by Tara Moss
Mak regretted that she had unwittingly sat next to the only Australian at the table. What if he recognises me from the press about the trial? Instinctively, she buried her face in the menu.
Hmmm. Ducks’ Jaws in Maggi Sauce. Snake Fillet with Chinese Herbal Medicine. Pig’s Colon in Soya. Elephant Trunk Shellfish. The menu read like Ripley’s Believe it or Not. Sea Whelk. Twenty-five-headed Abalone. And there was a whole section devoted to something called ‘Conpoys’. There were probably things here that weren’t even legal in her native Canada.
Leaning across the table, Mak whispered to Jen. ‘Help, what the heck is a conpoy?’
Jen pointed at the jars of strange-looking shriveled lumps stacked along one wall. ‘Sun-dried scallops. They’re big on conpoys here.’
Right. Perhaps I’ll just stick to steamed vegetables, Mak thought. Her usual philosophy when travelling was to throw herself into local culture and customs, but tonight the thought of exotic food was repellent. She had a headache and felt vaguely queasy. Was it just jetlag—or was something more sinister doing her head in?
She spoke sternly to herself. Get a grip, Mak. You’re in Hong Kong. You are safe. Ed is not here. You are safe…
CHAPTER 54
‘Hello, you looking for company?’
The accent was exotic, from somewhere Ed didn’t recognise. He stared impassively at the girl who had approached him—at her dark brown eyes and golden skin, and her large puffy lips, and though he said nothing she did not move away. She batted her eyelashes and smiled. She had tiny pimples all over her forehead, and she smelled faintly of yeast.
‘What do you want?’ he said.
‘You want company? You very handsome.’
The petite Filipina girl was not at all attractive to Ed. She wore chunky sandals with a miniskirt and her toes were awful and squarish. She had not even painted them. Her feet revolted him.
‘No, I do not want company.’
‘You have wife?’ she asked.
‘Yes. I have a wife.’
He still had the frozen guy’s gold wedding band on his finger. There had been a time when Ed used to wear one like it at least once a week, on his nights off when he was cruising for girls. He used to enjoy polishing it up. Over the years he had learned that it put girls at ease to think he was on his way home to a wife. It made him seem harmless. The wedding band sealed the deal, when the offer of a lift home in the rain from a kindly bespectacled good Samaritan was tempting, but not quite tempting enough to make a girl let her guard down and get into his van. ‘I have to be home for dinner any minute, but I saw you walking by yourself and I thought you looked lost. You looked like you might need help. It’s not safe around here you know…’ For the others, the hookers and the strippers, money was usually enough to get them into the van. If they refused, he would simply offer more money, and more, until they gave in.
Ed had bought his ring at a garage sale—a funny thing to sell, he’d thought—and now it was sitting somewhere in police custody in a small cardboard box of measly possessions labelled Edward Brown. Ed could replace the ring, but he couldn’t replace the other things the police had stolen from him. He desperately missed his souvenirs. He had been so proud of them. Over the years he had painstakingly collected several of his girls’ toes, only the best ones severed neatly from the foot, in a shoebox in his bedroom. It had taken patience and practice to make the incisions neatly and perfect the method by which to store them. He had even kept one whole foot in formaldehyde in a jar and it had been a beautiful artefact, one he had enjoyed looking at often. She’d had perfect, symmetrical toes, the nails manicured and painted red. Just perfect. The curve of her arch had been exquisitely formed. Now he would never see that arch again.
‘Want to drink with me?’ It was the young dark girl again. She was still hanging about, smiling at him and twirling her black hair between the fingers of one hand. She rested the other hand on his arm, the long, chipped, artificial pink nails touching his bare wrist.
‘Go away!’ Ed snapped and pulled away. If she was even half worth the effort he would cut her open right there on the tiled floor of the disco. That would shut her up. That would stop her touching him.
The girl recoiled at his response, and finally left him alone. He saw her retreat to her girlfriends, with whom she exchanged some words. They looked at him with scowls and then looked away. One of them pointed out a tall fat man in a suit standing alone at the bar, and the girl approached him next.
Ed surveyed the room. No Makedde Vanderwall. There were lots of American and Australian men, and a lot of Asian girls. Was this where he would find Makedde?
