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Kitabı oku: «White Tiger», sayfa 2

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CHAPTER TWO

It took me more than an hour on crowded MTR and KCR trains to make it home to Sha Tin. I stopped at the shopping mall under our apartment block to grab some takeout, and when I was home I sat at our tiny four-seater table and pulled the foam box out of the plastic bag. ‘Louise, come and sit down,’ I called. ‘I have news.’ Louise poked her head around the doorway from our minuscule kitchen. ‘Wait till the water boils.’

‘Okay.’ I used the plastic cutlery provided by the fast-food place to attack the baked pork chop on its bed of rice.

Louise came out of the kitchen with a mug of coffee and sat across from me. Her blue eyes sparkled under her short, spiky blonde hair. She was about the same height as me, and Australian like me, but the resemblance ended there. She was thin, blonde, bony and covered in freckles; I was soft and round and not nearly as good-looking. People noticed her and ignored me, and that suited me just fine.

She gestured towards the takeaway box. ‘Where’s mine?’

‘You starve,’ I said. ‘Where’s my tea?’

‘You die of thirst,’ she said. ‘What’s up?’

‘I’m moving in with Mr Chen,’ I said. ‘I’ll be full-time–’

I didn’t have a chance to finish because she flew to her feet and yelled with delight. ‘Way to go, Emma!’

I stared at her.

‘That hunky guy on the Peak? The Chinese widower? The really rich one? What a catch!’

I sighed with exasperation. ‘Full-time, live-in nanny.’

‘Yeah, yeah,’ she said suggestively. ‘I know what you mean.’

‘That’s all it is, Louise. Nanny. That’s all.’

She sat down again. ‘Geez, Emma, can’t you do better than that? You have a freaking degree, girl. Go out and work for a bank or something.’

‘What, like you?’

‘Yeah, like me. I meet heaps of guys in the bank. Lots of traders from Europe. Really cute. What about Miss Kwok?’

‘I already resigned from the kindergarten.’

‘You could do a lot better than being a nanny, Emma. I’m on nearly twenty thousand a month.’

‘I’ll be on five thousand US a month. That’s nearly forty thousand Hong Kong.’

Her mouth dropped open.

‘I’ll be moving out tomorrow,’ I went on.

She shook her head. ‘Okay. Tell me all about it. Will it be just you and him? There is some hope for you, isn’t there?’

‘Me, the bodyguard, Monica the domestic helper, and of course Simone, his daughter.’

‘Bodyguard? Is he cute?’

‘God, Louise, is that all you think about? Leo’s a big black American, lovely guy. But I don’t think he’s into chicks.’

Her eyebrows creased. ‘Wait a minute. Leo, you said? Big American guy? Black?’

‘You know him?’

‘Not personally, but I’ve seen him at the Last Hurrah. Really popular. Knows everybody.’

‘What the hell were you doing at the Hurrah?’ I demanded. ‘You won’t find a date there, none of them are into chicks.’

She shrugged. ‘Sometimes it’s nice to have a quiet drink in a place you won’t be hit on. Scenery’s always good, too.’

‘That sounds like fun. Let me know next time you’re going.’

‘We’ll still go out on the town together, right?’ She was sounding concerned. ‘I mean, we’re going for that Thai meal with April tomorrow night. We can still go out, can’t we?’

‘I don’t think Mr Chen will stop me,’ I said. ‘If he tries to he’ll get a piece of my mind.’

‘I believe it.’ She leaned back. ‘You’ll need to keep paying your half of the rent until I find a new flatmate. But on your salary that won’t be a problem.’

‘I’ll make sure you don’t lose out,’ I said. ‘He said he’ll look after you anyway.’

‘He’d better,’ she growled. Then her face lit up. ‘Way to go, Emma. What a catch.’

‘Nothing there.’

‘Yeah, right. You haven’t stopped talking about this gorgeous man with the long hair since you started working for him.’

I sighed. ‘Yeah, I know, but he’s the employer. Not going to happen. I’m more professional than that.’

‘Geez, you’re cold-blooded.’

‘I wish you people would stop saying that.’

