The Wild Beasts of Wuhan (7 page)

“I have had less than fifteen minutes of actual contact with him.”

“I have tried to explain.”

“And I haven’t spent that much more time with you.”

May lowered her head. “It is still a little word,” she said.

“I’m sorry. I meant no disrespect.”

May Ling nodded. “I know I’m going on too much. The thing is, you need to understand how he felt about the paintings so you can understand how devastated he was when he found out about the fakes.”

“So tell me more.”

May Ling shifted and then looked up at the ceiling. “He said to me that it was like falling in love with a beautiful woman, courting her for years, falling more and more in love with her every year, until she finally agrees to marry you. Then, on your wedding night, she climbs into bed and you find out she’s a man.” She moved closer to Ava, then reached out and grasped her knee. “All I want you to do is try to find out who did this to him.”

“For what purpose?”

“I could tell you it’s because I want our money back, and maybe that is part of it, but mainly I need you to do it so I can help my husband get some of his pride back. He hasn’t actually said it to me, but I know he equates those pictures with the image he has of himself. If the paintings are shams, then so is he.”

“What if no one knows? What if you don’t say a word?”

“He would know, and that’s all that matters. He’s the kind of man who could never show them to anyone again, because if he lied about them, he would be as fake as they are.”

“Then let them be.”

“He won’t have any peace. Someone, some people somewhere have made a fool of him. They took his dream and they mocked him. He is convinced that they talk about him, laugh at him — the Chinese ignoramus in backwater Wuhan spending millions of dollars on fake art.”

“What if I find someone, or some people, who might be responsible?”

“Then get back as much money as you can. Let us prosecute them in a proper legal manner and expose them so they can’t do this to anyone again.”

“Are you just telling me what you think I need to hear?”

“No, I’m being sincere.”

“But what about your husband?”

“We won’t tell him.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’ll do the work for me. I’ll pay you. He doesn’t have to know. If you’re successful, then I’ll tell him.”

“That’s not how —”

“Please,” May Ling said, squeezing Ava’s knee again. “I feel responsible for this calamity that’s fallen on my husband. I found the dealer. I encouraged my husband. I even pushed him at times to buy paintings he thought we should hold off on.”

“But, Auntie, even if I do this I have to tell Uncle.”

“I know he’s a man who can keep a secret.”

“And truthfully, I wouldn’t even know where to start. This is so far out of my area of expertise —”

“You can find a way, I know you can. Will you do it?”

“I’m not sure.”

“Ava, please, I need to absolve myself of the blame for this. Every time I look at my husband I want to cry,” May Ling said, her eyes filling with tears. “Do this for me, please.”

Ava looked into her face, searching for any hint of insincerity. All she saw was grief. “I still don’t know where to start,” she said.

“The man from Harrington’s — go and see him. See if he can point you in some direction. I’ll give you everything I have on the art dealer Kwong, his business, his family, his friends. Just spend a few days in Hong Kong and then decide. Do that for me. Just that.”

Ava sighed. “Okay, I’ll tell you what: I will go to Hong Kong. But that doesn’t mean I’m taking the job.”

“I’ll pay you anyway.”

“No, I don’t want anything from you unless we have an actual agreement in place. If I decide to take this job, then you can work out the financial details with Uncle.”

“Thank you,” she whispered.

“You can’t say anything to your husband.”

“I won’t.”

“And I’m not making any promises past Hong Kong.”

“I understand.”

“I shouldn’t be doing this,” Ava said softly. “You should know that I’m not hopeful.”

May Ling touched Ava’s hand. “My husband was the one who insisted on calling Uncle. When I found out, I was nervous. Uncle hasn’t lived in Wuhan for many years, but people here know all about him. They take pride in a hometown boy doing well, even if his chosen profession doesn’t always sit well with the authorities. I made some phone calls and was told that he had retired from the old business to start a new one, and that there was a young woman working with him whom he admired, a young woman who had special talents. So I told my husband he could invite Uncle here only if you came with him.”

Ava nodded.

