Jin Tao had insisted they drive into the city. As she watched the rain beat patterns onto the glass of the window, Sophie was thankful she’d agreed. Outside, Oxford Street was a smear of neon and black. In the dark, the saturated asphalt glistened like oil and bounced light from the brightly lit shopfronts and their fluorescent signs.

‘Would have been a terrible ride,’ she started, and threw a smile Jin Tao’s way.

He wasn’t buying. He’d hardly spoken in the hour since he’d arrived home from the restaurant and announced he would accompany her. Now he simply gripped the wheel tighter and clenched his jaw in a sullen scowl. Rain peppered the windscreen, turning it opaque.

‘Aren’t you going to use your wipers?’

Jin Tao switched on the wipers and they swished once across the glass to reveal the sodden night. ‘You going to tell me how to drive, too?’

Sophie folded back into her seat, studied the tension in Jin Tao’s jaw and neck. ‘I didn’t mean to coerce you into this.’

Jin Tao raised an eyebrow but said nothing. Sophie tried again, threading lightness into her voice.

‘I mean, you can just drop me off. I’ll be okay on my own.’

Jin Tao drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. ‘I thought you, of all people, would understand.’

‘Understand what?’

Jin Tao slowed the car as they cruised past Spice I Am on Wentworth Avenue. He caught Sophie’s eye as he looked past her to check out the queue of hungry punters on the footpath. ‘Pissing down and they still come.’

‘Understand what?’

Jin Tao sighed and spoke through gritted teeth. ‘That if you neglect to look after people, you live with the consequences.’

She was silent as her mind groped wildly to find the meaning in Jin Tao’s words. And then the confusion gave way to rage.

‘You don’t need to look after me.’

‘I do.’

And then they were pulling over and Jin Tao had placed a hand on the back of her neck. She jerked away and knocked her forehead against the window.

‘Careful.’ Jin Tao’s voice was soft.

‘Fuck off.’

‘I’m quite serious, Sophie,’ he said. ‘What you’re doing here, I think it’s less to do with those girls and everything to do with what happened.’

Sophie didn’t bother to reply. If she’d brought an umbrella, she’d get out and walk; as it was, she was tempted to make a break for it anyway. The car suddenly felt too hot. The carpet’s damp scent flooded her nostrils and she thought that just maybe she would be sick.

‘It’s not going to bring him back, you know.’ Jin Tao had withdrawn his attempt to comfort her and again his voice sounded pragmatic and cold.

Sophie pulled the muscles in her face taut. ‘Really, I have no idea what you’re on about.’

‘Come on.’

‘No, really. You’re not making any sense.’

‘It’s no coincidence these girls come from China.’

‘You’re right about that, officer.’

‘I mean it’s no coincidence that you’re attracted to their plight because of China. Fuck, Sophie, you’re half Chinese.’

‘That’s got jack-all to do with it,’ she said. ‘You can’t just pull out the race card when it’s convenient.’

‘You’re right,’ Jin Tao said. ‘This isn’t about race. It’s about David.’

And he’d done it. He’d done what she’d begged him not ever to do. He’d brought her back there, raised the memory, dragged it to the forefront of her consciousness. The memory swamped her senses like a rotting carcass breaking the surface of a murky pond.

女孩

After the park, after the search and the police and the press conference and the photographs and the media frenzy that surrounded David’s disappearance, it had been just the two of them. Sophie and Li Hua.

For days and weeks they had stood together, side by side, riding the media storm caused by the fact a foreigner had been in charge of the Chinese boy when he disappeared, using it to their advantage in their search for Li Hua’s son.

But each lead had proved futile and each new piece of information had contributed more to the confusion than to a solution. The police quickly lost interest and the story soon lost its currency. Thousands of Chinese children go missing every year. David was simply another. And like the others, he was never found.

‘I don’t blame you,’ Li Hua said one day, her eyes glistening with fresh tears. It was the first time she’d said it.

Sophie felt the air scream out of her lungs, leaving her empty, deflated, at risk of collapse. ‘You should,’ she said, her voice a shadow of its usual self.

‘And what good would it do?’ Li Hua asked. ‘I’d only lose my son and my soulmate at the same time.’

Soulmate.

‘Am I that?’ Sophie asked.

Li Hua nodded.

‘I should have watched him more carefully,’ Sophie said. ‘It’s my fault.’

‘You are right and you are wrong,’ Li Hua said, eyeing her. ‘Yes, you should have watched him more carefully. But it is not your fault there is evil in the world. You were not to know someone evil was lurking so close.’

‘What would you do to him?’ Sophie asked. ‘If you found the person who took David?’

Li Hua contemplated the question for a long time. Then she took Sophie’s hand and placed it against her heart. ‘I’d take a cleaver and drive it through his spine,’ she said, and Sophie felt the pulse of Li Hua’s blood beneath her breast. ‘I wouldn’t hesitate. Not for a second.’

鬼

‘C’mon, Sophie, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you.’