The next morning I sat in the front of the car alongside Leo, who drove me and my stuff up to the Peak in Mr Chen’s monstrous black Mercedes.

‘How long have you worked for Mr Chen?’ I said, making conversation.

‘About six years,’ Leo said, ‘but I worked for Mrs Chen before that.’

‘You always been a bodyguard?’

He glanced at me, then turned back to the road. ‘Done some other things.’

‘Like what?’

He sighed. Then he obviously decided to tell me. ‘In the Navy for a while. Bouncer for a while, but that was really tough, I didn’t like it. Sorta fell into the bodyguard business by accident.’

‘That was nice, what Mr Chen did for Louise. He didn’t need to pay her out for the rest of the year like that.’

‘It was the least we could do, hiring you and having you move out so quickly.’

‘We? You and Mr Chen?’

He glanced away from the road to me. Then grinned as he looked back at the road. ‘Absolutely not.’

I stared incredulously at him and his grin widened.

Absolutely not,’ he emphasised, without looking away from the road. ‘Not Mr Chen.’ He glanced at me again, then turned back to the road. ‘Not Mr Chen.’

‘Okay, okay.’ All right, not Mr Chen.

He was still grinning as he shook his head. He deliberately changed the subject. ‘How long have you been an English teacher?’

‘About four years. I just sorta fell into it when I arrived in Hong Kong,’ I said, intentionally echoing him. ‘Very lucrative, easy work, hours aren’t very long.’

He nodded. ‘Seems to be the way with most people here. Just find themselves doing something after they arrive. Where you from originally?’

‘Australia.’

‘Oh. I hear it’s nice there.’

‘Nice does not begin to describe it,’ I said with feeling. ‘You have no idea. You’ve obviously never been there.’

‘Nope.’

‘What does Mr Chen do for a living?’

Leo watched the road silently.

‘Leo, what does Mr Chen do for a living?’

He grinned at the road. ‘You’ll have to ask him that. I’m just the driver.’

‘Yeah, and I’m the Queen of Sheba.’

The minute I had Mr Chen pinned down I would ask him. I spent a few quiet moments enjoying the delightful concept of having Mr John Chen pinned down. And then I pulled myself together. Keep it professional, Emma.

Leo froze and his eyes glazed over. He continued to drive, but appeared not to be paying any attention to the road.

‘Are you okay, Leo?’

He raised one hand to stop me, still with his eyes unfocused. Then he snapped back and quickly poked the hands-free earpiece for his mobile phone into his ear.

The phone rang and he pressed the button and spoke without hesitation. ‘We’ll be coming into the tunnel very soon, we’re in Kowloon City. I think it’ll be about another thirty, forty minutes, then you can have it, sir. Is that all right? Should I hurry?’

He nodded, listening, then said ‘Sir,’ and hung up.

‘Mr Chen wants the car?’ I said.

Leo glanced at me. ‘Yes. But he’ll wait, no great rush.’

‘So he only has one car?’

‘Yeah, we only need one. There’s only four of us: him, me, Simone and Monica. Most of his staff make their own way. I drive Simone out for her lessons and I take Monica to the market.’ He glanced away from the road and became more serious. ‘After you’ve moved your stuff up there, we’ll go through Simone’s routine. She has lessons outside, and quite a few at home as well, and you’ll be in charge of making sure she gets to them on time.’

‘You’ll need to show me where everything is, as well,’ I said. ‘And make sure you give me a set of keys.’

Leo nodded. ‘Sure. Forgot about that. Tell me if I miss anything, okay?’

‘Okay, Leo.’

Mr Chen’s apartment building was very high on the Peak, much higher than the Peak Tower. When Leo reached the gates at the end of the overgrown drive they swung open and the security guards waved him in.

The building was eleven floors, with two enormous flats to a floor. It wasn’t new, and pollution had turned the light brown tiles dingy grey with patches of mould from the damp. Hong Kong’s clouds come down very low sometimes, swathing the Peak in moisture that makes everything dripping wet both summer and winter.

The view from the building was spectacular. One side overlooked Hong Kong Harbour, which was packed with highrises on both the Hong Kong Island and Kowloon sides. The other side of the building faced south, with a view over the crammed boats in Aberdeen Typhoon Shelter to the ocean stretching beyond.

