The Scottish Banker of Surabaya

( 21 )

When she woke, she was flooded by contradictions.

Light was streaming in through open windows. When hadn’t she closed the curtains or shutters?

She was naked.

Her head felt heavy, jumbled.

And then there was the discomfort between her legs.

Before she could sort things out, her eyelids became too heavy and she blacked out.

The next time Ava woke, she shivered. What was that light? Why was she naked? She turned to look at the bedside clock. It read 8:04.

She started to rise and then felt the strangeness between her legs. She settled back into the bed.

She lay there for minutes, trying to remember the events of the night before. All she could recall was drinking wine with Andy Cameron in the lounge downstairs.

She put her hand on her leg and felt something scabby on her thigh. When she looked down, she saw the same kind of caked smear across her chest, between her breasts.

Ava got up and went to the bathroom and took a robe from the hook on the door. She put it on and went back to the bed. She wanted a doctor.

The hotel operator wasn’t helpful at first, but by the time Ava had repeated her request for a third time, the number was obtained and the call was made.

“Hello?” a sleepy voice said.

“Is this Vivian Ho?” Ava asked.

“Yes. Who is this?”

“My name is Ava Lee. I’m a friend of Fay and John. I’m visiting from Canada and I’ve had an accident. Could you please come to my hotel to help me?”

“I don’t know you.”

“Of course you don’t. I could ask you to call Fay, but it would cause me no end of humiliation. Please. I’m at the Majahapit, room 313.”

“This is most unusual.”

“So is what I think happened to me.”

“What did you say your name is?”

“Ava Lee.”

“And what do you think happened?”

Ava closed her eyes and heard herself struggling for breath. “I think I was raped.”

“Have you called the police?”

“No.”

“I think —”

“You’re the only person I have called and the only person I will call. So please, just come here.”

“I’m about twenty minutes away,” she said, her voice now fully alert.

“Thank you.”

“But I should stop at my office on the way and pick up some things.”

“Things?”

“Would you take a morning-after pill as a precaution against possible pregnancy?”

“Of course, and how about tests for sexually transmitted infections.”

“It’s too soon. The window for the bacterial type is three days, but for type-specific viruses such as AIDS, herpes, and hepatitis it’s at least two weeks. I should take a blood sample to establish a baseline for you, but in terms of knowing anything definite, I’m afraid you’ll have to wait.”

“I think I was drugged. Can you at least check on that?”

“Yes, I’ll take a urine sample.”

“Thank you.”

“Now, Ms. Lee, I think it’s still advisable to call the police.”

“No.”

“I think —”

“No.”

Vivian Ho paused and then said, “With the stop, I should be there in about half an hour to forty minutes.”

“Thank you.”

“You said room 313?”

“Yes, come right up.”

Ava sat down by the window looking out on the gardens. She knew there were trees and shrubs and flowers, but they were a blur. Nothing registered. Nothing mattered.

She heard the phone before she heard the door. “Ms. Lee, Dr. Ho is at your door. She says she’s been knocking for a few minutes.”

Ava got up and opened the door. She saw a slightly older and more conservative version of Fay. Vivian Ho was the same height and also thin, but with hair that hung down to her shoulders and not a trace of makeup.

“Thank you so much for coming,” she said. “I didn’t hear you at the door.”

“Are you all right?”

“No, I don’t think I am,” Ava said, turning away and walking into the room. “Aside from the physical discomfort, my head keeps wandering off.”

“I need to examine you.”

“I know,” Ava said.

“Have you done anything?”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“Have you washed? Have you taken any pills?”

“No.”

“Then, as awkward as this is, please take off your bathrobe and lie on the bed.”

Ava closed her eyes, slipped the bathrobe from her shoulders, and lay on her back.

“You have dried semen on your thighs and between your breasts. There’s some bruising around your vagina, and it seems . . . it seems as if someone was very rough. I would guess that you were penetrated repeatedly. Ms. Lee, how did this happen?”

“Do you mean why am I asking if I was raped?”

“Yes.”

“I was unconscious. I think I was drugged. I have no memory of any of it.”

“Did you know the man?”

Ava let the question slide. “Do you have the pill you mentioned? Are you ready to take whatever samples you need?”

Dr. Ho pulled the robe back over Ava’s shoulders. “Here is the pill,” she said, pressing it into Ava’s hand.

Ava swallowed it.

“Now go to the bathroom and take this with you,” Dr. Ho said, giving her a vial.

