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‘I don’t know why you keep delaying it!’ Leo yelled. ‘You let yourself run down and you can’t protect her! They’re moving in!’
‘Leo.’ Mr Chen spoke louder now, irritated. ‘I can only do this a limited number of times. I will only last a maximum of four, five years. Then I’m gone.’
Leo’s voice softened. ‘What?’
‘Even with Mercy’s help, eventually I will not be able to hold it together any longer and I will be gone.’
‘Why didn’t you tell me?’ Leo bellowed. His voice softened. ‘Oh my God.’
‘I must delay as long as possible between each feed.’
Leo’s voice broke. ‘You’re going to leave Simone.’
‘Hopefully she will be able to defend herself by then. She should be able to handle almost anything by the time I go.’
‘Oh, that’s very reassuring,’ Leo said sarcastically. His voice became louder again. ‘You still need to see Ms Kwan now.’
‘I am making the arrangements, Leo.’ Mr Chen sounded tired. ‘I was planning to tell you over dinner tomorrow.’
‘Well, it’s about time.’ Leo threw the office door open so hard that it almost hit me. ‘Sorry, Emma.’
‘What the hell is going on?’ I glanced into the office; Mr Chen sat behind his desk, stricken.
‘I’ll tell you tomorrow,’ Mr Chen said. ‘Right now, I have people to call.’
‘Just leave him, Emma.’ Leo closed the door behind him. ‘He has things he needs to do.’
‘Tell me what’s going on!’
‘Later.’ Leo sighed with exasperation and headed back to his room, shaking his head. ‘God, he drives me completely crazy sometimes.’
‘Both of you drive me crazy!’ I shouted. ‘Why the hell don’t you just tell me what’s going on? What’s the big secret?’
‘I’ll tell you all about it real soon, Emma, I promise. We need to make some arrangements now, and it’s late.’
‘Stop avoiding telling me!’
Simone squealed. We’d woken her up. I rushed to her room to comfort her. Damn.
CHAPTER SIX (#ulink_96862687-869e-534c-a973-e6ad0f3a68d7)
The next day Leo avoided me until he had to take Simone and me to lunch with my friends. Simone had wanted to come, and Leo was grudgingly forced to drive us so decided he might eat with us as well.
We walked across the cracked pavement next to Queen’s Pier and Simone stopped. ‘Look, Leo, the Star Ferry!’
The green and white oval-shaped Star Ferry that carried passengers the short hop between Central on Hong Kong Island and Tsim Sha Tsui in Kowloon pulled into the pier nearby.
‘Don’t know why they don’t just build a bridge,’ Leo said. ‘With all the reclamation, it’s not so far across.’
‘They can’t,’ I said. ‘Fung shui. The harbour is the money flowing through Hong Kong. If they build a bridge, it’ll interrupt the flow.’
‘How much fung shui do you know?’
‘Absolutely none at all. My friend April told me that.’ Simone jiggled. ‘Daddy’s shui!’ I took her hand to lead her into City Hall. ‘Daddy’s water?’
‘Yep.’ She shook my hand free and ran ahead, then tripped over her feet and fell.
I caught up with her and helped her up. ‘You “did a Simone” already. Now we have to wash your hands.’
‘You always wash my hands before we eat anyway, Emma.’
‘Don’t complain,’ Leo said. ‘If you wash your hands before you eat, you’ll never catch a nasty disease.’
‘Don’t be silly, Leo,’ she said. ‘You know we never get sick.’
‘Emma!’ Louise was standing at the top of the stairs and gesturing for us to hurry. ‘We have a table. Move!’
We raced up the stairs to take the table before the receptionist called the next number in the queue. She led us into the enormous hall with its huge floor-to-ceiling picture windows overlooking the harbour and sat us at the round six-seater table.
‘Louise, April, this is Simone, and Leo, her bodyguard.’
‘I’m the driver, Emma,’ Leo said, quietly exasperated.
‘Yeah, sure you are,’ Louise said, eyeing him up and down. ‘Nice outfit, Leo.’
As usual, Leo was dressed very well in a made-to-measure dark business suit. He stared at Louise in disbelief.
‘Don’t mind her – she’s Australian, like me,’ I said.
‘Is that supposed to make a difference?’ Leo said, sceptical.
