Skeleton Women

by Mingmei Yip

“Only if you do.”

  “It’s not exciting to you?”

  “Why would people pay to be fooled?”

  “Because they want to believe in the impossible.”

  “Me, too. But not fake magic.” He stooped to whisper into my ear. “The magic I want, Camilla, is for you to truly love me and for us somehow to escape from my father’s grasp. Life is mostly illusions—or disillusionment. I don’t like being fooled. I like honesty, like you and your voice.”

  Before I had a chance to respond, we arrived at the tent.

  As we followed the dog inside, someone hissed, “I swear the tent was not here when we came!”

  Another one responded. “Don’t you remember? This is magic.” “But how could she have set it up so fast?”

  I said to Jinying, “It’s not ‘fast,’ considering her years of hard work behind all this.”

  I remembered that Madame Lewinsky had once told me, “Genius, this word we use so casually, is mostly determination and perseverance.” Then I remembered my favorite proverb: “The sharp blade of a sword is the result of constant polishing. The fragrance of plum blossom comes only from the bitterest cold.”

  Jinying said, “You’re right.”

  Inside the big tent, rows of chairs faced the entrance and were flanked by tables covered with bottles of Champagne and plates of food. Tall red candles burned brightly, casting shadows on the food and turning the golden liquid into bubbly blood. The dog yapped toward the tables, as if beckoning us to take the food. Soon people were happily munching, sipping, and waiting for their hostess to cast a few magical sparks into their rich, boring lives.

  Jinying got us Champagne and a plate of small dishes—mini ham sandwiches, fried shrimp, beef cakes, pate. He tapped his glass against mine and spoke in a near whisper. “Camilla, to our future.”

  I smiled prettily, as if I was actually foreseeing one.

  We sat down. While Jinying was busy eating, I sipped my drink and looked around. Nothing seemed peculiar about this tent except that it had a high ceiling. Through the open entrance we could see the castle, its lights flickering as if winking to us.

  Soon the view of the mansion was blocked by Shadow, who had made her entrance and seated herself on a high-backed chair, really a throne, facing us. “Ladies and gentlemen, please continue to enjoy the food and drink. Now, do you want to learn the history of this castle?”

  “Of course!”

  “All right, be very quiet, and listen closely.” She gestured in the general direction of the grand architecture outside the tent. “It was built a hundred years ago by a banker as a vacation house. But rumor says it was not for his family but his beautiful mistress, a nightclub singer.”

  Shadow seemed to cast a fleeting glimpse at me. I jolted at that as I caught Jinying’s questioning glance.

  The magician went on. “The banker gave his mistress everything—expensive jewelry, fancy clothes, and a beautiful mansion on a hill filled with antiques and a slew of maids, drivers, chefs, gardeners, and pedigreed dogs.” She took a conspicuous sip of the Champagne, leaving a moist red lipstick mark on the flute.

  As our eyes were pulled to the bloody-vagina-shaped impression, she continued. “But she was allowed no freedom outside the mansion except to shop at the annual Paris, London, and Rome fashion shows. Ironically, though she amassed a huge, exquisite wardrobe that a queen might envy, she had no friends and no parties to show them off at. Just like the chess master who waits and waits for his most worthy rival, whom he never meets, or who perhaps does not even exist, this woman realized she was on a path of no return and descended into despair.”

  A collective question burst in the air. “Then what happened?”

  “Unable to escape her imprisonment in a ghostly building, constantly spied on by her patron’s staff, she ended her young, miserable life.”

  A sentimental sigh arose from the audience, but I felt only a sense of alarm. A nightclub-singer mistress, the imprisonment in a big house by spying servants—that sounded a lot like me. Did that mean she’d found out my true identity as a pawn of Big Brother Wang? But how? And what message was she trying to send to me tonight? Did she hope I would end up a suicide?

  A middle-aged, bespectacled man asked, “Did she do it in this mansion?”

  “Which room?” another asked rather eagerly.

  The shadowy witch replied, “Not inside, but outside in a tree facing west.”

