The Shanghai Wife

by Emma Harcourt

  ‘Apart from any number of reasons like a sick family member, or his own ill health, or worse, some terrible accident has befallen him. Really Mrs Marsden, must we always be so perfunctory when it comes to the Chinese. They do have families and lives just like us, there may be a very simple and understandable explanation.’

  ‘There’s nothing understandable about his behaviour at all. It’s scandalous and he’s not worth the bother when there’s another capable replacement standing by. Now, tea tomorrow, I’ll expect you at eleven.’

  Annie stayed in the lounge after Mrs Marsden left. She needed time to think. Chow had certainly been in a bad state when he came to her the day before yesterday, and of course the Flues would jump to the most salacious conclusion. She put her head in her hands and rubbed her eyes, hoping for some clarity. The lounge was empty now and all she could hear were her own audible sighs as she tried to make sense of the situation. She thought of Chow’s intelligent comments about the country’s politics and knew his opinions were more radical than conservative but it didn’t follow he’d join the Green Gang to fulfil them. Possibly his views put him more in line with the Communist beliefs and even though most of her fellow expatriates would brand such thinking as treasonous, Annie didn’t care and she knew Chow was careful who he shared his opinions with. He had saved her from a riot and put his own life at risk to save Alec. These were the actions of a responsible and upstanding member of the community. She knew it to be true. She remembered when Chow had tucked a curl behind her ear and there was only affection in his eyes, not hatred for her foreign blood. But whatever way she looked at it, Annie kept coming back to the same dead-end conclusion: she had no way of contacting Chow, no address for him, not even a full name. She only had three pieces of information about the man: he was the maître d’hôtel, his name was Chow and he was her lover.

  Annie thought about the time when Chow had calmed her down after the altercation in the street with the old woman. She thought about lying beside him with eyes closed and fingers touching. If he was sick, then she should be nursing him.

  The familiar corridor echoed with the sound of Annie’s shoes. She pushed through the kitchen doors briskly and stood, hoping to recognise one of the men who had played mahjong with Chow, or the young man who had translated for her when she spoke to Li Qiang’s sister. These people worked with Chow every day, surely one of them could tell her where he lived?

  It was not as busy as the last time Annie had visited the kitchens. The subdued activity reflected how few guests were in the Club. There was no blast of heat or constant noise, two women were cooking at the stove, and a man cleaned cutlery. Another entered while Annie stood in the doorway, moving past her with an empty tray. He spoke to the woman at the stove who turned and began ladling soup into a bowl. Annie walked up to them both.

  ‘I am looking for Chow?’ No one answered so she turned to where the man was putting cutlery into a drawer. ‘Chow, the head waiter?’ She spoke his name slowly, hoping someone would recognise the word. One of the men pointed to a sheet pinned to the wall where she saw Chow’s name with a line through it and another name written beneath, his replacement. But this did not help her.

  ‘Help, please, Chow?’ As she spoke the new head waiter appeared.

  ‘May I help you, madam?’ She sensed his annoyance at her presence.

  ‘Thank you. I am looking for Chow. I was hoping one of the servants who worked with him could tell me where he lived?’ The man frowned at Annie.

  ‘May I escort you back to the ladies’ lounge; the kitchen is no place for members.’ He held his arm out towards the door and stood to the side. The other staff had stopped what they were doing and were watching. But Annie had no intention of leaving.

  ‘I will not go until I can speak to someone who knows Chow.’ She raised her voice to include the other staff in the kitchen as she spoke, looking around so that they could see her genuine concern. Water from the pot on the stove splashed onto the fire with a hiss and the woman turned back to take it off the heat.

  ‘He might be sick and need help,’ Annie entreated, looking first to the young men and then back to the head waiter who still stood to the side, waiting for her to lead the way back to the ladies’ lounge. He inclined his head politely but didn’t speak. Someone shouted loudly from the doorway into the alley as a delivery boy dropped a large box of vegetables to the ground. One of the women began inspecting its contents. There was no point in staying. Annie shook her head at the head waiter as she left but he simply nodded stiffly and followed her out.

