The Scottish Banker of Surabaya - By Ian Hamilton Page 0,4
first. I thought I could handle it, but all of us being in Hong Kong was too much. So I moved us to Canada. That was my choice, Ava, not his. And once we were here, I re-established my marriage on a basis that suited me and was designed to look after you girls . . . I would have done anything to look after you girls.”
Ava reached over and touched her mother’s hand. “We know.”
“And your father and I have somehow made it work for more than thirty years.”
“I know it wasn’t easy.”
“No, it wasn’t, and it isn’t. I know what people, particularly non-Chinese, say and think about my so-called marriage. They don’t understand our culture and traditions, and in their eyes I’m sometimes a mistress and sometimes a whore. I just pretend I don’t hear them and I go about my business and my life, knowing that it is a life I chose and not one that was imposed on me.”
“We’re the same that way. Neither of us can stand being told what to do.”
“Your father sees that as a blessing in you and a curse in me,” Jennie said.
Ava closed her eyes. She wasn’t up for a discussion about her father or the complicated family he had created — her mother and sister and her alone in Canada; her father with his first wife and four sons in Hong Kong; and a third wife with two young children in Australia.
“This Theresa Ng, she’s a friend?” Ava said.
Her mother sipped her coffee and took out another cigarette. Ava saw her jaw relax. “By now she is.”
“And you say she has a money problem?”
“Yes, and I told her you were good at sorting out that kind of thing, so she asked me to see if you would talk to her.”
“Uncle and I don’t normally take on Canadian clients.”
“She’s Vietnamese Chinese.”
“But her problem is in Canada?”
“Yes, I think it is.”
“Well, there are other options she can pursue here. She could get a lawyer, a good accountant, even a local collection agency. This is a country with laws that actually work.”
“She wouldn’t feel comfortable with them. Besides, from what I can gather, the problem she has is complicated.”
“How so?”
“She’s vague about the details. She just shakes her head and moans every time she starts to talk about it.”
“Mummy, very honestly, I don’t think this is a job for me.”
Jennie Lee took a deep drag on her cigarette, and Ava saw her jaw muscles tighten again. “The thing is, I told her that you would talk to her.”
“I wish you hadn’t.”
“Well, I did, and it’s too late to undo it.”
“Why?”
“She wasn’t even scheduled to work today. She’s driving up from Mississauga for the sole reason of meeting with you.”
Ava sighed. “I wish you wouldn’t do this kind of thing.”
“I’m sorry, but all you have to do is listen to her and then point her in the right direction.”
Ava put her hands over her face and rubbed her eyes in frustration. “You cannot tell anyone again that I’ll meet with them. Uncle and I have our own way of operating, and I don’t freelance.”
“Does that mean you’ll drive me to the casino early?”
“Yes, I’ll drive you to the casino early.”
“Thank you. And you will take the time to speak to Theresa?”
“Yes, I’ll talk to the woman, but that’s all. You didn’t promise anything else, I hope.”
“No.”
“Good. Now, how large is the problem this baccarat dealer has?”
“Between three and thirty million dollars.”
“What?”
“Like I said, she’s vague about the details.”
( 2 )
The casino parking lot was getting full already, and by six it would be jammed for the long weekend. “Go around to the side. I told Theresa we’d meet her near the bus drop-off area.”
There wasn’t a vacant spot to be seen, and cars were circling like vultures. Ava joined the carousel, beginning to get irritated at her mother’s randomness. “I’m going to wait five more minutes before I drop you off and leave,” she said.
Jennie Lee kept her attention on the front of the casino, pointedly ignoring her daughter.
“Did you hear me?”
“There she is,” her mother said. “The short woman in jeans and a red blouse.”
Ava drove as close as she could to the casino entrance and stopped the car. Jennie opened her door and ran over to Theresa. They chatted for a minute, Jennie motioning to go inside the building, Theresa shaking her head. The two of them walked back to the car. Jennie climbed into the front seat, Theresa into the