When she hung up, she went online and booked the American Airlines flight to San Juan. Then, using a different credit card and a different address, she bought a seat on American Airlines flight 672, leaving St. Thomas at two thirty and arriving in Miami at five twenty, connecting with American Airlines flight 646 from Miami to Toronto at five past eight. She figured she’d be home just after midnight.
(42)
Ava decided to travel comfortably, in her running shoes, track pants, and the black T-shirt she’d slept in. She packed carefully, putting her jewellery and cash in the Chanel bag and then the bag into the bottom of the Louis Vuitton suitcase, surrounded by dirty clothes she’d neatly bundled up. The only expensive accessory she wore was the ivory chignon pin.
When she packed the Shanghai Tang bag, she remembered that she still had some chloral hydrate and the switchblade. She emptied the shampoo bottles into the sink. The chances were slim that anyone would have examined them, but it was foolish to take chances. She slipped the blade under the mattress of her bed.
Her Hong Kong passport and other loose ID went into the back pocket of her Adidas pants, which she sealed with the Velcro tab. The cash she needed for the boat, taxis, and meals en route was stuffed into her front pants pocket.
By nine thirty she was ready to go and saw no point in hanging around the apartment any longer. She left her bags by the door and paid a visit to Seto.
He was awake, his eyes opening and closing sporadically from the lingering effects of the drug. She sat him up. He motioned for her to remove the tape from his mouth. “No, it has to stay on,” she said. He looked panicky again.
“Now listen to me carefully,” Ava said. “I have to go out for a little while. The big guy you saw — Mr. Clean — he’s in the next room, so if I were you I wouldn’t make too much noise. Nod if you understand me.”
He nodded.
“This is going to be over by tomorrow. I’m leaving then, and so is Mr. Clean. We’ll call the staff after we’re gone and tell them where to find you. So until then, you behave yourself.”
He nodded.
“The last thing, and maybe the most important, is that you have to forget about me, about Andrew Tam, and about this entire affair. It never happened. You say one word and we’ll find you and we’ll hurt you. Do you believe me?”
He nodded.
Ava patted him on the cheek. “And if I were you, I’d find another business. There are enough creeps peddling fish without you and that fat pervert of a friend of yours in the mix.”
As she left the apartment Ava took one last look back at Robbins. He still wasn’t moving. Ava thought about dragging him into his bedroom but wasn’t sure she was strong enough, and besides, what difference did it make where they found him? From the doorway she couldn’t tell if he was actually breathing. Was he alive? She tiptoed close and reached down to feel the pulse in his wrist. It was racing along, maybe too fast. Well, it wasn’t her problem anymore.
Downstairs, Doreen was in the lobby behind the desk. “I’m leaving today, heading for San Juan,” Ava said. “My friends are still in the apartment but they don’t need any maid service until tomorrow. Could you make a note of that, please?”
“That will be three days.”
“Just doing what they can for the environment,” Ava said.
She walked to the charter office and paid the man in cash, showed him her passport, and at five minutes to ten was aboard a Bavaria 35 heading out to sea. Ava looked back at the Guildford Apartments as the boat powered its way out of the harbour. She felt bad for the room maid who would stumble across Robbins and Seto next morning. Hopefully it wouldn’t alarm her too much.
Road Town began to shrink into the distance. It was a pretty city, the white stucco buildings nestled against the greenery of the mountains encircling the deep blue harbour. She doubted she’d see it again. Revisiting old job locations was never a good idea.
She went below into the cabin when Road Town had become just a dot. About an hour and a half later the boat engines eased and Ava climbed back on deck to watch as they pulled into St. Thomas.
The U.S. Customs officer in St. Thomas hardly glanced at her passport. She took a cab from the pier to Charlotte Amalie and boarded American Airlines flight 672 at two fifteen. At six o’clock she was eating a bowl of gumbo in the TGIF restaurant at Miami International.
She waited until seven to call Uncle. He was up already. Ave could hear Lourdes, his Filipina housekeeper of more than thirty years, asking if he wanted another cup of tea. “I’m in Miami,” she said. “I’ll be in Toronto by midnight.”
“Thank goodness you are out that place. I didn’t sleep well.”
“I told you, no worries.”
“Between you and Tommy Ordonez it has been a hard two days.”
“Don’t mention Tommy Ordonez,” Ava said. “I’m not home yet. I need to get home and I need to rest for a few days. So please, Uncle, not another word about Tommy Ordonez until I feel I’m ready.”
“All right,” he said, his reluctance obvious, but he knew how superstitious she could be.
“I just want to finish the Tam job, and it won’t be finished until I’m in my own bed again.”
“Speaking of Tam, call him, will you? He wants to thank you personally.”
“He left me a voicemail already.”
“Ava, please. The man just wants to say thank you. You saved his business, his family’s capital. Let him be appreciative.”
She reached Tam at his apartment. “It’s Ava. I got your voicemail. I’m just calling to tell you that I’m pleased things worked out.”
There was a long silence from the Hong Kong end. “Andrew, are you there?” she asked.
“Sorry, Ava, I’m still in a bit of shock from yesterday. I was only a couple of hours from total disaster when the money came through. I had no idea it had been sent. I mean, you didn’t communicate with me.”
Was that a complaint? she thought. “I wasn’t in a position to communicate directly. The best I could do was give Uncle at least an indication that the money was on its way.”
“He didn’t pass that on.”
“What do you want me to say?” Ava asked. “You got your money — what else matters?”
“Nothing. I’m sorry if I sound unappreciative.”
“In a day or two I’ll send you our bank information. You can remit our commission then.”
“Yes, yes,” he muttered.
She felt another flash of irritation. They were always eager to agree to pay the fee when they thought it was their only chance to recover their money. Then when they had the money back, they tried to cling to every dollar of it. “The fee is only half what we normally charge. Uncle waived his portion out of respect for your uncle.”
“We’ll pay the fee, and Uncle’s part as well, if you want,” Tam said quickly.
Ava knew she’d overreacted. Her nerves were still on edge; she needed to get home. “No, just pay my part, but you should understand that Uncle did more than just waive his fee for a friend. At one point he advanced $300,000 U.S. without any guarantee he would ever see it again,” she said, knowing that Tam would tell his uncle, knowing that the uncle would be forever indebted.
“They swam from China together,” Andrew Tam said, as if that explained everything.
Maybe it does, she thought.
(43)
