It Happened on Scrabble Sunday

by Vas, Mahita;

  Everyone knew Richard had money and Tamara would know where to find it. Two days after Tamara had called Uday, Richard’s body was found floating in the Huangpu River, with fractures at the base of his skull and a knife wound through his heart. The police questioned Tamara at length. Within days, three men were arrested. Neither the murder weapon nor the ransom money was recovered.

  Uday had flown up to Shanghai to comfort Tamara. The poor woman was confused—she had paid the full ransom, finding eight hundred thousand dollars in Richard’s safe, which she had to break into, and several hundred thousand in their joint bank account. Yet they murdered him. Tamara Wang was distraught at being left both widowed and penniless.

  “You are hardly a pauper! You still have a few hundred thousand in the bank, Tamara. I’m sure you’ll soon find more money turning up. He had lots. It’s common knowledge. Plus, your apartment in Grand Summit must be worth two million dollars.”

  Tamara had wailed as she scrolled down the comments on the New China Woman website. “Look, Uday! They are saying all these wicked things about me! People always hated Richard and me. They’re jealous, but now that he’s dead, they hate me even more!” Tamara clicked on an old picture of herself in a swimsuit and translated the comments as she read them. “Tamara Wang, socialite and former beauty queen is now up for sale … Tamara Wang should do penance by becoming a nun …”

  Uday slammed Tamara’s laptop shut. “Stop it, Tamara! There’s no need to torture yourself. There will always be people who say hurtful things, strangers with nothing better to do.” Uday pulled her close and stroked her hair. “Richard is gone. His kidnappers got their million dollars. You should be safe enough, but I’ll hire a full-time bodyguard for you. Just to be sure.”

  Tamara pulled away from Uday. “No. Please, no bodyguard. I … I … don’t need the attention. I’ll be fine. Truly. Don’t worry.”

  “Alright then, no bodyguards. But I will take care of you and Charlie.”

  From then on, Uday sent Tamara a monthly allowance and spoke to her twice a day, every single day, to assure himself that she was safe.

  Ever since he met Tamara, Uday had looked forward to his business trips to Shanghai. Except this was going to be a trip with a difference. This visit was going to change his life and he looked forward to making Tamara and her son, Charlie, part of his family.

  Uday was repulsed by Tamara’s first-born, a crude thirty-year- old woman named Sharon, conceived in an assault by Tamara’s father’s colleague, also a close family friend. While dismayed that Sharon had chosen to move to Singapore several years ago, Uday was glad that she had never bothered to contact him. All Uday knew was that Sharon had spent the past two years working as a chef at one of Singapore’s top Chinese restaurant chains.

  In Uday’s plush hotel suite, Tamara admired the ring on her finger. Cuddling up to him, she whispered, “I’ve been waiting for this, Uday. Ever since Richard died.”

  “I’ve been waiting for this ever since I met you at that embassy ball in Beijing.”

  Tamara laughed and punched Uday’s arm. “Liar! All you talked about was your wife. At first, I thought she’d dumped you. You sounded so smitten! I remember thinking she was so lucky to be loved like that.”

  “Ah, but right after that, I could not stop thinking of you. I arranged my schedules just so every few months I could spend at least a week in Shanghai. It was never for the love of this city, as you know.”

  Uday kissed Tamara. He could not take his eyes or his hands off her. After five years of yearning for the exquisite Tamara Wang to be by his side constantly, after five years of begging her to leave her violent husband, Madam Tamara Wang, the widow, was now free to be with him. His loneliness, best expressed in the saddest of songs and movies, was about to come to an end. “This calls for a toast to the new life ahead of us.” Uday called room service for a bottle of Krug.

  Tamara sashayed towards the window and rubbed her arms. Her tight, short-sleeved dress which ended just above her knees, accentuated a sculpted figure, toned from a daily regime with a personal trainer. Without looking at Uday, she said, “Uday, darling, we can’t just move with Charlie. We’ll need to take Aaron with us, too.”

  “The nurse? Why? Singapore has excellent medical facilities, including private nurses. World class! They can deal with Batten’s Disease in Singapore. We don’t need a nurse from Australia.”

