by Ada Haynes
Ekbeth asked something else. “And all the people you allegedly killed in the process?”
He had never told Kalem about this, but his bodyguard did not seem surprised.
Watanabe sobered a bit. “That came mainly in our last year of collaboration. Collateral damage. Shona’s words, not mine. As long as the Triads were not involved, there were very few victims. Art trafficking was not one of their businesses. At least, not until they started noticing how much profit we were making. ”
He made a face. “Then, they tried to take over from us. To us, it was as much about protecting our business as our lives. You’ve seen the files Jeffrey sent you. That’s how bloody the war grew at one point. It was a very stressful period, I’ll admit. We could never sleep under the same roof twice. The Triads were losing men and they were really pissed at us. The thing is, Shona had no mercy for anyone trying to stop us, police or triad. She never gave any of them a second chance. Many of her victims made the mistake of underestimating her because she was only a woman, and an addict on top of that. A fatal mistake. Suddenly, she remembered her self-defense training and became very good with knives. Many of her victims realized that too late. Not a lot of them survived the encounter.”
Ekbeth looked at Kalem. His bodyguard was unconsciously touching the ugly scar on his chest. Yes, they had first-hand experience of that specific talent of hers.
“You’re still alive. You won against the Triads? I can’t believe it.”
“Winning is a big word, Ekbeth. It could not go on like this forever. We made a truce, which is still standing to this day.” Toshio smiled. “At that point in the story, her husband, Yeshe, comes into the picture.”
A slight pause. “Yeshe was the only man who ever counted in her life. Again, her words.”
Ekbeth ignored Watanabe’s deliberate provocation. “She told me so herself. Can you tell me about him?”
“He was an artist. From Bhutan, but living the best part of the year in Hong Kong. We met him regularly at gallery openings. He was truly an amazing man. Probably one of the most skilled jade sculptors of his generation. His work still sells for amazing prices. It made him a multi-millionaire, but he never cared for money. Always so quiet, so serene, and just as stubborn as Shona when he had set his mind on something. He knew about Shona and I, about our activities, I mean, and I’m sure someone told him how deadly Shona was. Still, he approached her and started courting her.”
Both Matheson and Watanabe smiled at the memory.
“It’s still a mystery to us, but she fell for him. They had been having an on-and-off relationship for two years at the time our little war with the Triads culminated. One of the Triads suddenly had the idea to get to us through Yeshe. They paid him a visit, threatened him, destroyed his atelier and many valuable pieces. Shona certainly made them regret the idea, but Yeshe had been badly frightened and he gave an ultimatum to Shona. He basically told her to quit heroin and her criminal activities, and come and live with him, or get out of his life.”
Ekbeth knew exactly how Kimiel would have reacted if he had made such an outrageous offer. “And she accepted? I can’t believe it! If anything, you can’t shrug off years of addiction like that.”
Watanabe smiled. “My reaction exactly when she told us her decision. I probably never realized how much she loved the man. She stopped using, something she had been refusing to do for years! Went and lived in Bhutan with him. Not my idea of a paradise, believe me. We thought it would never work. They proved us wrong.”
Ekbeth shook his head, amazed. “I just can’t believe she accepted!”
“Still, it’s true. The timing could not have been better. The Triads were also wary of the war. I offered the truce: they would let me pursue my business; I would give them a percentage of my profit. And Shona was out of the picture from that moment, married and sent off to a distant land, at least for the best part of the year.”
So now Ekbeth knew about the man Kimiel was still grieving. It did not explain what had happened to him.
“Yet he’s dead. You told me she killed him. When I confronted her, she only told me it involved circumstances that I couldn’t understand. Do you know how it happened?”
Watanabe’s expression became unexpectedly sour. “Oh yes, I know how it happened. Unfortunately.”
All was very still around the table suddenly. Until Watanabe managed to get a grip on his emotions and proceeded with his narration.
