Read Online Inspector Singh Investigates by Shamini Flint - Free Book Online Page B

life.
    He could not believe it when Chelsea was arrested for murder. His golden goose was about to be hanged from the neck. And to add insult to injury, she would not even see him. He kicked the bed in frustration and scuffed one of his ankle boots. Taking a piece of cloth, he sat on the bed and started polishing the spot with neat circular movements.
     
    Sergeant Shukor's mobile phone rang. He extricated the phone with his left hand. His right hand was still soiled from tucking into his lunch of roti telur and dhal curry. He was sitting across from Inspector Singh, the table so small that they were generating static between their trousered knees. The inspector ignored the contortions of his Malaysian colleague as he tried to answer the phone with one hand. He wiped his plate clean with his last piece of thosai – an Indian bread made with rice and lentil flour. He had eaten three without pausing for conversation. The sergeant was nodding his head, listening to the man at the other end of the phone. He waved his hand in the air, signalling for the bill. Inspector Singh glared at him, indicating with a curt shake of the head that the sergeant was being premature, the older policeman fancied some dessert.
    But his subordinate tapped the phone suggestively. Whatever the message was, it could not wait. As the bill arrived, Inspector Singh took a handful of grubby ringgit from his pocket and tossed them on the table. With a nod to the old Punjabi man with a snowy white beard to the middle of his chest, Inspector Singh followed Shukor out into the blazing sunshine and blinked as his eyes watered in the unexpected light. They were standing close to Masjid Jamek or Jamek mosque, built at the confluence of two rivers. The rivers themselves, small and muddy brown with concrete embankments, looked like large drains. Any romance attached to their presence in the heart of Kuala Lumpur had been ruined by the need to shore them up to prevent landslips. But the mosque itself was an exquisite building, Moorish in design and perfectly proportioned.
    Sergeant Shukor stood with pursed lips and hands on hips.
    'What's the matter? What's happened?' asked the inspector.
    'There's been a confession.'
    'A confession? Chelsea has confessed?' Singh's heart sank. He had been quite wrong about her.
    'No. Not her. The brother! Jasper Lee has just confessed.'
    'Confessed to what?'
    'His brother's murder!'
    'But why? Why did he kill Alan Lee?'
    'No idea, lah!' exclaimed the young policeman. 'Let's go and find out.'
     
    The Malaysian police now had two people in jail for the murder of Alan Lee and Inspector Singh was incensed.
    'Why can't you just release her?' he asked angrily.
    'You should understand, Inspector. We cannot release her until the prosecutor drops the charges or the judge dismisses the case. The prosecutor won't dismiss the case yet because he doesn't know the details of this new confession – maybe Jasper Lee and the widow were working together?'
    'Don't be ridiculous!' snapped the inspector.
    Inspector Mohammad shrugged.
    'OK, why doesn't the judge order her release?'
    'Holiday, I'm afraid,' he said laconically.
    'What?'
    'The judge is on holiday.'
    Inspector Singh kicked the table. It was the height of rudeness to his Malaysian counterpart but he could not bottle up his frustration. Chelsea Liew was innocent but they would not let her go.
    'What about another bail application?'
    'Her lawyer is working on it, I believe. I wouldn't worry, Singh. She'll be out soon enough.'
    The fight went out of him. Singh, of all people, knew the bureaucracy of a police force. He, who always found himself swamped by paperwork. The Malaysian police were not going to come out of this smelling of roses having incarcerated the beautiful mother of three children while a murderer roamed free. They were not going to compound any errors by acting hastily at this late stage. He would have to bide his time. More importantly, Chelsea Liew would have to bide her time