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We took an elevator up to the fifteenth floor and emerged to find Gavin Hudson waiting for us in a small lobby. There was a display of tropical flowers on the table behind him that filled the air with a sweet scent.
“Who are you people?” he asked.
Hudson was dressed in running shoes, sweatpants, and a T-shirt. We were obviously keeping him from his morning exercise.
“My name is Jack Morgan,” I replied. “I run a detective agency called Private. These are my colleagues Zhang Daiyu and Huang Hua. We’d like to ask you some questions about your relationship with Liu Bao.”
“Questions? Are you serious? I don’t have time for questions,” he responded.
“Okay,” I said slowly. “Then we’ll take it to the CIA section chief at the embassy.”
“Take what?” Hudson asked, suddenly concerned.
“The fact that your girlfriend is an associate of Liu Bao. She’s visited his apartment in the company of other women we believe are call girls. Do you have any idea why she might do that?”
It was as though I’d hit him. He staggered a little and the color drained from his face.
“Daisy?” he asked. “You’re talking about Daisy?”
I nodded.
“Shit!” he said. “You better come in.”
CHAPTER 61
SHOULDERS SAGGING AND with an air of bewilderment and defeat, Gavin Hudson led us down the corridor to his apartment.
It was decorated like an upmarket hotel, with eye-catching pieces of furniture, engaging abstract art, and beautiful coffee-table books displayed around the place: stylish but lacking the feel of a proper home.
He shut the living-room door behind us.
“Have a seat.”
He gestured to two sofas facing each other either side of a glass door, which opened onto a large balcony. I could see the seemingly endless city beyond.
“I’m assuming you have proof of this allegation,” he said.
I signaled Hua, who pulled his tablet computer from ashoulder bag and handed it to Hudson. The embassy staffer scrolled through the photos of Daisy and Liu Bao.
He shook his head in dismay. “She introduced me to him. Claimed she’d met him during an interview for a magazine. Said he would be a good contact for intel on trade and finance. How did this get by State?”
I shrugged.
“I hardly know the guy. We’ve had a beer a couple times. That’s it,” Hudson continued.
“Sounds as though they were just getting started on you,” I replied.
He looked relieved. If it had gone any farther, something like this could have ruined his career. Or made a traitor of him.
“Daisy?” he said, rising. He put his head through a doorway. “Daisy honey, could you come in here?” He was grimacing, but his voice gave away nothing much, just the slightest edge to it.
I wasn’t expecting her to be in the apartment and exchanged a look with Zhang Daiyu, who seemed calm about the unexpected encounter. It would be a good opportunity for us to put Wells in a tight spot.
Hudson returned to his seat opposite us and a moment later Daisy Wells came into the room, dressed in an oversized T-shirt and little else, having obviously just woken up.
“Honey?” she asked Hudson, still coming round. “Who are these people?”
“Private detectives,” he replied. “They say you work for Liu Bao.”