  “She hanged herself?”

  “Yes, with her long-stranded pearl necklace and in a matching white dress.”

  That was exactly what I was wearing tonight! What was the purpose of this mind game?

  Another male voice asked, “Why west?”

  “Because that’s where the Western Paradise is located, so that Amida Buddha would take her to a life without suffering.” Shadow paused, an enigmatic smile hovering on her face. “She left a suicide note that said, ‘I’m a free spirit now.’ “

  People whispered, probably discussing what the word spirit meant in this context.

  “There was more than just her body and the suicide note.” She paused, then blurted out, “There were also the corpses of her two bodyguards.”

  A man’s voice asked, “What had happened?”

  “She had seduced them, had a ménage à trois, then strangled them with her long, many-stranded pearl necklace during their sleep. After that, she chopped off their heads with a samurai sword from her patron’s antiques collection.”

  A long silence was followed by heated discussion among the audience.

  Finally, when the noise died down, a middle-aged man asked, “Who owns this castle now?”

  Our magician smiled. “I’m afraid I can’t tell you that. But this person, a wealthy friend of mine, generously let me use it.”

  When no one asked any more questions, Shadow announced, “Now let’s take a break and—”

  Just then the dog, who had been quietly sitting by her side, looked up at her and barked.

  “Sorry, how come I forgot to introduce you?” Shadow chuckled, scooping up the dog. “Honorable guests, this is Baobao, the fifth generation of the mistress’s original dog, named Runrun.”

  Before the amazed-looking audience had a chance to react, the magician went on. “Now that you’ve learned the story of the castle, do you want to take another look at it?”

  “Of course!”

  “All right.” With an elegant sweep of her gloved hand, Shadow pulled aside the curtain that had been draped over the tent’s entrance. I did not remember the curtain being there when we’d come in.

  But there was no mansion! All we could see outside the entrance was a grassy slope.

  “Oh, heaven! What happened?”

  “Is something wrong with my eyes?”

  The excited chatter died down as we all suddenly realized that this was tonight’s magic show! The audience clapped enthusiastically and looked at Shadow as if she were a real goddess.

  A triumphant smile bloomed on her face. “Thank you, honorable guests, for coming to my show. I hope you all have a wonderful evening. Now please proceed to the bus waiting for you right outside. It will bring you back to your cars.”

  One gentleman in an expensive Western suit asked, “Miss Shadow, can you tell us, where has the castle gone, or did it really exist?”

  Shadow’s silky black hair rippled under the candlelight like dark waves pulled by a full moon. “Sir, if I tell you that, then I’m not a magician but a university professor or his research assistant.”

  The audience burst out laughing.

  Still under the spell of her magic, we all submissively walked out of the tent and got onto the waiting bus.

  On the way to our cars, the question “How did she do it?” just wouldn’t leave me alone. I determined to go out of my way to find the truth. Or the illusion.

  I peeked at the other guests and saw that they wore the same puzzled, agonized expression, except the one right next to me.

  “Jinying, why are
you not curious about Shadow’s magic?”

  “She’s an expert in fooling people, distracting them and stealing from them. I have no interest in a woman like that.”

  I sighed inside. He could not know that I was far more expert than Shadow in fooling people. And not for entertainment but for matters of life and death.

  “I’ll bet that story she told us was totally made up,” he added.

  “Oh ...” I didn’t know what to say. Smart as I thought I was, how come I’d never thought of that?

  “It’s just a deserted house nobody even knows about. A wealthy friend lent it to her for free? Just a clever lie!” Jinying hissed softly.

  “Then what about the furniture and—”

  “Those are her cheap props, probably picked up from the street. She creates an atmosphere to lure you in, so you’ll believe whatever she wants. People want to believe, and that’s why they’re fooled.”

  I was stunned. Maybe Shadow was really my most worthy rival. Despite my training, I’d fallen so easily for her trick!

  I asked, “But then how do you explain the house’s disappearance?”

  “That I don’t know. I’m not a magician.”

