The Scottish Banker of Surabaya

( 15 )

She slept fitfully, the jet lag and the strange bed overpowering the wine’s effects. Ava dreamt frequently and her father was most often the central figure — always out of reach, a distant figure she chased to no avail, in and out of hotels and airports. That night she dreamt of Maria for the first time. They were in a stranger’s house that was filled with people she didn’t know. The two of them sat on a couch drinking wine as a party swirled around them. Maria undid her blouse and exposed a breast to Ava, urging her to suck the nipple. Ava did, reluctantly, keenly aware of the eyes that were on them. Then Maria pulled up her skirt and began to masturbate. Despite her embarrassment, Ava was aroused and reached down to touch herself. Play, play, Maria said. Ava woke throbbing and close to climax. She slipped her hand beneath the sheets and finished what she had begun in her sleep. Good God, she thought afterwards, what kind of dream was that?

It was just past six thirty when she hauled herself out of bed. Erotic dreams were foreign to her, as were dreams about Maria, and she couldn’t help but be bothered by them. She understood well enough what her father’s distant, unavailable presence meant in her nighttime wanderings, but what was her subconscious telling her about Maria and their relationship?

Ava brushed her teeth and then showered quickly. She wanted to spend some time on the computer before heading for the airport. She threw on her casual wear and then packed her bags so she was ready to go. The room had a hot water Thermos; Ava made herself an instant coffee and took it to the desk.

She opened her book and reread the notes she had made the night before while talking to Uncle and Johnny. When she was done, she replaced the SIM card in her cell with one that had a Toronto 905 area code and the name James Lewis as the caller ID. She punched in the number for Dominic Rocca. It rang once and then flipped to an automated message informing her that the number was no longer in service.

Her computer was still on from the night before. Ava logged in as James Lewis and sent an email to Rocca enquiring about investment opportunities. It took only a few seconds for it to bounce back as undeliverable.

She entered a Canadian website she used to track addresses and phone numbers. She input Rocca’s name and the phone number she had, and for city references she put in Toronto, Woodbridge, Maple, and Vaughan. It came up completely dry. Then she tried Muljadi with the same locations and again came up empty. Google was equally devoid of any mention of either of them. Would they both disappear just because the bank office closed? she wondered. Or maybe they haven’t disappeared. Maybe they were low-key and under the radar from the get-go. Either way, it felt strange to her.

Andy Cameron wasn’t quite so invisible. When he was with the Falkirk Stirling Bank, he had received several promotions that were worthy of news releases but not pictures. His last recorded rise in status had been his appointment as director of the bank’s Rome office. He was still in his mid-thirties when he got the appointment, so he was obviously bright, although his education seemed to be limited to a BA from the University of Aberdeen. There was no mention of his appointment to the presidency of Bank Linno. More strangeness, and this time compounded by the fact that Ava couldn’t quite see how a Brit working in a bank branch in Rome could — or would want to — manoeuvre his way to Surabaya and become the head of a decidedly provincial and obscure bank.

She circled Andy Cameron’s name and then underlined it. She was going to need to talk to him, but under what pretence? She rifled through some of the business cards she kept for these situations and found one that attached her to a real accounting firm in Hong Kong that was close to Uncle. She’d used them for cover before, and they’d been terrific about backing her up. All she needed to do was let them know the when and the how of it, and all that would take was a phone call to Uncle. She called his cell, which went directly to voicemail, so she called his apartment.

“Hello?” Lourdes answered, hesitantly.

“It’s Ava.”

“That’s not the name on the screen.”

“I forgot to switch back my SIM card,” Ava said. “Can I speak to Uncle, please?”

“He’s not here. He went out.”

“I called his cell and he didn’t answer.”

“I don’t know where he is, and I don’t know why he’s not answering his phone,” Lourdes said, her voice heavy.

“Has he been doing this a lot?”

“Yes.”

“Lourdes, Sonny spoke to me a little about this. I don’t want you to worry. I’m going to talk to Uncle when I can, and we’ll find out what’s bothering him, okay?” Ava waited for Lourdes to respond. When she didn’t, she said, “Did you hear me?”

“I don’t want him to know that I said anything to Sonny. He would be very angry with me,” she said slowly.

“Your name won’t be mentioned.”

“Ava, I’m afraid.”

“He wouldn’t be that angry, Lourdes, even if he suspected you had said something.”

“No, that’s not what I mean. I’m afraid for him.”

“Don’t leap to conclusions. There could be a completely logical explanation for the way he has been behaving,” Ava said, with more conviction than she felt.

“Do you think so?”

“Absolutely.”

“I can’t tell you how happy I am that you are coming, and how happy he is. When he found out yesterday, he smiled for the rest of the day.”

“Lourdes, I am only the second most important woman in his life. Without you, he wouldn’t be able to function at all.”

“Oh, Ava.”

“I mean it,” Ava said, thinking, Please don’t cry.

Lourdes choked it back and said, “When he gets back, I’ll make sure he calls you.”

Ava ended the call and pushed the chair back from the desk. Hong Kong was now starting to become as important as Surabaya.