The Couturier of Milan

by Ian Hamilton

  “I’ve been sneezing and my eyes have been watering. I must be allergic to something.”

  “Do you want to change rooms?”

  “No, it could be something outside.”

  “I’ve reserved a table at the Dragon Phoenix restaurant in the Peace Hotel. It’s a short walk, but would you rather stay here?”

  “Let’s go,” Ava said. “I’ll survive.”

  “May briefed me on what happened last night,” Amanda said cheerily as they left the Peninsula. “It sounds like we’re making some progress.”

  “We’re off to a decent start,” Ava said, glad she’d decided to forego relaying Pandolfo’s message. “How was the party last night, and how are Clark and Gillian?”

  “Quite upbeat. Mind you, they were surrounded by people who adore them.”

  “That’s not surprising when you consider how wonderful they are.”

  “And resilient,” Amanda said. “I was talking to Chi-Tze this morning and we’re both surprised at how well the Pos have handled this crisis —him especially. He could have fallen to pieces, but instead he’s been working the phones like mad and is the most optimistic of all. He’s been keeping Gillian’s spirits up by saying that fighting to save their own business is better than working for anyone else. Plus, I have to say that Pang Fai’s involvement in London got all their friends excited. Last night I must have heard ten times that there’s no way PÖ can fail if she’s supporting us.”

  They shuffled along the promenade for a few more minutes before the two buildings that made up the Fairmont Peace Hotel came into view. The hotel had what Ava thought was an odd combination of art deco and Renaissance architecture.

  “The buildings were built decades apart,” May said after Ava commented on it. “The south one dates back to the 1850s, when it was known as the Central Hotel. Then it became the Palace Hotel and was converted into offices for the municipal government. It didn’t revert to being a hotel until 1965, when it became part of the Peace Hotel.”

  “How do you know this stuff?”

  “I read it online when I made the reservation.”

  “So the north building was the original Peace Hotel?”

  “No, it opened in 1929 as the Cathay Hotel, and it was supposedly one of the most luxurious hotels in the world. Noel Coward finished writing Private Lives there. Like the south building it also functioned as municipal offices, but that ended in 1956, when it reopened and was renamed the Peace Hotel.”

  “They’re gorgeous buildings.”

  “The entire Bund is gorgeous,” Amanda said. “It’s my favourite part of Shanghai.”

  “Not mine,” Ava said. “I like it, but I prefer the French Concession. It’s as if a small part of Europe was picked up and deposited there.”

  “Xu has a house there, doesn’t he?”

  “Yes. It’s small, almost like a cottage, but it has a courtyard and a fishpond.”

  “It sounds charming.”

  “It is.”

  “It would be nice to see it one day,” May said.

  “I’m sure you will,” Ava said, wishing she hadn’t mentioned Xu.

  They reached the hotel entrance and were just about to walk inside when Ava’s phone rang. She saw the number she now recognized as Lam’s. “I should take this,” she said.

  “We’ll go to the restaurant,” May said. “It’s on the eighth floor.”

  “See you there,” Ava said, moving away from the door. “Hi, Ban. Calls from you are becoming a habit.”

  “And weirder every time.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “I just heard from some Italians,” he said.

  “You were contacted by someone from VLG?”

  “No, I was contacted by someone who said they were affiliated with them.”

  “A shipping agent?”

  “Hardly.”

  “Don’t make me guess.”

  “The Camorra.”

  “God,” Ava said, her stomach tightening. “Are you sure it was them?”

  “We’ve done business with them in the past. The guy who was our contact then was the one who called me.”

  “But they’re based in Naples, in southern Italy. Why would they be affiliated with VLG in Milan?”

  “There are a lot of ways to interpret ‘affiliated.’ They could have been hired as muscle or maybe they do have a stake in VLG. Or it’s possible that one of the other Mafia families the Camorra associates with owns part of it. I do know they have ties to the Mala del Brenta mob in the north,” Lam said. “If any of those scenarios is true, it doesn’t matter anyway. The guy who contacted me, Ricci, was quite clear that Camorra interests are involved.”

