Hong Kong Noir by Jason Y. Ng

Author:Jason Y. Ng
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook, book
Publisher: Akashic Books
Published: 2018-10-29T16:00:00+00:00

A VIEW TO DIE FOR

by Christina Liang

Repulse Bay

It was the end of a long day and Serena Chen was especially in need of a drink. Thank God Heather had just popped in for one of their weekly wine-and-gossip sessions. They sat on the sofa on Serena’s balcony, sipping sauvignon blanc, taking in the unobstructed view of Repulse Bay on Hong Kong Island’s south side.

Heather was always one to lend a sympathetic ear. Serena was complaining about a work lunch where she was forced to welcome yet another newbie couple to town, a husband and his trailing spouse. “Can you believe the wife referred to Hong Kong as a hardship posting? What kind of hardship is it living in one of the safest cities in the world? Is it a hardship to have a helper cook, clean, and nanny for you? A driver to take you around town?”

“Do me a favor,” Heather said.

“What?”

“Do not introduce me to her.”

Serena laughed and gazed out at the sea. She had a view to die for at Bamboo Towers, the luxury compound at the foot of the Repulse Bay inlet. Despite its not-so-glamorous name, said to be derived from a time when British troops repulsed the pirates living along the shore, Repulse Bay was one of the more posh areas of Hong Kong. On either side of the bay were verdant hills, with luxury villas and apartment blocks built on their steep slopes. On weekdays, Repulse Bay Beach filled up with nonstop tour groups, usually mainland Chinese taking pictures of each other with their iPads. On weekends, families would gather under rented beach umbrellas seeking shelter from the scorching sun, while groups of young expats would cool off with the help of copious amounts of alcohol.

But on a Friday evening like this, in the distance lay nothing but the horizon and the occasional passing cargo ship. The sights and sounds of the big city were gone and replaced by the tranquility of a tropical resort.

Serena never tired of looking at the ocean. She’d earned this view with her own hard work, sweat, and tears. Hell, it had even cost her her marriage. She would damn well spend as much time on her balcony as possible. She’d even had a fancy wall garden installed, and she tended to her plants and flowers, especially her camellias, with great care. These were the constants of her home life, along with Heather Wong, her best friend, who lived upstairs.

Although the buildings of Bamboo Towers were numbered one through eight, there were only seven, as there was no unlucky number four (the word for four sounding like the word for death in Chinese). The complex had its back to the mountain and face to the sea, and one of the towers was fitted with a big square hole in the middle, a “dragon gate” that enabled the dragon a clear path from the mountain to the sea. “Good feng shui,” her relocation agent had said. At the base of the

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