by Joanna Rees
‘It was a miracle she made it out alive,’ Tristan said.
‘So how did she get out?’ Lois asked.
‘She swam.’
‘What?’
‘She jumped into the pool. Swam down the channel leading under the archway and into the outdoor pool. Devereaux and I spotted her at the same time. She was slipping under. Devereaux dived in and got her out. The two of them are in hospital in Shanghai, being checked over. Taken there in a medevac chopper. At our expense.’
‘Jesus,’ Lois said. Savannah Hudson had been bloody lucky to survive that. Of all the people in the Good Fortune, why, oh why, did the drama have to happen to her?
Because everyone else had been fine. The fire had been limited to the spa and put out quickly; turning off the fire alarm and sprinkler system had proved more difficult. There’d simply been no choice but to evacuate the guests.
But Savannah Hudson had been down in the spa. Right where the fire had started.
‘What are you thinking, Lois?’ Mario asked, stepping towards her.
She looked at him. Because all of a sudden, Jai Shijai’s comment earlier rang in her head.
I wonder how Savannah Hudson will retaliate . . .
No, Lois thought. You’re exhausted. Being paranoid. No one would be crazy enough to do that.
Lois’s head was still buzzing with doubts and suspicions as she walked into the spa area with Tristan and Mario. Sven, the architect, carried the large torch and pushed past them at the broken double door to see inside.
Chinese officials – several of them, working silently – were measuring various objects near the blast centre and taking notes.
‘Holy fuck,’ Tristan said, standing in the puddles of water on the floor. It was the first time any of them had been allowed in here since the fire.
Lois stared around the once serene and beautiful spa, blackened now from the smoke and flames. The glass dome above the pool was charred and cracked. The half-completed mosaics were ruined. The pool itself was as dark and dank as a swamp.
‘Look around,’ she told Tristan, Mario and Sven.
‘For what?’ Tristan asked.
‘Anything,’ she said. ‘Anything that’s wrong.’
They split up and began searching the room. Mario was the first to call out.
‘What’s this?’ he asked, as Lois rushed over to him. He crouched down and pulled out something from under one of the poolside beds. ‘It looks like an evening bag . . .’
Lois undid the zip. She reached inside and extracted a packet of cigarettes and a lighter.
She weighed the lighter in her hand. It was a tacky plastic one – the same as a million lighters all over the world – except that this had one word written on it in gaudy lettering: Savannah.
‘Are you thinking what I’m thinking?’ Tristan asked.
She didn’t have to answer him. Because here it was. In her hand. Proof.
Proof that Savannah Hudson had caused the fire. She had wrecked the Good Fortune. Deliberately. Out of jealousy and spite.
She was almost breathless as she pulled out the phone from the bag. She handed it to Mario.
Oh yes, she had enough proof for herself that Savannah Hudson was guilty as hell. But for the authorities? For a court of law? She’d been a cop for too long not to know that she was going to need more than this.
‘What do you want me to do with that?’ he asked.
‘I want you to find anything, and I mean anything, that’s evidence. Anything that will prove that she did what I think she did.’ Her voice trembled with anger.
Mario whistled. He turned the phone over in his hands. ‘I guess I can try. This is an old phone. There might be something stored on it.’
‘Lois, you’ve got a visitor.’
It was Susie. She was standing in the broken entrance to the spa, staring at the carnage in disbelief. ‘It’s a man called Aidan something. Aidan Bailey. Shall I tell him to go away?’
CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
Aidan was waiting for Lois outside in the courtyard, sitting on the wall of the Good Fortune dragon. He stood up when he saw her approaching and pushed his sunglasses to the top of his head.
The terracotta tiles were littered with thousands of strips of gold paper from last night’s party, which sparkled in the morning sun. A Good Fortune balloon floated across the courtyard in the breeze.
‘You must be devastated,’ Aidan said.
She nodded, swallowing back an unexpected surge of emotion. She’d lost him almost straight away last night, in the stampede of guests trying to escape the sprinklers and the noise of the fire alarm.
‘We’re all here to fight another day,’ she said, as she shivered and hugged her arms.
‘Here.’ Aidan slipped off his jacket and put it around her shoulders.
She smiled, grateful for the small kindness. Whatever was wrong with him last night seemed to have passed, but she was still wary.
‘It doesn’t look so bad,’ Aidan said, trying to sound reassuring. ‘Out here at least.’
‘You should see inside,’ Lois replied. But even so, she reached out and touched the gold scales on the dragon’s back. It was still intact. Aidan was right . . . it could have been so much worse.
‘Looks like whoever put your fire and evacuation systems into place did a good job. You did a good job,’ he said.
‘It doesn’t feel like it right now,’ she said, although it was good to know that one investor, at least, wouldn’t be calling for her head on a plate. Roberto, panic-stricken, had left a few hours ago, to fly back to Vegas to talk to the insurers.
‘Seriously, if you’d got it wrong . . . if that fire hadn’t been shut down as quickly as it was . . . they’d be wheeling dead bodies out of here right now.’
‘I know,’ she said. ‘But it’s the damage to our reputation that hurts the most, not the damage to the building. All of which can be repaired. But I guess that was the whole point.’