  “How do the two of you communicate?”

  “Ricci and I both speak English just well enough that we can make ourselves understood.”

  “What does he want from you?”

  “He said he needs help in China. He said that VLG has run into some supply problems. He wants me to rectify them —for a fee, of course.”

  Ava shook her head. “He was actually specific about it being VLG?”

  “He was.”

  “That’s surprising.”

  “Ava, you know that in the past Li took contracts from all kinds of people to do all kinds of things.”

  “Of course I do, and one of them was a contract to kill me.”

  “Yes, and there were others —many others. Most of that work was done in China for Chinese customers, but once in a while there was a job outside that orbit. Two of those were contracts from the Camorra. Li arranged for an Italian government official to disappear while he was vacationing in Phuket. He also had a French drug dealer killed when he was in Laos, trying to bypass the Italian supply lines. What I’m saying is that there is history, a relationship, a level of trust between them and us.”

  “Ban, from your tone I’m starting to suspect that your Italian friends want you to do more than solve their supply problems.”

  “Ricci’s exact words were ‘Get the fucking plants to honour their obligations and we don’t care how you do it,’” Lam said. “And then you and May Ling Wong were mentioned.”

  “In what way?” Ava said, the tightness in her stomach becoming a knot.

  “He said they’d also appreciate it if we could inflict some pain and punishment on a couple of bitches named Ava Lee and May Ling Wong, who own a company called PÖ,” Lam said. “He said you were the cause of the supply issues.”

  “Pain and punishment?”

  “He wasn’t precise.”

  “But the intent was clear enough.”

  “Very clear,” Lam said. He took a deep breath. “My experience with them is that they have an extreme view of the world. When we worked with them in the past, there were never any limitations placed on us. To be absolutely frank —because I think you can handle it —it sounds to me like they want the two of you dead.”

  “Shit,” Ava said. She fell silent while she fully absorbed the situation. “I got a message earlier from Raffi Pandolfo, one of the senior people in VLG. He said Dominic Ventola is very angry and contacted some friends to help him deal with us.”

  “I guess we know now who those friends are,” Lam said.

  “And now I know that Pandolfo wasn’t just blowing smoke,” she said. She paused, struggling to return the conversation to business. “Ban, during your conversation with Ricci, did he hint that they know you control the plants in Huidong and Huadu?”

  “No, but their request for assistance wasn’t limited to them. They’ve also asked us to help restart production in some factories in Shenzhen and Chongqing.”

  “Lop and my man Sonny closed Shenzhen for us, and Suen handled Chongqing.”

  “Do they have relationships there?”

  “Only indirectly, through some local gangs. They paid the plants personal visits.”

  “No wonder they stopped shipping.”

  “We needed some diverse approaches,” Ava said. “And speaking of which, do you
think it’s possible the Camorra has done the same?”

  “What are you getting at?”

  “Do you think this Ricci has contacted any other gangs in China, or in Asia, for that matter? Or do you think he’s dealing only with you?”

  “I seriously doubt they’ve gone anywhere else. As far as I know, Li was their go-to guy for just about everything in this part of the world. I seem to have inherited that role.”

  “How fortunate for us.”

  “Maybe for now, but I can tell you that these aren’t people who let grass grow under their feet. If I don’t deliver results, they’ll find someone who can or may even try to do it themselves.”

  “How could they ever manage by themselves in China?”

  “It would be difficult when it came to dealing with the factories. The language issue would be huge, and even if it wasn’t, my plants would ignore them. And I can’t imagine the other plants would want to anger people like Lop and Suen, people who are virtually on their doorstep,” Lam said. “But you can’t be so sure they wouldn’t take a run at you and Ms. Wong. All they have to do is locate you, send a couple of their thugs, and hope they’re smart enough not to get caught. And even if they do get caught, you know they won’t talk.”

