The Jade Garden (The Barrington Patch Book 2) Page 8

  “I will.” Cassie gave Joe a dark look.

  Lou didn’t blame her. He’d slipped up, assuming Jason would know about them, what with him being her right hand. But he should have realised that wouldn’t be the case. All those years Glen Maddock had worked beside Lenny, a man who could be trusted with your life, and even he didn’t know about them.

  “Anyroad,” Cassie said, “we need to go and see her. Do you think she’d have taken a backhander to make herself scarce while the Jade was robbed? Did Brett tell her what he was up to and she agreed to help?”

  Jason coughed. “I can’t see her doing that, to be honest.”

  Lou studied him. He looked decidedly shifty, but maybe he was tired and his eyes narrowing was on account of that.

  “I can.” Lou smiled knowingly. “Helen’s a dark horse. She’s got the soul of the Devil inside her. If she knew she wouldn’t get found out, she’d take bribe money. Fond of the booze, that one is. Which is mad, when you think about it. Paying someone hooked on a substance to keep quiet? It loosens lips, everyone knows that.”

  Jason dipped his head and clenched his teeth.

  What was up with him?

  “What’s pissed on your parade?” Lou asked him.

  He snapped his head back up. “Pardon?”

  “Well, you seem miffed—more than the discussion warrants.”

  “Just knackered.” He shrugged, clearly trying hard to brush this off.

  “That coffee will wake you up.” Lou nodded to it, then glanced at Cassie.

  Lenny’s girl appeared to take the look for what it meant: watch him closely.

  With her fears about Jason now in Cassie’s hands, Lou could concentrate on her own issues. A day or so, and she’d sound Miss Grafton out. Then, all being well, they’d get to work. Lou knew all about Cassie’s new weapon and looked forward to using it herself if she was allowed. If not, no problem.

  She’d make her own.

  Chapter Nine

  Li Jun sat in Mei’s home, wishing he hadn’t had to come, that he was back at the Jade, cleaning up, just another night ending as usual, nothing awful happening. But that wasn’t the case, was it, and no amount of wishing would change it. He was here, having given her the news and the story she needed to stick to, praying she’d obey Cassie and do as asked.

  Her tears and mourning hurt his heart, such wrenching, soul-deep sobs, her grief for her one and only tearing her to shreds. Could she stitch those shreds back together? For now, absolutely not. They’d planned to do so much, she’d said, taking the children on holiday in the summer, a whole month of relaxation, a recharging of the batteries.

  Jiang’s battery was now dead, and Mei would need to fire hers up in order to keep going. She’d need strength to move forward without him, and her children would give her that, a reason to continue. They were her sole focus now.

  He’d promised to sit with her until she felt a bit better. Her little ones were asleep, oblivious, happy in their innocent dreams, and they’d be told their father had gone to China. It was better that way. They wouldn’t slip up at school, blurting out the truth, setting off the gossip mill, the real story morphing into tendrils of half-truths and lies, all melded together by those who passed the tale on, a new layer of bullshit attaching itself with each revolution. Maybe the kiddies could be told later, when they were older and understood the way of the business.

  When they found out what really went on at the Jade.

  He was sorry it had come to this, something he’d predicted all those years ago, whispering his fears to Nuwa as they’d stood outside the Jade, Lenny waiting for them to make a firm decision, the pressure of him standing there watching and Nuwa urging Li Jun to take the offer, pushing him to agree. Nuwa had insisted it would be okay, that Lenny would look after them, so he’d taken on the Jade and did what had been asked of him. How they’d got away with this for so long he didn’t know.

  Well, he did. Lenny had run the Barrington taking no prisoners, and now he was gone, someone had come along to test Cassie, even though she’d visited everyone to ensure they knew who they were messing with. Li Jun was well aware what a foolish thing that was if people ignored her. Cassie was worse than Lenny—at least he’d shown compassion every now and then—and when she found who’d done this, there would be hell to pay. The intruder would disappear, just like Lenny would want, except Cassie would mess him up first in a way Lenny never would have. She had a sadistic side, did Cassie, enjoying the power she wielded.