An open car park surrounded the entrance lobby on the ground floor. Parked cars covered most of the land around the building. Every second one was a huge Mercedes; there were a couple of monstrous Rolls-Royce and a few exotic, extremely expensive European sports cars.

Leo parked the car, and helped me carry my boxes up in the lift to Mr Chen’s apartment.

‘How many square feet is this apartment, anyway?’ I said when we reached the front door.

‘Big enough.’

The front door was a standard wooden one, but as usual in Hong Kong it had a large steel gate in front of it. Leo entered the code for the security gate into the pad next to the wall and opened it outwards. He unlocked the deadbolt on the wooden door and held it open for me.

We kicked off our shoes at the entrance, then Leo led me down the main hall and turned right. He passed the first door and opened the second on the left. ‘This is your room.’

I went in and stopped dead. It wasn’t a room, it was a suite. The huge rectangular space had been divided in two: the first part was a living room with a comfortable leather couch, a small television and a desk with a computer. Further in, the bedroom had a trim modern double bed and a door on each side.

Leo lowered the box he was carrying. He opened one of the doors. ‘This connects with Simone’s room.’ He closed the door and went to the other one. ‘Your bathroom.’

‘I get my own bathroom?’

‘Yep. Anything you need, tell me.’

I looked around. ‘This is terrific. I wasn’t expecting anything as good as this.’ The large picture window overlooked Hong Kong Harbour and the highrises of Kowloon beyond. ‘What a view.’

‘Let me show you around,’ Leo said, ‘and then we’ll get the rest of the boxes.’

‘Thanks.’

He took me out to the hallway, which ran the full width of the apartment, and pointed to the doors on the same side as my room. ‘Mr Chen’s bedroom. Mine. Simone’s. You.’

I nodded.

‘All of ours are the same size; Mr Chen’s is slightly larger,’ he said. He opened the door opposite. ‘This is the music room.’ The room had a piano, a table holding a Chinese musical instrument called a guzheng, which was something like a zither, and a black electric guitar in one corner. ‘Next to the music room, the TV room. The surround sound is really good. You can use it if nobody else is.’

He stopped at the door next to my bedroom and hesitated.

‘What’s in there?’ I said.

‘You might as well know, you’ll be living here. Here goes.’ He opened the door.

At first I thought it was a dance studio. Soft white mats completely covered the floor. One wall was mirrors from the floor to the ceiling.

And then I saw the other wall. A fearsome array of martial arts weapons sat on racks on the floor and hung off hooks on the wall. Swords, staves, chucks, knives, axes, everything.

‘Holy shit,’ I said softly.

Leo crossed his arms in front of his chest. ‘Use language like that in front of Mr Chen and you’ll be out the door before you know it.’

I wandered closer to the weapons. I bent to lift a sword from the rack but Leo put his hand on my wrist to stop me. ‘Don’t touch anything. All of these are extremely sharp and you could easily get hurt. Don’t come in here if the door is closed, or you could be seriously injured,’ he said. ‘Stay out. Okay?’

I nodded. ‘Whatever you say.’

He took my elbow and gently led me out, closing the door behind us. He gestured towards the end of the hall. ‘Mr Chen sometimes has…’ he hesitated, searching for the right word ‘ people come here to learn from him. They stay in two rooms at the end of the hall there. Don’t try to talk to them, they are here to…ah, learn and not socialise. So don’t talk to them, okay?’

I shrugged. ‘Whatever.’

He glowered down at me. ‘I mean it.’

‘I won’t talk to them.’

‘Good.’

He led me back up the hall to the main corridor. ‘Linen closet and powder room on the corner.’ He gestured to the doors on the left, across the hall from the large living room with its twin cream couches and picture windows overlooking the spectacular South side of Hong Kong Island. ‘Mr Chen’s…’ He hesitated again. ‘Study.’

‘Disaster area,’ I said, looking through the open door. He made a soft sound of amusement. ‘I’ve seen some messy offices, Leo, but his absolutely has to win first prize.’

