They drove back through town, past the turnoff for Wickham’s Cay II, and continued around the southwest corner of the harbour. The copy shop was on Main Street, in the end unit of a small strip mall. Ava went inside with Robbins tagging along. She made an additional two copies of each of the papers Bates had given her. Her Jackson Seto signature was passable, she thought, but the extra copies gave her some insurance.
Back in the car she said, “And I wouldn’t mind stopping at a grocery store on the way back to the apartment.”
“Jesus Christ, this is getting stupid,” Robbins said.
“I can’t exist on nuts and potato chips.”
“There’s a market just around the corner from the apartment. I saw it as we were leaving this morning. It’s right on the way,” Davey said.
“Okay, okay, but that’s it,” said Robbins.
As Davey pulled up in front of the store, Robbins’s cellphone rang. “Wait,” he said to Ava. He listened for no more than a few seconds. “Here, it’s my brother for you,” he said, passing her the phone.
She held it away from her mouth. “I left the bank about half an hour ago,” she said, knowing that was why he had called. “Nothing is finalized, nothing is agreed. It was step one, that’s all.”
“I was going to ask if you slept well,” the Captain said.
“And then you were going to ask me about the bank.”
“That is incorrect. I was also going to ask if my brother was good company.”
“And then you were going to ask about the bank.”
“True enough.” He laughed. “So if it is just business you want to discuss, tell me how it went.”
“I didn’t get thrown of their offices, if that’s what you mean.”
“That’s the last thing I would have imagined.”
“You may be expecting too much of me, and it’s way too soon to know how this will end. The banker, Bates, is very sharp and very conscientious. He’s insisting on talking to Seto,” Ava said.
“And you’re trying to tell me that could be a problem?”
“What do you think?”
“I see the potential risk.”
“That’s an understatement.”
“Oh, I’m sure you’ll be able to handle it, Ms. Lee. I have nothing but confidence in you.”
Ava saw no reason to pursue such a pointless conversation. “Look, I have to go. I have papers to sign and things to organize.”
“What is your schedule?”
“I’m going to talk to Bates again this afternoon. If he’ll accept at face value the documents with my version of Seto’s signature, I’ll attempt to get the money wired to Hong Kong today. If that happens, and after I have confirmation, I need to email my end to initiate a wire back to you. Obviously I need to use my computer to do that, so you’ll have to instruct your brother accordingly.”
“That won’t be a problem.”
“Landing here wasn’t supposed to be a problem.”
“Ms. Lee, don’t be churlish,” he said.
“Assuming we get to the point of sending a wire from Hong Kong — and I’m not guaranteeing we will — I’ll ask my people to email you a scanned copy of the wire as I did before. And to be doubly safe, I would like to send you a fax copy. Do you have a fax number that’s secure?”
“My brother has that number.”
“I don’t want to ask him for even that much,” said Ava.
“Ah. He does lack charm, I admit. All right, I’ll email it to you.”
Ava saw Jack Robbins stiffen and realized that he could hear what his brother was saying. That gave her pause. She had been about to nudge the Captain about returning her Canadian passport and calling off Morris Thomas after he received the wire transfer notification. Suddenly and completely, that felt like one of the worst ideas she’d had since leaving Toronto. God, don’t appear the least bit anxious, she thought. And don’t give him time to think about doing it. Try to catch him when he’s just been told he’s about to pocket two million dollars. “Thank you,” she said. “You understand this means I have to get into my computer?”
“As long as it’s related to our business and Jack is watching you, I have no objections.”
“Aren’t you generous.”
“Ms. Lee, you honour your commitments and I’ll honour mine.”
She handed the phone back to Jack Robbins. “I’m going to buy some food. Here, you talk to your brother.”
Robbins caught up with her as she was putting two bottles of sparkling water into her basket. “Stop running out on me,” he said.
“Just trying to save time.”
“My brother wasn’t finished with you.”
“Tough,” Ava said, and held out the basket. “If you’re going to follow me around you might as well carry this.”
Robbins stared, his eyes for the first time really looking into hers. They weren’t entirely lifeless, she saw, more like disinterested, as if she was completely insignificant to him. She knew that goading him wasn’t the best approach, but she couldn’t bring herself to make nice. “Let’s go,” he said, ignoring the basket.
Ava walked down two more aisles, adding rice crackers, cheese, a jar of olives, and a small plastic container of hummus. Robbins stayed close behind her, his gloved hands jammed into his jeans pockets, saying nothing.
Outside the store she could see that the apartment building was no more than a couple of minutes away; she asked Robbins if they could walk. He opened the car door and said, “Get in.”
Davey dropped them in front of the building. “Do you need me later?” he asked.
“If I do, I’ll call,” said Robbins.
Doreen, the young woman they had met in the lobby the night before, was behind the reception desk. She stared, rather rudely, Ava thought, as she and Robbins entered and walked to the elevator. What lurid thoughts were running through her mind?
The apartment was as they had left it. Ava went to look in on Seto. He had rolled over onto his side, kicking the bedcovers clear. His hair was dishevelled and starting to look greasy. Drool had dried on one side of his mouth. She covered him, hoping it wasn’t going to be necessary to clean him up.
Ava heard a clatter from the living room and looked out to see Robbins clearing the Stella empties. She walked towards him as he deposited the bottles in the kitchen trash bin. “I need this space,” she said. “I have a lot of papers to sign and I need to concentrate, so I’d appreciate it if you could leave me alone. I don’t want the television on. In fact, I don’t want any distractions at all, so it would be ideal if you could hang out in your room until I’m done.”
She saw his body tense; this time he wanted to argue. Before he could react she brushed past him and sat at the kitchen table. He stood near the sink, staring down at her. She tried to ignore him, extracting from her purse the documents Bates had given her, setting out the extra copies she’d made, and laying out Seto’s passport, Hong Kong ID card, and driver’s licence in a row. “I need to work,” she said, not looking up.
“Cunt,” he muttered.
Ava heard it clearly enough but pretended she hadn’t. She searched in her purse for one more document, a copy of Seto’s last withdrawal request from the bank, and then put it next to his other identification. She opened her notebook. “I need to work,” she said.
He took two steps towards the living room, stopped to look back at her, and then shuffled across the floor to his room.
Ava sat quietly at the kitchen table for a few minutes, collecting herself. Robbins was becoming a distraction, and she blamed herself for letting him annoy her. She opened her notebook and looked at the signatures she’d penned the night before. Not bad, she thought, not bad at all.
There were a lot of things for her to like about Seto’s signature. It was short, for one thing, simply JSeto. It also wasn’t identical from document to document. Similar, of course, and recognizable obviously, but with minor variations. It gave her a little wiggle room. Despite those positives, she sat quietly at the table for a few minutes, gathering her nerve. She had done this often enough in the past and never failed, but her perfectionist streak could
