The Scottish Banker of Surabaya - By Ian Hamilton Page 0,15
Up north at the cottage, not only had she never dressed in anything the least bit formal, she hadn’t worn a single piece of jewellery. Now her Cartier Tank Française watch came out of its case. She fastened the gold crucifix around her neck and then went through her collection of cufflinks, choosing the green jade pair she’d bought in Beijing. Finally she brushed back her shoulder-length hair, jet black and fine as silk, and secured it with an ivory chignon pin. Ava had a large collection of clasps, combs, and barrettes, but the ivory pin had become a good luck charm; she wasn’t sure she could ever go on a job without it.
She called downstairs for her car. In normal traffic, Mississauga was no more than thirty minutes away, but it was five thirty and she knew the Gardiner Expressway would be packed.
It took her thirty minutes to edge her way down University Avenue to get to the Gardiner, and then a full forty-five minutes of stop-and-go traffic as she headed west on the Queen Elizabeth Highway, with Lake Ontario on her left. When she got to Hurontario, she turned north.
Mississauga, a city of half a million, bordered on metropolitan Toronto. It was a big suburban sprawl of housing developments, apartment buildings, strip malls, and the occasional larger shopping centre. The restaurant was only a kilometre north of the QEW and was, no surprise, in a strip mall.
Ava gathered the stack of contracts and tucked them under her arm. She was ten minutes early but Theresa was there already, standing at the front door. She rushed over to Ava and said, “Let me help you with those.”
As Ava followed her into the restaurant, the aromas of cilantro and nuoc mam wafted through the door. Theresa walked towards the back. There were maybe twelve people in the place, and Ava began to think Theresa had misled her about the turnout. Then she heard the murmur of voices from behind a closed door. “Everyone is here already,” Theresa said as she opened it.
There were about sixty people, sitting in four rows. The room went instantly quiet as the two women entered, every eye focused on Ava.
“I have to say I’m surprised you got so many people, and so quickly.”
“They’re desperate now. They have nowhere else to turn — that’s what my brother and I told them.”
Theresa walked to a table at the front with two chairs and put down the contracts. A tall, thin man with steel-grey hair got up from his seat in the front row and joined them. “This is Eddie Trinh,” Theresa said. “He owns the restaurant and will act as translator.”
Trinh shook her hand and then sat at the table, his arms folded across his chest. Ava remained standing as she looked at the assembly. Most of them were middle-aged or older, most likely boat people or the children of boat people — good, hard-working immigrants with old-fashioned Asian values.
“I’ll speak slowly and try not to say too much at once,” she said to Trinh. “It’s really important that everything be explained in full, so if I go too fast or you don’t understand something, please let me know right away.”
He nodded and then stood beside her.
“Good evening, my name is Ava Lee,” she began. She spoke for just under half an hour, explaining who she and Uncle were and how their company operated. She took one of the contracts and went through it page by page. When she mentioned the thirty percent recovery fee, she saw people glancing at one another. She went into great detail about how she and Uncle would bear the cost of expenses, regardless of the outcome.
“Now, one last thing,” she said. “If we take this job you have to understand that we work quietly and discreetly. None of you can contact us, and we won’t contact any of you unless there is something substantial to report or we need more information. If either of those situations arises, I’ll call Theresa Ng and she will be the go-between. So don’t expect any progress reports and don’t expect success right away. These things often take a lot of time, so we don’t make any promises in terms of job duration or outcome. We will do the best we can as fast as we can, but the reality is that sometimes we fail. Is there anyone here who can’t accept that?”
Ava looked out at a wall of blank faces. “Okay, then, let’s get the