‘I’ll tell him you said that. Dining room next, then the kitchen.’ He took me into the kitchen, past Monica who was cutting up some vegetables on the counter. He led me to the back. ‘Monica’s room’s in the back here. Next to it, the storeroom.’

I went into the storeroom and looked around. Most of the stuff seemed to be poles covered in cloth. An enormous glass jar, easily up to my waist, sat in the corner. It appeared to be full of large black beads, like olives, and had a complicated metal seal. I bent to study it, curious.

‘Don’t touch that!’ Leo grabbed my arm and pulled me away. ‘Don’t ever go near that. If you open it, it could kill you.’ He released my arm. ‘Don’t ever go anywhere near that.’

‘What the hell’s it doing here if it’s toxic?’ I said. ‘Simone could get into it.’

‘She knows better, and now so do you,’ he said. ‘Stay away.’

‘What is it? It looks like preserved fruit.’

‘I think you’ve seen enough.’ He closed the door behind us after we went out of the storeroom. ‘We’ll bring up the rest of your boxes, and then, if you don’t mind, we’ll go through Simone’s schedule. She’s a very busy little girl.’

‘Sure.’

After dropping the boxes in my room, Leo led me into the dining room. It had a round rosewood twelve-seater table and a rosewood side table. A couple of fluid ink paintings adorned the walls.

He went out and came back with a large folder bulging with coloured paper. He thumped it onto the table between us. ‘Thank God you’re handling this now – this schedule is enough to drive anybody crazy.’

He opened the folder and handed me the papers one at a time. ‘Chinese lessons. Violin. Piano.’ He put one paper aside. ‘Not singing any more. You’re here full-time, so no English either.’ He raised a pink piece of paper and studied it, expressionless. ‘Ballet. Damn.’

‘What?’

He put the paper on the table, then ran his hand over his bald head, finally dropping his hand onto the table with a slap. ‘Please don’t be too freaked out by this, Emma.’

‘Freaked out?’

‘Ballet is in Central. You’ve worked out that I’m a bodyguard. Okay. I’ll take you down in the car and wait. You are not to take her anywhere without either me or Mr Chen along. It’s because of who her dad is.’

‘Who is he?’

Leo smiled slightly. ‘Don’t take her on public transport. She must be driven by me or Mr Chen, and one of us must be with her at all times to guard her. I know it sounds strange, but her safety is paramount.’

‘Who’s after her?’

Leo pushed the papers over to me. ‘And that’s all. Oh,’ he said, suddenly remembering, ‘she goes out to Lo Wu on Saturday mornings to ride a pony. Any questions?’

I studied the huge stack of papers on the table. ‘I thought he was paying me well. Now I think he’s not paying me enough.’

‘Don’t worry, as long as one of us is with you, you’ll be perfectly safe.’

‘Tell me, Leo.’

‘Right now, just settle in, get the feel for the job. I’ll tell you more later.’

‘Promise?’

He smiled. ‘Promise. Mr Chen teaches her Wu shu as well – he’ll tell you when they have a session. Drop her off in the training room, come back half an hour later…easy.’

‘What’s Wu shu?’

‘Martial arts. Kung fu. Ask her to show you; she’s really cute.’

‘It’s normal for children to learn off their parents, isn’t it?’

‘If there’s a family tradition, then it’s absolutely expected. He teaches me too.’

‘Mr Chen learnt from his father?’

‘What an interesting idea,’ he said. ‘But I don’t think so.’

‘Leo?’ I tapped on his bedroom door.

‘Come on in, Emma.’

Leo sat at his desk reading a website on his computer.

I raised the pile of books. ‘Someone left these on the desk in my room.’

‘Oh.’ He spun in his chair to face me. ‘The last nanny must have left them there. You can have them if you want.’

‘This one looks valuable,’ I said, indicating the large illustrated compendium of Chinese gods.

He shrugged. ‘Keep ’em.’

I shrugged as well. ‘Okay. I’m interested in Chinese mythology, anyway. I go with my friend April when she has festival stuff to do, it’s really interesting.’

That caught his attention. ‘You’re interested in the Chinese gods?’