“This is what happened. Yeshe and Shona had been married for maybe six, seven years when a big art gallery in Hong Kong asked him to present a retrospective of his work. He accepted. Most of the sculptures were merely lent by their owners, but Yeshe brought a few pieces of his personal collection. The exhibition was a huge success.”
Watanabe made a terrible face.
“Success is not always a good thing. It attracts attention. Makes people envious. Shona’s memory is… let’s say confused, about this period, but of some facts, we are fairly certain of. One morning some armed men arrived at their place in Bhutan. The mercenaries found quite a lot of people, as Shona and Yeshe had been celebrating something with his family. There were a few children in the group. The mercenaries did not care. They tortured everyone, especially Yeshe.”
“Why?”
“They were looking for a specific jade sculpture. One they could not find.”
Torturing a whole family for a piece of jade? Watanabe saw his reaction, of course, and nodded, grimly. “I know how it sounds. But some people would do anything, really anything, to get to something they crave. I know. I have made quite a lot of money satisfying that craving. I never expected that someone so close to me would one day suffer the folly of such a man.”
He shook his head. “Shona was eaten by memories of the suffering of the ones she held dear. She was a tough girl. Very cynical about humankind. But what happened there, in that little valley, was too much, even for her. Her husband, everyone, was tortured before her eyes, and there was nothing she could do about it. Almost nothing.”
The servant came again. This time he only offered drinks.
Watanabe was visibly doing his best not to show his emotions, but his clenched fists were indication enough.
“Shona killed Yeshe. She told me she had to kill him. The mercenaries had broken everything that could be broken in him. He would never have been able to work again. Killing him was an act of pity. Yes, she’s tough, but the act sure broke her, more than the physical torture the bastards had put her through. As I said, he was everything to her.”
Watanabe shook his head. “The soldiers were so furious when they found out Yeshe was dead, they killed the whole family. Killed them, then set fire to the place. They only let Shona live. She had to watch it from beginning to end!”
“Why let her live?”
Watanabe’s lips suddenly produced a horrible grimace. “They were still hoping to get that piece of jade, I suppose. They brought her somewhere and tortured her some more. At some point, they probably realized it was useless, and they handed her over to even worse torturers. When I finally found her, two years ago, she was a wreck.”
The conversation was visibly particularly difficult for his host, but Ekbeth had to know.
“What had happened to her?”
Watanabe stared at some point outside. “The mercenaries sold her to a Thai pharmaceutical company. This company has a branch that developed some nasty drugs, which they then sell for a very good price to the military around the world. Drugs that break even the strongest will. The company needed guinea pigs, unofficial ones of course. People like Shona. Officially dead, not missed by anyone.”
He clenched his fists. “The doctors I hired told me her years of drug use were probably the only thing that saved her, in the end. It had helped her resist the effects of some of the experimental drug components that had killed others—and fast. It had been a very close call, though. I apparently found her just in time. One or two more tests, and her body would have failed her. Som
etimes, I wonder if that would not have been the better option.”
Ekbeth tried to ignore the bitterness in those last words. He asked, “How did you find her?”
“Luck, mainly. Yeshe and Shona used to come to our place once a year, to bring his new collection, negotiate the commissions and have a bit of fun in the big city. When we heard nothing of them that year, Maire and I tried to contact them, without success. I decided to go and visit them. Bhutan is not exactly a country you can enter easily, especially the remote part where Yeshe’s family was from, but I got in to Lhuentse eventually. My guide found out what had happened, or rather what rumor said had happened. There had been a fire, a whole family killed and only one survivor.”
“Shona?”
