Chapter 1
“You imbecile! Get her into my office.” Tan’s low snarl made Tess Lim cringe and she changed her trajectory, heading towards a table she’d already cleaned, rather than into the kitchen where Tan was. Her hand shook as she sprayed cleaner and wiped the surface. Calm down. She hadn’t raised Tan’s ire.
Her feet desperately needed a rest but if she sat down, even for a minute, Tan would be angry.
The restaurant door opened, and two police officers walked in. She glanced towards the kitchen. Tan normally dealt with them, but he was nowhere to be seen. Tess swallowed hard and forced a smile. “Can I help you?”
“We’ve got a takeaway order for the station,” the taller one said.
She hadn’t heard the sizzle of food cooking in at least half an hour. As far as she knew, all the kitchen staff had gone home already. She’d been waiting for the last table of diners to finish, and they had just left. “One minute, please.” Had their order been forgotten? That would make Tan even angrier.
As she approached the kitchen, Tan strode out carrying a paper bag. He smiled widely in what Tess thought of as his customer smile. “Officers. How has your day been?”
“It’ll be better after we’ve eaten,” the short one said.
Tess couldn’t smell any food. How long had their food been sitting in the kitchen? Or was there even food in the bag? The way Tan carried it, just by the top, made it seem as if it wasn’t particularly heavy.
She tore her gaze away before anyone could notice her looking. She’d learnt not to show any interest in Tan’s affairs. Tess did a final lap of the restaurant checking each table was set ready for the next day. When the police left, she’d tell Tan she was finished. Her aching feet could make it. Soon she’d be home, and flopping on her bed, and wouldn’t move until morning.
“You done?” Tan demanded.
Tess flinched. Tan stood at the restaurant entrance. Arms crossed, he pinned her with the scowl he reserved for her. Behind him in the car park, the police were getting into their patrol car. “Yes, Tan.” She gathered the cloth and spray bottle and hurried towards the kitchen, keeping her head bowed.
“Leave them on the bench,” he said.
Odd. Normally he insisted she return everything to its proper place. He handed her a yellow envelope. “This fortnight’s pay.”
She bowed. “Thank you, Tan.” The packet was thin despite the fifty-hour weeks she worked. The rest he said he sent to her parents back in Singapore or kept for her food and board, but if that were true, her parents had never mentioned it. Still, after eighteen months, she had almost ten thousand dollars saved, but only because she had no opportunity to spend it between university and work.
“You can walk home tonight. I have business to attend to.”
No, not another hour on her feet! She forced a smile, trying not to think of the cold, dark streets. “Yes, Tan.” She shrugged on her thick puffer jacket, her muscles already tense, and retrieved her bag from under the counter, her fingers automatically feeling out the lining to ensure the cash she saved was still there. She hadn’t opened an Australian bank account, and didn’t trust Tan not to steal it from the granny flat she rented from him.
Tan pointed to the front door. “Leave that way. I’ll lock it behind you.”
She stepped into the dark night, zipping up her jacket and shivering as an icy breeze brushed past. Rustling trees lined the streets like boogey-men. She could do this. She’d walked home in the dark before. All she had to do was pretend to be one of the daring female pirates she liked to read about, or one of those intrepid women who had come to Australia and thrived, despite its strangeness.
Buoyed by the thought, she avoided the puddles left by the rain and was halfway across the car park when she reached into her jacket pocket for her phone. Empty. Damn it. She’d left it charging in the kitchen. She couldn’t survive without her phone. It was her safety net, and her connection with the world. But Tan wouldn’t like her returning.
She stayed where she was a moment, debating. She sighed. What would Da Lim do? She smiled at the thought of her rogue ancestor. Da would do what it took to get what she wanted. The journals of her exploits in Australia had sparked Tess’s desire to leave Singapore and study here. Da wouldn’t leave without her phone.
Though Tess’s stride wasn’t as confident as she would have liked, she retraced her steps and knocked on the front door. Tan didn’t come.
Probably hadn’t heard her.
She’d go around the back and use her key. Her steps faltered and her skin prickled at the car parked in the alley behind the restaurant. Tan didn’t like to be disturbed if he had others in his office, and he’d been angry before she’d left. Tess hesitated. The phone was on the bench right next to the door. If she was quick, she could reach in, grab it, and leave with no one noticing.
She listened at the door, but couldn’t hear any voices. Slowly, she turned the key and pushed the door open a crack. No one talking. Her phone was right there on the bench. She reached in, pulled the charger from the socket, and tucked it and her phone into her pocket. As she eased the door closed again, a cry made her freeze. “I’m sorry,” a woman sobbed. “It’s not my fault. I didn’t know he would talk.”
Tess’s skin heated, fear racing through her veins. What was going on? The woman sounded terrified. Every instinct shouted at her to close the door and leave, but that wasn’t what Da would do. She would help those less fortunate than her, and strive to make the world a better place. That was the person Tess wanted to be. She hated scurrying away at the slightest sign of conflict. Bracing herself, she inched the door open wider and gasped. An older woman sat tied to a wheeled office chair, her face bruised, her dark hair full of grey. Tan and his new driver, Salvatore, stood over her, Tan holding a gun to the woman’s head.
What on earth?
“I warned you what would happen if either of you talked,” Tan said.
“Please! I never thought Roger would. He promised me. I thought he loved me.”
“Obviously not enough.”
