The wild beast of Wuhan al-3

by Ian Hamilton

  (27)

  She called Glen Hughes from the Delta business-class lounge at Heathrow, although she wasn’t expecting to reach him. So when she heard “This is Glen Hughes,” she was taken aback, and stumbled before saying, “This is Ava Lee.”

  “I didn’t expect to hear from you quite so soon,” he said.

  There wasn’t a hint of tension in his voice. If anything, he seemed disinterested, bored. Maybe that’s the impression he’s trying to give me, Ava thought. His accent was more refined than Edwin’s, the pace of his words slower, languid.

  Ava was sitting at the bar, a glass of wine and a small plate of smoked salmon finger sandwiches in front of her. “I didn’t see any point in wasting time,” she said.

  “Indeed not.”

  “I’m at Heathrow. I’m scheduled to get into New York tonight around nine o’clock. Is it possible we could meet tonight?”

  “There’s absolutely no chance of that. I have a function at the Whitney.”

  “I don’t mind working late.”

  “Ms. Lee, I’m quite sure you have my address.”

  “I do.”

  “Well, in that case, I’ll see you here tomorrow morning any time after eleven,” he said and hung up. Ava shook her head. It wasn’t often that she was so deftly dismissed.

  She heard the call to board, quickly downed the last of her wine, and gathered her bags to head for the plane.

  The business-class cabin was almost full. Ava settled into her seat and waved at the flight attendant, who was already getting impatient with demanding passengers. “I don’t want anything to eat,” she told her. “After we take off, just bring me two glasses of your best white wine.”

  As soon as they were in the air, Ava put on her earphones and settled back to watch Martin Scorsese’s The Departed, a remake of one of the best Hong Kong films ever made, Infernal Affairs. Ava wasn’t sure that Scorsese would be able to capture the complexity of the original, and was disappointed to see that he hadn’t. The American version added an unconvincing love triangle and ended in the most predictable way: the bad guy got shot. In the Chinese version, the bad guy, played by Andy Lau, had been left to deal with inner demons that eventually drove him to madness. Maybe, Ava thought, the difference between the gweilo and the Chinese approach to the same story can be found in the film’s titles. The name of the original Cantonese version, translated literally, was “non-stop path,” a reference to Avici, the lowest level of hell in Buddhism. That’s where the Lau character ended up, in a never-ending cycle of torment.

  Ava turned off the entertainment system and pulled out her notebook. She had made only rough calculations of what Glen Hughes had actually pocketed; now she wanted to fix a final number. It turned out to be $73,450,000. She wondered how much of it he would be good for. He would start off with denial, of course, as they all did. Then that would give way to accepting minimal responsibility, before finally capitulating. That’s when the negotiations would really start.

  Ava wasn’t in the instalment payment business. She and Uncle would take one shot at getting everything they could for the client, collect their commission, and then move on. She had been lucky on her last few jobs: the culprits had been identified early on and the money was still recoverable. The Hughes scam went back ten years, and from everything Edwin had said, Glen Hughes had burned through a lot of the funds in that time.

  JFK was a zoo when they landed. Ava waited in line at Customs for more than an hour, her patience wearing thin. But the taxi line was mercifully short and the traffic to Manhattan light; at close to eleven o’clock Ava arrived at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. She hadn’t slept much on the plane, which was unusual for her, and with the time difference it felt like four a.m. She was hungry, but her need to sleep overwhelmed her need for food, and by eleven thirty she was showered and tucked into bed.

  She slept a dreamless sleep and woke at nine. It was the longest uninterrupted rest she’d had in weeks. She immediately went to the window and opened the drapes. Central Park gleamed at her, bursting into green under a warm spring sun.

  She boiled water in the kettle at the bar and made a Starbucks VIA instant coffee. Then she settled in at the desk and booted her computer. An email message from Mimi confirmed that she and Derek were actively looking for a house in Leaside, an affluent Toronto neighbourhood. She also wrote that Maria had been really happy with Ava’s reaction to her mother’s visit. I don’t know what you’re looking for in a woman, she added, but you seem to have one who is smart, gorgeous, and loves you to death. When I first met her I thought she was perfect for you. Now I’m more convinced than ever. Ava reread the part about Maria, and for the first time since she had left Toronto she found herself really missing her.

