The Betel Nut Tree Mystery (Crown Colony) by Ovidia Yu

Author:Ovidia Yu [Yu, Ovidia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781472125231
Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group
Published: 2018-06-07T05:00:00+00:00

Nicole’s Suite

Nicole Covington’s suite at the Farquhar was grand and comfortable. There was a sitting room, a bedroom, a dressing room and, in the bathroom, a fancy ceramic WC with a wooden seat; a man came to empty the pan three times a day or whenever he was summoned.

It was a very pleasant space, despite the clutter of clothes, shoes, sweet wrappers and empty soda bottles scattered all over it.

And despite its beautiful occupant.

When I arrived just before noon that day, Nicole was still in her dressing-gown and bleary-eyed from sleep. I saw an empty gin bottle lying on some dirty plates and wondered if she had been drinking the night before. She seemed to think I was late, though we had not settled on a time for me to be there.

In fact, we had not even settled that I would be working there or on what terms. If I hadn’t been an undercover agent I would have thrown something at her and left. And I learned something that first day: Nicole’s beauty was a performance, part of an act she put on. When she’d come into the Detective Shack she had been an actress playing the role of an indignant femme fatale. Her clothes, her make-up, her manner were all part of the act. Today in her room she was either being herself or playing a spoiled child.

‘No, I don’t want you to come back later, you stupid girl! It’s about time you showed up. Look at the mess here! No, leave it and help me get dressed!’

Fortunately, I learned this meant helping her choose her dress for the day rather than zipping her into one. I shook out the clothes and undergarments I found draped over furniture, bundled into the closet and stuffed under the bed, and requested a box iron and an ironing board from Housekeeping. Nicole calmed down as I laid out several frocks on her double bed, lining up the matching shoes beneath.

I was amazed at how many clothes she had travelled with. And there was a collection of cigarettes and powders hidden under them.

‘Put those away. Can’t you see they’re all wrong? And this one too. Why are you so stupid? Oh, as God is my witness I’ll never wear anything but red once I get out of here.’

‘Why can’t you wear red here?’

‘That’s what that old fool Taylor says. He says if I wear red now, you local idiots will all think I’m celebrating Victor’s death and believe that I killed him. And you’ll drown me as a witch or something. Oh, what a bore. We weren’t even married and now I have to dump half my wardrobe for him. I can’t even wear my rubies. Why are backward people so stupid and superstitious? With my colouring, I look my best in red. And now I can’t wear any of those dresses and gowns.’

Nicole was right. Her prettiest frocks were all in shades of pink, red and scarlet. I removed the offending garments

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.