  Li Jun thought she had something to prove, that her violence came from needing folks to know she wasn’t a female who’d wither under pressure.

  His phone rang, and he glanced at the screen, thinking it’d be Nuwa asking when he’d be home. Their sons had gone up into the flat above the Jade to tell her about Jiang and look after her while Li Jun was out, but she’d panic, convincing herself he’d been followed by someone involved in the robbery and wouldn’t return.

  It wasn’t his wife but Cassie.

  He dreaded what she had to say. He wasn’t sure he could take much more this side of bedtime. Guilt pricked at him that he’d brought his brother, Zhang Wei, over from China, and years later his son had been killed, all because of the side business at the Jade. All because Li Jun had stepped over the line into bad territory.

  Zhang Wei had agreed to all the terms and had worked for Li Jun to start with, but seeing how well the Jade had done, even without drug sales, Zhang Wei had opened his own takeaway years later on another estate. Jiang could have worked for his father but had chosen Li Jun as his boss—he preferred to keep his job separate from his immediate family.

  If only he’d opted for The Golden Dragon instead, he’d still be here.

  He sensed Mei staring at him expectantly, the ringing going on and on, jarring in the silence and brushing against his nerves.

  He got up and shuffled to the kitchen, closing the door. Swiped the screen. “Yes?”

  “I’ve found who it was, and he’s disappeared,” Cassie said, the sound of a car engine bumper to bumper with her words.

  His stomach rolled over. “Who was it?”

  “Brett Davis.”

  So Li Jun had been right, the beef curry and egg fried rice giving the man away. Such a simple slip-up had sealed Brett’s fate. He didn’t want to know how she’d killed him. “I am glad he has vanished.”

  “I’m on my way to see his aunt, Helen. You know, the woman who runs the laundrette. She may be involved, and if she is, she’ll disappear an’ all.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Have you seen Mei yet?”

  “I am here now, and I have to go to Zhang Wei soon. We have not told him or his wife anything so far.”

  “Okay. I’ll update you, all right?”

  “Thank you again.”

  The line went dead, and Li Jun sagged against the door, the handle digging into his side. Brett? What a shame the lad had turned out the way he had. A regular at the Jade, confused by drugs for the most part, but he’d been pleasant enough. He’d bought his goods from Li Jun along with his food order but had never given him reason to believe he knew about the fridge. He would have seen Li Jun going into the office to collect what he needed, but how was Brett to know the drugs weren’t stored in a safe?

  As Cassie said, someone had told him.

  He sighed and left the kitchen, returning to Mei in the lounge. “It was Cassie. The man has been caught. He will not trouble anybody again.”

  She blinked, her wet lashes clumped together. “Who…?”

  Forgive me for lying. “I do not know, but she said he is gone. Permanently.”

  Mei nodded, all her tears dried up, and she rose to hug him. Li Jun held her close, allowing a few tears to fall, then he stuffed his spine with courage and pulled away.

  “I must go to see Zhang Wei now. Will you be okay?”

  She nodded.

  “If you need to come and stay at the flat, Nuwa will look after you and the children for as long as you
need.”

  “I know.”

  He walked out, despondent, the fire of anger going out now Brett had been killed. All he wanted to do was go home to his wife and have her smooth away the hurt, but he couldn’t. It was his responsibility to report to his brother, and he would do so no matter how much he mourned his beloved nephew.

  He drove to the other estate, parking around the back of The Golden Dragon, beneath the large kitchen window. Light spilt out, and Zhang Wei cleaned up inside, wiping the steel surfaces. Li Jun’s chest constricted, and he took a deep breath then got out. At the door, he knocked his usual pattern to let his brother know it was him. Arriving past midnight wasn’t the norm, and he didn’t want Zhang Wei worrying he was about to be robbed.

  Zhang Wei opened up, his great big smile creating a piercing pain inside Li Jun. That smile would dissolve into a mask of anguish soon, and he didn’t delight in putting it there.

  “Ah, Li Jun, I was just thinking about you. I have a proposition to put to you.” Zhang Wei stepped back to let him in. “We would need to pool our money, but you will get yours back quickly, I promise.”