‘Yeah.’ I raised the books again. ‘This is a good collection. I borrowed some of these from the library before.’

He turned back to his computer. ‘Definitely keep them then. They’ll be useful.’

‘How come all the furniture’s new? Even though there was someone there before?’

‘Just is,’ Leo said.

I shrugged again. ‘Whatever.’

When I returned to my room I put the books on the desk and did an internet search on John Chen. It was a very common name and produced more than a million hits. When I narrowed it with his address, ‘One Black Road, Peak’, I found a news story in the English newspaper, a translation of an article in one of the Chinese tabloids. Apparently Mr Chen’s building was widely considered to be haunted because many people had seen dragons flying around the top floor. The reporter had asked the opinion of a number of local experts in the supernatural. Three said it was because the building was cursed; two said it was because the building had exceptionally good luck; and one said it was the spirit of a dragon that had died when the building was constructed.

I shrugged, and opened the large compendium of Chinese gods. It was a good one; the introduction explained how Chinese mythology was a mishmash of Confucian precepts, Taoist alchemy and Buddhist philosophy. All three religions existed side by side in Chinese society (although Confucianism was widely regarded as a set of social rules rather than a true religion). Confucianism had sets of gods that were rather like saints: deified humans. Buddhism taught reincarnation and karma, and the eternal search for freedom of the soul and attainment of Nirvana; but there were also Buddhist gods who returned to Earth to help people attain Nirvana themselves.

I found Taoism the most interesting. Taoism’s basic principle was similar to Buddhism, in the search for the Tao, or the Way, and attainment of Immortality, something similar to Nirvana. But Taoism also taught a variety of ways to gain Immortality, including physical and elemental alchemy and magic.

I put the book down and returned to unpacking the last of my stuff from the boxes. I didn’t really have much to show for my four years in Hong Kong; I’d never had space to store very much in any of the places I’d lived. But it looked as though my life had taken a turn for the better: a tremendously attractive employer and his daughter, who was a delight to be with.

CHAPTER THREE

Later in the afternoon the door slammed and Simone yelled, ‘Is Emma here?’

I went out to find them taking their shoes off at the front door, Simone and Mr Chen together. He hadn’t taken his sword, he’d left it on its hooks near the front door. Simone carefully put her little shoes in the shoe cupboard, then did the same for her father. He watched her with delight, then smiled at me. He looked right into my eyes, and for a split second those gorgeous dark eyes hypnotised me; then Simone charged to tackle me, nearly knocking me over.

‘Hello, Emma!’ she yelled. ‘Are you here all the time now?’

I bent and picked her up, warm with pleasure at the thought of being full-time with her. ‘Yes, sweetheart, I’m all yours.’

She threw her little arms around my neck and kissed me on the cheek. Then she rested her forehead against mine and looked seriously into my eyes. ‘Good.’

She wriggled out of my arms and took my hand. ‘Have you seen everything?’

‘Yes I have, Simone. Leo showed me around.’

She screwed up her face. ‘I’m hungry.’

‘Dinner will be soon, Simone, don’t ruin your appetite,’ Mr Chen said from the doorway where he was watching us with amusement. ‘Did Leo tell you about meals, Miss Donahoe?’

‘No, sir.’

‘When I am home at dinner time, we’ll have a family dinner together – me and Simone, you and Leo. We can discuss what we’ve done during the day. Is that acceptable?’

‘Sure,’ I said. ‘Will I be able to go out occasionally? I’m supposed to be having dinner with some friends this evening. I usually go out on Saturday night.’

‘Of course. We don’t want to impinge too much on your private life. If you want to have dinner with someone outside, of course, go.’

Louise didn’t bring a guy along for me for a change. She seemed to know every unattached male in Hong Kong and constantly set me up. Sometimes it worked and I would spend a few months in a pleasant casual relationship; sometimes it didn’t and I was left to my own devices. Either way suited me just fine. I couldn’t keep a relationship in Hong Kong for long anyway; people were always coming and going.

We all drank far too much and stayed well past our welcome in the Thai restaurant in Wan Chai, but we continued to order food so the staff tolerated us.