Jin Tao’s voice stabbed at her like a knife. She lifted a hand to her cheek and brushed the skin to find it wet. He’d made her cry and that made her mad. ‘Let’s go,’ she said to the window as she pulled down the seatbelt and buckled herself in.

‘Does this mean you’re talking to me again?’

‘I didn’t share my past with you for you to use it against me.’ Her voice contained the right amount of ice.

‘Sure.’ Jin Tao stepped on the accelerator. ‘Sorry.’ They drove the rest of the way in silence.

Liverpool Street smelled of wine and garlic. Plates of olives and chorizo smothered sheltered sidewalk tables where sangria-flushed patrons ate and smoked. Sophie sloshed past them along the puddled footpath and out from under the shelter into the open night. The rain fell hard on her head and neck.

‘Stick closer to me,’ panted Jin Tao as he again shoved the handle of the umbrella close to her face. ‘You’re soaked.’

Sophie stuck her hands deeper into her pockets and increased her speed. ‘It’s only water.’

The lane ran parallel to the street that housed the butcher shop. As they entered it, Jin Tao shoved the umbrella into the crook of Sophie’s arm. ‘Take this,’ he said.

‘But we’re here.’

Jin Tao’s voice was firm. ‘And since we’re here together, you’ll not mind if I go in first.’

She started to protest but Jin Tao interrupted. ‘It’s as simple as this,’ he said. ‘If there is something suss going on here, then the last thing you want is for the wrong person to see you poking around.’

Sophie leaned into the wall. He was right.

‘Let me go, ask some questions, check it out,’ Jin Tao said. ‘I’ll report everything back to you and we can decide what to do from there.’ His eyes searched hers for some acknowledgement. ‘Sound like a plan?’

She shooed him with a flick of her wrist. ‘Go on then.’

As soon as Jin Tao disappeared around the corner, Sophie turned a sharp left into the lane. She knew Jin Tao would ask for Han Hong by name, and she loved him for it, but she didn’t think it would get him far. She’d give him five minutes then she’d follow him in.

There was the clatter of metal against asphalt. Sophie jumped, her body tensing. She listened to the whir of something metallic – a hub cap maybe – spin a lazy circle against concrete, its vibrations bouncing. Somebody else was in the laneway, she was sure of it. Sophie twisted to face the entrance to the alley. A familiar, fearful gurgle tickled her stomach as she strained to silence her breathing, ears attuned to the other sounds – the rhythmic patter of rain a backdrop to the more brutal rush of gutter water, the low flat drum of an air-conditioning system, the splat of footsteps moving through puddles, the click and roll of an umbrella letting down, a low-pitched curse as…

‘Fuck!’ He was upon her and she whacked him with all her strength. The stick of her umbrella connected with bone and the man lurched backwards, his own umbrella clattering against the wall as his hands swooped to his head for protection.

‘What the fuck!’ He crouched low in the gutter like an ambushed soldier, one open palm stretched out in surrender, the other massaging the side of his head. ‘You can have my wallet, man. You can have it,’ he yelped, his last words catching in his throat. ‘Just don’t hurt me. Don’t hurt me, please.’

Sophie crouched low to the ground. The man glanced up and Sophie reeled back.

‘You.’

It was Justin Holmes. He groaned.

‘What are you doing here?’

‘I could ask the same question of you,’ he said.

‘You had something to do with the murder. The earring. It really did belong to Joy Lin.’

‘I thought you knew that,’ he said. ‘You told me it was initialled with some bloody Chinese name.’

‘It’s called a bluff,’ Sophie said. Seamus’s favourite PI trick. ‘There must be thousands of cheap fucking earrings in Sydney. I just wanted to make you sweat.’

Justin groaned again and rubbed the side of his head. ‘Did you have to hit me with that thing?’ he said, nodding to the umbrella.

‘Tell me what’s going on.’ Sophie pointed the tip of the umbrella at him. ‘Why are you here and what do you know about the operations of this place? A whole bunch of girls are missing, kidnapped, sold into the sex industry, used as slaves and prostitutes. Someone killed Zhou. Don’t tell me it was you.’

The man laughed. ‘What are you? A cop?’

‘No, but there’s one just inside the store.’

‘He won’t find anything. They’ve gone.’

‘Who’s gone? Where?’

Justin shrugged his shoulders. ‘The whole shop’s shut up, moved out, as if it never existed.’

They were too late. Sophie felt tension drop into her stomach like a lead ball. ‘So you came here because I told you about the murder?’

Justin nodded. ‘I freaked out. When I met the girl in that room I had the earrings in my pocket. I was going to get her to wear them but we never got to that. They must’ve fallen out. I didn’t kill anyone. I can’t be implicated. I came down to make sure they took my name and address off the records. If my wife finds out about any of this, I’m screwed.’

‘Where did you lose the earrings?’

‘An upstairs room. They had a girl there. I gave her some information.’

‘What information?’

‘It’s none of your business. I did the right thing but the information I gave her made her very upset.’

‘Was this room above the butcher shop?’

‘No idea,’ he said, backing away. ‘But it was up some stairs. Look, I’d appreciate it if you forgot you ever saw me here. I can pay you, give you whatever you want. I didn’t do anything to any girl and I have never cheated on my wife.’