He finished his cheap drink and slumped on his stool. How long would it take to find her? And once he had her, where could he keep her, and for how long? The beats of the disco music rang in his head, the flashing dance floor blurring in his vision. He felt tiredness set in. The jet lag and the time difference had begun to catch up. He would walk back to the apartment, perhaps after one more lap around the strip.
I will find you soon, Makedde.
You can’t hide from me.
CHAPTER 55
By 1 a.m. the models had left Che’s and were standing on Lockhart Road, discussing whether or not to go for one last drink. Mak was weary, and she wanted nothing more than to head back to the apartment and rest her aching head. Most of the group, however, seemed determined to have one more for the road. They didn’t have jet lag and her draining anxiety to contend with.
Lockhart Road was rife with girlie bars: a handful of modern, trendy establishments incongruously nestled between the strip clubs. Amongst abundant and equally bright Chinese symbols, neon signage for Pussy Cat, Cavalier, San Francisco Club, Dreams Café, Club Carpenter and the subtly named Cockeye Model Dancers Club adorned the street, beckoning foreigners in English. Westerners, the majority of them men, hung about the entrances with lazy smiles and flushed cheeks, keeping an eye out for a good time.
‘Pluto’s?’ Shawn suggested. He threw an arm around Gabby, which she shrugged off.
‘Hell no,’ Gabby said. ‘Not Pluto’s.’
‘Well, let’s go somewhere else then,’ Jen suggested peaceably. ‘The Felix?’
‘It’s a bit late for the Felix, hon,’ Shawn said. ‘Especially by the time we get there. Come on, let’s show our newcomer the real Wan Chai.’
Mak raised an eyebrow. ‘I might be a bit exhausted for the “real” anything right now, but thanks.’ With the two-hour time difference from Sydney, for her it was about 3 a.m. already. She wasn’t much of a party girl, she reflected.
‘Come on, just one drink,’ Shawn coaxed.
Mak looked to Jen and Gabby for support, hoping to hitch a ride back to the apartment in Mid Levels with them. Somehow she didn’t want to walk into the empty apartment alone.
‘Pluto’s is rank,’ the elfin-faced model called Amber complained, wrinkling her nose.
‘One drink. Come on. It’s part of the initiation.’
Initiation?
‘Okay, enough already,’ Gabby said. ‘One drink. Let’s go.’
Mak’s heart sank.
With a flurry of tired air kisses, Amber and her friend Raquel parted ways from the rest of the pack and jumped into a taxi to head home. Ah well, the ‘real Wan Chai’ sounded vaguely interesting, Mak thought. It might be worth ten minutes of her time.
Pluto’s was a basic bar with a dance floor. At first glance at least, anyway. They took a side table and ordered drinks. Makedde sipped her free gin and tonic sceptically.
‘So, what kind of an initiation is this, exactly?’
‘It’s just a glimpse of the Hong Kong underbelly, that’s all,’ Shawn answered.
‘What makes this the Hong Kong underbelly?’ Mak wondered aloud. ‘There are no locals here.’
‘Well spotted.’
To Mak, it was obvious. Although the bar was crowded with revellers, not one of them was Chinese. There were Caucasian businessmen, some Indians and Africans too, but the girls were al
l South-East Asians, mainly Thai or Filipina, Mak guessed. With Raquel and Amber gone, Jen, Gabby and Mak were the only three Caucasian women in the place. No one would let any of their group pay for drinks, which Mak found odd, and a bit suspicious. She tried several times to push Hong Kong dollars into the waitress’s hand but the woman refused.
‘So these are foreign sex workers, I’m guessing?’
‘The women are 90 per cent workers, yeah,’ Shawn said. ‘They come here on short-stay visas and make all the money they can. Most of the money goes home to their families. Back in their villages, they would be heroines for paying the bills. Anything that puts bread on the table.’ Shawn seemed to be experiencing a sudden streak of sensitivity.
Mak nodded thoughtfully. What a life they must have. And she thought she had problems.
Not surprisingly, Shawn’s maturity was short-lived. He pointed towards the bar with glee. ‘Oh, she’s hooked one! Yep, hook, line and sinker.’ He began to laugh. Gabby rolled her eyes.