‘You should go and see Miss Kwok,’ April said. ‘You should have talked to me if you were unhappy there. She’s very upset that you left.’

‘Of course she’s upset.’ I sipped my beer. ‘She’ll lose half the kids without me working there.’

Louise’s blue eyes sparkled. ‘Don’t go back to working for that bitch, Emma. You can do better.’

April was offended. ‘Don’t be mean. Miss Kwok is a nice person. She’s very rich; you should respect her.’

‘You’re just saying that because your fiancé’s related to her,’ Louise said. ‘She doesn’t even pay you to fix the computers at the kindergarten.’

‘How is Andy anyway?’ I said, attempting to change the subject.

‘The wedding’s all planned – we’ll have it with my family in Sydney.’ April was obviously happy. ‘I’m looking forward to it. My family is so pleased. Andy’s family are very wealthy. Very prestigious.’

‘God,’ Louise said under her breath.

‘When is it?’ I tried to appear interested, but I agreed with Louise. Andy was always perfectly polite to us but there was something about him that I just didn’t like.

‘Next month.’ April leaned back and smiled with satisfaction. ‘It was easy to get a ceremony on a good day in Australia. The date will be very auspicious.’

‘God,’ Louise whispered again.

April didn’t seem to hear her. ‘I’m going to the temple tomorrow to get the…’ she hesitated, searching for the English word, ‘blessing from the ancestors.’

‘Which temple?’ I said, interested.

‘The one in Pokfulam.’

‘The one in the cemetery?’ Louise said.

April nodded.

‘Can I come along and have a look?’ I said.

April shrugged. ‘Sure. Not much to see, though, just tablets. Ancestors and stuff.’

‘What time?’

‘After yum cha. About twelve, one.’

‘Can I meet you there?’

April nodded, then leaned forward and rapped her fingertips on the table. ‘You should go back to Miss Kwok, Emma. She says she needs you at the kindergarten. Go ask the fortune sticks. They’ll tell you that you should stay with her.’

‘I already have a new job.’

‘But you only resigned yesterday,’ April said.

‘She moved out today,’ Louise said. ‘Fastest damn thing I’ve ever seen.’

‘You’ll be live-in?’ April said.

‘Yep,’ I said. ‘Live-in nanny.’

‘You can do better than that, Emma. Go back to Miss Kwok.’

‘You kidding?’ Louise said. ‘Nearly forty thousand a month, living with this gorgeous rich dude? I’d do it in a second.’

‘Strictly professional.’

‘Yeah, right.’

‘Forty thousand a month?’ April said, shocked. ‘Yep,’ Louise said.

April scowled. ‘Everybody will think that you are more than nanny if he pays you that much.’

‘I don’t care,’ I said.

‘Geez, you’re definitely the most cold-blooded chick I’ve ever met, Emma,’ Louise said. ‘Don’t even care.’

‘Don’t be mean,’ April said. ‘Emma is a lovely person.’

I raised my beer. ‘Oh, no, April, I think I’m the most cold-blooded chick I’ve ever met too.’

Louise snorted with amusement. ‘Sure you are. Look at how you adore his little girl. You have a soft spot for kids, Emma, don’t deny it.’

‘This one is special,’ I said, studying my beer. ‘She always worries about everybody else. She was really concerned that other children were missing out because I was spending all my time with her. She felt guilty about hogging me.’

‘Yeah, she’s a perfect little angel.’

‘In this case, I think she really is.’

It was very late when I arrived back at the apartment building on the Peak. I hopped out of the taxi and it reversed away down the drive. I walked up to the gates, waved to the security guards and they opened the pedestrian gate for me.

I saw the lights and turned. Another taxi pulled up. A smart-looking young European stepped out of the car, and Leo came out the other side. Leo stopped when he saw me, then walked up the drive to the gates.

I held the gate open for them. Leo didn’t say anything, just nodded to me and went through.

‘Hi, I’m Emma, a friend of Leo’s,’ I said to the young man.

‘Hello.’ He held his hand out and I shook it. He was quite good-looking, tall, blond and slender. Looked to be in his mid-thirties, about the same age as Leo. He had a definite American accent. ‘Rob.’

