The Red Pole of Macau (24 page)

“I did what I had to do.”

“You mean you did what you chose to do, and that’s why I was so proud. You didn’t care what other people said or thought. You decided for yourself what was important and you acted on it. When I was raising you and Marian, that was my prayer — that my girls would become women capable of being true to themselves.”

“Some days that’s harder to do than others,” Ava said. “When it is, I often think of you and how you have persevered.”

“Ava, you don’t have to —”

“I’m not. I mean it.”

“Well, it’s true that my relationship with your father has tested me. When I married him, I knew what I was getting into: the second wife of a man who wouldn’t leave his first. I thought I could handle it, but all of us being in Hong Kong was too much. So I moved us to Canada. That was my choice, Ava, not his. And once we were here, I re-established my marriage on a basis that suited me and was designed to look after you girls . . . I would have done anything to look after you girls.”

Ava reached over and touched her mother’s hand. “We know.”

“And your father and I have somehow made it work for more than thirty years.”

“I know it wasn’t easy.”

“No, it wasn’t, and it isn’t. I know what people, particularly non-Chinese, say and think about my so-called marriage. They don’t understand our culture and traditions, and in their eyes I’m sometimes a mistress and sometimes a whore. I just pretend I don’t hear them and I go about my business and my life, knowing that it is a life I chose and not one that was imposed on me.”

“We’re the same that way. Neither of us can stand being told what to do.”

“Your father sees that as a blessing in you and a curse in me,” Jennie said.

Ava closed her eyes. She wasn’t up for a discussion about her father or the complicated family he had created — her mother and sister and her alone in Canada; her father with his first wife and four sons in Hong Kong; and a third wife with two young children in Australia.

“This Theresa Ng, she’s a friend?” Ava said.

Her mother sipped her coffee and took out another cigarette. Ava saw her jaw relax. “By now she is.”

“And you say she has a money problem?”

“Yes, and I told her you were good at sorting out that kind of thing, so she asked me to see if you would talk to her.”

“Uncle and I don’t normally take on Canadian clients.”

“She’s Vietnamese Chinese.”

“But her problem is in Canada?”

“Yes, I think it is.”

“Well, there are other options she can pursue here. She could get a lawyer, a good accountant, even a local collection agency. This is a country with laws that actually work.”

“She wouldn’t feel comfortable with them. Besides, from what I can gather, the problem she has is complicated.”

“How so?”

“She hasn’t given me any details. She just shakes her head and moans every time she starts to talk about it.”

“Mummy, very honestly, I don’t think this is a job for me.”

Jennie Lee took a deep drag on her cigarette, and Ava saw her jaw muscles tighten again. “The thing is, I told her that you would talk to her.”

“I wish you hadn’t.”

“Well, I did, and it’s too late to undo it.”

“Why?”

“She wasn’t even scheduled to work today. She’s driving up from Mississauga for the sole reason of meeting with you.”

Ava sighed. “I wish you wouldn’t do this kind of thing.”

“I’m sorry, but all you have to do is listen to her and then point her in the right direction.”

Ava put her hands over her face and rubbed her eyes in frustration. “You cannot tell anyone again that I’ll meet with them. Uncle and I have our own way of operating, and I don’t freelance.”

“Does that mean you’ll drive me to the casino early?”

“Yes, I’ll drive you to the casino early.”

“Thank you. And you will take the time to speak to Theresa?”

“Yes, I’ll talk to the woman, but that’s all. You didn’t promise anything else, I hope.”

“No.”

“Good. Now, how large is this problem the baccarat dealer has?”

“Somewhere between three and thirty million dollars.”

“What?”

“Like I said, she’s vague about the details.”

This is the fourth book in the Ava Lee series and, as always, I would like to thank Sarah MacLachlan and her team at House of Anansi for their support, with a special nod to Barbara Howson, Allison Charles, and the rest of the sales team.

Kudos to my agents Bruce Westwood and Carolyn Forde, who continue to work diligently on my behalf.

My thanks to Sandra Cunningham and Robin Cass at Strada Films/Union Pictures. They not only optioned all of the Ava Lee books, they also lifted my spirits with their enthusiasm, and then they went one step further by hiring the very talented Karen Walton to write the screenplay for the first book. Karen became one more woman in the Ava Lee circle for me to feel happily inadequate around.

This book, like the rest, is the result of the working relationship I have with my editor, the great Janie Yoon. I can’t thank her enough for her insight, expertise, and advice.

Last, I need to thank my family, the entire large and very extended family of children, grandchildren, siblings, aunts and uncles, in-laws, cousins, nephews, and nieces, who — whether their last name is Hamilton or Laporte or Poirier or Field or Howell or Moniz or Burns or Hencher — rally behind every book.

IAN HAMILTON
is the author of
The Water Rat of Wanchai
,
The Disciple of Las Vegas
,
The Wild Beasts of Wuhan
, and
The Red Pole of Macau
,
the first four Ava Lee novels.
The Water Rat of Wanchai
was an Amazon.ca Top 100 Book of the Year, an Amazon.ca Top 100 Editors’ Pick, an
Amazon.ca
Canadian Pick, an Amazon.ca Mysteries and Thrillers Pick, a
Toronto Star
Top 5 Fiction Book of the Year, a
Quill & Quire
Top 5 Fiction Book of the Year, and winner of the Arthur Ellis Award for Best First Novel. The fifth book in the series, titled
The Scottish Banker of Surabaya
, will be published in February 2013.

House of Anansi Press was founded in 1967 with a mandate to publish Canadian-authored books, a mandate that continues to this day even as the list has branched out to include internationally acclaimed thinkers and writers. The press immediately gained attention for significant titles by notable writers such as Margaret Atwood, Michael Ondaatje, George Grant, and Northrop Frye. Since then, Anansi’s commitment to finding, publishing and promoting challenging, excellent writing has won it tremendous acclaim and solid staying power. Today Anansi is Canada’s pre-eminent independent press, and home to nationally and internationally bestselling and acclaimed authors such as Gil Adamson, Margaret Atwood, Ken Babstock, Peter Behrens, Rawi Hage, Misha Glenny, Jim Harrison, A. L. Kennedy, Pasha Malla, Lisa Moore, A. F. Moritz, Eric Siblin, Karen Solie, and Ronald Wright. Anansi is also proud to publish the award-winning nonfiction series The CBC Massey Lectures. In 2007, 2009, 2010, and 2011 Anansi was honoured by the Canadian Booksellers Association as “Publisher of the Year.”