  “Did he mention a time frame for either of their requests?”

  “I was asked to move as quickly as possible. He said that every day the plants aren’t in production is costing them millions.”

  “How did you respond?”

  “I thought it was best to play along.”

  “Of course.”

  “I told him I need a day or two to figure out the lay of the land with the factories, and that it will take my people at least an additional day to persuade them to resume production.”

  “How about dealing with me and May?”

  “I said we’d do it when we could get around to it,” Lam said. “That didn’t make him very happy. He said taking care of you was as much of a priority.”

  “Do they know where we are?”

  “Not specifically, though Ricci mentioned Shanghai as the most likely possibility. They sent me photos and some personal information about you and Ms. Wong to help us with our search.”

  “Did they mention Toronto?”

  “It was identified as your home, but if they thought you were there they wouldn’t go through me. They’d use locals or fly someone over from Italy.”

  “There are enough locals to go around,” Ava said. “Toronto has its fair share of mafiosi.”

  “I wouldn’t return to Toronto too quickly if I were you,” Lam said. “You’re safe as long as you’re in China and the job is mine. It might be reckless to go back until these matters are resolved.”

  “How in the hell are we going to do that?”

  “I’ve only just spoken to them. I haven’t had a chance to really think about it yet,” Lam said. “I thought you might have some ideas. I remember how imaginative you were when it came to dealing with the Li–Xu feud.”

  “That seems like a lifetime ago.”

  “I’m sure your imagination hasn’t diminished in the interim.”

  “Let’s hope not,” Ava said.

  “You’ll talk to Xu?”

  “Of course.”

  “He might have some thoughts about how we can manage this.”

  Ava sighed. “I didn’t need this complication.”

  “We’re in a business that doesn’t run in a straight line.”

  “Except that it’s not the business I’m in.”

  “If you say so.” He laughed.

  ( 33 )

  Ava’s knowledge of the Mafia and its various branches had come from books and films. During her years with Uncle they had run up against a Mafia group only once. That had been in Indonesia, where the Calabria-based ’Ndrangheta had established a money-laundering operation that had ensnared assets belonging to some of their clients. Ava had successfully recovered the funds, but it was a job that —at Uncle’s insistence —she’d undertaken at arm’s length.

  Uncle had had dealings with the Mafia in the past and had a healthy respect for their willingness to do whatever was necessary to win whatever battle or war they were engaged in. He had preached maximum caution to Ava, and it was a lesson she absorbed and applied so well in Indonesia that —as far as she was aware —the ’Ndrangheta never knew of her involvement.

  As she stood outside the Peace Hotel running through her conversation with Lam in her head, it was only too obvious that anonymity was a luxury she didn’t have this time. The Camorra knew who she was. It knew who they all were. Her only hope was that Uncle’s opinion about the efficiency and viciousness of the ’Ndrangheta didn’t extend to the Camorra, but it was a hope she wasn’t about to invest much faith in. Aside from knowing it was based in Naples, all Ava knew about the Camorra was drawn from an Italian film called Gomorrah, which portrayed the mob as greedy, vicious, and cruel.

  She checked the time and knew she should be going inside to join May and Amanda, but Lam’s call had killed her appetite and presented her with another dilemma. How much should she tell her partners?

  Both Amanda and May were aware of —and had been party to —violent episodes in Ava’s life. May had never been a target, but Amanda had been brutally attacked in Borneo and still carried a large scar over her eye as a result. Ava was reasonably sure that May could handle the news about the Camorra, but she had doubts about Amanda. The Borneo attack had shown Amanda, for the first time, how vulnerable she was. How would she handle it? Would it trigger horrible memories? That wasn’t something Ava had any interest in finding out, but she knew she couldn’t tell one partner and not the other about what had transpired.