  She went back to her inbox and saw she had received another message from Michael Lee. She opened it with caution. I hope your current job is going well, he wrote. I just want to remind you to give me a call as soon as it ends. Ava wondered if he knew what she did for a living. She had assumed that this was something her father didn’t know in any detail. Now she wasn’t quite so sure.

  She closed Michael’s message and saw that she had one from Frederick Locke. How are things proceeding? Please let me know, and try to keep me updated on a more regular basis, could you? Frankly, this entire crisis is wearing on my nerves. I’m having trouble sleeping and my concentration is shot. I can’t stop thinking about all the possible ramifications of our discovery, he wrote.

  Our discovery? Ava thought. She wrote to him, Please stay calm. Everything is under control.

  She logged out of her email account and took a shower. When she came out of the bathroom, she took her time dressing. She chose her pink Brooks Brothers shirt and the black linen slacks, completing the outfit with her black leather Cole Haan pumps. She had about an hour to get to Glen Hughes’ residence, enough time, she figured, to take a detour around Central Park.

  Ava packed her bag with her notebook and some of the files. She was still left with the three bound with a rubber band, which she carried in her hand.

  From the hotel on 60th Street she headed north on 8th Avenue, with Central Park to her right. She had been in, through, and around the park many times. Its southern perimeter was marked by 59th Street, and 110th Street was to its north, a distance of about four kilometres. From west to east the park spanned less than a kilometre. She calculated her route from the Mandarin to Hughes’ place on East 65th to be about eight kilometres, which meant she had to maintain a brisk pace. After ten minutes she knew it wasn’t going to work. Her shoes weren’t built for speed, and the sun was so bright that she was already sweating.

  At West 85th she turned into the park and crossed the Great Lawn towards Fifth Avenue. As she exited onto Fifth she saw a sign for the Guggenheim Museum to the north, and another for the Metropolitan Museum of Art to the south. Ava headed over to Lexington Avenue and walked south, past signs pointing to the Whitney Museum of American Art and then the Frick Collection. Glen Hughes had evidently planted himself in the middle of the high-class art world.

  She got to 65th Street with ten minutes to spare. Hughes lived in the middle of a row of eight townhouses, each three storeys high. Ava couldn’t even begin to guess what they would cost — three million? six million? One housed a psychiatrist’s office. Two were lawyers’ offices. A brass plaque that read glen hughes, art consultant was screwed into the wall to the right of Hughes’ bright red door.

  There was no knocker and no buzzer. Ava rapped on the door and waited. No answer. She rapped again. No answer. She was trying to extract her cellphone from her bag when the door was flung open.

  Glen Hughes towered over her. He was at least six foot four, long and lean like his brother, but his blow-dried dark blond hair hung down over his ears. He was wearing blue silk pyjamas, and Ava wondered if she had woken him until she saw the cup in his hand. “Ms. Lee, right on time,” he said, and then stood aside to let her pass. “Go through to the first door on the left,” he directed.<
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  The hallway had dark oak floors, pearl-white walls, and a ceiling that was a facsimile of the Sistine Chapel’s. Ava couldn’t help but stare, her mouth slightly ajar.

  “It’s striking, isn’t it? I wish I could say it was my idea, but the previous occupant was a rabid Roman Catholic,” Hughes said.

  She turned left into what was obviously his office. It had the same dark oak floor but was covered with a rich, glorious Persian rug. Rows of paintings hung three and four high. There was an antique desk, and behind it was a floor-to-ceiling bookcase, every inch filled. In front of the desk were two delicate wooden chairs, their seats upholstered in white silk.

  Ava couldn’t remember ever entering a room that was quite so opulent, so beautifully put together, and the words tumbled from her mouth before she could think. “This is stunning.”