  She wanted to be gone from the Club. She flagged a rickshaw down in the street and told the driver to move on quickly. Annie paid little attention to where she was going, she needed to think. She’d been so critical of the Flues ignorant approach to the Chinese but here she sat with only superficial knowledge of a man she wanted to entrust with her happiness. A young woman moved agilely across their path, balancing a bucket on each end of a pole over her shoulders with a sleeping baby strapped to her chest. They turned a corner and the woman was gone. Annie recognised the street; it was busy with food hawkers and pedestrians. It was Xinzha Road, and there was the house where Annie had found Li Qiang. She leant forward and shouted to the driver to stop. He hauled on the rickshaw’s poles and Annie fell backwards. She sat still, watching people pushing through each other along the street and listening to the noisy cries of the traders. When she stepped down, the driver called out and Annie realised she hadn’t paid him; she’d been wondering what had made her stop here. She looked at the building on the other side of the road. It was cordoned off with a barricade and she remembered Mrs Marsden mentioning that the police had raided the Chinaman’s office. Maybe she just needed to stand where she’d last seen the boy one more time. She paid the rickshaw driver and steadied herself with a deep breath; if there was any chance Chow was connected to the gangs it was worth asking around here.

  She smoothed the curls on her neck. Her pulse quickened. She needed a moment to collect herself.

  She waited for a break in the traffic. A group of children were playing a game with stones on the street in front of the building. They sat in the dirt, oblivious to the noise and the mess around them. A man emerged from number 23. He ducked under the barricade and turned into the alley nearby. Annie moved along the footpath. There was something familiar about the way he held himself. A large car rumbled past, blocking her view for a moment. She tapped her foot on the curb impatiently as bicycles and rickshaws made it impossible to cross. Then her chance came and she moved forward with a group of other pedestrians. She hurried to the opposite curb, jostled about by the crowd, and saw that the man had stopped in the alley. Her curiosity turned instantly to shock when she realised she knew who it was—Chow. She could see his face now, though he was preoccupied and had no reason to look across to where she waited. Chow walked further down the alley where houses bent into one another in a long and endless-looking line. Annie stopped for a few minutes, unsure how to proceed. Loose stones fell around her from where the entrance portico had crumbled with age. She remembered their visit to Zhenye Li Alley and how Chow had helped her, and was reminded again of why she was there. She would not jump to any conclusions without first finding out what Chow was doing in the Green Gang house. She raised her hand to wave and call out to him, but stopped mid-action. He was taking something from another man, who clearly didn’t want the object to be visible on the street. They were hunched together and Annie moved slowly forward, leaning into the wall to get a better view. She shooed away a few of the children who approached her with outstretched hands. But the street and alley were so busy it didn’t disturb the two men who were focused intently on their transaction. She watched as Chow reached out and quickly slipped a gun into the loose sleeve of his robe. For a moment the metal caught the glint of sun. The man nodded to Chow, held his shoulder a moment and then turned back to the street. Chow looked around then, and Annie felt herself fall against the wall in her haste not to be
seen. The stone pressed into her legs and she felt a chill on her skin from the shadows. There were goosebumps on her arms, and her eyes smarted from the shock but still she watched. Chow was smoking now, and she wondered if indeed she had seen a gun at all. He was so calm and unperturbed and it happened so fast. He was only a few yards away, yet there was an invisible barrier between them, and it felt in that moment more foreign a world to her than ever before.

  She crossed the road again to where rickshaws waited for business in a side street. She would come back later to speak to Chow; she couldn’t do it now, not like this, not spying on him.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Once again, Annie braced herself for Mrs Marsden’s loud welcome as she pressed the door bell, wishing she hadn’t agreed to the morning tea. There were so many questions whirling in her head that she felt distracted and dismayed. It would be hard to appear relaxed and join in the conversation with the other ladies, but Annie was there because it was all she could do. The tea invitation gave the rest of her day some structure, which she needed amidst so much confusion. Annie sat robotically with the other ladies, while Mrs Marsden fussed over the tea arrangements. She laughed and nodded at the appropriate moments but her mind was awash with images of Chow; secreting a gun in his sleeve, weaving towards her through a Club party with a silver tray held high. Her commonsense struggled with the disjunction of the man she knew and the man she’d seen yesterday.