Watanabe shook his head. “Dorje. Yeshe’s older brother. No one knows how he escaped the massacre but he did. He was still in the local hospital when I visited the place. The doctor confirmed the fire accident. His patient had delusions about some demons that had attacked the house and tortured everyone. No one believed that part, but the doctor confided in me that a fire alone could not explain some of Dorje’s wounds. I asked to see him. I could have been spared the effort; Dorje was so heavily drugged to keep him quiet that he was barely coherent. Still he seemed to recognize me, even though we had only met twice before. Seeing me made him talk. Or at least try. All in Dzongkha, the Bhutanese language. I could not understand what he was saying, except Shona’s name. He kept repeating it. He got so agitated by my lack of reaction that the doctor quickly hustled me out of his room. When I asked the doctor what Dorje was saying, the man just shook his head. Nonsense, he told me. But I insisted, and the doctor finally translated me Dorje’s words. That’s when I heard the second round of positive news that day. Shona had not died in the fire, according to Dorje. She’d been taken away by the demons.”
Ekbeth frowned. “And you believed him—the words of a traumatized man?”
Watanabe nodded. “I wanted to believe him. When it became obvious she was nowhere to be found in Bhutan—they don’t have that many foreigners in that country, so it was easy to check—I used every connection I could think of, promised a huge reward for any clue. I wanted to believe.”
He closed his eyes for a brief moment. Sighed.
“My patience was rewarded, eventually. Luck, more than anything. It took more than a year. Someone contacted me. Shona, or someone looking a lot like her, was held somewhere in Thailand for some testing. The place was heavily secured. I did not care. I hired some mercenaries and stormed the laboratory. We were almost too late. As I said, Shona was a total wreck when we freed her. She was plain crazy. There was not much hope for recovery. Drugging her was not an option. She had developed a nasty allergy to any sedatives. We had to chain her to the bed. Force-feed her. It was worse than having to watch an animal in a cage! Hopeless.
“I was very tempted to kill her myself, just to deliver her from her suffering. At least until one of my men told us about an old woman living in the Malaysian jungle who had created miracles with cases like Shona before. I met the woman in person before organizing Shona’s transfer. Keremli only accepted to treat Shona after meeting her. She first refused because of her old age, but then she changed her mind. She told me Shona was kin, though I did not realize at the time what she meant by that. I discovered it later. For all her strange gifts, it took Keremli more than a year to heal her into a somewhat normal being. I don’t know how she did it, but she erased the worst memories. Gave the girl her sanity back—at least most of it.”
So! That was what Keremli had done for Kimiel! He should have guessed it himself! She had helped so many As’mirin get over their trauma after the collapse, after all.
Watanabe inhaled deeply, and managed to meet Ekbeth’s stare.
“So, that’s more or less her story. The rest, you are aware of. I’ve answered your question. Not sure it will help us discover who’s behind Shona’s assassination, though.”
Kalem was the first to react. “You said she had very few personal enemies.”
Watanabe nodded. “I will check them.”
Matheson quietly said then, “The only possibility is Kellerman.”
Watanabe shook his head. “I already told you, Jeffrey. I don’t believe it! Why would he do such a thing?”
Ekbeth had heard that name earlier, he realized. From Kimiel herself. “Who is this Kellerman?”
“Oh, you’ve probably met him, Ekbeth. He’s at the head of a huge international consortium. The headquarters are in Hamburg. Moreover, he’s a big jade collector. That’s why I think you know him. You probably met at some auctions, if not in a financial setting.”
Ekbeth realized Watanabe was right. He knew exactly who the man was. Him? A killer?
“And why do you think he’s behind Shona’s murder?”
“I don’t. Jeffrey here does. Shona has always been certain Kellerman was behind that attack on her family. She remembered an accident during that Jade Exhibition I was telling you about. Kellerman is a huge fan of Yeshe’s work and has bought most of his pieces. According to Shona, this time he had set his mind on a specific piece, but Yeshe had made it as a present to Shona for the birth of their son, so would never have sold it. Kellerman apparently made a whole scene about it. Now, incidentally, it was that very piece the soldiers were looking for when they attacked the family.”
“You mean, Kellerman ordered a whole family tortured and killed to get a piece of jade?”
“I know how it sounds. We’ve no solid proof of this. Sure, the man has the means and the influence to get some help from Chinese administration. He certainly could have asked someone to send the soldiers to get the piece of jade.”
