by Ian Hamilton
Praise for The Couturier of Milan
Canadian Bestseller
“The latest in the excellent series starring Ava Lee, businesswoman extraordinaire, The Couturier of Milan is another winner for Ian Hamilton . . . The novel is a hoot. At a point where most crime series start to run out of steam, Ava Lee just keeps rolling on.” — Globe and Mail
“In Ava Lee, Ian Hamilton has created a crime fighter who breaks the mould with every new book (and, frankly, with every new chapter).” — CBC Books
“The pleasure in following Ava’s clever plans for countering the bad guys remains as ever a persuasive attraction.” — Toronto Star
“Fashionably fierce forensics . . . But Hamilton has built around Ava Lee an award-winning series that absorbs intriguing aspects of both Asian and Canadian cultures.” — London Free Press
PRAISE FOR THE IMAM OF TAWI-TAWI
“The best of the series so far.” — Globe and Mail
“One of his best . . . Tightly plotted and quick-moving, this is a spare yet terrifically suspenseful novel.” — Publishers Weekly
“Combines lots of action with Ava’s acute intelligence and ability to solve even the most complex problems.” — Literary Hub
“Fast-paced, smoothly written, and fun.” — London Free Press
“An engrossing novel.” — Reviewing the Evidence
“Hamilton’s rapid-fire storytelling moves the tale along at breakneck speed, as Ava globe-trots to put clues together. Hamilton has always had a knack for combing Fleming-style descriptors with modern storytelling devices and character beats, and this book is no different.” — The Mind Reels
“An engaging and compelling mystery.” — Literary Treats
Also in the Ava Lee Series
The Dragon Head of Hong Kong: The Ava Lee Prequel (e-book)
The Water Rat of Wanchai
The Disciple of Las Vegas
The Wild Beasts of Wuhan
The Red Pole of Macau
The Scottish Banker of Surabaya
The Two Sisters of Borneo
The King of Shanghai
The Princeling of Nanjing
The Couturier of Milan
The Imam of Tawi-Tawi
Copyright © 2018 Ian Hamilton
Published in Canada in 2018 and the USA in 2018 by House of Anansi Press Inc.
www.houseofanansi.com
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
House of Anansi Press is committed to protecting our natural environment.
As part of our efforts, the interior of this book is printed on paper that contains 100% post-consumer recycled fibres, is acid-free, and is processed chlorine-free.
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Hamilton, Ian, 1946–, author
The goddess of Yantai / Ian Hamilton.
(An Ava Lee novel: the triad years)
Issued also in electronic formats.
ISBN 978-1-77089-950-6 (softcover). —ISBN 978-1-77089-951-3 (EPUB). —ISBN 978-1-77089-952-0 (Kindle)
I. Title. II. Series : Hamilton, Ian, 1946- . Ava Lee novel
PS8615.A4423G63 2018 C813'.6 C2018-901837-2
C2018-901838-0
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018940096
Book design: Alysia Shewchuk
We acknowledge for their financial support of our publishing program the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, and the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund.
For my wonderful and diversely talented
nieces and nephews.
In Toronto: Graeme, Alasdair, and Kate Hamilton.
In Ottawa: Charlotte Field.
In Vancouver: Amber Devlin and Chris Hamilton.
And in Edmonton: Allen, Christopher, and Phillip Zuk.
( 1 )
Ava Lee sat near the rear of the packed Beijing cinema. She was there to watch the premiere of Mao’s Daughter. The film was set in Yunnan province in 1959 — a year after the launch of the Great Leap Forward, Mao Zedong’s disastrous attempt to impose industrialization and collectivization on Chinese agrarian society. Many farms stopped producing crops, and more than twenty million people died in the famine that resulted from Mao’s misguided effort.
A fictional drama, the film followed a young woman named Yu Yan who would defy Chairman Mao. Yu Yan was the mother of one child, the wife of a rice farmer, and the caregiver for her aging parents. The land had been in her husband’s family for generations before Mao’s Great Leap Forward prohibited the private ownership of farms. When her husband resisted turning the land over to a collective, he was prosecuted, labelled as a counter-revolutionary, and sent away to do forced labour. His wife was allowed to stay in their modest home, but any means she had to support her child and her parents was stripped away.
As the family’s situation steadily deteriorated, the young woman’s reaction morphed from submissiveness to fear, then to anger, and finally to an unbending determination to fight against the government. She confronted local Communist officials and they turned her away. Undeterred, she walked several hundred kilometres to the provincial capital of Kunming to petition senior officials for return of the farm, only to be turned away again. Those rejections strengthened her resolve, and she decided to take her case all the way to Beijing. She walked the entire distance, nearly 2,700 kilometres. To make her cause known, she hung a piece of cardboard around her neck that read: i am a daughter of mao. this is my long march for justice.
As the film ended, a heavy silence filled the theatre. Ava took a deep breath, overcome by emotion. Pang Fai — her friend, her lover, and the actress who portrayed “Mao’s daughter” — had been luminescent. Her body language, her facial expressions, and her penetrating eyes had strikingly conveyed the woman’s emotional and physical journey.