  The table was laid with finger sandwiches and tea cakes, small scones and strawberry jam, savoury tartlets and pickled onions. She viewed the amount of food with resignation. There was enough to feed three times the number gathered around the table. The ladies took their seats and old Mrs Colder passed Annie the scones. She didn’t feel hungry at all but took one out of politeness. Annie reached for a plate of sandwiches to pass back to Mrs Colder but before she could, her hostess had whisked it away. Mrs Marsden called over the girl who’d brought the sandwiches to the table and gave her the plate to take back to the kitchen. Annie listened with astonishment as she admonished the poor girl; there was not enough filling and Mrs Marsden was embarrassed to offer her friends such sub-standard examples of an old-fashioned English egg sandwich. Annie knew she should have held her tongue and let Mrs Marsden dictate the rules in her own house, but something snapped in her. She could not bear to hear the old trout shout at the local girl a moment longer.

  ‘It’s only a sandwich for goodness sake, Mrs Marsden, stop haranguing the poor girl.’

  Mrs Marsden gave Annie a fierce but quick stare as she continued to berate her servant. Annie could see the young thing was nearly in tears, as her hands holding the rejected plate of sandwiches began to shake.

  ‘Let the girl go, Mrs Marsden. We can all do without egg today, don’t you agree?’ Annie looked around at her fellow guests for support but no one spoke up in agreement or would even look at her. ‘There is enough food here to feed us all three times over. Would you just please be quiet and let the poor girl do her job.’

  ‘Mrs Brand, may I remind you that this is my house and you are my guest.’

  Annie watched Mrs Marsden speak; her lips pursed and twitched furiously as she struggled to control herself. It was typical behaviour for the matriarch, used to dominating a room. But Annie suddenly felt very tired.

  ‘I don’t care, really I don’t. You’re acting like a bully, talking to the girl like she’s sub-human, invisible even. It’s uncalled for and I simply can’t stand by and listen to you any longer. Excuse me; Nancy, Joyce, Mrs Colder.’

  Annie nodded stiffly to the ladies as she rose and left the room. Her head was pounding. She wasn’t sure where she was going, but she couldn’t stay a moment longer. Seeing Chow had utterly shaken her.

  Annie sat down in the kitchen. It was much bigger than hers, with a round table in the centre surrounded by six chairs. The staff had been busy preparing the evening meal—a pot bubbled on the stovetop and someone was chopping carrots on the side bench—but a hush descended on the room as she entered and the servants stopped their chores and stared at the stranger, unsure what to do in the presence of a foreign lady. The young servant who Annie had defended returned from the dining room and quickly spotted her at the table. She shooed the other staff out through the back door, closing it after them so the two were alone. Annie was grateful for the privacy and admired the girl’s sensitivity. She noticed the mole on her upper lip as she came towards her.

  ‘Are you all right?’

  Annie didn’t see the sack she was holding until it was too late. She felt it roughly pushed over her head, and the hessian scratched down her cheek as it was tugged. The dark enveloped her with a claustrophobic closeness that made Annie cry out in fear but the sound was muffled by the material. Her nose pressed against roughness, she breathed in deep and fast, feeling her chest contract quickly with each gasp. Her hands scrabbled at the hood as it was tightened around her neck. But someone grabbed her arms and tied them firmly behind her back. She was disoriented and afraid. A voice spoke low in her ear.

  ‘Be quiet and walk.’

  Annie stood unsteadily, stumbling into a warm body that pushed her upright and roughly grabbed her by the shoulders. She was led away, a door shut as she walked, gravel crunched beneath her feet, a car engine growled low as she was tipped headfirst into a seat.