To kill how many people to get a single jade statue! If true, the man was really sick! And this madness did not reconcile with the Kellerman Ekbeth knew.
Toshio Watanabe apparently shared this view. “Again, I’m not convinced of his culpability, even though recent events might have proven me wrong. If he’s behind this, he probably never intended it to be so brutal. Shona has a different point of view on this. Sadly, even if she’s right, Kellerman’s pretty much untouchable and he knows it. So that’s why her murder does not make sense to me. Especially that he ordered it. Why take the risk of being discovered and kill her?”
Ekbeth thought about it. “She must have done something which made him panic, and ordered her execution. But what?”
He suddenly remembered some discussions he had had with Kimiel in the last weeks before her death, during their evenings outside the Valley. It had been about money. Financial transactions. How to take over companies. He had given her the phone number of one of his friends.
Oh my! What had she been doing?
“Ekbeth?”
He looked at Watanabe. “That discussion was not useless, Watanabe. I think I understand some things better, but I have to check a few other facts. I need your trust for that. Can I have all the bank accounts numbers she would have had access to?”
Watanabe hesitated only slightly, but finally nodded. “What is your plan?”
“I need to look into the transactions she made in the weeks before her death. I may need your help, but, if I’m correct, we will have definite proof that Kellerman is our culprit. Or not.”
64
Lyrian’s obvious pleasure at seeing Ekbeth back at the bank did not last long.
Ekbeth explained to Lyrian what he needed and put the list of accounts on his cousin’s desk.
“You are joking, Ekbeth! I really hope you are! There are more than fifty accounts on that list! Couldn’t they provide you with the bank statements as well?”
“Well, Matheson is going to do that for the accounts he also has access to. Those are the ones marked in green. But I’m afraid that still leaves twenty of them that we have to start investigating ourselves.”
Lyrian took a second, closer look at the list, and groaned, “Those two accounts in Hong Kong belong to a Triad bank, Ekbeth!”
&nbs
p; “Ask Wei to help. It is important.”
“I may have to ask the help of our internal hacker again to get that info, Ekbeth. You do realize what the consequences are going to be if we get caught?”
Ekbeth nodded. “You’ll just have to stress the importance of discretion to the man, Lyrian. It’s urgent. I want to know the movements on every one of them.”
His cousin looked at him with a pained expression. “At your service, Akeneires’el. May I ask what his lordship is going to do while his servants are risking their lives for him?”
“Ah, sarcasm! That’s more like you! Well, I’m going to look for a new home, if you want to know. And take care of my daughter, now that she’s finally out of the hospital.”
Lyrian moaned, “This is just so unfair! Do you know how many hours per day I have to work to manage the business without you?”
Ekbeth nodded, with a grin. “You’re doing very well, Lyrian. I really can’t complain.”
Lyrian frowned, and looked at him with suspicion. “Oh no! I know where this is going, Ekbeth! I don’t want the responsibility!”
Ekbeth’s grin only grew. “Bad luck for you then, because the family council has already validated my decision. Not a small feat, you’ll admit, knowing that you’re banished from the Valley. As of today, you are the bank director on this side.”
All of a sudden, Lyrian turned green. “It’s just too much work, Ekbeth! I’m not ready for it!”
“Relax, Lyrian. I was not much older than you when I took over, remember? And, contrary to me, you won’t have to figure out things from scratch! Besides, who said I was going to leave you alone with the job? I will still help in the coming months, and I hope to find another cousin to assist you. After he or she has been properly trained.”
Lyrian was still not convinced. “You can’t seriously think of stopping, Ekbeth! You love the job! You were born for it!”
“I thought so, too, but I have other priorities nowadays. My daughter, my family. We will still see a lot of each other—don’t worry. You are family as well and we’ll have to figure out together how to generate the money to repair Kse’Annilis. I expect that we’ll have to meet frequently to discuss our cash positions.”
