Inspector Wan & the Case of the Rare Orchid

Chapter 2

The evening meal went well and Sharmini was beside herself with awe. She made such a fuss over their guest that Razi seemed quite nervous. She was incredibly impressed that such an important young man was staying with them. She fawned and smiled so obsequiously towards him that Wan felt that his wife might have, quite alarmingly, been flirting with the young man.

This increased his displeasure with the illustrious youth exponentially. As a consequence, later that night he had trouble drifting off to sleep, and once asleep he found no peace. 

The missing girl appeared in the pouring rain. Her skin was white and smooth, her lips blue and her long black hair draped her upper body. Her white dress was torn and muddy. She was bare foot and her outstretched arms came toward him. In her fingers she carried the monomeria barbata orchid. She kept repeating, "Jiu Jiu Wo. Bantu saya. Help me." The closer she came the colder he felt. Her icy fingers touched his face and he awoke with a start.

The driving rain was pounding rhythmically on the roof. They were never going to find any physical evidence out there on the hillsides now. He sat up and looked over at his peacefully sleeping princess. Still as beautiful to him today as ever.

He went out onto the balcony and lit a cigarette. As he looked out into the dark he knew in his heart that the girl on the slab and the ghost in his dream were one and the same. The innocent and vanished Hua. 

When Wan arose the next morning he felt the weight of the world on his shoulders. This was to be his last case, and a result seemed unlikely. The weather had worked against the physical evidence and the bureaucracy above him was going to interfere in his investigation, thereby mitigating his effectiveness.

He would leave the Force with a whimper. Wan ran his yellowed fingers through his thinning hair before using the support of his bedside table to stand upright. He had just begun to stretch out his arms when the shooting pain sliced up from his lower back into his thoracic vertebrae. Not again! "Sharmini!" he shrieked as he crumpled to the timber floor landing heavily on his knees. 

When his wife arrived to gather him up from the floor she had to use more than a delicate amount of energy to hoist him back onto the bed. "My dear, you have done it again. You're not keeping your body in a nice posture. I'll have to call the doctor." Sharmini scolded her whimpering husband.

"I must get up. Lying in bed today is not an option. I have a very important job to do. Help me up." Wan was in denial.

"You cannot go to work today. You cannot even walk!" She thought it was laughable.

He carefully rolled to face her.  "If you give me one of your massages I will be as right as rain. You'll see."  She looked at him ruefully. "Come now sweetheart. Help me please." Sharmini relented as she could deny him nothing. She slung his right arm around her neck and helped him make the slow march to the kitchen table. 

As he hunched over with his head resting on his arms, Sharmini rubbed his back up and down and worked to relieve the tension in his neck and shoulders."You shouldn't be pushing yourself like this at your age, Wan. Haven't you had enough now? Why not retire early and we can go to England like you promised, as soon as you're better?"

Sharmini loved all things English, especially the Queen. She had once begged her parents to change her name to Elizabeth, but they had refused.

"Sharmini, this is my last case. My last one. I just want to finish my career with some dignity. Ow!" She'd found a knot in the muscles of his lower back. "I know that I'm not what I used to be, and maybe the decision to move up here from the city was the wrong one for my career, but I've never been sorry we did it. You had your career and I had mine. We shouldn't have any regrets if we can possibly help it."