Leo walked in front of us and opened the ground-floor door to the lift lobby.

We all entered the lift together.

‘You live here too?’ Rob said.

‘Yep, I’m the nanny.’

Leo gazed at the numbers above the lift door without saying a word.

‘It’s really humid,’ Rob said.

‘Yeah. Summer’s here, all right.’

‘You been in Hong Kong long?’ Rob said.

‘About four years,’ I said. ‘But I never get used to the humidity in the summer.’

‘Are you English?’

‘No, Australian.’

The lift doors opened and the three of us entered the lobby of the eleventh floor. Leo unlocked the gate and opened the front door for us. We went in and removed our shoes at the front entrance, then walked together down the hall towards the bedrooms.

I stopped at my bedroom door. ‘Nice to meet you, Rob. Night, Leo.’

Rob nodded and smiled, and followed Leo to his room. Leo still didn’t say a word.

I went into my room, carefully closed the door, and collapsed onto my bed laughing.

‘Emma?’

I stopped laughing. I’d woken Simone.

I opened the door between our bedrooms a crack. ‘Sorry, sweetheart. I woke you up.’

Simone sat up in her bed, her face swollen with sleep and her honey-coloured hair tangled around her head. ‘Oh. Okay. Can you sit with me while I go back to sleep?’

I slipped in and sat next to her on the bed. ‘Did you have a nightmare?’

Simone slid under the covers and rolled onto her side. ‘Leo brought his boyfriend home again,’ she said. ‘He’s funny.’

I rubbed her back under the covers.

‘I’m glad he has someone to love,’ she said, her voice sleepy. ‘It makes him happy.’

‘I’m glad too,’ I said softly.

‘Bad people take away the people you love.’ She curled up into a ball. ‘I hate the bad people.’

‘I’m here,’ I said softly, at a loss. I wondered what had happened to her mother. All I knew was that she had died. I opened my mouth to ask and closed it again.

Simone sighed under the covers. ‘Wouldn’t it be nice if there were no bad people? If nobody had to be scared of them any more? If Daddy didn’t have to stay here and get hurt all the time to look after me, if he could go back to his Mountain and be happy, like he used to? Before–’ She choked it off, then her voice dropped to a whisper. ‘Before the bad people came. We had a lot of fun. He did lots of secret stuff all the time, and we laughed.’

‘What secret stuff?’

‘You have to ask Daddy. I’m not allowed to tell you.’ Her voice filled with her cheeky smile. ‘Both Leo and Daddy said I’m not allowed to tell you, so you have to ask. Ask them about the secret stuff, it’s really fun.’ Then her voice saddened again. ‘I just wish we could have the secret stuff, and all of us together again, and no more bad people…and…’

She sighed and curled up tighter. ‘Ask Daddy. I’ll be okay now, Emma, you go to sleep. I’m sorry I made you come in. Go to sleep, and we’ll have fun tomorrow, you and me. I’m glad you came to look after me. We’ll have fun.’

‘Yes, we will,’ I said, still stroking the covers. ‘I can stay here until you fall asleep.’

‘Ask Daddy,’ she said, almost a whisper, then her breathing softened and deepened into sleep.

A taxi pulled into the lay-by outside the temple the next afternoon and April stepped out holding a large plastic shopping bag. She saw me and waved.

‘What’s in the bag?’ I said.

‘Stuff for the ancestors. So they bless my marriage and make it good. I’ll put it in front of the tablets.’

‘The ancestral tablets?’

She nodded a reply.

I stopped at the front gate to the temple and grinned. The wrought-iron fence and gate had swastikas worked into the metalwork. They were the reverse direction from the Nazi swastika, but still recognisable, picked out in red paint against the black fence.

I pointed at one. ‘In the West, that’s a symbol of Nazi Germany and sort of…’ I searched for the word. ‘Bad.’

₺182,02
Yaş sınırı:
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Litres'teki yayın tarihi:
14 mayıs 2019
Hacim:
521 s. 2 illüstrasyon
ISBN:
9780007373420
Telif hakkı:
HarperCollins
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