In Denial (30 page)

Adam closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

He was wearing a lightweight beige suit and blue shirt but no tie. He hoped wherever she had chosen to eat was not too formal.

He reached the bottom step and that’s when she saw him.

Her eyes widened in expectation as her lips parted into a broad smile.

‘
Adam,’ she said as he approached. ‘I thought -’

‘
Yes, I’m sorry. I didn’t set the alarm and I’m afraid -’

‘
No, don’t apologise, you’re here now.’

He took her proffered hand in his. Her fingers felt small and delicate.

She was still smiling. Her make-up was expertly applied; her eye-shadow matched the colours of her cheongsam, her lips were pink and glossy and her lashes long and black. Whoever this Leila might be, at that particular moment she was an absolute picture.

‘
So,’ Adam asked, ‘Would you like a drink here before we go for dinner?’

‘
The table isn’t booked until nine, but we can have a drink there. Do you mind?’

‘
No, not at all.’

He realised her hand was still in his. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said, releasing it.

‘
Don’t be silly.’

Leila’s smile broadened. She was thinking that this evening was going to be very entertaining. She wasn’t sure who or what she was dealing with but his nervousness was sweet and boyish. He wasn’t the sort of man the Master normally wanted her to check out because there was an innocence - maybe inexperience? - she found intriguing. Yes, she thought, whoever you are, Mr Adam Harrison, I’m going to enjoy this evening and who knows what might happen later?

It will happen, she said to herself, one way or another, but when and how is up to you, Adam Harrison.

Leila had a very good idea where they would be when it did happen.

‘
Do we need a taxi or is where we’re going in walking distance?’ Adam asked, following Leila towards the doors.

‘
In these heels a taxi is a must, I’m afraid.’

*  *  *

Turning off the M4 at Junction 18, Gabrielle followed the signs south for Bath.

With the traffic the way it was and making allowances for her getting lost at least twice before finding the village of Winterbourne Kingston, she estimated that she would get there at some time after two. She had aimed for mid-afternoon in order not to interrupt any meals, or even their preparation.

Annabelle’s suggestion to Gabrielle that maybe she ought to go and see the Yongs was a surprise, especially after her initial suggestion was to return to Loch Lomond.

‘
If you really want to understand what you’re dealing with, you have to meet them, Gabrielle,’ Annabelle had insisted. ‘I haven’t seen them to speak to properly for years, not since Jeremy and I split up. They used to come up to Ashbourne quite often, I think mainly to see the grandchildren. They were at the funerals of course but I didn’t get to speak to them, well, other than to offer my condolences.’

‘
Why do you think -’

‘
That you should meet them?’

‘
Yes.’

Annabelle shook her head. ‘It was the strangest of situations. I don’t know for sure but I think the number of mixed cultural marriages in this country is a lot smaller than people appreciate, less than two per cent I think I read somewhere. Well, can you imagine the gossip the Harrisons generated when they first arrived?’

‘
What do you mean?’ Gabrielle asked knowing exactly what Annabelle meant. She could imagine the tongues wagging around the Loch if the same situation arose there.

‘
Well, Joseph Yong is Chinese, his wife Christina Sri Lankan ... but surely Adam told you all of this when you met?’

‘
Er, yes, he did but -’

‘
Also he was adopted and Lucinda was his sister?’

Gabrielle nodded. ‘And you think Adam’s mother and father will see me?’

‘
Adam and Lucinda’s mother and father,’ Annabelle said. ‘Yes, I think they will and especially if you are a little devious.’

‘
In what way?’

‘
Wear your collar,’ Annabelle said. ‘Joseph Yong is a practising Christian, that I do know. Christina converted from Hinduism but I don’t think … but then I’m not sure one way or the other.’

‘
If I were to meet them why would I then know what I’m dealing with?’

‘
For a start, Lucinda was the absolute image of her mother, absolute beauties both of them, and I doubt Adam would have gone to Hong Kong without going to see them first. He may have told them what his plans were, you know, when he intended coming back maybe.’

‘
I see.’ Gabrielle thought for a moment. ‘Don’t you think they’ll consider it a bit strange that a Scottish minister, and a female one at that, is trying to find him?’

‘
Why? What you tell them is up to you but I think under the circumstances Adam may be in need of a bit of heavenly guidance, don’t you?’

‘
But why me?’

‘
Why not you? All you want to know is when he’ll be back so that you can decide whether to stay down here or not. And at the same time you can get an idea of what Lucinda was like.’

‘
I saw her picture in the papers.’

‘
Didn’t do her any sort of justice, she was …’ Annabelle stopped. ‘I feel so awful. I’m talking about her as though she has simply gone away. That poor woman and those poor children.’

*  *  *

Adam did not hear what Leila said to the taxi driver but no sooner had they settled into the back seat than the taxi turned right off Nathan Road into Granville Road, then right again into Granville Circuit and was now pulling up at the kerb.

He looked out of the rear window at the restaurant and closed his eyes when he saw what it was.

The restaurant where Leila had booked a table  was one of a chain called, The Colombo Dragon. The one they were going to eat in was the first ever opened by his mother.

The table was in the far corner and the seating allowed both Adam and Leila to take in the rest of the restaurant. As far as Adam could see there was one spare table and that had a reserved sign on it. He wondered how Leila had managed to secure a table at such short notice.

Adam wished his mother could see where he was sitting. She and his father were still the owners of all of The Colombo Dragons worldwide but were no longer involved in the day-to-day running. They simply reaped the benefits of the initial idea and the very hard work that went in to setting it all up. Peter Walker had also long since left the scene, retiring to a villa in Mallorca with a young Chinese girl who was less than half his age.

