wide open. They’ve got three loading docks with the doors pulled up, so I can see inside. It’s an open space with cases of wine stacked here and there. I can see one office door and the rest of it is open warehouse.”
“Is there a second floor, a basement?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Go inside. Tell them you want to buy some wine for a restaurant you’re opening. Ask to talk to the boss. I’ll call you back in a while.”
She thought about calling Amanda and then parked the idea. The girl was nervous enough without being harassed. Ava turned off her phone.
She sipped one coffee and then another, watching a steady stream of tourists come and go. The place was a real attraction, the countryside and the shoreline gorgeous. Ava’s view of Macau as an urban jungle shifted ever so slightly, and then she wondered how long it would take before they ruined it all.
She left the café and climbed the stairs to A-Ma and Andy. Maybe the presence of the goddess will protect this area from the developers, she thought.
Andy hadn’t moved from the spot she’d left him, the binoculars glued to his eyes. She tapped him on the shoulder. “What do you have?” she asked.
“Two guys came out of the house, got into the van, and left.”
“Who opened the gate?”
“It started to open automatically and then two other guys came out of the house to push it. It was slow, real slow. That is one monster of a gate.”
“I’ll take over now,” she said.
“I’ll go downstairs for a drink, if you don’t mind.”
“Take your time,” she said.
For half an hour she scanned every inch of the house, looked in every window, examined and re-examined the wire and the gate. She saw no movement in the house. The wire was definitely electric, and Andy was right about how craftily it had been strung. The gate was beginning to haunt her. She couldn’t see how they could get over it, and going through it would be a test.
Just as boredom was setting in, the double doors at the front of the house swung open. Two tall blonde women in short, clingy dresses appeared in the doorway. Macau was famous for its Russian hookers, and Ava guessed that’s what they were. A Chinese woman, also dressed for nightclubbing, followed. They walked into the courtyard, stopped, and looked back.
Ava put down the binoculars, picked up the camera, and took a couple of quick shots. She picked up the binoculars again and saw Lok, Wu, and a third man come to the door. Wu’s right arm was wrapped in a cast that covered his hand and went all the way to the elbow. The man Ava didn’t recognize ran towards the cars. He got into the Nissan and drove over to the women. They waved to Lok and Wu and then climbed in. The car idled in front of the gate as it inched open almost ponderously. Andy was right again, Ava thought. It is a monster.
She counted slowly to twenty before the gate was fully open. The Nissan sped through. Wu went back into the house while Lok stayed on the doorstep, checking his watch. The gate didn’t close. He’s expecting someone, she thought.
Then she saw the white van appear from the dirt road she’d been on earlier. It rolled across the expanse in front of the house and through the gate. The gate began to close. The van parked by a garage door and two men jumped out and walked towards the house.
As they got closer, Lok took a couple of steps towards them and held out his hand. The man farthest from Ava, who was partially obscured by the other, held out his, and Ava saw a newspaper. She zoomed in as tightly as she could. It was the South China Morning Post.
Oh God, she thought, as she checked her watch. It was one fifteen. Lok was supposed to have sent a photo of Simon at noon and she was supposed to have called Michael. She reached for her cell and turned it on. “Michael, it’s Ava.”
“Shit, Ava, I’ve been trying to reach you or Amanda for more than half an hour.”
“Sorry, my phone was off.”
He was in a panic. “I didn’t get a photo.”
“I’m not surprised.”
“What do you mean?”
“Nothing. Go on; have you called Lok?”
“Yeah. When it didn’t get here by twelve, I didn’t overreact. I gave it another half hour before I called him.”