‘What do you mean?’
She told him about finding Savannah Hudson’s bag by the pool, with the lighter inside. And about how Luc Devereaux had already confirmed that the two of them had been snooping around down there before the fire began.
Aidan whistled.
It was a big allegation, Lois knew. And it sounded even bigger as she told Aidan.
‘You’re going to have to be pretty sure of your evidence before you accuse her,’ he said. ‘It’s just as possible that she was the victim of an unfortunate accident.’
But Lois knew she wouldn’t be defeated on this. Whatever it took, she would find out the truth.
‘I don’t think this is a good time, but I do need to talk to you,’ he said.
She remembered now, before the explosion, the way he’d been acting. As if he’d been looking for a row. He didn’t look like it now. He looked like the same kind and charming man who’d surprised her in the Temple Street night market in Hong Kong. But at the same time, if it was a fight he was looking for, she couldn’t afford for it to happen here in public, for her authority to be challenged any more than it already had been.
‘OK,’ she said, ‘but do you mind if we go back to my place? I need to change.’
Lois led Aidan through the short cut to the back of the casino and on through the gardens beyond. They looked spectacular in the early morning sunlight, as if the fire had never happened. She’d sourced experts to make sure that all the planting was indigenous to the area and would flourish in the climate. After the recent rains, everything was greener than ever and the dove trees were flowering, their petals like white handkerchiefs fluttering in the breeze.
The grounds were intercut with waterways, designed so that the guests could travel on traditional boats to the cottages and residential complexes that stretched down to the beach and the water park.
She could tell, as Aidan nodded to himself, that he was impressed, but she was in no mood for showing off the Good Fortune now.
She felt too bitter. This morning, the gro
unds should have been full of guests exploring the paradise she’d created for them. And she should be walking tall, proud to have carried off an amazing opening night. She looked at the main canal with the row of gondola-like dragon boats lined up and empty, the waterways and hotel rooms deserted.
Empty firework shells littered the ground and she kicked at one of them. What a bloody waste of money. The drama of last night had been made all the worse because they’d had to carry out the evacuation under the pomp and ceremony of the firework display. The two events would be forever intertwined in her mind. It was a sour thought.
‘Here, it’ll be quicker if we use one of these,’ she said, pointing to the Good Fortune’s customized golf buggies. ‘I’ll navigate, you drive,’ she said, hitching up the grubby skirt of her dress and getting in.
Apart from the sporadic directions she gave, they drove in silence over the bridge of the main canal and along the new pathways of the golf course itself. It felt weird having Aidan here when the hotel was so deserted. It felt like they were in a computer game – eerily silent except for the whine of the golf buggy and the chirrup of starlings.
‘It’s beautiful,’ he said, looking around him at the hotel’s eco-buildings. ‘You know, when I heard you were going to build this, I couldn’t picture what it would be like – but this place is pretty amazing. Usually once the daylight comes, you want to get the hell out of a casino, but this isn’t tacky. This feels like a luxury resort. And being here with just you,’ he said, ‘the person who created it, well, it’s a real privilege, Lois.’
She had spent weeks wondering whether he’d turn up at the launch, and whether he’d be impressed if he did. But now, after last night’s PR disaster, it no longer mattered.
‘Follow the path over there,’ she said, pointing to the bridge across another waterway.
The landscaping team Lois had employed had created the village of recycled antique teak and tiled cottages beside the furthest saltwater lake, as luxury accommodation for guests who preferred to spend their nights far away from the madding crowd. In the meantime, the Good Fortune’s senior staff had moved in. And Lois herself had been living here for nearly a year.
The lakeside water, thick with lush green water lilies, rippled against the whitewashed walls. Palm trees, all of which she’d imported from a remote village in the north, bent in at an angle towards the group of cottages.
Once she’d pressed the combination on the gate and they were through to the enclosure, she saw her own cottage. Her sarong still hung over the carved wooden rail of the veranda, her flip-flops by the door as if nothing had changed. And yet everything had.
She led Aidan up the steps and in through the thick teak door. In the tranquil silence of the early morning, she felt as if she were sneaking home with a lover.
Lover. There. The word had crept into her mind. Because that’s what he was. Had been. Once.
But not today, she reminded herself. Today they were here because he wanted to say something to her, something she was too exhausted to listen to yet. She needed to freshen up before she could face anything emotional.
In the centre of the cottage was a large teak bed and an antique chest beside it, with polished brass hinges. A soft throw lay on the bed and two big red embroidered cushions.
Lois walked straight past.
Further back was a small living area, with two armchairs, a desk and Lois’s laptop in the corner. There was a fridge in the other corner by a sink and a drinks tray. Small, rush-shaded windows let in the soft morning light.
She should have taken him to her office, she now realized. This was too intimate. Too personal.
‘What a great place,’ Aidan said, admiring the cottage. ‘I love these walls. They must be a foot thick.’
She grimaced, catching her reflection in the mirror, seeing how bedraggled and dirty she looked.
‘Listen, make yourself at home. I’m going to take a shower, if you don’t mind.’
‘Sure,’ Aidan said. ‘I’ll fix us a drink. What do you fancy?’