Sophie lowered the umbrella. Justin scrambled to his feet, turned on his heel and broke into a run. Sophie watched him reach the corner, take a sharp left and disappear. She was alone again – now with not even the rain for company. She tilted her head to the snatch of sky striking black between the outlined edges of the buildings. It hung dark and starless and Sophie knew it would not be long until it started to pour again.

And then she saw her.

Sophie’s gaze fixed on a crooked fire-escape serrating its way up the brickwork to the sky. At the lower landing, light burned a triangle into a first-floor window, escaping from curtains that did not quite meet. And framed in the triangle, squashed up against the glass like a tanked puffer fish, was Su Yuan.

女孩

They sat at a corner table in the food court near the Happy Chef. The place bustled with night diners sucking on noodles and watching the overhead TVs. They were safe enough here, Sophie reasoned, at least until the crowds thinned out. Jin Tao had positioned himself several tables away at Sophie’s request, when she realised his presence made Su Yuan nervous. They needed to get some answers fast and for that Sophie guessed she’d need to speak with Su Yuan alone.

Su Yuan twisted a paper napkin between her fingers. She’d taken two tentative sips of her wonton soup when it first arrived, but it now sat untouched, an oily slick glistening on the surface.

‘What’s going on?’ Sophie tried again, hoping the girl would talk now that Jin Tao had excused himself. ‘I need to know why another student took your place at the school, where you went and why you decided to come back. I need to know what’s happening.’

Su Yuan bit into her knuckles with enough force to draw blood.

Sophie leaned forward and took Su Yuan’s free hand in her own. ‘I thought maybe they’d killed you.’

A slight smile appeared on Su Yuan’s lips. She picked up the soup spoon she’d laid carefully at the edge of her bowl and used it to scoop up broth. She sipped a tiny amount, as though eager only to moisten her lips. Then she began to speak.

‘My sister disappeared from my hometown last year,’ she said.

‘Kunming?’ asked Sophie, jumping in before she could stop herself.

‘A town near Kunming. Actually, disappeared is the wrong word. She left my hometown last year. She won a scholarship to study English in Australia. It was called Golden Opportunities Scholarships. They advertised on the noticeboards around my hometown. The scholarships were open to girls under twenty-four only.’

‘Was that fairly unusual?’

Su Yuan shook her head. ‘Not really. With the one-child policy, there are many more boys than girls in China. So it can be harder for girls to compete. There are many opportunities like this for girls. To give them a chance.’

‘But your parents had two children.’

Su Yuan nodded. ‘My parents are farmers. There are excep­tions for farmers if the first child is a girl. A chance for them to have a boy.’

‘And so your sister applied for one of these scholarships?’

‘She went for an interview. They filmed her. She told me it felt like an audition. But then, maybe only two weeks later, she got a message that said she’d won a scholarship. We were so happy for her. I’d started training in the police academy. It’s not much of a job but it’s more interesting than farming or factory work. But my sister, she had a chance at a proper education – it was a dream come true.’

‘Who gave her this message?’

‘The man who ran the business, an Australian.’

‘Do you know his name?’

‘Yes,’ said Su Yuan. ‘It’s Michael Disney.’

Sophie tried to quell the anger rising within her. ‘So what happened next?’

‘My sister went to Australia. Mr Disney organised all the passports and the visa. My parents were so excited for her.’ Su Yuan paused, twisting the napkin. ‘At first my sister called home maybe one time a week. My mother would go down to the corner store and wait by the public telephone every Sunday afternoon. Sometimes she would wait there for three hours. My sister always called.’

‘And then that stopped?’

‘One day my mother came home very late in the night. She had waited for my sister’s call all afternoon and most of the evening. But it never came. The next week was the same. We never heard from her again.’

‘But you must have had contact details for her?’

‘I’d been emailing her but I didn’t have a street address and my parents never thought to ask. This was such an unusual thing for them. My parents have only left the province once, on a pilgrimage to Beijing. They’ve never been overseas, they can barely read or write. They trusted my sister knew what she was doing.’

‘Did you report that she’d stopped making contact?’

‘I knew there was more to the story. My sister had emailed me and indicated she was thinking about doing something to do with sex work. She didn’t go into a lot of detail but I was shocked. I encouraged her not to do it. I told her it would devastate our parents if they found out.’ Her voice caught in her throat. ‘She said they wouldn’t find out unless I told them. So even though I’d been training with the police, I decided to keep her secret. How fucked up is that?’

‘It’s called loyalty,’ Sophie said.

‘So after she stopped calling I left the police academy and I visited Michael Disney’s language school. I wanted to speak to him to find out what he knew or if he had a contact address for her.’

‘And did you find him?’

Su Yuan shook her head, a gleam in her eye. ‘No, but I met his wife.’

Sophie’s heart sank as she contemplated the idea of a woman being in on the disappearance of these girls.

‘Australian?’

‘Chinese. She told me everything about Disney’s operation. She hated him. She married him because he promised to take her away from China, to Australia.’

