Gabrielle put her hand on his arm: ‘We’re here together, Adam, and I’ve kept my promise.’
He looked at her. ‘And what was that?’
‘To bring you home.’
With those four words Gabrielle answered one of his questions, but there were still many that remained unanswered. ‘And I thank you for that,’ he said, ‘but the price you paid was far too high. Obviously a lot more has gone on that I know nothing about.’
‘I’ll tell you everything that has happened, Adam, I promise. But for now I think we should concentrate on what’s happening now.’
He drove slowly up the driveway, the gravel crunching under the tyres. The Lodge looked deserted but he had a feeling they were being watched. After stopping the car, he peered through the windscreen. It was a warm day and the clear blue sky gave him some hope. It was just after eleven and as he opened the car door he heard the bells ringing in the village church.
Gabrielle reached over and put her hand on Adam’s shoulder. ‘Do you want me to come in with you?’
‘Please.’
They exchanged apprehensive looks, then got out of the car. Adam rang the bell. After a minute or so he was just about to ring again when he heard the bolts being drawn and the door opened slightly. Lolita looked out, her face unsmiling until she recognised Adam.
‘Master Adam!’ she screamed. ‘Master Adam!’ She flung open the door and threw herself at Adam, her arms holding him tight round his neck. ‘Oh, Master Adam, you come home.’ Only then did she notice Gabrielle. ‘And Miss Gabrielle.’ She held out her hand and Gabrielle took it. ‘You bring Master Adam home, Miss Gabrielle. Thank you.’
‘Master Adam brought himself home, Lolita. I just happen to be with him.’ At that moment Adam glanced at Gabrielle and was pleased to see a genuine smile on her lips and in her eyes. She had pushed her own problems to the back of her mind, and like the good minister she was, other people were now more important.
‘Come in, come in,’ Lolita insisted, waving her arms in her excitement. ‘Mrs Yong, she be so happy.’
Adam stopped. He felt Gabrielle’s hand on his arm. ‘There you are,’ she said, ‘something positive at last.’
He nodded. ‘Thank God!’ he said quietly.
Christina Yong was sitting in the sunroom, her back towards them and a cup of tea on a small table beside her. Lolita motioned for them to keep quiet and then she went round to face Christina Yong.
‘Mrs Yong.’ she said softly. ‘Mrs Yong …’ She bent down and touched Christina’s shoulder, ‘Mrs Yong, you have visitors.’
‘What, visitors, at this time?’ She turned round and her face lost at least twenty years in age as her smile spread from her lips to her entire face. ‘Adam!’ she said, ‘you have come home.’
Adam went to his mother and hugged her. ‘Yes, I’m home and I’m so sorry -’
‘Don’t,’ Christina said, ‘there will be enough time for that. First let me enjoy seeing you again.’ She turned a little further and saw Gabrielle. Shaking her head she held out her arms. ‘My dear, you did it. You brought Adam home.’ The two women embraced.
‘As I told Lolita, Mrs Yong, he brought himself home, I just happen to be here with him.’
‘That isn’t strictly true, Mother. If it hadn’t been for Gabrielle, I wouldn’t be standing here now,’ he said.
Christina hung on to Gabrielle’s hands. ‘And if she hadn’t gone to the hospital with me, I would not be here either. She gave me hope. You are a very special young woman and I will never be able to repay you for what you have done for me and Adam.’
Gabrielle smiled. ‘If there was a need to repay me then I wouldn’t have done anything in the first place. But you are home so quickly after-’
‘The surgeon told me I was the luckiest woman alive,’ Christina said. ‘Until now I would have said I was the unluckiest. But now things are different.’
‘You look as radiant as ever, Mother,’ Adam said.
Christina smiled at him. ‘Thank you,’ she said, then turned to Lolita. ‘Lolly, I think this warrants a celebratory drink. Do we have anything in the house?’
‘I will go, Mother,’ Adam told her.
‘Thank you, thank you,’ Christina said again when Adam had left the room. ‘But how much does he know?’
Gabrielle frowned. ‘Know?’
‘Yes, my dear. How much did he find out? How much did you both find out?’
