn’t know anything about Jessica Stone, though they could have been covering up for others.

‘I don’t think they know, Guv,’ said Gibbons, saying the thought that was in some of their heads.

‘Where’s Jimmy?’ asked Monica.

‘Who’s Jimmy?’ asked Karen.

‘Mr Brinton.’

‘He’s outside,’ said Walter.

‘Is he all right?’

‘He’ll live. You can all stop what you are doing. It’s all over. They’ll be no more work done here, not today, not ever. Gibbons, get on to immigration, get them down here toot sweet, tell them they’ve a big job on.’

‘Sure, Guv,’ and Gibbons pulled out his mobile and set to work. Rang the UK Border Agency, a number they were ringing more and more frequently.

Walter said, ‘Let’s go and check the dispatch bay, and while we are about it, keep looking for anything to do with Jessica,’ and they turned around and retreated down the stairs.

At the foot of the steps Shu grabbed Jun’s T-shirt and began jabbering away. Walter and the rest turned and stopped and listened, and looked at Jun and said, ‘What’s she saying?’

Jun held up her hand as if to say, hold on a sec, and Jun asked Shu some questions, and then Shu was talking again.

‘What’s she saying?’ repeated Walter, for it was so frustrating when someone was trying to tell you something when you didn’t understand a word of it.

Jun nodded and asked Shu something else, and Jun said in English: ‘The English girl was here. Shu was forced to inject her with a sedative. Shu’s a trainee nurse. The English girl left yesterday.’

‘Where did they take her?’ rattled off Walter.

Jun translated.

Shu shrugged her shoulders. Then began talking again.

Jun translated.

‘Shu says she was threatened with being injected in the eye by Pryce if she didn’t do as she was told. Monica took her to the room and ordered her to do it,’ and Shu began snivelling, and continued talking, and Jun