by Ovidia Yu
‘Actually, it’s not out of character for him,’ Beth said. ‘Even as a boy, everything would be going well and then he would get these depressions. Just like his mother. I was always afraid that he would end up like his mother. Fabian may have tried to copycat his mother’s suicide.’
It took Aunty Lee awhile to become aware that her mouth was hanging open. She felt the dryness on her tongue when she snapped it shut. ‘What suicide?’ Her voice sounded strange to her. ‘Patty died of cancer.’
‘Fabian may have been trying to copycat his mother’s suicide,’ Beth repeated. ‘We told everybody that Patty died of complications but she had been depressed for some time. The pain was getting worse; she knew she was never going to get any better. She overdosed on sleeping pills and whisky.’
‘I didn’t know that. Nobody told me.’ Aunty Lee had thought that, in the course of his talks, Fabian had said everything he had to say on his mother, with repetitions. But he had never mentioned this.
‘We didn’t want Fabian to know but, during that last fight, Jonny got angry and told him. Obviously, that sent Fabian over the edge.’
‘Don’t say that!’ Aunty Lee said quickly. ‘We still don’t know what really happened, what. It might have been an accident. Nowadays all these young people whole day taking powders for protein and fibre and slimming, so easy to get mixed up with drain cleaner and fungus powder, especially when you don’t use the whole packet and you transfer to a bottle, and you mean to label it properly but then the phone rings and you forget!’
Beth seemed to have some difficulty following Aunty Lee. She shook her head and dismissed the thought.
‘Thank you for coming,’ she said with a sudden sweet smile. ‘Things have been so stressful I don’t know what I’m saying anymore. If you hadn’t come to look for Fabian, we might not have found him in time. Thank you.’
Beth Kwuan was another puzzle, Aunty Lee thought. For all Beth’s claims to distrust her sister’s husband, she had continued living in the house with him, even going into business with him.
Jonny Ho had told Aunty Lee he took care of Beth because, according to Chinese tradition, he was responsible for his dead wife’s sister. But Beth Kwuan was hardly a helpless damsel with bound feet. She had been a schoolteacher for years, and anyone who could survive hormonal teenagers and their tiger parents was a survivor.
Aunty Lee remembered Fabian’s mysterious talk about plans guaranteed to make Jonny Ho confess, and her heart sank. Why hadn’t she forced the stupid boy to tell her what he was planning? ‘Alamak, that Fabian so goondu! I am going to shake him … ’ The look on Timothy Pang’s face stopped her. She might not have a chance to shake Fabian. Poor silly Fabian.
Aunty Lee was suddenly furious with everyone who hadn’t believed Fabian’s suspicions that his mother was murdered … including herself. But given he believed that, why would he try to kill himself the same way as her fake suicide?
But Beth was speaking again. ‘You don’t think Jonny or Fabian could have killed Julietta? Julietta might have found out something about one of them he didn’t want to get out … I told you she was behaving strangely after Patty died … that’s what you’re thinking, isn’t it?’
Aunty Lee did not remember Beth mentioning Julietta’s strange behaviour. Maybe she had mentioned it to the police in her statement. ‘No. I think that Jonny Ho is a con man and a cheater but he doesn’t seem like a killer.’
‘The ambulance is here!’ Nina shouted. She led the men upstairs, and two more police officers joined Timothy Pang and started clearing a path through the construction debris to the ambulance outside the gate. ‘Might be food poisoning from the look of it.’ Aunty Lee heard Timothy tell them, which made her angry with him. Why did everybody automatically blame food poisoning for everything? After what seemed to her an agonisingly long time, Fabian was carried down the stairs with a drip in his arm and an oxygen mask over his face.
Aunty Lee bent over the stretcher at the foot of the stair and squeezed Fabian’s limp, cold hand. ‘You get better, Fabby, okay? We will work out everything. Just get better.’
Beth’s strange steady gaze followed Aunty Lee through half-closed eyes.
‘Still no sign of Mr Jonny Ho?’ One of the newly arrived policemen asked Beth.
‘He took his passport and international driving licence. I don’t think he’s coming back.’