‘I think that must be a question for Adam,’ she said and nodded her head.
Christina looked remarkably well, Gabrielle thought, considering she had almost lost her life. She was still a very glamorous lady; her light brown skin had a healthy sheen to it and her eyes were sparkling. She wondered if Christina was looking at her and drawing any conclusions. ‘How are you really, Mrs. Yong?’ she asked.
‘I’m as well as can be expected, my dear,’ she answered hurriedly. ‘Yes, I was lucky. The bullet Joseph fired was millimetres away from his target.’ She put her hand over her heart. ‘I only came home yesterday and I’m still very sore but ...’ Christina raised her hands ‘... He decided it was not my time. Sorry, my dear, I shouldn’t say such things in front of you.’
Gabrielle smiled. ‘You have every right to say that.’ She closed her eyes momentarily as she wondered why He had allowed her to be raped.
‘But tell me,’ Christina asked, ‘was finding Adam easy and did you come across his brother Patrick?’
It was an obvious question to ask but Gabrielle was not prepared for it. She closed her eyes as an involuntary shudder ran through her. She suddenly felt very faint and needed to sit down. Her forehead was drenched in perspiration and she prayed that Adam and Lolita would come back into the room to help her. Her head began to spin and she could feel herself losing consciousness.
‘Adam!’ she heard Christina scream.
It was still daylight and the sun’s rays shimmered inside the room. She was aware of the lightness of the duvet and the smell of roses against her nose. The pillow and bed were soft and the exquisite décor of the room made Gabrielle wonder where she was. She didn’t feel anxious because everything was too safe for her to feel in danger. She felt under the duvet; her jeans and shirt had been removed but she was still in her underwear.
Her skin was warm.
She remembered Mrs Yong asking whether finding Adam had been easy and had she come across his brother, Patrick, but she couldn’t remember anything after that. She must have fainted and been put to bed but she had no idea how long she’d been here. Her reaction to the question had been unpredictable, but maybe because of the way she had internalised everything, understandable. Her reaction had been beyond her control.
There was a tap on the door. ‘Come in,’ Gabrielle said.
The door opened. Lolita entered the room and it was very obvious that she had been crying. ‘Miss, you okay?’ she said.
‘Yes, Lolita, thank you. But what’s the matter? You look -’
‘It Master Adam, Miss. He gone.’
‘Gone? What do you mean, gone?’ Gabrielle pulled the duvet to one side but when she swung her legs from the bed she felt the room sway.
Lolita hurried over to her. ‘You sure you okay, Miss?’
‘Yes, I’ll be fine in a second or two. But what did you mean when you said Master Adam has gone?’
Lolita was kneeling by her side. She put her hand on Gabrielle’s arm. ‘After you fall, he put you to bed then he and Mrs Yong have long talk. He with her for more than hour and then I hear him go. He get in car and go.’
‘Where? Where’s he gone?’ Gabrielle stood up and walked slowly over to the chair. She pulled on her jeans and then her shirt. ‘My sandals, oh, there they are. Where’s he gone?’
Lolita shook her head. ‘Not know. Mrs Yong crying and she -’
‘Where is Mrs Yong?’
‘She downstairs, in sunroom.’
‘I must go to her. Can you fix me a drink, Lolita? Tea or coffee maybe, and lots of sugar?’
>
‘Yes, Miss. You go see Mrs Yong. I bring there.’
Gabrielle went downstairs as fast as she could and found Mrs Yong in the sunroom. ‘What’s happened?’ she pleaded when she saw Christina Yong take a small handkerchief away from her tearful eyes.
‘He’s gone.’
‘Yes, I know. Lolita told me. But where and why?’
Christina shook her head. ‘I don’t know where he’s gone but I know why he went.’
Gabrielle sat down in the chair opposite Christina. ‘Can you tell me? It might give me some indication of where he is.’
‘He told me that my son Patrick is dead.’
Gabrielle held her breath, waiting for the name to have an effect on her but it did not. ‘Yes, I’m so sorry, there was a fight -’
‘Yes, Adam told me and he also told me what Patrick did to you. I cannot believe that -’
‘Mrs Yong, Adam was not lying.’ She couldn’t bring herself to use the word rape again.