  Turning on her heel to face him, Tamara said, “Aaron has looked after Charlie for the past five years. Richard hired him when he thought Charlie was going to die soon. You’ve seen how bad he has gotten since you first saw him after the diagnosis. He won’t live much longer, Uday, Batten’s Disease is always fatal. Charlie can barely move now and is completely blind. The doctor says a year at the most. He’ll be gone before he turns sixteen. Please, I beg you, let Aaron take care of Charlie.”

  Uday paced the living room of his suite. He had never liked Aaron, ever since he met him when he first visited Tamara at her apartment soon after they had first met. Tamara and her husband had thrown a cocktail party and while Uday hardly spoke to either of them, he had noticed Aaron sidling up to Tamara whenever she approached Charlie’s bedroom. Years later, when Uday visited Tamara days after Richard’s murder, he caught Aaron leering at Tamara while she spoke to well-wishers. Uday was sickened by the thought of this reptilian pretender living under his roof.

  “It’s not as if a nurse from the Philippines can’t provide the same, or even better, care. I’m sure Aaron is expensive. We could probably get three nurses on round-the-clock shifts for less. That’s so much better for Charlie. I’d rather we hire someone who’s already in Singapore. Besides, we might not get a visa for Aaron.”

  “I’m sure there are ways. So many people from China get visas quite easily. Western people too, I heard. We must at least try—”

  “I don’t like him. Not one bit. You shouldn’t trust him, Tamara.” Uday noticed his hands were trembling. He turned towards the window, wringing his hands.

  “Why would you think that, Uday? You don’t even know Aaron!”

  “The couple of times I saw him, I noticed him behaving inappropriately—”

  “Inappropriately? What do you mean? Surely you were imagining things?” Tamara’s voice and demeanour suggested she was genuinely baffled.

  “I mean, a nurse or employee simply does not behave like that with his employer. The way he looked at you, the way he cozied up to you …” Uday hesitated before continuing; he wasn’t entirely sure if what he was about to say was true, or merely his imagination. “What irked me was the moments he picked—he gave you that look when he knew I would notice. Like he wanted to tell me that there was something going on between you two—”

  “Uday! How could you?”

  Uday walked towards Tamara and took her hands in his. “I knew there was nothing from your side, but it made me wonder why he was playing these games. Sinister fellow. I really would not like him in my home, Tamara.”

  Tamara laughed as she leant forward to kiss Uday. “Uday, my darling, you must have been imagining things. Aaron likes men! He has a lover, an older Chinese man who lives in this block.”

  Uday tried to remember the details of that day. Aaron may well be gay, but those looks he gave Tamara, knowing Uday was watching, were hardly the tactics of a gay man.

  Uday would have to do what he could to prevent Aaron moving to Singapore. “No, Tamara. I do not trust him. We don’t need Aaron. We’ll get the best nurses for Charlie in Singapore.”

  Tamara stroked Uday’s face. “Charlie won’t live for much longer, Uday. Aaron knows how to care for him. Please, Uday. Please?” Her eyes, artfully hued in shades of grey and blue and framed by eyelash extensions for which she spent two hours at the salon every month, bored into his. Her lips, brushed with the lightest tinge of shimmering pink, were close to his, and continued to beseech him, though she had stopped talking.

  Tamara was the only woman Uday knew who could turn a plea into someone e
lse’s obligation.

  While he could still taste the venom on the tip of his tongue, Uday managed to whisper, “OK, my beautiful Tamara, we’ll ask Aaron to move to Singapore with us.”

  Uday could only hope that Aaron would turn down her request.

  ***

  Uday and Tamara set their wedding date for March 2015. It was to be in Singapore. Tamara had consulted a feng shui master, who determined a date in July to be the most auspicious, based on their zodiac signs and birth dates and times. Unwilling to wait that long, she had consulted another feng shui master who conveniently arrived at a date in March. They agreed that Uday, born in December 1960, the Year of the Rat, and Tamara, born in August 1971, the Year of the Pig, would have their marriage solemnised on Wednesday, the eleventh of March.

