see if you can revive him enough to drink,” she said.
While Robbins grabbed Seto under the arms and hoisted him up, Ava rooted through the toilet kit Anna Choudray had packed for him. She found a toothbrush and a hairbrush. She threw the hairbrush on the bed and left the room with the toothbrush.
In the bathroom she mixed another dose of chloral hydrate and set it aside. She soaked a facecloth, put toothpaste on his brush, and with a towel under her arm went back to join the two men.
Robbins was shaking Seto as if he were a rag doll. Seto’s eyes rolled open, but for only a few seconds at a time before closing. They were blank, uncomprehending. Ava wondered if the dose would be necessary, a thought that was banished when he slurred, “What the fuck …”
“Hold his mouth open,” she told Robbins.
Brushing Seto’s teeth was nearly impossible because his head kept moving around, but at least when his mouth was open there was now a faint smell of toothpaste. When she was done, she took the facecloth, wiped away the remnants of paste, scrubbed the dried drool from around his mouth, and then for good measure opened the cloth and rubbed his entire face. “I’ll be back,” she said.
Seto seemed to have nodded off again when she returned. “He needs to drink this,” she told Robbins.
Robbins pried open Seto’s mouth again. She poured. He gagged, and she slowed down the process until he was taking little sips. He got halfway through the glass before he couldn’t swallow anymore. She stopped; a drowned Seto wouldn’t do her any good. “Hold him upright for just another second,” she said.
Ava went to work with the hairbrush. When Seto finally looked decent, she reached behind him to undo the cuffs. “Lay him down.”
She unwrapped the tape from his ankles. Fortunately neither they nor his wrists were marked to any degree. She pulled the bedcovers halfway up his chest, leaving both arms out, resting comfortably along his sides. She stepped back. He was thin, wan, pallid — like someone who was very ill but was being well looked after.
His suitcase was still on the floor where she had dropped it the night before. She put it in the closet. “That should just about do it,” she said to herself.
Ava went into the living room, closing Seto’s door. “I can’t have you here when the banker comes,” she said to Robbins.
“I’m not leaving,” he said.
“Then we have a problem. Do we need to call your brother?”
“I’ll go to my room. The door will be closed. But I’m not leaving the apartment.”
Ava tried to think of a convincing argument that he was being unreasonable and failed. “Just be quiet, then.”
“I didn’t bring my drums,” he muttered.
She carried her file folder to the kitchen, opened it, and placed Bates’s two sets of documents on the table. She checked the signatures against the passport and the Hong Kong ID card. The only way they wouldn’t pass, she thought, was if the person looking at them had predetermined they weren’t genuine. They weren’t perfect, she knew; they were just good enough. And if Bates, God forbid, questioned any of them, she could always use Seto’s illness as an excuse.
“Hello, hello,” a voice said from the intercom by the door. “There’s someone here to see a Ms. Lee.”
Ava looked at her watch. Bates was early. She walked to the intercom. “Send him up, please.”
Robbins rose from the sofa and walked silently to his room.
Bates looked slightly uncomfortable when Ava opened the door. She hoped the idea of being in the apartment alone with her — well, almost alone — was behind it.
“I’ve never been in one of these apartments before,” he said. “I’ve heard good things.”
“Well, they give you value,” she said, directing him towards the kitchen. “Can I get you anything? Bottled water, coffee?”
“I’m fine.”
“Let’s sit then.”
He looked at the documents on the table.
“They’re all signed. Two sets for you, one for us.”
Bates sat at the table and began to peruse them. He went through both sets, which surprised her. Then he took a copy of one of the wire transfer requests and placed it alongside the copy of Seto’s passport, checking the signatures. He did it far more intensely than Ava would prefer, and she felt a quiver of doubt.
“It all seems to be in order,” he finally said.
“Are you ready to meet with Jackson?” Ava asked.
“That would be excellent.”
She led him to the bedroom door, gave it a light tap, and listened. “He may be sleeping,” she said, rapping harder. She counted to ten. “I think he’s sleeping. We’ll go in anyway.”
Seto’s covers had slipped a touch. She tiptoed towards the bed. Bates followed behind her, looking uncomfortable again and doing his best to be quiet. Ava leaned down. “Jackson,” she whispered. “Jeremy Bates is here. Do you want to say hello?”
“He looks very pale,” Bates said.
Ava nodded as she gently shook Seto’s shoulder. “He’s terribly dehydrated. I’ve been making him drink as much water as he can handle.”
“Food poisoning can be debilitating,” said Bates.
“Jackson, Jeremy Bates is here. He wants to say hello,” Ava said more loudly.
“Oh, leave him, please. Leave him,” Bates said. “I have everything I need.”
Ava backed away from the bed, bumping into Bates and stumbling. He reached out to steady her, his right arm slipping under her breasts. That’s when she heard a thud. To her it sounded as loud as a bag of bricks being dropped three metres onto a tile floor. She flushed.
“Sorry about that,” Bates said. “I thought you were going to fall.”
“I might have,” she said, scarcely believing he hadn’t heard the noise.
She led him out of the bedroom, closing the door behind her. “You mentioned earlier you might need a doctor?” he said.
“I don’t think that’s necessary now. He’s slowly coming around. I’ve had food poisoning myself, and it’s usually twenty-four hours of misery and then another twenty-four to forty-eight hours of recovery. I just hope he’ll be okay to fly. We’re supposed to leave tomorrow night. I may have to postpone if he isn’t feeling up to it.”
“There are worst places to be stuck,” Bates said.
“Admittedly,” she said with a little smile.
They walked back to the kitchen table and the documents. Bates gathered up his sets. “Do you think it will be possible to send the wires today?” she asked.
“I don’t see why not,” he said casually.
“Wonderful. We would really appreciate it.”
“You will want copies of the actual transfer, I presume, and confirmation that they’ve been sent?”
“Yes, I would. We need to let Hong Kong know as soon as possible that it’s a go from this end.”
“Why don’t I bring them with me tonight when we meet for dinner?” he asked.
That was smooth, she thought. “Jackson won’t be up to it.”
“Well, we’ll have to manage without him, won’t we?”
“Yes, we will. I’m looking forward to it,” Ava said, not missing a beat.
“There’s a French bistro called Les Deux Garcons on the first street before the bank. Are you comfortable with French food?”
“I eat everything.”
“Fantastic. Do you need me to pick you up?”
“No, please don’t. I’m going to spend the rest of the day sightseeing. I’ll find my own way.”
“Seven o’clock, then?”
“Yes, perfect. I’ll see you at seven.”
She waited by the door until she heard the elevator close. She was walking towards Robbins’s room when he emerged.
“Dinner?” he said.