“They told me you were extraordinarily pretty. I admit I was surprised when I saw you, so plainly dressed, hardly any makeup, simple hair. Not what I expected, but very pretty all the same. When my husband saw you, he said that you reminded him of me when I was younger. I know he meant it as compliment, but no woman likes to be told that she’s aged.”

“Auntie, you’re beautiful and very elegant.”

“Stop calling me Auntie. It really does make me feel old.”

“What should I call you?”

“May.”

“May, you are very beautiful and very elegant.”

She shrugged as if it was something she had heard countless times. “Ava, I would give up everything —
everything
— if I thought I could undo the harm that has been caused my husband.”

( 7 )

Ava had difficulty getting back to sleep after May Ling left. Changing her mind wasn’t something she did often, and she couldn’t help but feel she had been manipulated at some level. The woman was shrewd, coming to Ava in the middle of the night to share confidences, appealing to her as a woman living in a man’s world.
Well, what’s done is done
, Ava thought. She had given her word and she would honour it. She’d spend two days in Hong Kong, and if nothing came of it she’d move on.

Uncle was an early riser, and the door to his room was open when Ava went to see him.

“Wong Changxing was here an hour ago,” Uncle said. “I told him that we are not going to take the job. Tam is outside waiting to take us to the airport.”

“May Ling came to my room last night,” Ava said.

Uncle looked surprised, an infrequent reaction.

“She begged me to talk to some people in Hong Kong. I said I would.”

“You want to take the job?”

“No, I would never agree to anything like that without talking to you first. I just said I would do some investigating for a couple of days, no commitment beyond that. She was very persistent. It was hard to turn her down.”

“Wong did not mention this to me.”

“He doesn’t know, and that’s part of the arrangement. I don’t want him to know; I only want to talk to May Ling. Uncle, if after Hong Kong I think there is something in this, some way to recover money, then you can negotiate our fee with her.”

“Are you sure she won’t tell him?”

“If she does, I’m gone. I refuse to be a party to some triad vigilante action.” She regretted the words the moment she had said them.

“He was emotional,” Uncle said.

“Still truthful, I think,” she said.

“Perhaps.”

“Uncle, I didn’t mean to imply —”

“No bother,” he said.

They rode the elevator to the ground floor, bags in hand. Ava was dying for a coffee but was even more eager to get away from the Wongs. There was no sign of either of them, just staff scurrying back and forth. “Is the mistress here?” Ava asked one of the servers.

“No, but she left this for you,” he said, handing her a large brown envelope.

She opened it. Three pages of notes, names, phone numbers, a cheque for fifty thousand dollars, and May Ling’s business card. On the back she had written her mobile number, her direct business line, and her private email. The word
private
was underlined. So were the words
Thank you. Love, May
.

She handed the cheque to Uncle, and everything else went into her Double Happiness computer bag.

They caught a Dragonair flight back to Hong Kong. Uncle returned to his racing form while Ava pulled May Ling’s papers and her Moleskine notebook from her bag. She scanned the documentation. Every painting they had bought was listed, along with the date and price and its supposed origins. The ones that the appraiser thought were genuine were marked with a black asterisk, fakes with a red one, and those in doubt with blue. Many of them had been plucked from private collections, others from galleries, none acquired at auction.
That should have raised some questions
, Ava thought. She did some quick math. The Wongs had spent more than a hundred million dollars on their collection, the Monet the most expensive, at fifteen million.

The appraiser they had worked with at Harrington’s was Brian Torrence. May Ling had included his cellphone and office number. The office was on the Hong Kong side, in the Langley Tower on Queen’s Road Central. That made her hotel choice easy.

Kwong’s business was called Great Wall Antiques and Fine Art. He had been the sole owner and the business had been shuttered when he died. His brother had inherited everything. He had sold off the inventory, shredded the records, and made Great Wall history.
That doesn’t mean there aren’t records somewhere
, she thought. The Hong Kong Department of Inland Revenue would certainly have tax returns.