A pretty girl in a tiny skirt and a lycra top was smiling alluringly at two American men in jeans and pressed dress shirts, batting her eyelashes and flicking her hair. She was no more than five feet tall, and the men towered over her. They were clean-cut and a little overweight, probably not used to getting such eager female attention back home. They looked like college boys to Mak. They looked like someone’s brothers. What did they think they were doing accepting forced affection from an impoverished sex worker? In moments the girl had giggled and cooed her way into being offered a drink. She leaned against the shoulder of the taller one, smiling flirtatiously. She put a manicured hand on his waist. He looked delighted. Negotiations would be next.
‘Mak,’ Shawn said in a lowered voice, ‘I wanted to ask you something.’
He had her immediate attention. She braced herself for the worst.
‘Are you the same Mak from Canada who was just in Sydney for that trial?’
Mak cut him short. ‘No,’ she blurted.
‘Let’s get out of here,’ Jen broke in, seemingly oblivious to the conversation. Mak saw her tug at Gabby’s sleeve. ‘I’ve got a photo shoot tomorrow.’
‘Oh, live a little. You’ll be fine,’ Shawn complained, sipping his free cocktail. At least she had distracted him.
‘It’s a test for my book. I need some sleep,’ Jen insisted.
‘I’ll go back with you,’ Mak offered, jumping at the chance.
Jen’s face lit up. ‘Great!’
‘Thanks for the tour of the underbelly, Shawn,’ Mak said. ‘Don’t forget to tip well. Bye Gabby.’
With that, she and Jen climbed the stairs to the street.
‘I hate that place,’ Jen complained, once they were outside. ‘It’s so creepy. I don’t understand why people like it.’
‘Well, I don’t reckon we are quite the demographic, somehow. I think Shawn rather likes the free drinks. Come on, let’s flag a cab.’
The red taxis of Hong Kong Island zipped past on both sides of the road, all occupied. Mak began to feel uneasy. Goosebumps stood up on her forearms. Were they being watched? Yes. She could feel it. Was it just the bouncers at the entrance to the club, or was someone else watching them?
Why do I keep worrying about Ed here, when I am so far away?
Suzie Harpin blinked once, twice. Yes, it had to be her. A tall young woman with a mane of blonde hair had emerged from a doorway not half a block from her.
Makedde Vanderwall.
Suzie stood on a corner directly across from the seedy-looking bar Ed had disappeared into. She’d heard the front door close when he had left the apartment, and quickly followed. Her boyfriend was after this girl Makedde, and here she was, right in Suzie’s sights. It was her. And Suzie had found her.
With violence bubbling over in her heart, Suzie walked briskly towards the woman who was the cause of all the uncertainty in her relationship. Makedde was the reason she did not have Ed’s true devotion. Makedde was his distraction. Makedde was the one thing that could bring them down. Makedde stood in their way. Makedde was the enemy. Makedde Vanderwall.
Only a few feet away now.
Suddenly she turned and looked right at Suzie. She had bright blue-green eyes that took in Suzie’s face with surprise and some alarm. Did she recognise her?
‘Oh, here!’ A taxi pulled up in front of them and the back door opened automatically with a strange little hydraulic lever. Makedde and the other girl quickly climbed in. Suzie lunged towards the cab but missed the door as it swung shut again.
Dammit!
‘Did you see that woman?’
‘Who?’ Jen asked.
‘That woman with the crazy eyes. She was staring at me.’ Mak was shaken.
Jen turned around and looked out at the street. ‘She wanted this cab pretty bad. Look, she’s trying to hail one now.’
Mak turned too. The woman was trying desperately to hail a cab but none were stopping for her.
Makedde’s heart pounded from the unsettling encounter. ‘Mid Levels,’ she told the driver and settled back into the seat. ‘I’m glad we found a cab. I think that area creeped me out a bit.’
CHAPTER 56
‘Wake up, Andy. We got something.’
Through his congested thoughts he managed to croak, ‘I’m awake, I’m awake,’ though truly he wasn’t. With one eye open, he saw the bedside clock indicating ten minutes to six. He rolled straight out from between the sheets clutching his mobile phone to his ear.