  “It’s less than four months away, Tamara. That’s all. We’ll be living together until then. We’ll need to get your tourist visa extended once, maybe twice, and after that, we’ll apply for the long-term pass that lets you live and work in Singapore—”

  “Work in Singapore? I haven’t worked in twenty-five years, Uday!” Tamara threw up her hands in horror.

  Uday laughed at the sight of her being horrified about having to work. “You are such a drama queen! No, my darling Tamara, you don’t have to work. It’s just that the pass lets you, if you choose to. You never know. You might want to start a little business of your own?”

  Tamara perked up. “Yes! That’s true! I never thought about that.” Tamara walked towards Uday and threw her arms around him. “Oh Uday, you are so full of good ideas! I like the idea of being a Singapore citizen. Like famous stars Jet Li and Gong Li. They are originally from China, you know? I’ve heard that Jacky Chan, a big star even in Hollywood, is a permanent resident.” Uday found Tamara’s excitement endearing. But just as she had suddenly perked up a moment ago, Tamara went still. It was as if she had an internal switch to swing from one emotion to the next. Uday watched as she stared at the ceiling and placed a finger on her lip. Turning to Uday slowly, she whispered, “How about Charlie? And Aaron? Will they get long-stay visas, too? Charlie is too sick to keep travelling back and forth. He’ll also need to fly first class, where they can fit a stretcher.”

  “We’ll make arrangements for Charlie at my apartment. Sayana has cleared the last of his things from his room. We’ll find Aaron a small place within an easy commute.”

  “No! He must stay with Charlie. He will share Charlie’s room. Please, Uday, Charlie needs Aaron all the time. Unless … unless … you want me to sleep in Charlie’s room every night?” Tamara hit his sweet spot with that pout. Those same rosebud lips with a tinge of glossy pink, which had captivated him when he first met her. “When Aaron goes out or takes a day off, I will take care of Charlie, or maybe we can have the servants do that.”

  Uday sighed. “Aaron will share Charlie’s room, then. But I’ll draw the line at him dining with us. He isn’t family. He’ll be an employee, so he’ll have all his meals with our helpers and the driver in the kitchen. It’s big and airconditioned.”

  Tamara sulked. “Okay.”

  “One more thing—we don’t refer to Wati and Maribel as servants. Wati is our cook, and Maribel is our housekeeper. No one calls them servants.”

  “Okay.” Tamara was still sulking. She hated being corrected. “Also, what about my flat? I don’t want to sell it—”

  “No, don’t sell it. The market hasn’t picked up. Rent it out—”

  “No! I won’t have strangers living in my home. All those beautiful paintings and furniture … I should just keep it. I don’t need the money and I don’t owe the banks anything. I’ll get someone to clean it—vacuum clean the entire house, dust all the ornaments—when I visit every few months.”

  Uday had thought the rental from the flat could go towards paying for Charlie’s upkeep, especially to pay for that wretched leech pretending to be a nurse. But rather than appear avaricious to Tamara, Uday ended the discussion about her home. After all, it was not a big hardship to afford Tamara and all her accompaniments.

  “Alright then, Tamara. As you wish. Just remember, it could take a few years before you become a permanent resident, and another couple of years before you become a citizen. Make sure you don’t even get a parking ticket, okay? You must be patient.”

  Uday remained hopeful that, at the last minute, Aaron would change his mind about moving to Singapore. Better still, that the immigration authorities might have something on him and not allow him in.

  Within days of their arrival in Singapore, Tamara’s cargo of shoes, handbags and clothes was delivered to Uday’s apartment. With the reluctant assistance of Wati and Maribel, it took Tamara six hours to unpack, check the inventory and put away all the trappings of her well-earned reputation as Shanghai’s most stylish socialite. Uday arranged for twenty evening gowns and several fur coats to be placed in climate-controlled storage. He had initially baulked at the cost of hiring space just to temporarily put away some of Tamara’s clothes, until new wardrobes were built at the far end of his bedroom, but was almost immediately relieved when he realised that three months of storage would cost less than two Valentino gowns.

  As much as he hated the term, Uday accepted the price he had to pay for his trophy wife.

