“Let me tell you what I’m appreciating right now—your new Birkin bag! I never thought you’d be caught dead with one of these. Didn’t you once say that only tacky Mainlanders carried such bags?” Nadine asked.

“Funny you should say that—this was a gift from Bao Shaoyen.”

“Wah, ah nee ho miah!^*6 I told you the Baos were loaded,” Daisy said.

“Well, you were right—the Baos are loaded beyond belief. My God, the way I’ve seen them spend in just the few months they’ve been here! Nadine, if you thought your Francesca was a spendthrift, you should see how that Carlton spends. I have never seen a boy more obsessed with cars in my life! At first his mother swore she would never let him set foot in another sports car, but every time I go over there, there’s some exotic new car in their sky garage. Apparently he’s been buying cars and shipping them back to China. He claims he’ll make a fat profit reselling them to his friends.”

“Well, it sounds like Carlton has made quite a recovery!” Lorena said.

“Yes, he hardly even needs his crutches anymore. Oh, in case you were still thinking of him for your Tiffany, you should stop. Apparently he’s already got a girlfriend. A fashion model or something like that—she lives in Shanghai but flies down to see him every weekend.”

“Carlton is so handsome and charming, of course there must be a long line of girls trying to catch him,” Nadine said.

“He may be all that, but I can see now why Shaoyen loses sleep over her son. She told me that the past few months have been the most relaxed time she’s had in years. She’s afraid that once Carlton is fully back on his feet again and they return to China, he will be impossible to manage.”

Lowering her voice, Lorena asked, “Speaking of China, did you meet with Mr. Wong?”

“Of course. Aiyah, that Mr. Wong has put on so much weight—I think the private investigating business must be zheen ho seng lee.”^*7

“So, everything is good? Did you read the dossier?”

“Did I ever. You won’t believe what I found out about the Baos,” Eleanor said with a little smile.

“What? What?” Lorena asked, leaning in closer.

Just then, Carol entered the gallery and made a beeline for Lorena and Eleanor. “Alamak, there was such a long line for the bathroom! How’s the show?”

Daisy took her by the arm and said, “I think there were more interesting things to see in the jambun^*8 than in this show. Come, let’s see if the food is any better. I hope they have some spicy samosas.”

As the ladies made their way down the passageway toward the dining room, an Indian woman with snow-white hair wearing a simple bone-colored sari emerged from one of the rooms and caught sight of them. “Eleanor Young, is that you looking so mysterious behind those sunglasses?” the woman asked in an elegant, lilting voice.