Adam wondered if he mentioned the name Christina Yong to any of the waiters whether they would recognise it. Would the manager of this particular restaurant recognise it?

‘
It’s lovely isn’t it?’ Leila said, leaning towards him. ‘I hoped you would like it.’

‘
Yes,’ Adam replied absentmindedly. ‘It’s lovely.’

‘
I was lucky to get a table. The manager owed me a favour.’ Leila smiled as Adam turned to face her. ‘He is the husband of a cousin of mine and I know a little more about him than his poor wife knows.’ She tapped her nose. ‘Knowledge can be a great persuader.’

His question answered, Adam returned her smile. ‘Yes,’ he said, ‘knowledge can be very useful.’ He was asking himself why this stranger was making him smile. Why was she making him feel relaxed? What right did she have to make him feel happy? And why was he feeling guilty because he was smiling and feeling relaxed?

‘
So, what do you want to talk about?’ Leila asked as they studied the menus the waiter brought to the table. ‘We are still strangers, so we have no mutual acquaintances to use as small talk, no mutual experiences we can reminisce about and no gossip. I can lecture you on the modern Hong Kong for hours and hours but that must wait. I don’t want you walking out on me before we’ve even had the first course.’ Her fingers stroked the back of Adam’s hand as her smiling eyes rested on his. ‘Perhaps you ought to know what we are doing here.’

‘
And what are we doing here?’ he said, still pretending to read the menu.

‘
Before I answer, can I suggest we have the five course meal for two? It’s absolutely gorgeous. Then we can just sit back and let the food be brought to us.’

Adam shrugged. ‘Yes, that’s fine by me.’

Leila ordered.

‘
Now, what I’m going to say may seem a little bold but you’re one of my guinea pigs.’ She stopped and waited for a reaction.

‘
A guinea pig?’ He thought for a moment. ‘All right, you’re a part-time mature student at one of the universities, you are reading psychology and I am going to feature in just a small way in your thesis. How’s that?’

She leant back in her chair and laughed, clapping her hands together. ‘That was very inventive although I’m not sure about the mature bit. Perhaps I should say you are very astute but I can’t. I’m afraid it’s a little more basic than that.’

Adam picked up his wine glass, sat back, looked at Leila a little more closely and tried to second guess what her explanation was going to be. He remembered what the taxi driver said to him and Leila’s response when he had told her. If she were a high-class prostitute who selected her clients rather than being chosen herself, she was in for a disappointment. Adam was enjoying her company but that was as far as it would go. He did not mind paying for the meal but he would not pay for anything else.

‘
I am lonely,’ said Leila, her smile disappearing. ‘I’m nearly thirty-eight years old. I look the way I do and I’m lonely. Does that surprise you?’ It was the same ruse she had used with the vast majority of her targets and it had yet to fail, even with the two who had eventually turned her down and they had their own reasons. She could never understand how men could be so gullible but gullible they were. She did not have to guess how their minds worked and what they read into those three words.

And she didn’t think Adam Harrison was going to be any different.

Leila had to wait to find out because the first course was served. It was a thin spicy-vegetable soup.

Adam looked at her after tasting the soup. ‘Very good. I wonder who first created this recipe,’ he said, gazing across the room with a far away look in his eyes. He looked back at Leila. ‘Not so long ago I’d have said that I find it very difficult to believe someone like you could ever say they were lonely, but that would have been before -’ He stopped and closed his eyes.

Leila wanted to ask, ‘Before what?’ but she decided to bide her time. ‘Someone like me?’ she asked instead. ‘You know nothing about me. I may be pretty on the outside but on the inside I might be very different.’

‘
I doubt that somehow,’ Adam said.

‘
Thank you.’ Leila put down her spoon. ‘I agree this is very good, but it is spicier than the last time.’ She looked at Adam for a few seconds wondering what he had to tell her. He must be hiding something. Why else would the Master want him investigated? All the others had something to hide. ‘I am lonely because I just don’t seem to be able to make relationships work. Something always happens to make me want to run away.’

Adam wiped his mouth with the crisp white table napkin. ‘Er, Leila, I think you might have misunderstood again …’

‘
No, Adam, I told you in the hotel, there is no misunderstanding. You are a guinea pig because I have never done anything like this before. When we went for the same taxi, I saw something in you I hadn’t seen in a man for so long. You were self-conscious, you were polite and smiled at me in such a way it made me think you were something rather special. I decided in the taxi that if you were free in all senses of the word we would be having dinner together this evening.’

Their soup bowls were cleared away. ‘And what if I had said no? And more importantly, what would you have done if my wife was expecting me to have dinner with her?’ Adam raised his hand slightly and smiled. ‘But I’m flattered you thought the way you did.’

Leila shrugged. Most of the men she had investigated were married, so that was never going to be a problem. ‘I thought maybe you were married but not now, and in answer to your first question, you are here so you didn’t say no.’

Adam looked away from the smiling face across the table. She had to be one of the prettiest Chinese women he had ever seen and her appeal was beginning to have an effect on him. He looked around the restaurant. The tables were a magnificent example of multi-culturism - he was sure such a mixture of
clientèle
had been one of his mother’s prime aims: to bring East and West together in an atmosphere of harmony. The décor was subdued, as was the background music - again multi-cultured - and there was an air of professional efficiency in an unobtrusive way. His mother would be proud.