  “Why, thank you. We do try to represent our values and tastes in everything we do,” he said.

  He was behind her, and when she turned, his face was not more than a foot from hers. She saw the long, pointed nose, the chin that ended sharply, the thin red lips. But it was his eyes that held her attention. Helga had said it looked as if he had one large eye, and at that close proximity Ava had the same sensation. The eyes were blue like his brother’s, but not so open, not in the least curious. Dead — that’s the right word, Ava thought.

  She sat without being asked and he moved to the chair behind the desk. “Would you like something to drink?” he asked as he settled in.

  “No, I’m fine.”

  He smiled at her. “So here we have the vicious little Ms. Lee.”

  “That isn’t a word I would choose to describe myself.”

  “And what word would you choose?”

  “I’m an accountant.”

  “I know you are.”

  He’s awfully casual, she thought, and remembered Edwin Hughes’ description of his brother as cocky. His reference to her as an accountant, his whole manner, was a bit unsettling. Had she told Edwin she was an accountant? She couldn’t remember.

  “You quite panicked my brother, you know, putting ideas about prison — not to mention disgrace and bankruptcy — into his head.”

  “This is a serious business.”

  “A man selling newspapers on a street corner thinks he’s involved in a serious business. Isn’t it all a matter of perspective?”

  Ava sat back in the chair and tried to engage Glen Hughes’ eyes, but they were wandering, almost blissfully, from painting to painting. She said, “Edwin told you about the information I have?”

  “About the three paintings Maurice O’Toole did for us? About your threat to write to Harold Holmes and the rest? About the million dollars you intend to extort from us?”

  Ava felt her stomach turn. “I beg your pardon?”

  “It’s an entire crock,” Hughes boomed.

  “Mr. Hughes, I have proof positive that you and your brother commissioned and sold three fake paintings to some of the most prestigious collectors in the United Kingdom.”

  “I know that, but that’s not why you’re here, is it, Ms. Lee? You have no interest in a million dollars.”

  “What are you trying to say?” she asked.

  “You’re here about the Fauvist pieces I sold to that ignorant amateur in Hong Kong. What was his name? Kwan? Wang? Wing?”

  So Edwin told him absolutely everything, she thought. “Kwong,” she said.

  “Yes, Mr. Kwong. That’s why you’re here.”

  He stared triumphantly at her. A man full of himself, a man who loves to hear himself talk, she thought.

  “I know all about what you’re up to,” he said, as if he had just scored a debating point.

  “And what is that?”

  “You want me to repay the money that some fool in China paid Kwong for that art.”

  Ava closed her eyes. “Yes, that’s why I’m here,” she said.

  “And my understanding is that you intend to use O’Toole’s rather excellent Manet and Modiglianis as your bargaining chips. Pay in China, save our skins in the U.K. and here. That’s the general idea, yes?”

  “Yes,” she said, wondering what Edwin hadn’t told him.

  He had been holding the cup in his hand, letting it hover in midair, a prop. Now he placed it gently on the saucer. Ava noticed a tiny dribble of saliva at the corner of his mouth. He’s more agitated than he’s letting on, she thought.

  “Before we go down that rather complicated path I would like to see the proof you supposedly have. Edwin did go on about it, but he has less experience with this kind of thing and is prone to overreact. You have no objections, I assume?”

  Ava removed the rubber band from the files she’d been carrying. She found the file with records of the Modigliani that had been purchased by Harold Holmes, and passed it to Hughes.

  “I need to go to the toilet,” he said. “Do you mind if I take this with me?”

  “It’s only a copy,” she said.

  “I wasn’t going to flush it,” he said with amusement.

  He didn’t look at her as he walked past, but when he brushed by she could smell perfume.

  Ava opened her bag and took out the letters she had drafted to the Earl of Moncrieff, Holmes, and Reiner. She put them on Hughes’ desk, turned so that he could read them.