  Li Jun entered and waited for Zhang Wei to close the door and lock it. He’d allow his sibling to say what he had to say, a delay tactic on Li Jun’s part, a cowardly move but one he couldn’t help but employ at the moment. Telling Mei had been harrowing, but giving Zhang Wei the news would be more so, crippling, bringing Li Jun to his emotional knees along with his brother. A parent losing his child—it didn’t bear thinking about—yet here they were, in this terrible situation, and there was nothing that could change what had happened.

  There was no bringing Jiang back.

  “I want to open a takeaway for Jiang,” Zhang Wei said, hands flying in excitement. “But I need your help. Will you loan me half of the money? There is a shop for lease over in Sheffield, and I think it is perfect for my son. A nice estate, good people, and he will earn more money to put the children in the school he wants them to go to.”

  Li Jun would have given the money without asking for any back, as he would for his own sons, but sadly, the venture couldn’t go ahead, unless it was for Yenay, who had a good head for business and deserved a chance to get away from the Jade, especially now. If only Zhang had mentioned this before, weeks ago. Jiang would have been safe in Sheffield.

  “I have something to tell you.” Li Jun winced, his heart pattering too fast, his bottom lip wobbling.

  “What has happened?”

  Zhang Wei’s smile dropped, as Li Jun had known it would. This was beyond horrendous, what he had to say, but say it he must. He appreciated how Zhang Wei would want it told straight, so he plunged in.

  “Jiang was killed at work tonight.” He stared into Zhang Wei’s eyes, waiting for the fallout.

  They lost some of their light, and his lids fluttered. “What…?”

  “Someone came to steal the drugs, and Jiang stepped in to stop him hurting me. The man sliced his neck.” How blunt that had sounded. How soulless Li Jun felt. “Your son died protecting me, and I am forever in his debt.”

  Zhang Wei crumpled to the freshly cleaned tile floor, a wail unlike anything Li Jun had ever heard coming out of him, an animal in pain, caught in a trap with no way of getting out. Li Jun got down there with him, held him tight, rocking him while he sobbed, letting his own tears run free. Jiang had been like a son to him, their family so close they all loved one another deeply, and he experienced Zhang Wei’s pain as if it were his own. It cut deep, scoring a trench in his heart, one that would never heal.

  Never.

  Zhang calmed after a while and eased back to stare at Li Jun, determination overtaking the sadness in his eyes. “Cassie?”

  Li Jun sighed. “She has dealt with the person responsible.”

  “Who was it?”

  “I do not know.”

  Zhang Wei shook his head. “Do not lie to me, brother.”

  Li Jun should have known the deception wouldn’t work. Zhang Wei was an extension of himself, of the same mind, the same emotions, their faces near identical with the tells that exposed a lie.

  “I cannot tell you,” Li Jun said. “It is for the best that you do not know. She is looking into whether the man’s family is involved.” He didn’t think Geoff from The Donny would’ve had a hand in this, but Helen? She’d sell her own mother to a passing tribe for twenty pounds if it meant she could buy her booze.

  Zhang Wei clenched his jaw. “So there are more who knew about this. More who planned to steal what was not theirs and kill my son?”

  “I do not think the murder was planned. The man panicked. Jiang was strong. He would have taken the intruder down had he not had a machete.”

  “A machete?” Zhang Wei pushed himself to his feet and held a hand out to help Li Jun up. “That is serious, to enter a business with one of those. You cannot tell me they did not have murder in mind with a blade that big.” He stared at Li Jun. “You will tell me who it is so I can visit these family members, so I can tell my wife upstairs that I have done something to avenge his death.”

  Li Jun thought about The Life and the message in it. Zhang Wei wouldn’t have received it because he didn’t work or live on the Barrington. “The estate leaflet went out, saying Jiang has moved back to China. It is so no one knows what happened and we are kept safe from the police. We must keep quiet. You know the rules as well as I do. If you go to his family, this…this killer’s people, it will leave us wide open to the authorities getting involved. Cassie can only hide so much.”

  “You will tell me what I want to know, or I will scour the Barrington until I find who I need.” Zhang Wei glared at him, anger so obviously brimming beneath the surface.

  Li Jun couldn’t deny his brother anything.

