AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“The Ministry of Justice have pressed charges.”
Will fingered the tape over his nose. He still had a headache. He stood. “Pete, slow it up. I don’t get it, but I want out of here now. We can figure the details later.”
“Will, I can’t get you out yet. I don’t...”
“What’s going on?”
“Will, sit down.”
He lowered himself back onto the welded metal seat. “Talk to me?”
Pete sighed and rubbed his temples with a thumb and forefinger. “This is what we know. Eight days ago at 4.45am you were kidnapped outside the Confucian temple by a group hired to take you.”
“Hired? By who?”
“I’ll get to that. They took you to an abandoned housing estate and held you there. The plan was to collect a ransom and release you, but they didn’t figure on Bo. Bo found the highway, hitched a ride and got to the police. He knew enough to identify two of the men from sketches and direct the police to you.”
“Get to the part where I’m in prison.”
“The kidnap was organised by the family of a man called Feng Kee.”
Will felt all his blood rush to his ankles and pool in his feet.
“They saw your photo in the paper, made the connection that you were involved with Feng, and wanted you to pay.”
Will shook his head. “Pay what?”
“Compensation. They say you killed Feng. The kidnappers are under arrest, along with two of the family members, but so are you, for the murder of Feng Kee.”
A bang sounded in Will’s head. The sound of worst nightmares and caged fears being released. He missed what Pete said.
“What?”
“This whole thing is a bungle. It’s clearly a case of mistaken identity. But it’s not going to be so easy to get you out and there’s no provision for bail.”
“I knew Feng Kee.”
Pete started in surprise. “You knew this man? How?”
“When I arrived. He was the landlord. And when I couldn’t pay the rent one month he agreed to a deal, a percentage of my first year’s income. I was stuck, I knew I was being ripped off, but I had nowhere to go, and I needed the office to look like I knew what I was doing. So I sucked it up, and I paid everything he’d asked for. And at the end of the first year I moved. He came after me. He wanted more. The same deal or he’d tell the Ministry of Commerce I was a fraud, have me arrested and deported. I ignored him. I thought he’d get tired of harassing me and go away.”
Now it was Pete’s turn to need the table for support. “Thank God, Will. This is nothing. I’ll have you out of here by tomorrow latest.”
“There’s more. One night he ambushed me outside my apartment. We argued. He pulled a knife. Said I had to pay or he’d kill me. I beat the shit out of him, and I left him on the street. But he was alive, Pete, I thought he was alive.”
Pete was holding his head in his hands.
“Talk to me, Pete.”
“Were you alone? Where was Bo?”
“Sent him home. His wife was still alive then.”
“All right.” Pete was all lawyer business. “I’ll need to get a proper statement. We need a local lawyer. We need... They say they have witnesses you beat Feng to death. I laughed it off. Why didn’t you tell me about this?”
“You were in London. You were busy.”
“I’m your brother and someone threatened to kill you.”