Fai was regarded as the finest actress in Chinese cinema and was building an international audience. Ava’s involvement with her had started as a business venture — Fai was the public face of the PÖ fashion line, which Ava owned with her partners in Three Sisters Investments — and then had evolved into a full-blown romance.
“Pang Fai!” a man shouted as he rose to his feet several rows ahead. His voice seemed to liberate the rest of the crowd, and more than a thousand people stood as one, clapping and calling her name.
A man in a tuxedo walked onto the stage in front of the screen. He held up an arm in an attempt to quiet the crowd, but the cheering didn’t die down. Finally he shrugged and spoke into a microphone. He was almost yelling, but Ava could still barely hear him. He looked into the wings and motioned for some people to come forward. Two men joined him; the only one Ava recognized was Tsang Min, the film’s director.
When Tsang took the microphone, the crowd quieted. He introduced the other person on stage as the film’s producer. Then he spoke for a few minutes about how difficult it had been to shoot in so many parts of China, and how they’d felt at times like a travelling circus, putting up their tents in a different town or city every night. “But the truth is, even if we had been rooted in one place or had even been limited to just one room, as long as our cameras were capturing Fai’s performance, the story could still have been told,” he said.
He looked off to the right and nodded. Pang Fai stepped into view and glided towards him. She was wearing a pale blue cheongsam with a high slit that exposed her long legs. She was tall, about five foot ten, and in three-inch heels she towered over everyone else on stage. The audience erupted. She kissed Tsang and the others on each cheek and then turned to face the audience. She placed her palms together, raised them to just below her chin, lowered her
head, and bowed. She held that position for at least a minute as the cheering continued.
Tsang handed her the microphone. She held it against her chest and said, “I want to thank you all for coming, for your support, and your generosity. Without you, films like this could not be made.” The audience exploded. Pang Fai bowed one more time and then left the stage. The others followed and the house lights came on.
Ava stood up, feeling something approaching awe. It was the first premiere she’d ever attended, and she’d had no idea what to expect. She saw Chen Jie, Fai’s agent, standing in the aisle about twenty rows ahead. He was about sixty and had the rotund physique of a man who’d enjoyed a lifetime of good food and liquor. He had been Fai’s agent since her early days in the business. He knew her intimately, including her true sexual orientation, which he had managed to keep a secret. Public knowledge of it would severely damage, if not destroy, Fai’s film career in China.
Her affair with Ava was the first real relationship that Fai had had with a woman, and Ava knew Fai had shared that information with Chen. He hadn’t taken it well, and whenever Ava met him at lunch or dinner, he made his dislike of her and the reason for it quite plain. Now, as she made her way down the aisle towards him, she wondered what kind of reception she would get. She thought he had seen her when she was ten metres away, but he either didn’t recognize her or chose to ignore her. He was speaking to another man when she finally reached his side. He acknowledged her with a quick glance and then resumed his conversation.
Ava waited, her anger at his rudeness slowly building. Finally he turned to her. “You aren’t supposed to be here,” he said.
“I was invited,” Ava said. “Besides, I was with Fai in Kunming the day before she started making this film. I thought it fitting that I see the end product.”
“I was told you couldn’t make it.”
“My plans changed.”
“Does Fai know?”
“I thought I’d surprise her.”
“She doesn’t like surprises. And neither do I, where her career is concerned.”
“I’m hardly a factor in her career.”
“You are in her life, and the two things are not easily separated.”
“Chen, will you take me to her?” Ava said sharply. “Or do I have to find her myself?”
He sighed. “Come with me.”
He walked to the front of the theatre and turned right, to a small door that was blocked by two security guards. The guards moved to either side when they saw Chen, and one of them opened it for him. Ava felt the guards eyeing her. “She’s with me,” Chen said.
The door led into a small corridor. Chen walked briskly towards the far end. Ava trailed, the heels of her shoes making music on the tile floor. The corridor was lined with storage rooms, and Ava wondered where they were going until they reached a door that read “Manager.” Chen knocked and then opened it. Ava peered past him and saw Fai sitting in a chair by a desk, surrounded by Tsang, the movie’s producer, and three other men she didn’t recognize.
“I brought you a visitor.” Chen took a step to one side so that Ava could pass.
Fai stared at her with wide eyes. Then her mouth flew open and she leapt to her feet. In three strides she was in front of Ava, throwing her arms around her neck. Ava felt Fai’s fingers digging into her shoulders, and she was pressed so hard against her lover’s chest that she could hardly breathe. “I’m so happy you’re here,” Fai said in a rough whisper. Ava thought she could feel her body trembling.
“I wasn’t sure I could make it until last night,” Ava said. Fai clung to her, and Ava began to sense disquiet among the others in the room.
“Perhaps we should leave you two alone for a moment,” Tsang said.
“Please,” Fai replied.
Ava didn’t move until the men had filed out of the office and the door was closed. She placed her hands on Fai’s arms and gently pushed herself free of the embrace. “I didn’t mean to shock you,” Ava said. “I just thought you would be happy with the surprise — although Chen would probably disagree.”