‘After last night – I need a whisky,’ she said.
He smiled at her and she looked into his eyes, remembering all too well the last time she’d drunk whisky with him and what had happened afterwards.
But that was a long time ago. Had Aidan moved on? He was probably in another relationship by now. A man as attractive as he was must receive so much female attention. Especially in the casinos and clubs he frequented.
She felt her legs shaking as she took off her shoes. She opened another small teak door with a high wooden doorstep at the back of the cottage. Behind it was her favourite part of the bungalow – the open-air shower room.
‘You want water with it?’ Aidan called after her.
‘Sure. Use the tap water,’ she said.
‘Tap?’
‘I put in a reverse osmosis system so it gets ultra-filtered,’ she explained, as she unclipped her earrings and put them on the side.
He smiled. ‘Neat,’ he said, stepping into the open doorway. He was holding two tumblers of whisky in his hands. The way the sun caught his hair . . . the wrinkles around his hazel eyes suddenly made something in her burn.
It was crazy. She had no idea why he was here, or what he’d been doing for the last eighteen months. She’d had the most exhausting night of her life, and yet every nerve ending was on fire as Aidan’s eyes bored into hers.
Then, suddenly, he seemed to remember himself. ‘I’ll, um . . . wait,’ he stuttered, pointing behind him.
Lois quietly closed the door of the shower room. Now that Aidan was gone, she wanted him back. She wanted to feel the touch of his strong hands on her skin. She wanted . . . needed . . . to press against him, to forget all about last night.
Stop it, she thought. She was just tired. She didn’t know what she wanted any more.
She let the dress fall to the floor and pulled out the clips in her hair, the withered peony bloom dropping on to the white tiles. A smile played on her lips, which she couldn’t control, like a schoolkid with the giggles in class, like it was only a matter of time before she got caught.
Aidan was on the other side of the door. And she was naked.
She shook her head, shivering as she stepped into the shower and turned on the water.
The shower head was designed to drench the person underneath and as soon as the water came on, she gasped, letting it cascade down over her. She closed her eyes, feeling her skin tingle and goosebump under the flow. She turned up the heat and soon the small bathroom was thick with steam.
She filled her hand with fragrant shower gel and started massaging it over her breasts. She closed her eyes, pushing her face up into the falling water, wondering what he would think if he could see her now. Would he still want her? Would she still want him?
She slipped her hand between her legs and softly moaned.
Why fight it? a voice inside her said. Why fight the desire?
Impulsively, quickly, she reached out to the door and lifted the latch. As it slowly swung open, she turned her back. She felt her whole body tense, as she waited to see what Aidan would do.
And then, a second later, she heard a sound . . .
She didn’t open her eyes as Aidan stepped into the shower behind her. She felt his hot naked skin against her, his hard cock pressing into her, as he put both arms around her, sliding his hands over her shoulders and down her arms. She gasped as he buried his face against her neck, kissing her skin. He uttered a long, sensual groan that made her insides sing.
Then he turned her round in his arms. He ran his hands over her wet hair, pulling her head back so that he could kiss her. Slowly. Deeply.
Neither of them spoke. It was as if they’d been taken over by pure, animal lust, and neither of them could explain it, or justify it. Still kissing him, their tongues dancing together, she felt him hoisting her up, lifting her legs so that they were wrapped around his waist.
She loved the way she felt in his strong arms. As if she
were light as a feather. She was shaking, she realized. Wet with desire. She needed him inside her. Needed him more than ever before.
He felt deliciously familiar and yet so new and exciting. She pushed down on him, crying out as he slid into her.
He gasped as she squeezed her muscles and leaned back, closing her eyes, the warm water running over her hair and face as she rocked, tuning in to the sensation of the water over them.
She dug her heels into his firm buttocks as he hoisted her up again, leaning in to suck her nipples. They felt so engorged – as if they could explode – and each flick of his tongue brought exquisite torture.
Cradling his head, she planted kisses over his wet cheeks. She tensed her thighs, so that she slid up him, then bore down again and again. They stayed locked, fused, kissing beneath the water.
She was shaking uncontrollably as she slipped away from him. She leaned down and flicked her tongue over him, tasting herself on him and groaning, then she took him deep in her mouth.
As he began shuddering, he pulled her up and turned her round, rubbing soap over her shoulders, massaging her back again and reaching around to soap her breasts.
She pressed back against him, desperate to have him inside her again. Water cascaded over her, washing away the soap from her breasts. He reached around to the small triangle of her pubic hair and began to massage her clitoris as he continued to thrust deep inside her.
She cried out as she came in a violent, shuddering orgasm.
He held her, turning her round in his arms in the water as she continued to gasp. Gently, he took her hand and guided it down on to him. She squeezed his cock just once and his knees buckled slightly as he came.
Then he was smiling. And she was smiling too. She turned off the shower and they held each other in silent joy, as the sun shone down overhead, bathing them in a rainbow of steam.
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
Lois was still dazed as she sat in her robe on the bed. Should she feel bad? She couldn’t tell. All she knew was that out of the ashes of last night, Aidan had come to her and made her feel ecstatic.