  The young master leaned down to whisper into my ear. “Camilla, I love you. I am so glad you’re not at all like her. You’re so innocent, sincere, and honest.”

  13

  An Invitation to a Private Show

  After Shadow’s castle show, it was pretty clear to me that she was someone I had to watch out for. The tale of the pampered beauty who was a prisoner of her rich patron was just too much like me. Suicide was certainly not in my plans, but, I wondered, was this meant as a curse on me?

  So I immediately drummed up a plan. I would send both the magician and the gossip columnist an invitation to dinner at my place. The pretext would be to celebrate the success of Shadow’s show, but I would also show off the skills I had so far kept secret from the public—knife-throwing and my ability to contort my body.

  This invitation would serve several purposes. First, Shadow would think that I did not hold grudge against her, even though she’d humiliated me at Lung’s banquet. By inviting Rainbow, I’d let her know that it was really not my intention to snub her during the temple celebration. In fact, I liked her and wanted to know her more. But, most important, I would get Shadow out of the way to quickly search her apartment. I needed to learn how she did her acts, and also I might be able to find my ring, fan, and handkerchief in case she refused to return them. In addition, I wanted to find out whatever I could about her—her family, friends, business associations. I learned during my training that, to know how powerful a person is, know his rivals; to learn about a person’s background, know his friends.

  The strategy I would use is known as yide baoyuan, repaying one’s enemy’s meanness with kindness. This was the basis of a famous stratagem referred to as “Insult Under the Pants” more than two thousand years ago.

  Han Shun was remembered as a famous general and military strategist. But when he was young, he was puny and poor. One time on his way home, he ran into several hooligans who made fun of his ragged clothes and small stature. The tallest and strongest further insulted Han Shun by ordering him to crawl between his legs. Knowing that he couldn’t possibly get out of the situation, Han swallowed his bitterness and did what he’d been told.

  Many years later, after Han had become a famous general, he again ran into the same hooligan who had insulted him. But instead of getting back at the man, Han appointed him as his zhong-wei, lieutenant. The general repaying the hooligan’s cruelty with kindness gained him a lasting reputation and many die-hard followers.

  Like Han, I had to swallow humiliation to get myself out of any life-threatening situations, but unlike him, I had no intention of helping or benefiting my enemy. For I had not been trained to be generous, or stupid. However, I could fake being generous. That was why I invited Shadow—so I could bond with her, gain her trust, then get rid of her. If I conducted myself right, she would not find out until too late that my kindness was cruelty in disguise.

  As for Rainbow Chang, I already knew from reading her columns that she could be relied on only to be treacherous. The best I could do was to befriend her, hoping she would then show good faith. I also hoped she would write about the “friendship” between me and Shadow. That way, any harm done to the magician was less likely to be blamed on me.

  My guests had been invited for eight o’clock in the evening. An hour before, Ah Wen drove me to Shadow’s apartment building and let me off in the back. I hid behind a wall and waited. Twenty minutes later, I saw the magician walk out of her building and hail a rickshaw.

  As soon as her rickshaw disappeared into the dense Shanghai traffic, I slid inside her building and dashed up to her apartment. Pausing in front of her door, I took out the special key Wang had made for me by Shanghai’s best locksmith. Known as the Open-One-Hundred-Doors key, it would unlock anything, except perhaps the Hong Kong and Shanghai banks’ vaults. Wang had only given it to me so I could open Lung’s safe—once I was able to find it, of course—to get to his important documents. But for Shadow’s modest apartment, a much more ordinary skeleton key would have sufficed. Unlocking her door was as easy as a man entering the gate between a prostitute’s legs.

  I flipped on the light to reveal a small living room with scanty furniture and a few bookshelves. My goal was clear, so my action was fast. I closed the door, then made a quick round of the small apartment to look for safes or secret hiding places. Seeing none, I flipped through the books on the shelves, looking especially for a notebook or journal. But nothing caught my eye. Then, when I turned my special key to open the desk drawer, I knew I’d found what I’d come for. It was a thick, faded notebook with a black leather cover. As I lifted the book, I felt a surge of excitement.