“I’m so happy you’re here,” Fai repeated.
“The film was wonderful, and you were fantastic,” Ava said. “For the first ten minutes or so I felt I was watching you, but then I was drawn completely into the character. By the time the film ended, all I cared about was Mao’s daughter.”
“It was a good role, and Tsang is a great director,” Fai said, her voice catching.
“Are you okay?” Ava asked. “Or are you always this emotional at premieres?”
Fai stepped back until she found the chair and sat down. “I’ve spent the past two days in hell,” she said. “All I could think about was how much I wanted to see you and how much I needed you. I started to call you so many times, but then I always stopped.”
“Why? You know I would want to hear from you.”
“It was me, not you. I wanted to tell you what’s going on, but I couldn’t do it over the phone.”
“Fai, what’s the matter?” Ava asked, moving next to her.
Fai looked up at her, her eyes brimming with tears. For a second Ava was reminded of a scene from the film she’d just watched, except this time Fai wasn’t acting.
“What happened?” she asked.
“You may have just seen the last film I’ll ever make.”
( 2 )
Fai sat with her head down, her face grim and her hands clutched in her lap.
Ava took a chair from against the office wall and placed it next to Fai. Then she pried her friend’s hands apart and held one between hers. “It can’t possibly be that bad,” she said.
“You have no idea.”
“That’s true, and I won’t have until you tell me what the problem is,” Ava said, taking a tissue from her bag and wiping a few tears from Fai’s cheeks.
“I don’t want to talk about it here.”
“Then we’ll leave. Come back to my hotel.”
“I can’t right now,” Fai said. “There’s a reception planned and I owe it to Tsang to make an appearance. Believe me, I don’t want to go, but it is the right thing to do.”
“Do you want me to come with you?”
Fai shook her head. “It would be harder for me to cope,” she said. “I was doing okay until I saw you. Then when I did, I fell apart because it felt so safe. I’m scared that I’d have the same kind of spontaneous reaction during the reception. People are expecting to see Mao’s daughter, not Pang Fai in tears.”
“But you’ll come to the hotel after? I’m at the Éclat.”
“Of course.”
“And you’ll stay the night?”
“Try to stop me,” Fai said. “I’ve missed you so damn much.”
“Stopping you from seeing me is the last thing I’d ever do,” Ava said, leaning over to kiss Fai lightly on the lips.
There was a knock at the door, and after a slight pause Chen said, “Fai, we should be heading over to the reception.”
“I’ll be right there.”
“Is Ava coming with you?”
“No.”
“That’s just as well,” he said. “I’ll wait for you here at the door.”
“He’s jealous of you,” Fai whispered.
“He cares about you,” Ava said.
“I know, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t a pain in the ass.”
Ava smiled, but when she did she saw Fai’s face contort, and realized that whatever was bothering her ran very deep. “You weren’t exaggerating, were you, when you said this might be your last film,” she said.
“A little, perhaps, but I’m not just being dramatic. I’m at a crossroads.”
“Then skip the reception and let’s go to the hotel now and talk.”
“I can’t. I have to pretend everything is fine. I’ll manage. Besides, in addition to Tsa
ng there will be senior officials from the China Movie Syndicate at the reception. I can’t risk insulting them by not showing up.”
“What’s the China Movie Syndicate?”
“That’s too complicated to get into right now,” Fai said, standing up. “I’ll explain it to you later.”
“I really don’t like leaving you alone,” Ava said.
“Chen will be with me. Besides, I’m an actress,” Fai said. “I’ll go to the reception and act.”
( 3 )
Ava and Fai said a restrained goodbye under the watchful eyes of Chen and the other men.
“Our limo is in the laneway at the rear of the theatre,” Chen said to Ava. “You’ll have to leave the way you came in.”
See you later, Fai mouthed.
Ava waited until they had left before retracing her steps to the theatre’s front entrance, where she quickly caught a cab. It had been an eventful evening, she thought as she settled into the back seat — first the raw power and drama of the film, and then Fai’s emotional outburst. Ava wondered if her surprise arrival had contributed to the intensity of the feelings Fai had displayed. She hoped it had, and that things weren’t quite as dire as Fai had suggested. Either way, Ava was relieved that she was in Beijing and grateful for the business circumstances that had contrived to bring her here.
Ava had travelled to Beijing from Hong Kong, where she had been attending a regularly scheduled planning session for Three Sisters, the investment firm she had started a few years earlier with May Ling Wong, her best friend, Amanda Yee, her sister-in-law, and Xu, a silent partner who also happened to be the head of the Shanghai Triads and Ava’s closest male friend. They had barely begun the first day of what was supposed to be three days of meetings when Suki Chan called from Shanghai. Three Sisters had invested in and was continuing to finance Suki’s warehouse and distribution company located there. She had owned the business with her husband for many years but he had refused to expand. His death and the infusion of capital from Three Sisters had liberated Suki, and she was determined to make the business grow as large as she could, as fast as she could.