  I should wait until Lam and I have had a chance to think through our positions, she thought. There’s no point in alarming anyone until we have a much better idea of where we stand. That was the decision she’d made as she walked into the black and gold marble lobby of the Peace Hotel, and it remained her decision when she left the elevator on the eighth floor and was led by a hostess to a table looking out over the promenade.

  When she sat down, May said, “We ordered hot and sour soup for you. It doesn’t go that well with geoduck sashimi, but since they’re both your favourites we figured you wouldn’t mind the combination.”

  “Thanks,” Ava said as Amanda poured her tea. “And the combination sounds wonderful.”

  “I also ordered lobster and scallops fried with ginger, chilis, and spring onions, and roasted crispy pork belly.”

  “The pork is my favourite,” Amanda said.

  “How can someone who eats as much as you do stay so thin?” Ava said.

  “I worry a lot —but not as much as I used to when I was running my father’s trading company. There’s something special about being part of a team where the individuals care about each other. It takes whatever is negative and dilutes it.”

  “Even more important to me is that we all trust one another and have each other’s back,” May said. “It can make big problems, like the one we have now, seem surmountable.”

  “You’re both correct,” Ava said. She looked at both of her partners. Why wouldn’t she trust them enough to handle Lam’s news? In an instant she reversed the decision she’d made. “And speaking of problems, there’s a new one.”

  “What is it this time?” May said.

  Ava hesitated as she carefully gathered her words. “I need to preface this by saying that it will sound worse than it is. I believe, if we wrap our minds around it, we’ll be able to manage it.”

  “I wish you didn’t look and sound so ominous,” May said.

  “Well, we have been threatened, and I am taking it seriously,” Ava said. “The phone call I took outside was from Lam, the triad Mountain Master in Guangzhou.”

  “Is there a problem with his factories?”

  “Not yet, but he did receive a phone call from Italy. He was asked to take a contract to force resumption of production and shipping from the factories
. They obviously don’t know that Lam controls the plants in Huidong and Huadu.”

  “VLG called Lam? How would they know —”

  “They don’t know and they didn’t call,” Ava interrupted. “He was contacted by a man named Ricci, who’s a member of the Camorra Mafia clan in Naples. They’ve done business together in the past. Ricci implied that the Camorra has an affiliation with VLG and that the plants’ refusal to produce or ship VLG products is costing them money. I don’t know if there’s any truth in that. They could just have been hired to do a job, and given their lack of influence in this country, decided to subcontract it to Lam.”

  “They’ve hired Lam?” May said.

  “They think they have,” Ava said. She lowered her voice. “Ricci also made it clear that they want Lam to inflict some kind of personal retribution on us, me and May quite specifically.”

  “They actually asked Lam to do that?” Amanda said.

  “Yes. And of course he agreed to it to buy some time, but he made it clear to me that the Camorra isn’t patient. If he doesn’t get results, he’s sure they’ll turn to someone else,” Ava said. “That’s the last thing we want, because as long as Lam has the contract and can keep stringing them along, we have a measure of control.”

  “What do you mean by ‘personal retribution’?” May asked.

  “They weren’t definitive, but it’s safe to assume they’d prefer an ugly outcome for us.”

  “They’d like to see us dead?”

  “Maybe not, but I don’t think they’d care if we did die.”

  “My god,” May said.

  “But we’re not going to allow it to get to that point,” Ava said. “We’ll figure something out.”

  “Who are ‘we’?” Amanda asked.

  “Us and Lam. And I was going to ask Xu for his advice.”

  “How much time do we have to sort this out?” May said.

  “I’m not sure, but I’d figure about a couple of days.”

  “And you’re certain that if Lam doesn’t help them, they’ll go looking for someone else who will?”

  “That’s Lam’s opinion, and he knows who he’s dealing with.”

  “Ava, do you think that VLG —that Dominic Ventola knows about this?” Amanda asked.