‘I’m not saying he lied but I cannot believe my son Patrick would do such a thing. How can I ask for your forgiveness?’
‘There’s no need. What happened, happened. What he did to me is for me to cope with.’
‘You’re very brave, my dear, and I’m still so very sorry.’ She waited a few seconds. ‘I told Adam what has been going on for the last twenty years. He knew so little but he had to know. Do you understand?’
‘I’m not sure what I understand anymore and what I don’t, but please, Mrs Yong, if -’
‘Yes, I’m sorry.’ Christina took a deep breath. ‘You know all about the adoption, the way Adam, Patrick and Lucinda grew up together?’ Gabrielle nodded. ‘You know about Adam and Lucinda -?’
‘I know that you found them together when they were only fourteen, yes.’
‘We sent Adam away to school -'
‘Yes, and I know he and Lucinda got married after he finished at university,’ Gabrielle said, impatient to move on. ‘I know they had two children and I know that Lucinda and the children were murdered. I -’
‘Lucinda had two children but Adam did not,’ Christina said quietly, still dabbing her eyes. ‘Timothy was Adam’s but Charlotte was not.’
‘Lucinda had an affair?’ Gabrielle asked, beginning to understand. Her mind raced back to when she was sitting in Annabelle Tregarthen’s kitchen.
‘Lucinda had many affairs.’
‘And Adam didn’t know?’
‘If he did he didn’t tell anyone.’
‘But,’ Gabrielle began to ask, frowning, ‘I think I’m right in saying that Timothy was a year older than Charlotte.’
‘Yes, that’s right. Four months after Timothy was born my daughter conceived Charlotte with another man.’
‘Do you know who he was?’ Gabrielle asked, thinking she knew the answer.
‘Yes, I know.’
‘May I ask his name?’
‘His name is Jeremy Jacobs.’
‘Jeremy Jacobs, but he is Adam’s best friend.’ Annabelle’s words flooded back to Gabrielle. She had been right all along.
Christina nodded. ‘He was also Lucinda’s, among other things.’
‘Other things?’
‘There is so much you don’t know.’
‘Please tell me whatever I need to know in order for me to find Adam.’
Lolita came into the room with a tray containing two mugs of coffee and some biscuits. She set it down on the small table in front of Christina, then turned to leave.
‘No, Lolly, please stay. It’s about time you knew the truth and I’m sorry to have lied to you before.’ Christina warmed her hands on her mug of coffee before looking up at Gabrielle. ‘It goes back to a time long before Adam was even born. The day I married Joseph he told me he was a member of a secret society in Hong Kong. The society was called the 7th Dragon and my husband joined when he was only sixteen. On our wedding night he swore me to secrecy after telling me what would happen to me if I ever revealed his secret to anybody else. But to everybody else, including Adam’s real parents, Joseph was a legitimate businessman. He was held in high regard within the Hong Kong community and we moved in the social circles that went with his position. I had no idea who I was marrying and what he was really involved with. By the time Patrick was sixteen, my husband had risen to be the Master of The 7th Dragon. I discovered only after Lucinda’s death that he had recruited his own son and daughter into the society. When I heard this I couldn’t believe I had spent so many years living with a man who, having told me on our wedding night of his own involvement, had withheld so many secrets from me. But I know now, and I believe Joseph knew also, that if he had told me of Patrick and Lucinda’s involvement, and if I could have found the courage I would have ended my own life. When he told me on our wedding night, I had no idea what he was really telling me, and now I wonder why he told me in the first place. If I had known about Patrick and Lucinda and if the opportunity had been there I would have wanted to take them with me because they had no way out. To try and leave would have resulted in their deaths anyway. Knowing now what I do, my son’s slide into crime was perhaps inevitable, but Lucinda’s was down to nothing more than her vulnerability. When Adam was sent back to England to go to school, I thought it was to protect Lucinda’s innocence, but if Adam had stayed in Hong Kong it might have meant I didn’t have to lose my daughter to a life of crime.’ Christina shook her head slowly. ‘I walked around with my eyes and ears closed. I felt my family was something to be proud of. My husband was a success and we built on that success by opening restaurants in Hong Kong and then in Japan, the USA and here in the UK. I was in denial of what he told me the day we got married. We didn’t need the money from the crimes committed by my family and the other members of the 7th Dragon.’ Christina looked into Gabrielle’s eyes. ‘See this house? I’ve been living in this house for over ten years and I didn’t know it could have been bought with money obtained from human suffering. Even my restaurants, the management of which I handed over many years ago, were and are still being used as the cover for criminal activities. Lucinda and Adam’s marriage was arranged. At the time it was my husband, not me, who insisted we should allow them to meet again when Adam finished at university. Joseph gambled on the fact that Adam was still besotted with Lucinda and when she presented herself to him after so long he would fall into the trap they had planned for him -’
‘They?’ Gabrielle asked.