Sophie nodded. ‘My father took my mum away to Australia, too.’

‘Only I’m sure he loved her.’

Sophie nodded. ‘I think so,’ she said. ‘He promised to protect her.’

Su Yuan smiled. ‘Disney didn’t keep his promise to his wife,’ she said. ‘He kept her in her mother’s home and visited every so often for sex.’

‘But he told her about his business?’

‘His wife made it her business to find out. She told me that the scholarship program is all a scam and that the girls are basically auditioned for the sex market. The girls don’t know anything until they get here and are introduced to a party lifestyle with lots of opportunities for making money.’

‘As prostitutes?’

‘Prostitutes, strippers, waitresses, stars of skin flicks.’

Sophie sat back. ‘That’s quite a business,’ she said. ‘Although he’d have to be pretty sure the girls would be up for it.’

‘He targeted poor girls through his scholarship program and I guess enough of them were interested in the work on offer to make it worthwhile. He had connections with most of the language schools, paid off the administrators in charge of time­tables to make sure their visas stayed intact.’

‘Do you think the administrators knew what the girls were up to?’

Su Yuan wrinkled her nose. ‘I think they just took care of the schedules.’

Sophie thought hard. ‘But it doesn’t make sense that the girls disappear,’ she said. ‘I mean, why bother bringing them all the way out here just to have them go missing?’

‘According to the wife, until recently nobody did go missing. Disney had everything under control, the girls were intro­duced gradually to the lifestyle, not forced into it. The hard part for the girls was getting out once drugs and debt were involved. But she said things had changed and that Disney himself was stressed and anxious and not sure what was going on. It all sounded very bad to me. I decided I had to use the scholarship program to come out here and find my sister.’

‘Why didn’t you go to the police?’

Su Yuan snorted with disgust. ‘For what? What were they going to do? What proof did I have? And if they did believe me and word got out that the police were onto the operation, what would happen to my sister? Would they kill her? Of course. And I would never see her again.’

‘You took an incredible risk coming here.’

Su Yuan nodded. ‘Maybe stupid. But I can defend myself,’ she said. ‘I’ve been trained and I know how to fight. I know the element of surprise is what counts. I decided I just had to wait for an opportunity.’

‘And if it hadn’t come?’

Su Yuan shrugged. ‘I couldn’t do nothing. My mother is in so much pain.’

‘So what happened?’

‘The opportunity came. I treated it as an undercover operation and started working the same job that my sister had. I sold my body, not for money, but for my sister. I had to find her.’

Sophie tried to stop the shock from appearing on her face.

‘And I asked every client I met about my sister. Most men wouldn’t listen, wouldn’t look at the photograph. But one man did.’

‘And he gave you some information about her?’

Su Yuan nodded. ‘He said she was dead. He said she’d died on film. That he’d seen her.’

A wave of nausea shuddered through Sophie’s stomach. Bile threatened to spill its way up her throat and into her mouth.

‘A snuff film?’

Su Yuan nodded, her eyes wide. ‘I believed him. I was too late for her. I cried and cried. He untied me and left and I decided to kill the next one of them that came into my room.’

‘The next client?’

‘The next boss.’

She said it with no emotion, as though she were talking about finishing a school assignment or sitting a test. Su Yuan had admitted to murdering someone and now she had gone back to eating her soup. Sophie leaned back in her chair. Fucking full-on. Could she do it? Kill a man if she had to?

‘You killed him? Just like that?’

Su Yuan continued spooning broth into her mouth. ‘I had to avenge my sister,’ she said between slurps. ‘It wasn’t easy, but he didn’t see it coming. I kicked him where it hurts and then I took his head in my hands and I snapped it.’

‘I’ve met Zhou, he’s strong,’ Sophie said.

Su Yuan shrugged. ‘Not strong enough,’ she said. ‘I left the red rose in his mouth for my sister. She was beautiful and he took her – I wanted to leave a mark on him.’

Sophie sat, speechless.

‘You’re so brave, Su Yuan,’ she said finally.

Su Yuan stared deep into Sophie’s eyes. ‘If it were your family, you’d do it too,’ she said.

You’re wrong. My mother disappeared. I didn’t look hard enough. I ran away.

‘Besides,’ Su Yuan said, ‘I knew I had an alibi.’

Sophie’s heart skipped a beat. ‘An alibi?’

Su Yuan nodded, a smile curling at the edge of her mouth. ‘I cheated them at their own game. They sent a substitute into the class, to replace me. The school’s records, they’re official documents, right?’

‘Yes, but…’

‘So it is officially recorded that I was there, in class, at the time Zhou was killed. If someone checked my name off, it means I was there, right? I have an alibi.’

The brave woman sitting opposite her had risked everything for her sister. She’d done her research, checked the details, used her knowledge of the system to protect herself. And Sophie, with her ham-fisted detective work and the questions she’d raised, had ruined her alibi.

She took a deep breath. ‘Su Yuan, we have a problem.’

‘What?

‘Your alibi might not be so watertight.’