‘Don’t tell me you fell asleep at your desk again and didn’t get home until late?’
‘Just tell me what it is, Mahoney. Is it good?’ He grabbed a shirt off the floor and started to put it on.
‘There’s a homicide in Seven Hills. Probably related. Want me to pick you up?’
Oh damn. A body.
Andy had been wondering how long it would take. Who was she? Whose life had Ed cut short this time?
‘Only if I get to drive,’ he said.
‘No way. I mean, yes, sir. Whatever you say, my superior. Local police got a call last night from the wife of the brother of our Long Bay guard, Suzie Harpin,’ Mahoney explained. ‘She said that someone had moved into her husband’s house. That he was missing. And there was a human arm in the kitchen sink.’
‘An arm?’
‘I’ll explain the rest on the way.’
CHAPTER 57
‘Are you okay?’
The words came through the bathroom door in a whisper. Mak looked up with a start. It was barely four-thirty in the morning. She opened her mouth to answer, but felt another wave of nausea take over.
‘Blaaaah,’ was the noise she made instead of speech.
‘Makedde?’ Another whisper, and a thump, as if someone were now pushing against the door.
Go away, please…
‘Just a…uh, minute,’ Mak groaned. She wiped her mouth and rose from the toilet bowl. ‘Yes?’ she said through the locked door.
‘Are you okay?’
‘Yeah sure,’ she replied. Yeah right. ‘I’ll be out in a sec.’
Mak found her toiletries bag shoved into the back of the bathroom cupboard, behind someone’s cosmetics and bottles of Dior fake tan. She brushed her teeth and spat into the sink. She splashed water on her face.
Apart from her episode the night before the trial, Mak couldn’t remember the last time she had been sick. She hoped this wasn’t going to become a regular occurrence. Puke for worry. Puke for excess alcohol consumption. Puke because you love Hong Kong. All this vomiting was a sure sign that her life was going down the toilet.
Feeling slightly less nauseous, she opened the bathroom door and found Jen sitting on the arm of the couch, gazing at her with worry. She wore boyish pyjamas, her face clean and shiny, hair pulled back in a ponytail. Without make-up, she looked about twelve.
‘It’s all yours,’ Mak managed to say.
‘You aren’t fat, you know. You’re just tall,’ Jen replied.
‘Excuse me?’
‘I’m just saying…you know…’ Jen looked sheepish. She was sitting on her hands, Mak noticed. ‘I’m just saying that you aren’t fat.’
Mak was confused. Why is she saying this to me now?
‘I know I’m not fat,’ she replied.
Then Jen looked towards the bathroom and back to her, and Mak got her meaning.
‘Oh, no, no. I’m not bulimic!’ Mak exclaimed. ‘No. Thanks for your concern, but no.’ The chucking up was probably something Jen had seen before. ‘I’m just, well…sick. It might be something I ate last night, those conpoys I ended up trying, or that abalone thing.’
Jen nodded, partially reassured.
‘You ought to go back to bed,’ Mak said. ‘I’m sorry if I woke you. It’s so early. And you have that test today.’
For Mak it was 6.30 a.m. Sydney time, so she doubted she would be able to get any more sleep. This would be the start of her day, and what a start it had been.
Jen’s sheepish look had appeared again. ‘I don’t have any test,’ she admitted. ‘I just…wanted Shawn off my back. He’s a bit of a party animal.’
Makedde laughed. ‘I see. Do you usually get free drinks?’
Jen nodded. ‘At some places they offer free drinks if we bring our composite cards.’
In any fashion capital there are plenty of places willing to offer free drinks to models who frequent their establishment. When Mak was starting out in Milan, some of Italy’s richest playboys were known to pay top dollar to club owners to lure young models. Some clubs even had agreements with model agencies to encourage the new girls in town to party with them. Most of the new models were unsuspecting of the set-up, and their being underage and impressionable was not considered a problem to certain powerful men. Mak had only managed to escape one slimebucket’s attentions by being, as the man described, ‘intimidazione’—an almost six-foot-tall fifteen year old who commanded an impressive right hook.
‘Um, please don’t think I’m rude, Jen, but can I ask…how old are you?’
Please don’t let her be fifteen.