Red Ribbons (Chapter Five)

Posted on | Wednesday, July 27, 2011 | No Comments

Chapter Five

He was in the club with Alicia again. Smoke filled his nostrils, making his eyes water slightly. There were three teenagers, two girls and a boy, body slamming on the dance floor. Disco lights hung from the black ceiling. In fact the entire exterior was black, even the waitresses and bartender wore black. Why on earth was this place called Purple Room?

Alicia was hanging onto his left arm, a habit that he both loved and resented. It made him feel wanted by the most popular girl from school, yet there was a childish possessiveness in her touch that made him wonder sometimes if she was really with him or he was a trophy. With Alicia, he could never tell.

“Paul. Paul, are you awake?” Someone shook his right shoulder but when he turned around there wasn't anyone there. He put his hand over Alicia's and continued talking to her. Suddenly, her voice seemed far away.

“Speak up, Alicia. I can't hear you over this noise,” he shouted. But Alicia continued whispering and her face...her face began fading away. He reached out for her but she was so far away. He reached out one more time and felt a sharp pain in his arm.

“Paul, wake up. You're in the hospital.” He recognised the voice. It was the inspector. But what was he doing at the Purple Room?

Slowly, Paul opened his eyes. A blinding white light made him wince and shut his eyes again. He heard the inspector call his name again. This time, he opened his eyes, shielding them with his right hand.

He looked around him. He was in a white room, with white walls and a white ceiling. Inspector Lawrence stood before him, with a grave expression on his face.

“How did you find me?” Paul asked.

Lawrence sighed. “We paid a visit to Nicholas Lim. He told us about the night you met at the club in KL. After that, I had a tail kept on you. Why didn't you come forward? You almost got yourself killed last night.”

“So what happens now?” Paul asked. He looked down at himself. His left arm was in a cast, so was his left leg. But why wasn't his free hand cuffed to the bed, like they did to all prisoners?

“There's an officer outside to ensure you don't try to bolt. But first, I want to hear it from you. Why didn't you tell us you were dating Alicia?”

Paul shifted a little and grimaced at the pain that shot through his left arm. “I couldn't. Alicia and I were dating secretly. She enjoyed keeping secrets, I went along with it because I loved her.”

“Did you kill her?” Lawrence looked at him sternly.

“No! How could I, I loved her!” Paul said, his voice rising.

“Calm down, Paul. You have to admit it looks suspicious, you found her body and then you went back to the crime scene. A jury would deduce it was to destroy evidence,” Lawrence pointed out.

“I went back to look for evidence. I saw something that had fallen down the stairwell, something metallic, maybe a pair of scissors. But before I could get it, I was run over,” Paul explained, his eyes wide.

The boy seemed to be telling the truth, but he couldn't be sure. Just like he still wasn't sure about Nicholas Lim. Still, he couldn't have run himself over so there had to be some truth in what he said.

“I want to believe you, really I do. Did you get a look at who ran you over?” Lawrence asked.

“No, whoever it was, hit me from behind. But I did get a look at the licence plate before I lost consciousness, the first two letters were “NW”,” Paul said.

“'NW'...can you remember the make of the car?” Lawrence asked, as he jotted it down.

“It happened so fast. That was all I remembered before I passed out,” Paul said.

“Ok, it's not much, but I'll see what I can do. In the meantime, try to get some rest,” Lawrence said a little more kindly.

“Sir, how long before I can go back to work?” Paul asked, bracing himself inwardly.


Lawrence looked thoughtfully at him before speaking. “The doctor says you have to be in the hospital for at least a month. Besides, you're currently suspended from duty pending the investigation. It was what the higher-ups wanted,” he said.

Paul nodded. “I'm not surprised. I'm sorry for not telling you, sir. But I don't regret going back there, I'm sure I would have found something.”

“Get some rest, some of the boys from the station will be visiting you after lunch. I have a murder to solve,” Lawrence replied.

On his way back to the station, he stopped by the hospital to speak to Venkath. “Things don't look good for the kid right now,” he said, adding more sugar to his tea. The hospital cafeteria was quiet, save for the occasional clang of spatula meeting wok in the kitchen.

“True, but I believe him and I know you do too. I'm not going to say I told you so, but the lab results came back. The red fibres I found on the dead girl's dress came from a ribbon. I'll bet that if you have Nicholas and Paul's homes searched, you're not going to find anything there. They're both innocent,” Venkath said.

“You still believe it's the same killer from Penang and KL,” Lawrence shook his head incredulously at his cousin.

“Yes. Neither Nicholas nor Paul are the right age, for one. I checked with Nicholas' boss at the clinic. He was attending a seminar in KL on Sunday morning, so he couldn't have killed Alicia. As for Paul, well you may want to ask him where he was on Sunday, though I doubt he's your guy,” Venkath said.

“You checked up on Nicholas without informing me first? I swear Venkath, sometimes you don't know where to draw the line between police work and being a doctor. You're lucky Nicholas isn't calling my boss about being harassed by the police. I told you...” His cell phone rang suddenly, interrupting his tirade.

“What? When? I'll be there in ten minutes,” Lawrence said, hanging up. He muttered a few curses under his breath.

“What is it?” Venkath asked, frowning.

“There's been another murder. Venkath, they think it's your wife.”

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