鬼

At Jin Tao’s suggestion, they travelled to Blue Lotus. There was no way Su Yuan could show her face anywhere she was known now. The gang would be looking for her.

‘Why were you still hanging around the building?’ Sophie asked. ‘What if one of them had found you?’

‘I’ve already lost everything,’ Su Yuan said. ‘I went back to hunt down the others.’

The kitchen was empty save for Stuart. He sat on a benchtop in his casual gear, a not very dashing ensemble of tracksuit pants and polar fleece. He rolled a cigarette between two fingers.

‘Don’t you usually do that outside?’ asked Jin Tao, the disapproval clear in his voice.

‘Too fucking cold, mate,’ said Stuart with a grin. ‘You’d kill me if you knew I smoked one in your room when I picked up that shiraz.’ He jumped off the bench and stuck the cigarette in his mouth. ‘Better change the location of your spare key, mate.’

Sophie suppressed an urge to whack the rollie out from between Stuart’s lips as he passed. She was annoyed to find him still here – the fewer people to see Su Yuan, the better – but Stuart clearly didn’t pick up on her vibes.

‘Who’s the pretty one?’ he asked, indicating Su Yuan.

‘A friend,’ said Sophie, issuing her warmest smile. ‘Service good tonight?’

‘Always,’ he said, his eyes still fixed on Su Yuan’s face. ‘You’re gorgeous,’ he said, his voice catching, as she passed. A blush crept across the girl’s cheek and she looked at the floor. Stuart winked at Sophie. ‘Feel free to bring your friends around whenever you want.’

‘Right.’

A pause and then Stuart said, ‘Well – I’m off. Ooo-roo, chefo.’ The kitchen door banged behind him as he stomped out into the night.

‘Sorry,’ said Jin Tao to Su Yuan. ‘He’s not shy, our Stuart.’

Su Yuan’s hair fell away from her face as she shook her head. ‘It doesn’t matter,’ she said. ‘It’s nice to hear a friendly voice after all this time.’

‘Did they talk to you?’ Sophie ventured. ‘The people you worked for?’

‘Not much,’ said Su Yuan. ‘But I didn’t care. I talked to the customers.’

‘Which is how you found out about your sister,’ said Jin Tao.

Su Yuan nodded. ‘The customer, I could tell as soon as he walked into the room that he wasn’t an evil man. He was shy, he was nervous, he didn’t know what to do. I manipulated him. I talked about his family and my family. I told him he was handsome, that men like him were usually fat and ugly and old. I stroked his ego instead of his dick and he started to like me.’ She paused. ‘I think that’s why he told me the truth.’

Jin Tao exhaled a long breath. ‘Who’d believe arseholes like that would have a conscience?’

Su Yuan started to say something and then stopped, as though turning the thought over in her mind. ‘Even depraved people sometimes have a conscience,’ she said. Then, with a shrug: ‘And if he hadn’t helped me, perhaps I would have broken his neck instead.’ She said it simply as though stating the obvious. Su Yuan had made a plan and she'd carried it out. She hadn’t found her sister, but she had killed one of the men who'd taken her.

Jin Tao slid open the door to the storeroom. ‘It’s not very grand, but you’ll be safe here,’ he said over his shoulder as he knelt down and began heaving away a six-deep pile of rice sacks. The sacks scratched against the floor as he shifted them slightly to the right to reveal a trapdoor to the cellar.

‘Jin Tao…’ said Sophie, her voice laced with alarm. She watched as Jin Tao pulled open the door to reveal a set of stairs descending to a dark space below. She hadn’t known this room had a door to a cellar. What did he keep down there? What did he use it for? Why did he think that Su Yuan would be able to bear another stint in an enclosed room?

‘Just a sec,’ said Jin Tao as he descended the stairs. ‘I’ll head down and take a look.’

Sophie’s heart began to race. This felt all wrong.

Su Yuan tugged at Sophie’s arm, her face betraying unease. ‘You’re not putting me down there,’ she said, her voice a firm whisper.

‘It’s all right,’ said Sophie, doing her best to sound reassur­ing even though tiny alarm bells had begun jangling in her head. Why had Jin Tao suggested taking Su Yuan to the restaurant instead of their home? She hadn’t questioned him at the time. Now it seemed ridiculous. And he’d also seemed annoyed to find Stuart still hanging around. Sophie had assumed it was because he didn’t want Stuart to see Su Yuan, but was there another reason? Why hadn’t Jin Tao ever shown her the cellar? Why was the trapdoor covered with sacks of rice? Why did he think Su Yuan would agree to hiding down there and how long did he plan to keep her?

Sophie felt her breath quicken and the storeroom suddenly felt hot and airless. She pressed at the latch on the door to open it and let in some air.

It didn’t open.

Sophie tried it again. Harder this time. The door didn’t give. Sophie spun around. Su Yuan’s eyes bulged. Behind her, Jin Tao emerged from the cellar, a frown on his face. Su Yuan spun around, hands up, ready to fight.

‘No good,’ Jin Tao said, as though offering a defence. ‘The last place you’d want to stay after the ordeal you’ve been through.’