‘Master Jonny used to park his car in the next door garage,’ Nina said. ‘The neighbours moved out because of all the renovation noise and dust. Temporary, they said. They took their cars with them so Master Jonny used to park his car there when he wanted to hide it, so people didn’t know he is here.’
It didn’t seem likely. The homeowners had been away long enough that weeds were flourishing on the pebbled driveway. And not only were the garage doors closed, the fancy metal gate was protected by a padlock and chain. ‘The owner’s a lawyer,’ Beth explained. ‘Very security conscious.’
‘I smell something funny,’ Aunty Lee said, sticking her head between the upright rods of the gate. ‘And look. But a car must have driven into the garage because it flattened some of them. See? Starting here, near the gate, see where that patch of goose grass got one flattened strip through it? That one grows so fast, must have just happened. Very good for women after having babies, you know. And for making tea if you got worms … ouch … ’
As Aunty Lee withdrew her head with more care for her ears, she heard Timothy Pang saying: ‘Get me a search warrant. Now.’
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Quiet Women
Fabian Loo’s sensitive stomach had probably saved his life. If he had not vomited up a good part of his last meal, he would have been dead instead of in a coma. But even apart from his coma, things didn’t look good for him.
The police found Jonny Ho’s shiny blue Subaru hidden in the garage. It was unlikely Jonny Ho had hidden it there this time, because the police also found Jonny Ho dead in the boot. Jonny Ho had been drugged. And when he was unconscious, someone had shot him three times in the back with a nail gun. It was probably the same nail gun that had killed Julietta. But because Jonny Ho had been shot in the back instead of in the head, it would have taken him much longer to die.
Had Fabian killed Jonny before trying to kill himself? Jonny had been killed the same way as Julietta, with a nail gun. And the police found a nail gun hidden in the toilet cistern of Fabian’s bathroom.
‘But Fabian solved the housebreaking case!’ Aunty Lee protested. ‘Jonny Ho was going to be arrested! Why would he go and attack Jonny Ho for?’
‘Fabian came back to the house and found Jonny getting into his car with his bags,’ Beth said. ‘They started arguing, shouting at each other. I was afraid they were going to start fighting. I couldn’t stand it anymore. By the time I came back, Jonny was gone. I saw him getting ready to leave earlier, so I thought he just left. I asked Fabian what had happened, but he just said “wait and see” and went upstairs. When I asked him where he was last night, he told me to mind my own business, that he was tired and fed up and wanted to sleep.’
That sounded exactly like the Fabian Aunty Lee had known over the past few weeks. But surely his big coup would have cheered him up? Helen had said Fabian was looking forward to talking to the reporters, even wanting to get dressed up for photographs. But then Fabian had wanted revenge against Jonny Ho more than anything else, so he couldn’t have cared less about some Chinese gang getting apprehended if Jonny Ho had got away. When he went back to the house for a change of clothes, Fabian had probably been thinking about what he would tell the reporters about how he had exposed the man who married his mother. Instead, he had found Jonny Ho about to make his escape.
Aunty Lee liked Fabian Loo. He was, after all, her old friend’s son and the right age to have been her son. But she had seen enough of him to recognize his obsession with his stepfather. Fabian was the sort who got an idea inside his head and wouldn’t see things any other way.
And Fabian
had come back to Singapore to challenge his mother’s will and demand her house and all other property. Aunty Lee had herself heard him ranting against Jonny Ho, and Beth had heard him threatening him.
Aunty Lee didn’t want to believe Fabian could have killed one, possibly two, people. But the police would say he had both motive and opportunity. His attempt at suicide might have come from shock at what he had done or be an attempt to escape justice. Even if he survived, Singapore still had the death penalty as well as laws against suicide.
At least Nina was back. Looking back, Aunty Lee thought how silly she had been to be so worried about Nina.
‘You are right. I missed you so much,’ Aunty Lee said to Nina as they started home after locking up the café for the night. Nina looked surprised, then smiled sadly.
‘I also missed you,’ Nina said. ‘It is good to be home.’
They were walking back to the house. It was a slow, easy walk in the relative cool after sunset. The street lamps were bright through the trees lining the road, and the lighted windows showed glimpses of cosy domesticity … parents sitting in front of television sets and children sitting at computers. It had not been a particularly busy evening, but Nina still looked worn down after her time working for Beth. And Aunty Lee was still shocked by Jonny Ho’s horrible death and the suspicions against Fabian, who was still unconscious.