‘Yes, I’m sorry, my dear, I do mean they: my husband, Lucinda and Patrick. They planned the trap for him. It was the respectability of a mixed-race Asian girl marrying a thoroughly English boy that gave their warped minds another base from which to expand their criminal activities in the UK. When Adam was working in London, leaving home on a Sunday evening for the week, his beautiful wife, my beautiful daughter, already had her own schedule for the week. Even after Timothy and Charlotte were born she carried on with her work. Gabrielle, my beautiful and innocent daughter Lucinda was the brains behind one of the biggest prostitution rackets in Europe. She controlled the illegal trafficking of young girls from all over South East Asia to not only England but the rest of Western Europe. Once the girls arrived in the right country they were sold on to other controllers who forced the girls into prostitution. Those that refused or became difficult were disposed of. Nobody knew of their existence so who was there to ask questions if they disappeared. So, you see, my beautiful, innocent daughter was also a murderess. The Asian side of the business, if I may call it that, was controlled by my son, Patrick. He, like his father, was well respected in Hong Kong’s business society but also, like his father, he was leading a double life. I don’t understand nor do I ever want to know how I could have been so blind. How can I ever start to explain to anyone? My entire family, except for Adam, were the sources of human misery and death. Perhaps now you can understand why I was so willing to let the man who had hidden so much from me for so long add me to his list of murders. I was probably his only failure.’
Gabriel
le and Lolita stared at Christina.
Their faces mirrored their shock and disbelief.
Gabrielle could feel every nerve in her body screaming in agony as she tried to understand. She remembered what Patrick Yong had told her about his double life. She looked at Christina, not wanting to believe what she had heard. Christina Yong had thought it best if her daughter and adopted son were separated until they were old enough to understand life. Christina Yong had agreed with her husband that before Hong Kong was handed back to the Chinese in 1997, it was best for her family and her business if they moved to the UK. Christina Yong had wept when her son had decided to stay in Hong Kong, and more tears flowed when his visits to see them in England were so infrequent. Christina Yong’s life had been a lie, a lie that was even bigger than the lies her husband, son and daughter had told her.
Gabrielle wanted to weep for her.
‘Lucinda and the children?’ she asked, her voice husky with emotion. ‘The police -?’
‘The police? I can’t even say the police were stupid. If I, her mother, did not connect Lucinda with the underworld what hope had the police? A beautiful Asian woman living such a reputable life in Ashbourne, how could she ever be involved with people-trafficking and prostitution? They would never have believed her if she’d told them herself, let alone believe any evidence they may have found. Ashbourne was chosen for that very reason. So the police didn’t have any evidence, not then. They suspected poor Adam of course, but not all my family are bad.’
‘Then who?’
‘There’s no proof of what I’m going to say, but my husband believed it must have been another Triad, another society. Lucinda and Patrick had tried to expand their business but her competitors were very angry with what they were doing. She was warned but she didn’t listen and she and her innocent children paid the ultimate price. My husband and Patrick blamed themselves for losing Lucinda, but for my husband the loss of two innocent children, his grandchildren, was too much for him to bear. He -’
In Denial Page 38