Su Yuan lowered her hands. Her whole body shook with released tension.

Jin Tao stopped. ‘What?’ he asked, concern in his voice. ‘You guys look like you’ve seen ghosts.’

‘Jin Tao, why can’t we open the door?’ The question sounded accusatory and he threw her a querying look. He leaned past her and unsnibbed a small bar on the latch.

‘Locked yourself in,’ he said as the storeroom was flooded with light. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said, turning to Su Yuan. ‘I thought it would be safer for you here than at our place. Our house shares walls with some very nosy neighbours. And they’re thin, the walls. We reckon the neighbours listen in on us.’

Sophie stared at Jin Tao, his words crashing into her heart. ‘The walls are listening.’

Jin Tao shrugged. ‘It feels a bit like that sometimes.’

‘Wendy used that expression.’

‘Huh?’

‘Lenny told me Wendy asked him how to describe the walls listening. And that night of the Sichuan dinner, you told me she said it then too.’

‘She was drunk.’

Sophie’s mind tumbled over itself. What if Wendy had known the girls were kept behind the restaurant’s walls, or in a cellar in a storeroom like this very one here? Kept at the Sichuan restaurant, and she had been trying to give them a message? It made sense. There were dozens of restaurants in Chinatown but Wendy had taken them to only one.

‘Take Su Yuan to our place,’ she said to Jin Tao. ‘I think I know where the girls are being kept.’ And before Jin Tao could ask any more questions, she was out in the kitchen and then making for the swing door at a run.

女孩

He was waiting for her when the cab pulled up in Sussex Street and Sophie spilled out into the rain.

‘You’re a bit late for dinner but I can see what’s left in the fridge.’ Brad gave an easy smile and offered her the shelter of his umbrella as he pulled a set of keys from his pocket. ‘You want to tell me what’s so urgent?’ he asked, as he turned the key in the lock of the iron grille.

‘You said your restaurant shares a storeroom with the Sichuan place, right?’

‘It does,’ he said as they clambered up the stairs. ‘You want to raid their stock or what? I get caught thieving dried chillis from the neighbours and I lose my permanent residency permit, I’m telling you that now.’

Sophie took the stairs two at a time. ‘It’s a long story and I might be wrong but I think your neighbours are dealing in something slightly spicier than chillis.’

‘What could be spicier than chillies?’

‘Sex.’

Brad stopped on the stairs, one hand on the banister, the other sliding through his thick, sea-salted hair. ‘You mean the neighbours are running some kind of brothel?’

Sophie paused at the top of the stairs and looked down at him. And then it came out in a rush. ‘There’s a syndicate kidnapping foreign women, using them as sex slaves, abusing them, raping them, filming them, killing them.’ The words caught in her throat. ‘The girls are being kept in Chinatown somewhere. I think your neighbours might be involved.’

‘And you want to check out their storeroom?’

Sophie nodded. ‘Maybe there’s a cellar or something in there. Can you help?’

Brad glanced over his shoulder at the stairs leading back down to the street below. ‘Does anyone know you’re here?’

Sophie waved the query away.

‘You didn’t think to call Damian?’

‘It’s just a hunch.’

Brad pushed past her on his way to the kitchen. ‘This is heavy shit, Sophie,’ he said. ‘If you’re wrong then I’m screwed for helping you to break in.’

‘Damian’ll forgive you.’

‘Yeah, when I’m sitting in an immigration detention cell waiting to be deported.’

Sophie followed Brad through the darkened kitchen to a side door leading to the storeroom. Beside neatly stacked shelves he searched through keys for the one that would unlock the door. ‘It’s here somewhere,’ he murmured. ‘I wish you’d told someone else about this.’

‘It’ll be okay,’ she said, trying to hide her impatience. ‘If we find something, we’ll call Damian or the police immediately.’

Brad turned the key in the door and it opened on creaking hinges, revealing a similarly sized space on the other side. The stench of dried shrimp and mushrooms hit Sophie with the ferocity of a punch. The smell of onions was subtler, but still present. The musty pungency made her want to hurl. She stepped sideways into the room, squeezing past the overloaded shelves on either side of the door. ‘Someone needs to give this place a once-over,’ she said.

But Brad didn’t answer.

‘Brad?’

He’d been just behind her, but when Sophie looked back into the cavern of the Uyghur restaurant’s storeroom, she saw Brad flat on the floor, blood seeping from a wound to his head.

Beside him stood a man in tracksuit pants and a polar fleece.

‘G’day, Sophie,’ he said in his familiar drawl. ‘Guess who followed you here?’

Sophie stared at Stuart, so shocked she couldn’t move. She opened her mouth but no sound came out. How could she have failed to notice Stuart? And how could she not have heard Brad fall?

‘Ether,’ said Stuart. He nudged Brad’s shoulder with his boot. ‘Followed up by a swift blow to the head.’ Stuart revealed the stone pestle he held in his hand. He wagged a finger at Sophie, a smile on his lips. ‘You shouldn’t have dragged your friend into this, Sophie,’ he said. ‘I reckon I can safely say your mate is well and truly out for the count.’ As if to prove it, Stuart gave Brad a rough kick in the side. Brad didn’t utter a sound.