‘He was a stupid man,’ Aunty Lee said. ‘Just because he was so good-looking did not mean he can go around flirting with old women. But he also did not deserve to end up like that.’
‘Jonny Ho flirted with everybody, not just old women,’ Nina said. ‘Except Miss Beth. Miss Beth is the one who was always trying to flirt with Jonny Ho.’
‘What?’ Aunty Lee stopped so suddenly that Nina thought at first she had tripped. ‘Beth is far too prim and proper to flirt.’
‘Not when there’s nobody around.’ Clearly servants didn’t count to Beth. ‘I was there, remember? I saw her. And Master Jonny saying, “don’t sit so close”, “don’t touch me like that”. So funny. What are you looking for?’
Aunty Lee was fumbling in her purse. ‘My mobile phone … ah, here it is.’
‘Madam, we are almost back home. Why not go home then phone?’
But Aunty Lee was too caught up trying to sort out the thoughts … and sudden panic … Nina’s words had triggered. ‘Helen? Are you still at the hospital? Is Beth there? What? If she comes back don’t leave her alone with Fabian. Never mind why. Just stay there with him and let me think.’
‘What’s wrong?’
‘Maybe nothing. Beth was at the hospital but left when Helen arrived. That was about three hours ago.’ Aunty Lee started walking homewards again, much faster this time.
‘Your friend is very worried about Master Fabian,’ Nina observed to Aunty Lee’s back as she followed her.
‘It’s all your fault that my Jonny is dead. You are the one that ruined everything. My school, my life, my love. It was all finally coming true. I worked so hard for it and you just came in and messed up everything!’
Aunty Lee was still blinking in the sudden glare of a torch in her face when Beth swung a stone lotus flowerpot stand at the side of Nina’s head and knocked her down.
‘Unlock the door,’ Beth Kwuan ordered. ‘And get inside. Leave her.’ She was still speaking in her genteel mission school prefect voice, and Aunty Lee obeyed. Her hands were shaking, and it was understandable that she had some trouble unlocking the door. Nina moaned softly but didn’t get up. She would be better off outside, Aunty Lee thought. Beth might forget about her. Or she might wake up and go for help. On that thought, she got the door open.
‘Come on … ’ Beth Kwuan yanked Nina to her feet and pushed her at Aunty Lee who supported her. ‘Inside.’
Beth followed them in and switched on the lights, putting down her torch.
‘Would you like a drink?’ Aunty Lee asked. It was absurd given the situation, but came out of her as automatically as the ‘Have you eaten yet? Please don’t take off your shoes,’ that followed. Phrases that were triggered by anyone coming into her home.
Beth did not answer. She also did not take off her shoes. Aunty Lee hoisted Nina inside and eased her onto the upright hall chair and pulled her hand down to look at her head. There was going to be a nasty bruise. Beth darted into the kitchen, and Aunty Lee wondered whether to run for help. The problem was, she could not run and she did not want to leave Nina alone with this madwoman.
‘Can you walk?’ Aunty Lee tried to get Nina back on her feet.
‘Move away from her.’ Beth reappeared with a knife and a glass of water. ‘Further. Get over there by the wall.’
When Aunty Lee reached the wall, Beth held the knife against Nina’s neck as she drank the water. When she finished, she aimed, then threw the glass at Aunty Lee. Luckily her left handed shot was unsteady and the glass smashed against the wall an arm’s length from Aunty Lee. Aunty Lee squeaked in alarm, which made Beth laugh.
‘Now you know how it feels to have people attacking you, throwing things at you!’
‘You killed Julietta,’ Aunty Lee said, because she had nothing to lose. Beth meant to kill Nina. Beth probably meant to kill her too, but somehow that felt less important. She had put Nina in danger by letting her go to Beth and now by bringing her home. She saw that Beth was quite mad. Mad as in insane, crazy ‘cuckoo’ as they would have said in school. If only she could distract her until someone came …
‘Julietta was a shameless slut,’ Beth said. ‘Totally shameless. She threw herself at Jonny. The poor man didn’t know what to do. Just like Patty. They had husbands of their own, you know. But they were greedy.’
