Part 33 (1/2)

Lydia smiled. 'It looks different. Very modern. Your customers must come here just for the delight of viewing such a grand place, Mr Liu.'

Mr Liu's stick-dry figure seemed to swell with pride, and he scuttled away to the stove where the teapot was waiting. It was a new one. Plain cream porcelain. In fact everything was new. Shelves, cabinets, door, window, even the stool she was sitting on. Gone was the bamboo one and the ebony table. In its place was a modern chrome and plastic one. The shelves and counter were the same: modern, clean and horrible. Only the black stove remained of what used to be. And the jasmine tea. That hadn't changed.

'I'm impressed, Mr Liu. Business must be very good indeed.'

'Times are hard, Missy, but there is always someone who needs something. The trick is to provide it.' His face was older, the dry walnut skin thinner than tissue, and his hair was short and white now, but the wispy beard was coming back. He fingered it constantly like an old friend.

She wondered what it was he had learned the trick of providing. Guns? Drugs? Information?

'Mr Liu, if I wanted to find someone in old Junchow, how should I go about it?'

His eyes narrowed. Settled on her face.

'You have this person's address?'

'No.'

'Place of work?'

'No.'

'His family?'

'No.' She didn't notice the his his slipped in there. slipped in there.

'Friends?'

She hesitated. 'I know one friend. By sight only.'

'So.' He folded his hands into his sleeves and considered her for so long she started to grow uncomfortable. 'So,' he said again. 'This someone. He could be in trouble?'

'It's possible.'

'In hiding?'

'Maybe.'

'I see.'

She waited what seemed an age while he considered again.

'The place to search, Missy, is the docks. Down by the harbour. There the world is lawless and nameless. The dollar is the only language that they speak. The dollar and the knife.'

'Mr Liu, you are generous with your words. Thank you.'

'Be careful, Missy. It is a dangerous place. Life there is worth less than a hair from your copper head.'

'Thank you for the warning, I will remember it.' She sipped her tea and looked around at the many objects on display. The metal leg by the door had gone but in its place stood a giant turtle sh.e.l.l. 'I have something small you may find of interest.'

He drank his tea impa.s.sively.

Lydia pulled out an object wrapped up in a cloth. It was a handbag. Alfred had bought it as a present for Valentina and earned himself a kiss in return, but after he'd gone, Valentina had shuddered and thrown it under her bed.

'Red!' she'd exclaimed. 'As if I'd ever be seen holding a red red handbag.' handbag.'

But it looked expensive. Satin covered, with tiny white pearls along the top. Lydia laid it on the new table. Mr Liu glanced at it but didn't pick it up. His mouth pulled tight into a straight line.

'Thirty dollars,' he offered.

Lydia gaped at him. It was more than she'd expected. She certainly wasn't going to argue. She nodded. He drew a roll of notes from inside his gown and counted six of them into her hand. His fingernails were long and clean.

'Thank you, Mr Liu. You are generous.' She rose to leave.

'Take care, Missy. This life only comes once. Don't throw it away.'

She buried it. The thirty dollars.

In a jar at the base of the big flat rock. Each time she went to Lizard Creek she used a pebble to scratch a line on the side of the big rock, just so that he'd realize she'd been there. Now she arranged pebbles in a small mound over the top of the spot where she'd buried the gla.s.s jar, like a cairn.

'You'll know, Chang An Lo. I'm certain you'll know. It isn't much, thirty dollars, but it's something. I'll bring more, I promise. It'll help if you're in need.'

She rested a hand on the top stone of the cairn and curled her fingers around it as if she could curl her fingers around Chang himself.

'Don't let him be in need,' she whispered to his G.o.ds. 'Except in need of me.'

28.

Theo opened his eyes abruptly, breaking free from the fierce grip of his dreams. He was suffocating. His lungs would barely move, blackness was creeping into his head, a needle point of pain at his throat was . . .

His eyes finally registered what was in front of them.

The cat. For G.o.d's sake, it was just the b.l.o.o.d.y cat. Yeewai was crouched on his chest, her evil yellow eyes no more than inches from his own and her talons kneading the soft skin between his collarbones. A noise like a steam engine was coming from her mouth but Theo had no idea whether it was a purr or a growl.

He pushed the animal down onto the eiderdown and instantly realised the warm body of Li Mei was no longer beside him in the bed. Oh Christ, what time was it? He sat up. His head exploded into ten thousand pieces, each one of them embedding into his brain, and the cat's claw raked his hand in protest. Theo groaned, rolled his legs over the side of the bed, and let his hands do the work of holding his head together.

It was morning and his mouth tasted like the inside of a rat's a.s.s.

Another day. Sweet Christ.

He felt cold. Really cold. The air in the cla.s.sroom was so chilly Theo expected to see his own breath rise like smoke from his mouth. He s.h.i.+vered. His limbs ached.