  He is a presence, she thought, a man who can fill a room. Without him the room took on a different character: more serene, more exquisite. She admired the dark oak bookcase, which soared at least fourteen feet to the ceiling. Her eyes skimmed over the book titles — art tomes, all of them. Then she turned and looked at the walls, which were covered in paintings. Many of them were abstract, though scattered among them was an occasional object, a landscape, a portrait. She remembered Edwin Hughes saying that his brother had an eye for what would be hot. The paintings seemed to fairly represent that notion.

  Glen Hughes re-entered the room with a burst of energy that put Ava on immediate guard. He saw her flinch and smiled. He swept past her and sat behind his desk, putting his feet, encased in Calvin Klein slippers, up on it. He held the file aloft before tossing it back to her. “Unfortunately for me, Maurice seems to have been as careful with his record-keeping as he was with his painting,” he said.

  She hadn’t expected complete capitulation. “I left those letters on your desk,” she said slowly. “Those will be sent to the gentlemen mentioned if we can’t reach an agreement.”

  “If I don’t concede to your extortion, you mean?”

  “If you wish to put it like that.”

  Hughes had long, slender fingers. His nails were manicured and lacquered. He put his index finger on the letters and slid them back to her. “I don’t need to read these. I am quite sure, as Edwin said, that they would result in our destruction,” he said casually.

  “So where does that leave us?” Ava asked.

  “Trying to make an arrangement,” Hughes said.

  “I believe you have something in mind already,” Ava said.

  “First of all, I’d like to know just how much money you think we’re talking about.”

  “Seventy-three million.”

  Hughes ran his fingers through his hair, only to have it flop immediately back into place. “That seems to be about right,” he said.

  Is he playing with me? she thought. “Okay, then write me a certified cheque or send me a wire.”

  He laughed. “Ms. Lee, I have not even close to that amount of money.”

  Ava went quiet again. “I can’t give you a monthly instalment plan,” she finally said. “You have this townhouse, other assets.”

  “Yes, we can talk about those.”

  “And you have Liechtenstein.”

  She expected the mention of Liechtenstein to at least give him pause, but without missing a beat he said, “I’ll give you Liechtenstein — all of it — if you’ll take it sight unseen and walk out that front door.”

  “Mr. Hughes, I suspect you have some kind of plan. I mean, between the time your brother
told you about my interest in the Fauvist forgeries and now, you’ve managed to come up with a proposal that you think will work. But instead of telling me what it is, you’d rather play this silly game.”

  He turned towards her, his eyes looking in her direction without actually seeing her. “My brother didn’t tell me about the Fauvists. I figured that out myself. A Chinese woman poking around in Maurice O’Toole’s papers — what kind of sense does that make? This wasn’t some random search; this wasn’t a coincidence. And believe me, when I questioned Edwin, he did more sputtering than an old Vauxhall. It wasn’t too hard to reach the conclusion that the Hong Kong business had come unglued. I have done only one large piece of business in my entire life with someone Chinese, so it didn’t take any great intelligence to realize that your interest was in the Fauvists. Then when I got your name from Edwin, I did some research. There you were, Ms. Lee, an accountant aligned with a firm in Hong Kong that specializes in collecting odd debts for Asian clients.”

  “You have me, and now I also know how smart you are,” Ava said. “So what’s your plan?”

  He didn’t acknowledge her jibe. “That depends completely on what your priorities are.”

  “I want my clients to be repaid.”

  “And it depends on how practical you are.”

  “I want the money repaid — that is exactly how practical I am.”

  “Do you care how?”

  “I won’t know that until I hear what you have in mind.”

  “I have hardly any cash,” he said in a rush.

  “So you’ve said.”

  “I think if I maxed out all my credit cards and my lines of credit, borrowed from friends, I might be able to come up with three or four million, no more than that.”

  “Ex-wives are a horrible thing,” Ava said.

  “I own this townhouse, of course, and I think it’s now worth close to five million, but there’s a mortgage, and in this economy who knows how long it would take to sell.”

  He’s playing with me, Ava thought, and decided to wait. Sooner or later he’ll tell me what he has in mind.