The flight was uneventful, and Uncle and Ava breezed through Hong Kong Immigration. She called the Mandarin Oriental Hotel as they were walking out of the arrivals hall to meet Sonny, booking a room for three nights. As she did she saw Uncle glancing sideways at her.

“I have been thinking you need to be careful with this woman,” he said.

“A couple of days, that’s all. If I don’t find anything, then that’s it.”

“She will have expectations.”

“I made no promises.”

“You know how selective some people’s memories are. I do not want you to be the subject of recriminations.”

“I’ll be careful what I say.”

“I would be happier if her husband knew,” he said.

“Let me try it my way for a few days. That’s all — a few days.”

She knew Uncle wasn’t arguing with her and that he wasn’t about to tell her to change her decision. He just needed to let her know that he was concerned.

“
Momentai
,” he said.

They saw Sonny leaning against the Mercedes, talking to a couple of policemen. He rushed to Uncle as soon as he saw him, grabbing the carry-on. The policemen lowered their heads in Uncle’s direction.

“I’m staying at the Mandarin Oriental in Central,” she said to Sonny as the car pulled away from the curb. “But drop me off at the Star Ferry terminal in Kowloon. I’ll take the boat over to Central. That way you won’t have to fight the Harbour Tunnel traffic.”

“Hot pot tonight?” Uncle asked.

Ava hesitated. “I may work late. The sooner I start on this case, the sooner I’ll get it behind us.”

“That is sensible,” Uncle said.

“I’ll keep in touch,” she said, kissing him on the forehead as Sonny eased the car up to the terminal entrance.

At just past one o’clock she boarded the ferry. It was a gorgeous day. Spring was the only season she had ever enjoyed in Hong Kong. The summers were oppressively hot and the fall was too often cold and rainy. The winters were perpetually damp, with temperatures low enough to make the chill seep into the bones. She was able to get a seat near the front but she moved back from the rail to avoid the odours wafting off the water. As the ferry churned its way across Victoria Harbour towards the Hong Kong shoreline, Ava watched the sun flicker off the skyscrapers, the light shimmering on black, silver, and gold glass.
What a marvel it is
, she thought for the second time in two days. People raved about the view of the harbour from Victoria Peak, but for Ava there was no better way to see it than from the ferry on a beautiful day.

When the boat docked, she walked across Connaught Road to the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. Entering through its front doors was like coming home for her. She was a frequent guest, and within five minutes she was checked in and had been escorted by one of the front desk associates to her room.

Ava quickly unpacked. She put her laptop on the desk, turned it on, and then opened her Moleskine notebook, where she had copied the notes May Ling had given her. She found the phone number for Brian Torrence and dialled it.

“Torrence,” he answered.

He can’t be senior
, she thought,
if he’s answering his own phone
. “Hello, my name is Ava Lee. May Ling Wong gave me your number.”

“I spoke with her this morning.”

“Good. So you’re free to talk to me?”

“Whenever you want.”

“How about right now? I’m staying at the Mandarin Oriental. Your office is no more than a five-minute walk.”

“Have you had lunch?”

“No.”

“Me neither. There’s an Italian restaurant on the ground floor of my building. Why don’t you meet me there in about ten minutes? Ask for me, or just look for me. I’m tall, skinny, blond hair, and I’m wearing a navy-blue suit today.”

“Mr. Torrence, did May Ling tell you why I want to talk to you?”

“There’s only one thing it could be about,” he said. “Truthfully, I found it a puzzling request.”

“Why is that?”

“I’ve never heard of you, and in my field there aren’t that many strangers.”

“Well, I guess we’ll have to remedy that.”

( 8 )

Ava walked into the Italian restaurant and quickly found Brian Torrence. Even seated he seemed taller than the waiter who was attending to him, and his bushy mop of blond hair was hard to miss.

“Mr. Torrence,” she said.

He looked up and smiled.
He’s young, probably in his mid-thirties
, she thought.

“Call me Brian,” he said, without getting up.

“And I’m Ava.”

“Your accent — I can’t place it. Certainly not Hong Kong English.”

“I’m Canadian.”

“The Wongs reach out to a young Canadian woman? The mystery deepens.”