The Dragon Head of Hong Kong Read Online Free PDF Page A

and groaned all the way to the sixth floor, she found herself staring at one double door. She glanced right and left and saw nothing else. There seemed to be only one office on the floor. A computer printout was tacked to one of the door panels. When Ava drew close to it, she saw that it listed the companies that were, presumably, inside. There were at least ten, and all of them seemed to be involved in the import or trading business. She thought about Mr. Lo, talking about how impressive Kung’s offices were, and wondered if he had actually been here.
    She opened the door and found herself looking at a sea of desks. They ran from the door to a row of glass-panelled offices along the far wall, from one side of the room to the other. Most of the desks were occupied, and a steady buzz of one-sided phone conversations filled the air.
    “Can I help you?” a woman’s voice said.
    Ava turned and saw a middle-aged woman wearing an orange T-shirt seated behind a desk. To her left were four empty chairs and a beat-up wooden coffee table.
    “Is this reception?” Ava asked.
    “I guess so,” the woman said, pointing at a small sign on the corner of the desk that did indeed read RECEPTION . Next to it was another that read FAN YING .
    Ava was wearing black slacks, black pumps, and a plain white button-down shirt, but she felt decidedly overdressed. Everyone else seemed to favour jeans and an eclectic mix of casual tops. She walked over to the woman. “I’m looking for Kung Imports.”
    “You mean you’re looking for Johnny Kung,” the woman said.
    “Yes,” Ava said.
    “He isn’t here.”
    “Then can I see someone else who works for the company?”
    “There’s only him.”
    “What, no secretary, assistant, or bookkeeper?”
    The woman pushed her chair back and swivelled to the left. “See that empty desk over there in front of the last office? That desk is Kung Imports. That’s all there is. We have close to thirty companies that rent offices and desks. They come and go. Kung Imports went, along with whatever records there were.”
    “Would you know where?”
    “No.”
    “I see,” Ava said, feeling flustered by the woman’s abruptness.
    “You’re the third person in the past two weeks who’s come here looking for him. I told them the same thing.”
    “And why did they say they wanted to see him?”
    “They didn’t, but from the looks of them there’s money involved.”
    “How do you know that?”
    The woman stared at Ava. “How old are you?”
    “What does that matter?”
    “Besides the fact that you’re a woman, you seem a bit young to be in the collections business.”
    “What made you assume I was?”
    “They’re the only people who ever want to see Kung.”
    “Well, that’s not my case,” Ava said softly.
    “No?” the woman said.
    Ava took several small steps forward until she was at the desk and then leaned over. “Mrs. Fan, I’m here because of my sister,” she whispered.
    “And why is that?”
    “She’s been seeing Johnny Kung. Now she can’t find him.”
    The woman shrugged.
    “Auntie, my sister is nineteen years old. She met Johnny in a karaoke bar. He set her up in a small apartment in Hung Hom. Now he’s gone.”
    “That’s normal enough.”
    “Do you mean for Johnny?”
    “For men in general, but Johnny is as general as any man can be.”
    “Well, that doesn’t matter, because none of this is normal in my family. My sister was a student at the Polytech until she met him.”
    “Then what was she doing in a karaoke bar?”
    “She wasn’t a hostess, if that’s what you’re implying,” Ava snapped. “She had a part-time marketing job with a liquor importer. She went to the bars to promote their products. She said she was sampling Johnny Walker Blue Label when she met him.”
    “I didn’t mean to insult your sister.”
    “She’s beyond insults now. He hasn’t paid the rent in two months and she’s three months pregnant. The only reason I want to find him is