White Tiger

as we walked back through Central.
    ‘Leo is collecting me from Theatre Lane,’ I said. ‘I didn’t know you had a car.’
    ‘I don’t, I can’t even drive.’ Jade stopped at one of the designer shopfronts. ‘That jacket is beautiful.’
    ‘Oh my God, that’s real fur!’
    ‘The shoes are beautiful too.’
    ‘Animals had to die for that coat, Jade.’
    Her eyes widened. ‘I never thought of it like that. Of course. And the shoes are snakeskin.’ She shook her head. ‘I didn’t even think of it.’
    ‘Some of my other Chinese friends are like that too,’ I said. ‘They didn’t connect the leopard-skin coat that pop star wore at those awards with—’
    ‘I saw that,’ Jade said. ‘Stunning.’
    ‘—with the fact that the pop star was wearing a dead protected animal. That was so wrong.’
    ‘You Westerners eat your pre-packaged cuts of meat, all clean and tidy, without thinking of the dead animal behind them.’
    ‘I suppose you’re right.’
    ‘It’s a cultural thing.’
    ‘I guess. Still like the coat?’
    ‘I adore it, but I wouldn’t buy it now.’ Her eyes turned inwards. ‘Leo is at Theatre Lane to collect you.’ My mobile phone rang. ‘How do you do that?’ ‘Do what?’
    I shook my head and flipped my phone open. It was Leo.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
    I pulled away from the computer and stretched. I rose and went into my bedroom to look out the window. The low grey clouds roiled across the sky; it was probably only about eight degrees outside. It never dropped below freezing in Hong Kong, but in mid-January the wind could become bitter. Although Hong Kong was nearly in the tropics, sometimes it was colder than my home in southern Queensland. There was a tap on the door. ‘Emma?’ I opened it and let Mr Chen in. His black cotton pants seemed to be more shredded every time he wore them.
    He took a seat on the couch. I leaned on the desk next to my computer.
    ‘You spend a lot of your free time in front of your computer,’ he said. I shrugged.
    ‘The weather’s going to be fine, clear and quite warm tomorrow. I’ll take Simone for a hack around the hills at the club. We’ll be longer than we usually are. Do you still want to come?’
    I glanced at the grey cloudy day outside my window. He smiled slightly.
    I sat on the couch next to him. ‘Sure.’
    He moved a short distance away from me on the couch. ‘Good.’
    ‘Why do you do that?’ ‘What?’
    I gestured towards him. ‘You never want to be too close to me.’ I shifted closer and he quickly stood and went to the door.
    ‘Is it that unpleasant being close to me?’
    He hesitated with his hand on the doorknob. Then he shook his head. ‘The problem is exactly the opposite.’ He opened the door. ‘Early tomorrow, Emma.’ He went out and closed the door.
    I sighed loudly and returned to the computer. His freaking choice. I changed my mind, threw myself out of my chair and stomped into the training room to hit something for a while.
    Of course he was right. The breeze had shifted and it was warm and mild as the sunshine streamed through the bauhinia trees on either side of the trail.
    After half an hour of riding I broke the silence. ‘It’s nearly six months since we went to Paris, Mr Chen. We need to go back.’
    He pushed Star to walk slightly ahead of me.
    ‘I wanna go to the Science Museum!’ Simone called at his back.
    ‘You need to see Ms Kwan,’ I said.
    He ignored us. Simone and I shared an exasperated glance and trotted our horses to catch up.
    Mr Chen stopped his horse. His eyes turned inwards and his face went rigid. Star danced sideways, but he paid no attention.
    ‘What, Daddy?’ Simone said.
    He raised his hand to hush her.
    He listened for a while, then snapped back to the here. He held Star with his knees and the horse stopped,his ears flicking backwards and forwards. Mr Chen ripped his mobile phone out of his pocket and quickly dialled.
    ‘I need you here now,’ he said. ‘I don’t care if you have to steal a car or hijack a taxi. Nobody can carry you, you’ll have to make your own way here, but I need you here within twenty minutes. I’ll meet you outside the stables.’ He closed the phone and grimaced.
    ‘Are you okay?’ I said, but he raised his hand again. He listened for a long time, his face becoming more and more intense.
    He snapped back and grabbed Simone’s reins. ‘We need to go back to the stables right away.’
    He turned Star and trotted along the path, then