‘Patty’s husband was dead,’ Aunty Lee pointed out. Nina looked dazed but Aunty Lee hoped she was recovering. ‘Patty didn’t even meet Jonny Ho until after Ken died.’
‘Patty took whatever she wanted without any consideration for anyone else. Right from the time we were children she was like that. I was only one year older but I was supposed to look after her. When she did anything wrong, my parents blamed me for not looking after her. I told them they shouldn’t have favourites, but they didn’t care. They spoiled her. She was always the centre of attention, and she loved getting attention. I was studying hard and doing what I was supposed to and she just didn’t care, but she always got away with it!
‘All I ever wanted was to be appreciated for myself. To be acknowledged, just once, for what I do. Is that too much to ask? All of you say it was so romantic that Patty was got married so soon after university. Her parents paid for the wedding dinner; his parents paid for the fancy honeymoon. What’s so romantic about that?’
‘It was romantic because she was the first in our year to get married, and they were a couple all through university!’ Aunty Lee protested, caught up in Beth’s grievances.
‘Do you know, I met Ken Loo before she did? Ken and I were in the same class in the National Junior College. He came over to our house to work on a group project but Patty came along and distracted him, and he just abandoned the rest of us and spent the whole afternoon talking to her! I went and told him that if he didn’t do his share of the work I would make sure he didn’t get any credit. But Patty just laughed at me, and Ken said “okay Teacher”. He made a laughing stock of me! I was so embarrassed. And the rest of the group refused to back me up. I went and told the tutor I couldn’t work with them anymore.’
‘That was over forty years ago,’ Aunty Lee pointed out. ‘I can’t even remember people who were bad to me last week! And Patty wasn’t just flirting, they were happily married for so many years!’
‘I will never forget the humiliation. The deliberate humiliation. That was what Patty was really like. That was the side of her that friends like you never saw.’
‘Did Patty know you had a crush on Ken Loo?’
Beth sneered. ‘You think that would have made any difference to my sister? The day before the wedding, she said to me, “If you tell me you love him I’ll let y
ou have him and get someone else!”’
‘What made her say that?’
‘What difference does it make? She didn’t mean it and, of course, I told Patty it was wrong and immoral of her to talk that way about the man she was marrying. And, of course, she wouldn’t have. She was just looking for a chance to humiliate me further. I refused to attend the wedding. Patty always took everything she wanted and everything that anybody else wanted.’
‘Your parents said you had measles.’ Aunty Lee remembered.
Beth waved that away. ‘They covered up for her, of course. In spite of all that, when Ken died and left Patty all alone, I said to myself, I have to do my sisterly duty and go to keep her company.’
Beth had been quite as alone as Patty, Aunty Lee thought, but said nothing. Beth, carried away by historical grievances against her dead sister, had lowered the knife and she didn’t want to recall her to the present. Why didn’t anybody come? But who was there to come?
‘She was selfish and self-centred all throughout our girlhood years. And then, of course, when we met Jonny Ho in China, it started all over again.’
‘You fell in love with Jonny Ho,’ Aunty Lee said. Of course she had. Jonny Ho had been the sort to flirt with every woman he encountered, and poor Beth, being lonely, inexperienced, and hungry for any attention, had fallen for him.
But, of course, Jonny picked the rich widow over the poor spinster.
‘I met him first, you know. I was the one who arranged the China tour, who found a guide who could speak English. Patty wasn’t even interested. She just said: “Whatever.” I had to make all the decisions for her, always.’
The hand holding the knife dropped to her side. ‘Even the end. Patty had cancer, you know. She would have gone sooner or later and in much more discomfort.’
‘She asked you to give her an overdose?’
‘Patty was already sick. She just had a fight with Jonny. She accused him of telling his contacts how to break into her friends’ houses. I gave her some pills to calm her down. Then when she was groggy I just gave her more pills. Dr Heng may have guessed, but I told him that Patty had been depressed about the diagnosis and he came to the conclusion that she killed herself. But he’s the one who signed the death certificate as natural causes. Because he knew that if there was no hope of recovery for her, it was better than going through all the chemo and the pain.’