  ‘Where are you taking me?’

  Her voice came out muffled and coarse from within the blindfold, but there was no answer.

  The car stopped after some time and it was impossible for Annie to tell their direction or even how long she was in the car. She looked around, responding to the sound of a door opening even though she couldn’t see a thing. A blur of frightening white light filled her vision as she stepped from the car. She sucked air in through the hessian material, fighting the sensation of suffocating. Her head throbbed as panic razed back and forth through her.

  Then they were inside and the quiet darkness calmed Annie a little. She was seated and someone untied the rope. She gasped with pain as she gingerly pulled her arms back around.

  ‘Take off the blindfold. She is hurt.’ Annie’s body froze, she listened intently. Chow spoke again. ‘Annie, are you all right?’

  Even though the room was shaded and the single high window was covered, Annie flinched as the hood was removed. Before she could do anything, Chow had dropped to his knees in front of her.

  ‘My bird, I am so sorry to treat you this way, please forgive me.’

  He clasped her hands and stroked them as he spoke. Annie thought his fingers looked like disconnected little lizards running across her hands. The air was light and filled her lungs easily now so that she felt dizzy with the pressure of breathing in too quickly. She noticed he wasn’t wearing the jade ring and saw in its absence the tattoo she’d only glimpsed previously. It was the Ichang fish. Her body swayed.

  ‘Annie?’

  Chow’s dark eyes were filled with a familiar look of concern. It was confusing and Annie blinked laboriously and stared at him. Everything seemed discombobulated.

  ‘Get her a drink.’

  The young servant from Mrs Marsden’s handed Annie a glass of water. She took a sip and gave it to Chow. He dipped a cloth in the glass and pressed it gently to her neck and throat, resting the cool towel behind each ear. She thought of the time she had cleaned his wounds just like that. The cold water against her skin made Annie shiver and a clarity returned to her head.

  She looked around; they were in a small room at the back of a building. They must have come in through the one door, which was shut now. The room was bare and felt unlived in. Even the few chairs seemed lost. Chow held her hands with concern.

  ‘What is going on, Chow? What have you done?’ She heard the panic in her voice as she pulled her hands away from his. ‘You can’t kidnap me like this, it’s madness. What on earth were you thinking?’

  ‘I know, Annie, let me explain. You are not in danger here. It was the only way I could see you. It may seem like madness to y
ou but this is how I must live now.’

  ‘I don’t understand?’ She looked at the young girl, who was standing by the door. There was no one else in the room. ‘Who is she?’

  ‘That is my sister, Chin Feng.’

  The girl smiled shyly at Annie and stepped forward.

  ‘Thank you for defending me, I am sorry to have scared you but my brother is a good man. You can trust him.’

  ‘Chow, what is going on?’

  Annie was frightened now. A pounding started in her ears. She looked from Chow to his sister and back to the man she thought she knew. She felt as though she was dreaming.

  ‘We do not have long before we must return you to Mrs Marsden’s, so I apologise for the hasty delivery. They think you are unwell and resting in the guest bedroom. Do not worry, no one will know of your absence, if we are careful.’

  ‘All right, Chow, then you better start explaining damn fast.’

  ‘You see, Annie, I am in the Green Gang.’

  ‘You’re a gangster? I don’t believe it.’

  ‘I’m so sorry for deceiving you, but I had no choice. The gang sent me to work for the Communists. The red paint under my nails was not from painting the Club walls but from writing which is required for the Communist propaganda posters. We gain support through these.’

  ‘You’re a spy too? You lied to me all this time. I don’t know you, dear god, I don’t know you.’

  ‘My job is to pass on information that I gather from overhearing conversations at the Club between the chief of police, the admiral of the fleet, the influential bankers, any foreigner of note. Sometimes I come across documents indiscreetly left lying around by half-drunk members—it has been very easy.’

  Annie was scared and her eyes flickered across Chow’s face and away to the far wall where the door was closed, then back to his mouth, smiling at her.