The Woman In the Cellar by Cathryn Grant

Author:Cathryn Grant [Grant, Cathryn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Suspense, American Suspense, psychological thriller, sociopath, killer, Vigilante
Published: 2018-04-07T04:00:00+00:00

37

I sent a text message to Tess and suggested we go out to dinner. She responded immediately and eagerly, if you can feel such a thing as eagerness through a text message, and I think you can. Even without emojis, you can feel enthusiasm in the words that are chosen, you can feel the level of interest in whether or not more details are added to the plan. She not only suggested a place, Uncle Ming’s dumpling bar, she said she’d make a reservation.

We left the house at three, long before it was time for Gavin to begin preparing dinner. Neither of us had spoken to Sean.

The Uber dropped us off right in front of the restaurant. We walked to a door that opened to stairs leading underground. It was looking as if wintertime in downtown Sydney was all going to be spent in cellars. Being below street level naturally increases your sense of being confined. If it were to come to that, the avenues of escape are fewer, and more likely to be blocked. Floods come to mind. So do earthquakes and armed robbery, but Sydney doesn’t have earthquakes and they have very few guns, so perhaps the underground threat was much less than I imagined. There was still the thought of a flood, water pouring in and seeking its lowest spot, filling up the space, consuming everyone trapped inside.

At the bottom of the stairs was a square lobby, two walls lined with cushioned benches. The hostess checked our reservation and grabbed some menus. Strings of red beads were hung like a curtain in the doorway that led into the restaurant itself. We followed her through the opening, the strands plucking at our hair.

Uncle Ming’s is an opium den-inspired cocktail and dumpling bar. Uncle Ming reportedly began his career as a policeman in Shanghai, collecting protection money from opium traders. For unknown, but easily guessed reasons, he had to leave China in the late 1920s. He settled in Sydney where he opened a place for locals to meet and have a drink.

It was a charming, atmospheric place. The free-standing tables were small, but the booths were larger, and secluded, with half walls that formed tiny private rooms. The music was thumping and the bar was as crowded as the eating area. Later, I discovered the restrooms had Chinese language lessons piped in. You could learn to ask where is the train station while you peed. I was pretty sure I wouldn’t remember the phrase, but I wished I could. I was tempted to linger at the sink, soaping my hands a second time so I could learn how to greet people and ask for a taxi as well.

We both ordered an Empire’s Sun which featured Tanqueray Ten, lychee liqueur, rose, and lavender. It was refreshing and carried quite a kick.

Instead of displaying the food on small, constantly circling carts like most Dim Sum places, ordering was off the menu. We started with vegetable egg rolls, steamed pork dumplings, and barbecued chicken wings.

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