Ava sat on the toilet for what seemed like an eternity before she could squeeze out enough urine to fill the vial. When she had, she walked back into the bedroom and handed the vial to the doctor.

“I think I should also scrape off some of that semen, in case at some point in time we need DNA. I would also like to take a blood sample for baseline purposes.”

Ava wrapped the robe more tightly around herself. “You can take any sample you want, but I want the urine results back as soon as possible, and I’ll pay whatever is necessary to expedite that.”

“The lab I use is closed on weekends.”

“What will it cost to open it? I’ll pay anything.”

“Okay, I understand, and I’ll do what I can. But Ms. Lee, you can’t leave it at this. We need to call the police.”

Ava shuddered. “No police. Please don’t mention it again. This has to stay between you and me. Not even a word to Fay.”

“I’m not sure that’s wise.”

“This is the way it has to be.”

“Ms. Lee —”

“No, there is no other option.”

Dr. Ho sat down beside her on the bed. “Well, if we’re going to do it your way, then let me get the semen sample I need.”

Ava closed her eyes. “Go ahead,” she said, and then grimaced as the blood sample was drawn. She felt a touch of nausea as the doctor scraped her chest.

“There, I’m done,” Dr. Ho said. “Now, as I said, in about three days we can run at least some of the STI tests.”

“I won’t be here.”

“You can have them run anywhere. Then, if you wish, you can have the results forwarded to me and I’ll compare them to the baseline data.”

“Of course.”

Dr. Ho reached for Ava’s hand. “If you’re not going to call the police there is no reason for you to remain in this state. Would you like to shower?”

“Yes, I think that’s a good idea.”

“Would you like me to stay in the room until you’re done?”

“Yes, I think that’s another good idea.”

She walked into the bathroom and glanced at herself in the mirror. Her hair was still pinned back, the ivory chignon loose but in place. She took it out, slipped off her crucifix, and then turned her back to the mirror as she took off the robe. She stood under the stream of water, her hands by her sides, not able to touch the traces of semen he had left on her body. When she thought they had to be gone, she took a bar of soap and began to lather herself.

Dr. Ho was on her cellphone when Ava left the bathroom, a fresh robe wrapped tightly around her. She saw Ava’s look of panic and mouthed, I’m talking to the lab technician.

She watched the doctor finish her call. “Thank you.”

“They’re going to open the lab right away. I’ll take the sample there as soon as I leave. We should have the results today.”

“I’ll know if I was drugged?”

“Yes, you will.”

“Thank you for everything, Dr. Ho,” Ava said as she climbed back onto the bed.

“Call me Vivian,” she said, coming over to her. She sat on the edge of the bed, careful not to intrude on Ava’s space. “How do you know Fay?”

“Through John, and only for one day. But I found her to be very considerate, like you.”

“My sister and I are very different.”

“Not that much . . . not where it matters.”

“Ms. Lee —”

“I’m Ava.”

“Ava, is there anything else I can do for you? Would you like me to stay for a while?”

“No, but thank you. I’m starting to feel some sense of normalcy. I’ll manage now. Just call me as soon as you get the lab results.”

Vivian stood. “I don’t like leaving you like this.”

Ava swung her legs over to the other side of the bed. “I forgot something. Don’t leave just yet,” she said.

Her Chanel bag was on the floor next to the desk. Beside it were the clothes she had worn the night before. Her slacks, with the pink shirt on top, two bottom buttons missing, her bra, still fastened, and the black lace underwear, ripped at the waist. She opened the bag and took out a business card and a roll of U.S. hundred-dollar bills.

She handed the card and eight hundred dollars to Vivian. “My mobile number is on the card if you can’t reach me at the hotel. And the money is for your fee and the lab tests. Is it enough?”

“It’s far too much.”

Ava pressed it into her hand. “There is one other thing I’d like you to do for me.”

“What?”

“Those clothes on the floor — could you put them in a laundry bag and take them with you? Burn them, throw them away . . . do whatever you want with them.”

“Certainly.”

Ava sat on the bed and watched as Vivian Ho took a bag from the closet and stuffed the clothes into them. Then it dawned on her. “Vivian, are there jade links in the shirt cuffs?”

“No, nothing.”

“On the floor?”

“Not that I can see.”

“How about on the dresser or the desk?”

The doctor looked and then looked again. “Nothing.”

“He couldn’t have,” Ava muttered.

“Are you okay?”

Ava nodded. “Maybe they’ll turn up later.”