The sighting of Zhou in the Cross near Blue Lotus, the disturbances to her room. It had been Stuart all along. He’d been to their place. He’d seen where the spare key was kept, he knew Jin Tao’s schedule, all he had to do was get a sense of Sophie’s. And anyone with a computer and an internet connection could find out information about her involvement in David’s disappearance. If Stuart had wanted to haunt her or stalk her, he hadn’t had to look very far for a way to do it.

Stuart raised his hands defensively. ‘Hey, I just shoot the footage.’

‘Of the girls you helped kidnap.’

Stuart smiled. ‘I’ll give you that one.’ He shook his head, his free hand on his hip. ‘You’re persistent, Sophie, do people tell you that?’

‘What do you mean?’

‘I mean you just keep going,’ he said, inching forwards. ‘We’ve been watching you. We’ve been threatening you. Your mate Jin Tao told me more about you than he should’ve and he gave me the goods to freak you out. We’ve done our best to intimidate you, we’ve tried to confuse you, but you just don’t bloody well give up.’

‘Who’s “we”, Stuart?’ She would try to buy some time. There was another door behind her that she guessed led into the Sichuan restaurant. If she could open it from the inside, put some space between her and Stuart, she would have a chance.

‘I reckon you could probably tell me that, princess,’ Stuart said, as Sophie edged her way back. ‘You’ve got it sorted out. You know about Michael Disney, who’s done a runner; then there’s Zhou, the butcher your little friend killed; our front of house guy, Cho, who’s split to who knows where; and there’s me, the guy with the camera.’

‘So you made sex films with the girls Disney and Zhou had targeted and then Cho got the footage out to interested buyers.’

Stuart nodded. ‘Yeah, except Disney didn’t know about the kidnapping and the snuff films. He’d never’ve bought into that. The rest of us knew there was more money to be made in the hardcore stuff. You’d be surprised how many people have an appetite for horror.’

‘So you undercut him?’

‘We kidnapped a few of Disney’s working ladies and stored them away for our film productions, yes.’

‘Using the existing operation as a cover.’

‘That poor bastard just couldn’t figure out why his workers kept disappearing.’

Sophie took this in. So Stuart and his colleagues had been operating of their own accord and taking things further than Disney had ever envisaged.

‘Was Pete involved?’

‘Who’s Pete?’

She’d try a different tack, follow Su Yuan’s lead, appeal to his conscience. Even depraved people have a conscience, Su Yuan had said. ‘You’re not the psychopathic type.’

‘It’s purely business as far as I’m concerned,’ said Stuart with a shrug. ‘When I got into it with Disney, the girls weren’t dying. We just made a few sexy videos, operated some nasty nightclubs. But then this one girl got real feisty and threatened to spill the beans. Zhou had no choice but to knock her off, and because Disney didn’t ask any questions the whole thing kind of snowballed.’

‘And you thought it would be a good idea to start filming some of these women in the last moments of their lives.’

Stuart shrugged. ‘Where there’s a market…’ He trailed off. But then, pulling himself together, he said, ‘Beats the wages your mate pays.’

‘You’re disgusting.’ She guessed she’d almost backed her way to the door. There was another question she wanted answered. ‘What about the girl who acted as a substitute for Wendy Chan? She must have known something about what you were doing. Is that why she killed herself?’

‘She had a friendly relationship with Zhou.’

‘Friendly?’

‘They were fucking. He bought her shoes and clothes and shit. My guess is he told her something he shouldn’t have. Pillow talk.’

‘And she jumped because she couldn’t handle it?’

‘Guess she had a conscience,’ he said. ‘Pity, because her topping herself started this whole thing off with you.’

Sophie found the handle of the door behind her and turned it. It jammed. Damn. She’d have to scare him. Make him think she wasn’t alone. ‘You’re finished now.’ She was surprised at the strength in her voice. ‘I’ve already called the police.’

Stuart laughed and took another step. ‘You fucking hate the police. And anyway, I know you didn’t.’

Sophie stared him down. ‘You sound confident.’

‘Because I followed you here. I heard your Uyghur mate stressing that you hadn’t told anyone.’

‘Su Yuan saw you in the kitchen. She knows who you are and what you’ve done.’

Stuart continued his approach. ‘Bullshit, sweetheart, she didn’t have a clue. And as long as you’re not around to tell, then there’s nothing to tie me to any of this.’ He finished his statement with a sudden lunge and before Sophie could dodge his attack, he was at her throat, his thick fingers wrapped tightly around her neck. She flailed her arms wildly, her fingers searching for a weapon to use against him.

‘You don’t know how long I’ve waited to feel your flesh between my fingers,’ he hissed into her ear. ‘Listen carefully, Soph, and I’ll tell you what’s going to happen.’

Sophie forced her body to go limp, to relax and roll with the punches the way she’d trained herself to do as a child when getting dumped by the waves in the surf. She concentrated on bringing air into her lungs.

