Jill and Jenny Choi walked through the automatic glass doors of North Shore Hospital. The foyer resembled a lounge at a busy international airport with rows of flower stalls, gift shops and comfortable lounges. The aroma of fresh coffee masked the smell of cleaning agents and antiseptic.
‘I could do with a coffee,’ Choi said.
‘I hate hospitals, the less time we spend here the better.’ Jill shuddered. ‘You don’t mind, do you?’
‘No worries, I can wait until we get back to Chatswood.’ Hospitals held too many memories for Jill, especially North Shore Hospital. Memories of her father as he lay in the intensive care, memories of herself as a patient here after Kevin Taggart had attacked her in her apartment.
Jill and Choi joined a line of visitors and queued for the lifts. While they waited, Jill thought about Adam Lee and why she’d joined the force. She’d thought she’d be able to protect someone like Adam but she’d been fooling herself. In all the years she’d been a police officer there had never been a single person whose life she’d been able to change. The ping of the open lift caught her attention and brought her back to the moment. She jostled for a space next to the lift door and pressed the button to level fourteen.
Jill followed Choi out of the lift and past the nurse’s station to Adam Lee’s private room. Choi knocked on the door. They walked in to see him propped up against a pile of pillows, the television set on and a tray stacked with uneaten food at his bedside. The file said Adam Lee was nineteen but he looked more like sixteen with his baby-face and high cheekbones. His eyes were dark and his black hair was cropped close and fashionably styled.
Adam Lee turned his eyes away from the television and looked at them. ‘How are you Adam? You’re looking much better than the last time I saw you,’ Choi said. ‘I see you’ve still got the tubes in.’
‘Yeah. But they said I could be going home in a few days.’ Adam looked at Jill.
‘This is Detective Jill Brennan,’ Choi said. ‘She’s working with me on your case.’
Jill smiled. She wanted to put him at ease so he’d open up to her. ‘You’ll be pleased to be going home, then.’ Jill pulled up a visitor chair and sat down beside him.
On the surface at least, Adam looked like he’d made a good recovery.
Uniform had been conducting extra patrols at the Interchange and they appeared to be effective because there hadn’t been any similar incidents reported.
‘Adam,’ Jill said, ‘given you’re about to leave hospital it’s even more important you tell us who attacked you. If the person who did this to you goes unpunished, there’s a good chance he’ll attack again. You may even be targeted. You might not be so lucky next time.’ She leaned forward. ‘Instead of a collapsed lung it could be something worse.’
He gave a shrug, turned up the TV.
Jill wasn’t going to be put off that easily. ‘Or maybe they’ll go after your family.’
He gave her a glance at that one.
Jill continued. ‘When Detective Choi came to speak to you last time, you said you didn’t know who attacked you or anything about an organisation called the Red Cave Gang. I’m sorry, Adam but I don’t believe you. It’s important you tell us the name of the person who stabbed you so we can question him. And hopefully, if he’s part of this gang, we’ll be able to put a stop to their operation.’
‘Okay, okay. Give me a break.’ He lowered his voice. ‘I don’t know about any gang, but the dude who did this to me was Benny Cheung. His old man was an eye doctor. Had a shop on Victoria Road next to the disposal store.’
Cheung. Jill recognised that name. The guy found in the boot of his car. ‘So, tell me, what happened?’ Jill leaned forward. She had a pen and her notebook in her hand.
‘I was minding my own business. I’d just got off the train. I’d been in the city with some mates and I was walking back to my old man’s restaurant when he attacked me, right out of the blue. He pulled a knife on me then took off after he stabbed me.’
‘You told Detective Choi you had no idea why he pulled a knife on you. Is that still the case?’
Adam shrugged. ‘He just went crazy.’
Jill knew it was Adam Lee’s word against Benjamin Cheung’s. The CCTV camera where the attack occurred had been smashed the day before and hadn’t been replaced. Unfortunate or convenient for Lee? She also wondered why Adam was now prepared to talk and why he’d referred to David Cheung in the past tense. What had the Cheung family been involved in? Were they members of the Red Cave Gang? Whether they were or not, it didn’t matter now. The father was dead and his wife and Benjamin were missing. She grabbed the remote control for the television and turned it off.
‘Hey, I was watching that.’
‘I need your full attention here, Adam.’ She put the remote down on his bedside table.
‘Did anyone see Benjamin Cheung attack you?’
‘Nope.’
‘So, nobody came to your aid?’
‘It was late, the mall was deserted.’
If there had been any witnesses Jill wondered if they’d come forward. If the attack on Adam had anything to do with the Red Cave Gang, any witnesses would’ve been warned off. ‘Thanks for co-operating, Adam.’ Jill handed him back the remote control. ‘We might be back with more questions, if that’s all right.’
‘Yeah, no worries, I’m not goin’ anywhere.’ Adam turned the television back on.
Jill and Choi left the room and took the lift down to the lobby.
‘I’ve got a feeling he wasn’t being totally honest with us. What do you think?’
‘I agree but at least he gave us a name,’ Choi said. ‘And a very interesting one at that.’
‘I’m a bit suspicious though. Why is he speaking to us now? What’s changed?’
Jill shrugged. ‘Maybe someone convinced him to offer up Benjamin Cheung’s name.’