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One of the boys leered at Simone, and Leo held her tighter and whispered something in her ear. She nodded, her eyes still wide. The boys went out of the restaurant. Leo and Simone visibly relaxed.
‘Are you guys okay?’ I said.
‘What was all that about?’ Louise said.
‘Where the hell are the trolleys?’ Leo said. ‘What sort of yum cha is this without any food?’
‘Here’s one,’ April said. The waitress stopped the trolley next to our table. April read the signs on the front. ‘Har gow, siu mai, cha siu bow, sticky rice, tripes.’ She smiled around the table. ‘Who wants?’
‘Cha siu bow, please, Emma!’ Simone said, and climbed off Leo’s lap and sat in her own chair. ‘Siu mai too. I’m hungry!’
‘Okay now?’ Leo said.
‘Yes.’ Simone grinned broadly.
‘Sticky rice,’ Leo said.
‘So you and Andy have your own place now?’ Louise asked April after the steamers had been set on the table.
‘Yes. Andy spends most of his time in China for his work, so I see him once every six weeks or so.’
Louise stared at her. ‘You only see your husband once every six weeks?’
April nodded through the dim sum. ‘We’ve decided to go and live in Australia. He wants to get Australian citizenship. I’ll go first, do the papers, find us a place to live. He’ll come later.’
‘You’re leaving Hong Kong?’ I said. ‘When?’
‘In about a month, I think,’ April said. ‘September, October.’
‘I’ll miss you.’
‘I’ll be back all the time,’ she said. ‘To visit. And go shopping.’
Another trolley rolled up beside us. Instead of the little bamboo steamers, it had four square pots with lids and ladles. ‘Who wants pig’s blood?’ April said. ‘Congee, mixed beef guts. Anybody?’
Everybody shook their heads. April ordered some pig’s blood anyway: dark red jelly-like cubes in clear broth. She passed the card to the waitress who stamped it with a tiny circular stamp held on a string around her neck.
April stirred the blood. ‘Emma, you have to go and see Aunty Kitty.’
‘Aunty who?’ Louise said.
‘Aunty Kitty.’
‘Kitty Kwok?’ I said.
‘Yes. She wants to see you.’
‘What for?’
‘Don’t go, Emma, she just wants to bully you into working there again,’ Louise said. ‘Business has really gone downhill at the kindergarten since you left.’
‘You have to go and see her,’ April said again.
‘No, I don’t.’
‘Call her then,’ April said. ‘She wants to talk to you.’
I rose and went to the ladies’ room without saying another word. Louise followed me. As soon as we were out of earshot, she was onto me. ‘Quick, tell me all.’
‘About what? Kitty Kwok?’
‘No, silly,’ she hissed with a grin. ‘Your new job.’
‘Nothing much to tell,’ I said. ‘I work as a nanny, I look after Simone, end of story.’
‘What about her dad?’ she said. ‘What’s he like? Are he and Leo…’ She nodded back towards the dining room. ‘You know?’
I smiled. ‘He’s absolutely gorgeous. A total gentleman. And him and Leo? No.’
‘Really?’
‘I’m sure of it. Leo brings guys home all the time. Real man-about-town. Leo even told me himself: not Mr Chen.’
‘But what about Mr Chen? What’s he do?’
‘I have no idea,’ I said. ‘I think he’s a spy. He teaches martial arts to kids, but he says that he works for the government.’
Louise stared incredulously at me. I nodded, reinforcing the point.
‘Can you invite me up?’ she said as we went through the doors. ‘I’d love to check him out, Emma. Sounds unreal.’
‘You have no idea.’ I lowered my voice. ‘You know he only ever wears black? Everything. Sometimes he even wears a black shirt with his suits.’
‘You have to get me up there,’ Louise whispered. ‘I have to see. Please, Emma.’
‘I’ll see what I can do.’
She reached out and squeezed my arm. ‘Please.’
We walked out from City Hall and back along the waterfront.
‘Can we go to the shops in Central before we go home, Emma?’ Simone said.
‘Is that okay, Leo?’
‘Yeah, no problem.’
We walked towards the pedestrian underpass that would take us across the road to the shops. The concrete walls were black from car exhaust fumes. Advertising billboards blanketed the underpass, and a beggar crouched under one of the columns, displaying his withered limbs.
On the other side of the underpass we stopped at the kerb to cross Chater Road. The pedestrian light turned green, and I went to lead Simone across the road, but she wouldn’t move.