‘In a minute, I’m going to knock you out,’ said Stuart. ‘And when you come to, you’ll be in the cellar. See, there’s this nice little cubbyhole beneath this room. It used to be used for food storage until the rats got in. Now it’s used for storage of a different kind. We’ll have our own little party in front of the video camera. And I’ll get to see what it’s like to go all the way with the boss’s female friend.’

A surge of panic gave Sophie renewed strength and she bucked her knees, trying to find some leverage. What had Su Yuan done? Gone for the balls. If she could aim a kick at his crotch she might have a chance. But the more she bucked, the harder Stuart’s fingers pressed into the skin of her throat until she felt her windpipe might actually snap. A wave of disappointment flowed through her, along with the realisation that it might all end here. Death, in a back room in Chinatown. Fuck that. She forced her eyes open and saw Stuart leering into her face.

‘What next?’ The question came out as a wheeze. The pressure at her throat was so great she couldn’t swallow. But she needed to keep him talking. The longer he talked the more time she had to figure out a solution.

Stuart loosened his grip. ‘When I’m done, I’ll fillet you and you’ll feel every slice of the knife.’ He released his grip and Sophie crumpled in a heap to the floor. ‘It’s going to be a sensation,’ he said, driving a boot into her chin and sending her reeling against the wall. ‘I’m going to make you into a star.’

He strode to the other end of the room and Sophie clutched at her jaw with her hands. The blow had been intended to knock her out and pain drove through her skull like she’d been branded. Through blurred vision, she saw Stuart bend over a rucksack in the corner. She placed a hand on the wall behind her and attempted to get up, but the pain in her jaw was spreading and her head was beginning to spin. It was no good. She looked around desperately, searching for anything at floor level that could help fight off another attack.

And then she found her weapon.

An open basket of dried chillies poked out from beneath the bottom shelf, the skins dark and crinkled and spilling over from the basket onto the floor. It wasn’t much but it was better than nothing. She had to take a gamble. She drove her hand into the basket and pulled out a handful, sweeping her arm back to her side just as Stuart approached. She saw he carried a metal cleaver in his hand, a pair of plastic cuffs in his mouth. If he cuffed her, it was over – that much she knew for sure.

‘Come here, sweetheart,’ he said as he bent towards her, his breath adding a further sour note to the storeroom’s stench.

It took every ounce of remaining strength for Sophie to shove the handful of chillis hard into Stuart’s face. She took him by surprise and he dropped the cleaver with a clatter. She mashed the seed pods hard against his eyes and clawed at his skin, gouging it with her nails.

‘Bitch!’ he roared in pain and shock. He brought his hands to his eyes, leaving the cleaver exposed on the floor.

She hesitated only a moment once the cleaver was in her hands. Li Hua’s words rang in her memory: I’d take a cleaver and drive it through his spine. I wouldn’t hesitate. Not for a second.

Sophie raised the cleaver with two hands and brought it down hard against Stuart’s right shoulder. She felt first fabric and then skin give way beneath the blade and then metal meet with bone.

Stuart opened and closed his mouth twice with no sound. Then he released a moan. He twisted his head to look at the object that had hit him, and when he saw the cleaver lodged firmly in his flesh, his face drained of blood and he passed out.

‘Bastard!’ Sophie leaned back against the wall. Relief pulsed through every vein in her body.

And then noise in the kitchen. Footsteps on the stairs. More of them. Fuck.

Sophie placed a hand on the handle of the cleaver. If she had to pull it from Stuart’s broken flesh to use as a weapon, she would.

But the people who came running through the door were not here to capture her. Sophie saw Jin Tao’s face.

‘Soph!’ He rushed straight to her. Behind him, Damian bent to examine Brad.

Su Yuan stood in the doorway, straight as a guard.

‘I thought we might be too late,’ said Jin Tao, his arms around her shoulders, folding her into his chest. Sophie sank into him. He smelled like sweat and spice. ‘I thought we might be too late,’ he repeated, his breath heaving, pulling her closer, running his lips against her hair.

Su Yuan moved past them. She checked Stuart. ‘He’s dead.’

Sophie forced herself to focus, to drive away the emotion that threatened to engulf her. ‘Are you okay, Su Yuan?’

The girl took Sophie’s hand in hers, held it tight. ‘You did it,’ she said. ‘You killed a man that hurt my sister. It means you are a kind of sister to me now. We are connected.’

Sophie blinked away hot tears. She brought Su Yuan’s hand to her mouth, kissed it. The girl smiled and turned away.

Sophie leaned into Jin Tao. ‘How did you know I’d come here, and about Stuart?’

Jin Tao pointed to Brad, sitting up with Damian’s help. ‘Thank the tea guy. He sent Damian a text.’

Brad smiled weakly and gave Sophie a wave. Damian held a bag of frozen dumplings against his head and the image, coupled with Brad’s goofy smile, dried Sophie’s tears and forced a laugh. ‘You were passed out!’ she said.

‘I faked it,’ Brad said with a wink. ‘I had to try to save you, didn’t I? I meant it when I told you I owed you my life.’