  He was attending a conference in London when he received a text message from Lavinia: “Call me when you can. Not urgent. Just need to chat.”

  Uday knew Lavinia well enough. “Not urgent” was a euphemism for “It’s not life and death, Daddy, but it’s super important and I really need to talk to you as soon as possible.” Excusing himself during a break, Uday called Lavinia. It was nearly seven in the evening.

  “Daddy! How’s London? Still your favourite city?”

  “Yup. Still my favourite. What’s up, my princess?”

  “Oh Daddy! I know I shouldn’t bother you with stupid things, but a new coffee table was delivered today, and she had the old one removed! Can you believe it? I saw it when I got back from work. When I asked her about it, she just shrugged and said the previous one was the ugliest table she had ever seen. I told her it was Mummy’s favourite piece and she said, obviously she had bad taste then! And she laughed! Daddy, she’s horrible! We need to get that table back!”

  Uday took a deep breath. He shouldn’t have left her with so much cash. It was meant for an emergency, especially if Charlie had to be hospitalised. Tamara was probably restless and maybe felt the need to start making his flat her home. Women did that, didn’t they? Mark their territory? Uday never liked that table much anyway, but Lavinia was right. He had to get it back. It was the first piece of furniture he and Julie had bought when they moved to Singapore.

  Rubbing his forehead as he tried to picture the strong-willed Tamara arguing with Lavinia, who had the patience of a saint, but was sometimes prone to bouts of petulance, Uday said softly, “Lavi, I’ll speak to Tamara. The table is probably at some warehouse. Please don’t say anything to her. No need for either of you to get all heated up over a piece of furniture.”

  “Daddy! How could you say that? It’s not just any piece of furniture. Frankly, I don’t like it that much, but Mummy loved it, so we have to keep it.”

  “You’re right, princess. I’ll call her during my lunch break in a couple of hours. See you soon, my darling!”

  Two days later, Uday landed at Changi Airport to find Lavinia smiling and waving to him from the other side of the large glass windows in the arrival hall. She looked tiny in her Hello Kitty jumper, at least two sizes too big for her. Uday wished Lavinia would get over her obsession with a mouthless white Japanese cat wearing a red bow. He much preferred her pre-teen infatuation with Disney princesses.

  As he waved back while waiting for his bags, Uday revived fond memories of times when his wife had brought their children to meet him at the airport, even after a short two-day trip by him to Dubai. Julie never saw him off at the airport because it made her sad, but she was always there to welcome him back. That delightful
ritual always reminded him that his growing wealth and steadily rising position at Fortuna meant little compared to the joy of being a husband and father. That ritual which he longed for, especially after it came to an abrupt end when his wife was cruelly taken away from him. As the years passed, the children had gotten out of the habit of meeting him at the airport but had always made it a point to be home when he arrived, unless they were in school or at work, or tied up in some inescapable activity. Today, Lavinia did exactly as he had secretly wished for some years, but had been too afraid to expect.

  Whizzing his trolley past the customs officers and the automatic doors, Uday virtually flew into Lavinia’s arms.

  “What have I done to deserve this, Lavi?”

  “I just felt like it, Daddy. And guess what? I drove here all by myself!”

  Uday stared at her in mock horror.

  “Don’t worry, Daddy. I borrowed Angela’s car.”

  As they walked to the car park, Lavinia’s exuberance seemed to fade with every few steps.

  Slowing down, Uday said, “I’ll drive, Lavi. Give me the keys.”

  Lavinia stopped, took Uday’s hand and asked, “Why, Daddy? I’m a good driver, you’ve always said so yourself. Let me drive! Please?”

  Why did women always pout? Worse, why did he always feel obliged to succumb to any request preceding a pout? With Lavinia it was for everything from ice-cream as a three-year-old to a Cinderella costume at seven, a puppy at eight, countless other things and experiences in her teens, and now this. To drive her daddy home. He should have been pleased. But all he felt was a heart bursting from the anxiety he sensed in his precious child.

  Uday sighed. “Please, Lavinia. Don’t argue with me. I’ll drive, and you can give me a run-down on all that has happened in the past week.”