“Having an affair?”

“You don’t fancy me?”

Victor considers her teasing more seriously than he should.

“You’re like a sister to me, Trudy. Melody has always been very fond of you. She asked me to take care of you while she was gone, make sure you were all right.”

“That’s funny. She told me to go to Macau, to be with my father.”

“He does need someone to help him out, take care of him.”

“He has Leung.” Her father’s devoted houseboy, with him for forty years. “He’ll take care of him better than I ever could.”

“Didn’t you hear?”

Trudy’s face falls. “No, what?”

“Leung was knifed in the lung. Seems he was trying to prevent some Japanese private from taking your father’s Rolex. It was touch and go for a while, but then he finally succumbed. These soldiers know just where to put the knife.”

“Father would have told me,” Trudy says. “He would have contacted me.”

“You know how it is with your father,” Victor says soothingly. “He doesn’t want to be a bother to you. But don’t worry, Trudy. I took care of it. I have a woman from Shanghai living with your father, cooking and taking care of him. He didn’t want you to worry. I didn’t want you to worry. I only brought it up because…”

There is a long pause. Trudy looks up and smiles at Victor, brittle. She reaches slowly across the table for the pack of cigarettes and takes one out. Victor does not offer a light so she goes into her handbag and gets a lighter. Her hands are shaking. She inhales deeply and blows the smoke at Victor.

“Otsubo…” she says. “He adores me. Thinks I’m some exotic flower.”

“I know,” Victor says. “You should make sure that lasts.”

He looks at her searchingly with narrowed eyes, then turns away, satisfied.

“I’m having a garden party next week,” he says. “You will be the hostess. We are family, so people won’t talk. Bring Otsubo and tell him to invite whoever he wants.”

Trudy nods, so slight a movement it is almost unnoticeable.

“I think we’re finished here,” Victor says. “But one more thing, Trudy. When you decide to do something, you should do it all the way. There’s nothing worse than indecision, or ambivalence. That’s the kind of thing that endangers lives. But you’re a smart girl-you know what I’m talking about. Have a good day.”

He tosses some bills on the table and walks out.

May 27, 1953

CLAIRE SAT in the library with the retired headmistress, stunned.

“Victor Chen?” she asked. “He was one of the three? Why didn’t he just…”

“Oh,” Edwina said. “He didn’t want to sell the information too cheap. Nothing if not a good businessman, that fellow. Very misinformed about him, the government was. I could have told them he’d sell his own mother if the price was right. They thought it would be good to have a Chinese person know, in case the English were all imprisoned or killed. And they thought he had loyalties to England because he had been schooled there. He found out that I knew and that Reggie knew, but Reggie was in Stanley and he knew he’d never say anything. Me, he didn’t know so well. So he had me over a few times as well. I’ve never been so lavishly entertained and skillfully interrogated about my intentions. But I knew better. We played cat and mouse for a while and he always kept tabs on me.”

“Did Trudy know about this?”

“I don’t think so, or else she wouldn’t have run around so hard, trying to procure the information. I think Victor got some pleasure out of seeing her work so diligently to get something that he already had. And Dominick too. The two of them were something to see. Victor watched them for a while, and then I think he decided they were getting a little too influential and he decided to do something about it. He was really the one pulling the strings. They were just his puppets.”

Edwina paused.

“Do you want some of these scones?” she asked. “They’re the best in Hong Kong. Made by a Mr. Wong who I trained myself. He’s the best Chinese English baker in the colony.”

“No, thank you,” Claire said.

Edwina spread jam on a chunk and popped it into her mouth.

“Mmmmm,” she said. “I’ve lived here so long but still can’t get by without my tea and scones.

“So, Victor Chen started to get irritated with the way Trudy and Dominick were carrying on. They were being rather conspicuous and too cozy with their relationship with Otsubo. It was quite unseemly. So, he started to sow a little unrest between them. He wanted them more under his thumb than Otsubo’s. He also included Dominick in his business, which was flourishing. He was supplying Japanese troops in Guangzhou with petrol and basic supplies and making an absolute fortune. What Dominick had been doing before was small potatoes and he told him that. He had factories and enormous resources backing him up. Then he told Dommie that Trudy was going behind his back and trying to get the information without him, and of course, Dominick believed him. So Dominick started to do things that would undermine Trudy. He told Otsubo that Trudy knew where the Crown Collection was but just wasn’t telling him. Victor was only too happy to back this up.”

“Did Dominick know that Victor knew?”

“No,” scoffed Edwina. “Victor didn’t tell anyone. I was the only one who knew. But you know, the funny thing is…” Edwina’s eyes looked far away. “It was very odd. It was as if Trudy knew what was going on but she didn’t do anything about it. She had already given up. It was as if she didn’t care anymore and she was just going through the motions.”

Someone opened the door and looked inside. Edwina Storch didn’t look up. The door closed silently.

“And so, Otsubo decided that Trudy was too much trouble and he’d grown tired of her. He’d moved on to Dominick, at any rate. They were lovers as well. He liked anything and everything, that man. He was insatiable. A real pig. So he used this as an excuse to get rid of her. And he asked me to help. But you know, the odd thing was that nothing he did seemed to faze her. She was untouchable and it made him crazy. After she fell pregnant, he told her he was giving her to his lieutenant, that he was done with her, but she went quietly. She did everything he said and didn’t give him any satisfaction. I think he wanted her to suffer. So he passed her around-she was an heiress, you understand, had been given the best of everything from birth, knew everyone. I don’t know why she did it. She just did not care anymore.” For the first time, Edwina Storch seemed saddened.

“So how did Trudy die?” Claire asked.

“Dominick had told Otsubo that Trudy knew where the Crown Collection was. Trudy denied it. Otsubo thought she might confide in me because I was English so he had me bump into her a few times so that we could rekindle our acquaintance. It was easy because he knew where she was all the time. So Trudy and I bumped into each other regularly.”

“Did you feel any scruples about doing this for this man?” Claire asked.

“Not at all,” Edwina said instantly. “You have to understand, Claire, that no one was a saint in any of this. Otsubo was the enemy, but Trudy, Dominick, Victor, they were all getting in bed with him, so as far as I was concerned, they were all the enemy. They didn’t have anyone’s interest at heart except their own.”

“It was almost your patriotic duty,” Claire said quietly.

“Yes.” Edwina seized on this idea. “I thought this was one way I could help our country. I knew Victor Chen was going to give up the Crown Collection at some point. It was just at what price. And I thought if I kept tabs on it, I might be of some help in tracking it down. So, what I did was… I told Otsubo that Trudy did know.”

“What?” Claire’s mouth hung open. “But…”

Edwina stiffened.

“I thought it was the best approach. The man had to be led down the wrong path so he wouldn’t find the right one.”