‘Leo!’ she called loudly.
Leo had taken a few steps to cross the road, but quickly returned to us. He bent to Simone. ‘What, sweetheart?’
Simone cast around, her eyes unseeing. ‘Take me home, Leo, now.’
Leo scooped her up and hurried back to the underpass. ‘Come on, Emma,’ he called.
‘Hurry, Leo,’ Simone said.
Leo strode down the underpass, pushing through the crowd. ‘How many, sweetheart?’
I struggled to keep up with him.
‘I don’t know, Leo. Hurry,’ she said, desperate. ‘It’s the same ones!’
‘Where? Where?’
‘I don’t know!’ she wailed.
We raced out of the underpass, into the Star Ferry car park, and stopped at the Shroff Office to pay the parking ticket. Leo gently lowered Simone and she clung to his massive leg.
‘You know how far away?’ he said as he pushed the ticket to the cashier.
Simone’s eyes were still unfocused. ‘Close, Leo, hurry.’
I looked around. Three teenagers were approaching us from the Star Ferry terminal.
‘If it’s the same guys as in the restaurant, they’re over there,’ I said, pointing.
‘For God’s sake don’t point at them!’ Leo hissed. He grabbed the parking ticket and the change, hoisted Simone into his arms, and took off towards the stairs. ‘Quick, Emma!’
He raced up the stairs to the car and I trailed behind him.
I looked back. The teenagers were running towards us. One of them held out his hand and a Chinese cooking chopper appeared in it. No, not possible. I turned and ran after Leo.
Simone squealed. Leo had reached the top of the stairs and pelted towards the car. I sprinted to keep up with him, my handbag flapping.
He unlocked the car with the remote and gently dropped Simone into the back seat. ‘Buckle her up, Emma. We need to get out of here.’ He pulled himself into the driver’s seat and started the engine before I had my door closed. I slammed it shut as he took off.
Leo drove out of the car park dangerously fast, the tyres of the Mercedes squealing as he took the corners. He had to slow to ease the car down the ramp, then put the paid ticket into the machine and charged straight out of the car park lane into the street, ignoring the other furious drivers who sounded their horns and yelled at him. He ran an amber light and turned into Connaught Road, five lanes wide with concrete dividers on both sides. The traffic flowed smoothly and he raced up the hill towards the Peak.
‘Okay, Leo, you can slow down now,’ Simone said.
Leo slowed the car and relaxed, breathing a sigh of relief.
‘What the hell was all that about?’ I demanded loudly.
‘Bad people,’ Simone said. ‘I need to go home and tell Daddy. He’ll be really sad.’
‘What’s going on, Leo?’
‘I recognised one of them. They’ve tried to kidnap her before. Good thing I saw them.’
‘I saw them, silly Leo,’ Simone said. ‘You can’t even tell the difference most of the time.’
‘What difference?’ I said.
‘Between normal people and bad people,’ Simone said patiently. ‘Only Daddy and me, and special people like Jade and Gold, can tell the difference.’
‘Who are Jade and Gold?’
‘We’ll be home soon, sweetheart, and then you can tell Daddy all about it,’ Leo said gently. ‘Until we get there it’s not a good idea to talk about it.’
‘You have to explain for Emma,’ Simone said.
‘Yeah, explain for me,’ I echoed.
‘Not right now. Maybe later.’
‘Tell me!’
‘No.’
I crossed my arms over my chest and glowered at him. I shouldn’t be kept in the dark like this. I could handle any spy business they threw at me.
Leo and Simone went into Mr Chen’s office and spoke to him for a long time. They all emerged grim-faced, even Simone. I waited for them in the hallway.
‘Are you people going to tell me what’s going on?’ I demanded.
‘Come into my office, Emma,’ Mr Chen said.
I sat down across from him. He pulled up his chair and leaned on the papers strewn all over his desk.
‘You know that Simone is a kidnapping target?’
‘I know,’ I said impatiently. ‘But what was all that about in Central?’
‘Leo spotted some criminals who would be interested in her–’
‘No, he didn’t,’ I said quickly. ‘Simone saw them. Leo didn’t see anything.’
He remained silent, carefully studying my face.
‘Tell me!’ I snapped.
He took a deep breath, still calm. ‘Simone had seen one of those people before. They have tried to take her in the past. She warned Leo.’