  He sighed and opened his mouth, praying the words he intended to speak didn’t ruin everything.

  Chapter Ten

  Li Jun held the keys to the Jade. They were heavy in his palm, cold—as cold as the dread seeping up his spine. He stared around now Lenny had left, fully soaking in the gleaming takeaway. This was his dream, like Nuwa had said. The shop and flat were now theirs in all but name, and they’d tell anyone who asked that they owned it, per Lenny’s instructions, although they were to make it known at every opportunity that they were under Lenny’s protection. This, Lenny had said, would stop anyone ‘playing silly buggers’ with them.

  First thing tomorrow, they’d clean the whitewash off the windows and receive the first food delivery, due at eleven a.m. In the evening, they’d light up the hanging menu case with its yellow background, and open for business. Lenny would tell Karen Scholes to let everyone know the Jade was up and running via the little pamphlet that had sometimes drifted through the shared letterbox at the bedsit. Li Jun had found out, through those snippets of information, that Lenny Grafton was a man they should avoid, yet here they were, held fast in his giant web.

  Nuwa could handle cooking rice and noodles, chopping onions and other vegetables, plus packing up the orders, but the rest was down to Li Jun until his brother arrived to help out.

  They would manage.

  During their recent tour of the place, Lenny had shown them into an office off the kitchen and opened a tall fridge with the cord and plug draped over the top. Inside, so many drugs, and they’d scared Li Jun, sending him weak-kneed and wanting to run for the door. Would they always scare him? Or would he get used to them being there, telling himself it was just flour in those bags and dried grass from Lenny’s mowed garden. So much revenue on those glass shelves, so much of a burden on Li Jun’s shoulders.

  Still, he’d promised his family he’d bring them over here, and if this meant they’d arrive faster, then he’d do it. He’d promised Zhang Wei he’d make their dreams possible, and he wasn’t about to renege on that. He wouldn’t like what they did, would always feel guilty for selling stuff that could harm another person, but he’d signed on the imaginary dotted line, the one Lenny had casually flung out in the air between them,
saying, “Your word is as good as a signature, remember that.”

  How could Li Jun forget?

  The flat was furnished, everything so new and beautiful, things they’d only dreamt of owning in a spot so far in the future they’d be much older by the time they could afford them if Lenny hadn’t approached them in The Donny. This was pure luxury compared to their previous home. No mould here, no bad elements in the other bedsits, just pristine white walls, the air still scented with paint, a pot of it beneath the kitchen sink for any scuffs later on. There was even new bedding, spares in the airing cupboard freshly washed, and they smelt like they’d been dried outside in the wind. Towels, too, everything a tenant could need. Their meagre belongings found a home in the chests of drawers, the wardrobe. Li Jun planned to fill Nuwa’s with all the nice clothes she’d ever wished for, and he’d buy perfume, many bottles, to place on the dressing table.

  She deserved the best.

  The three bedrooms were enough so they could finally have children. They’d held off so far—poverty had stopped them. Now, Nuwa wanted to try for them right away. He’d phoned Zhang Wei earlier, explaining he’d secured a takeaway, and his brother, his wife, his son Jiang, and his beautiful daughter, Yenay, could apply to live in the UK as soon as possible.

  It was happening. His family were on the way to a better life.

  * * * *

  He’d been working in the Jade for two days now. His feet ached, his eyes were gritty, and he was surprised at the amount of customers he had to cater for. There hadn’t been a Chinese takeaway on the estate for over a year, so someone had said, and everyone wanted what one person had called ‘a good nosh-up’. He was run ragged, what with Nuwa’s limited ability to cook, but between them they managed it, and it was better than cleaning the office blocks in town until gone midnight.

  The dried skin on their hands was already healing.

  In a lull between orders, Li Jun glanced through the square opening in the wall at the sound of the bell above the door jingling. Lenny had come in and, far from lifting the hatch and entering the kitchen, he stood on the other side of the counter and spoke to Nuwa, who was folding all the new menus that had arrived this morning. A respectful man, Lenny was, treating the Jade as if he didn’t own it, allowing Li Jun and Nuwa the illusion that they did.