‘All the difference in the world, mate, get used to it,’ Louise said. ‘Hello, Simone. How old are you?’
‘Four and a half.’
‘Only four? You look older than that,’ Louise said.
Simone nodded, eyes wide and serious. ‘Everybody says that. I think it’s because Daddy’s so special.’
‘He’s special, is he?’ Louise said, then grinned knowingly at me.
The white-jacketed waiter threw the bowls, spoons and chopsticks onto the table with a loud rattle.
‘What tea would you like?’ April said.
‘Sow mei,’ Louise and I said together.
‘You happy with that, Leo?’ I said.
‘I’m not here. Ignore me,’ Leo said, looking around at the other diners.
‘You’re too big to ignore, mate,’ Louise said before I could. ‘You’re here to eat too. If you want a beer or something, just say so.’
‘Not on the job,’ Leo said.
April was distracted. ‘No trolleys anywhere,’ she complained.
The waiter returned with a pot of tea and an extra pot of hot water.
Louise reached into her handbag for a notebook. ‘Who paid last time?’
‘I did, and I’m winning this time,’ I said. I pulled out my own notebook. ‘I’ve collected some really good ones. Wait ’til you hear them.’
Louise and I flipped the notebooks open.
‘Apple,’ she said.
‘Had that one before, it’s not new,’ I said. ‘Winsome.’
‘Buxom,’ she retorted.
‘Good one. Did she know what it meant?’ Louise shook her head. ‘Alien. Sha Tin McDonald’s,’ I went on.
‘Coffee.’
‘Girl, Ivan. Pronounced Yvonne.’
‘Winky,’ Louise said. ‘Ringo,’ I snapped back.
‘Had that before. Freedom,’ Louise said triumphantly. ‘At the university.’
‘Heman,’ I said. ‘A girl.’
‘Yugo,’ she said. ‘Also a girl.’
‘Yellow.’
‘Honda.’
‘Napoleon.’
‘Hitler,’ Louise said defiantly.
I was losing. I played my trump card. ‘Satan!’
Louise glanced up from her notes. ‘No way.’
‘Absolutely. In the bank on the Peak.’
‘I don’t believe you.’
‘Leo,’ I said, ‘what’s Satan’s last name?’
‘The kid in the bank? Chow, I think,’ Leo said.
Louise snapped her notebook shut. ‘No way I can beat that. I’m paying.’
‘What the hell was all that about?’ Leo demanded. ‘What’s Satan Chow got to do with anything?’
‘We collect Hong Kong English names. Some people seem to choose them out of a hat, whatever takes their fancy. We have a competition. Whoever can come up with the weirdest name they’ve heard since last time wins. The other one has to pay.’ I smiled with satisfaction. ‘I win.’
April seemed bewildered by the whole exchange.
‘How’s married life, April? Do you have photos of the wedding?’ Louise said.
April’s face lit up and she pulled a few small photo albums out of her briefcase.
‘This is in Sydney, where we had the wedding,’ she said, passing me some of the books.
I flipped through the first one, and handed it to Louise.
‘Can I see?’ Simone said.
‘Sure.’ I handed her one of the books, and Leo looked through it with her.
Louise raised the album she was looking at. ‘How many dresses did you have for this?’
‘Five,’ April said. ‘One white one for the wedding, one white one for the formal photos. They’re not back yet. One traditional red one for the reception, another white one for the reception. And a going-away dress.’
I leaned over the table to speak closely to her. ‘You know, we usually only have one wedding dress.’
April looked horrified. ‘Only one dress?’
Louise and I both nodded.
‘Your Chinese dress is very pretty,’ Simone said. ‘Is that gold and silver?’
‘Yes,’ April said. ‘Red silk, gold and silver embroidery. Boring traditional style. My grandmother wanted to see me in one.’
Simone suddenly squeaked, clambered out of her chair and pulled herself into Leo’s lap, facing him. He looked around.
‘What?’ I said.
Simone put her hand on Leo’s shoulder and whispered urgently into his ear. He listened carefully, then moved her so that she sat facing the table and wrapped his huge arms around her.
‘We’re okay,’ Simone said, eyes wide.
Three teenage boys walked past our table. They seemed perfectly ordinary, wearing baggy denim jeans and black T-shirts. Simone and Leo didn’t shift their eyes from them as they went between our table and the next one.