  When I scanned through the pages, I had to remind myself to stay calm and focused. My eyes beheld handwritten explanations, some highlighted in red, blue, or green, and footnotes, diagrams, pasted-in photographs, even mathematical calculations. It was exactly what I was looking for to satisfy my curiosity—an esoteric manual for magic. There were altogether thirty-odd recipes for magic acts, ranging from the elementary to the grandiose. Forcing my hands to hold steady, I took out my lipstick camera and snapped furiously. There was not enough time to photograph the whole book, so I was only able to take pictures of those acts I’d seen her perform and others I found intriguing. When I finished, I quickly took photographs of what appeared to be a personal journal and then put everything back in its original place. Now I quickly went through drawers looking for my handkerchief, fan, and ring, being as careful as I could to leave everything in place. But no luck, and my time had run out. So I left.

  When I was back at my apartment, I quickly put my camera into my safe. It was seven minutes before eight, and Shadow hadn’t yet arrived. Perfect. I’d known that my car would be much faster than her rickshaw. The power of Wang’s money.

  At eight o’clock sharp, the bell rang, and Ah Fong opened the door to welcome Shadow. The invitation for Rainbow was for half an hour later, so I’d have some time to chat privately with the magician.

  Shadow wore a blue chiffon dress with ruffles around the neck and some matching but cheap jewelry.

  After we sat down in the living room, she sipped her—or my—red wine with pleasure. “Camilla, I really envy you—such a luxurious home with an amah and a driver and surrounded by beautiful art and antiques. Most of us girls are just barely getting by, but look at you... .”

  “Shadow, as your friend, I wish that someday you’ll live the same life,” I said, while thinking just the opposite.

  She stared at me. “Are we friends, really? You’re not angry at my trick with your possessions at Master Lung’s banquet?”

  As I was thinking how to respond, she took out the stolen handkerchief, fan, and diamond ring and handed them to me. But I still wondered, had she exchanged my expensive rock with a fake one?
<
br />   I stared at the retrieved items, then the magician. “I’m amazed, Shadow. Thank you.”

  “So, are we friends now?”

  “What do you think?”

  “I don’t have friends.”

  “Me, neither.”

  We burst out laughing. “That’s why we need each other!” I said. Shadow spoke. “Good, at least we’re honest. But, may I ask, what do we need each other for?”

  “Shadow, as you know, I’m now the most popular singer in Shanghai, and you are an up-and-coming, attention-grabbing magician. So if we can co-operate ...”

  “You mean do a show together?”

  I took a delicate sip of my wine, nodding. “What do you think?”

  “Excellent idea!” She thought for a while. “But why are you willing to help me, especially since I stole from you?”

  “We’ll be helping each other. Haven’t you heard it said that ‘if two work with one mind and one heart, the profit can only be measured by gold’? To be honest, I am greedy. I believe if we combine our forces, the money will pour in like the Huangpu River.”

  She sipped her wine, her eyes widening as if she were now actually seeing the river turning into gold liquid.

  “So, Shadow, do you want this or not?”

  She chuckled. “You think anyone can afford to turn down such an offer?”

  We clinked our glasses together, toasting our future continuously flowing river of money, but hers fell and broke into shards.

  “Ah ...”

  Was this a bad omen, or a good one for me? For another Chinese proverb says, “Blossoming flowers bring wealth; shards on the floor fetch prosperity.”

  Just then the doorbell rang, and this time Ah Fong brought in Rainbow Chang. The columnist was in her usual man’s outfit, this time a striped three-piece gray suit with a pink tie and matching pocket handkerchief peeping out as if investigating the outside world.

  After the obligatory greetings were exchanged, I led my guests into the dining room, where we settled into comfort for the evening.

  Rainbow’s smile was stretched taut on her face like an elastic band. “Camilla, Shadow, tonight I’m really honored to be in your glorious presence. I’m sure you two will take over Shanghai in no time.”