Sure enough, by the time the first croupier emerged from the toilet, Hashwini was bent over in agony. There was no way she could endure till Gao Jingxuan was done. Hashwini made a snap decision. There was a VIP guest toilet sandwiched between the Emerald and Sapphire rooms. As a rule, croupiers were not allowed to use it but this was an extraordinary situation.

Hashwini reached the VIP guest toilet just as the occupant inside activated the flush. She pressed herself against the wall and watched as the door opened and the guest inside headed straight for the reception lobby. The back profile was unmistakable; it was Teddy Toy Boy leaving earlier than usual.

Hashwini quietly locked the door and settled down to conduct her business. The diarrhoea was fierce and furious. Whatever the kitchen staff had dropped into the pot of chendol by mistake was a killer!

And then she spotted it—the iPhone leaning against the toilet paper dispenser.

Picking it up, Hashwini noticed that it was protected by a nine-digit PIN. The phone’s wallpaper was a photo of Teddy sporting his signature dazzle of a smile. Had Hashwini not overheard the phone conversation earlier, she would have continued to regard Teddy as one of the sweetest men she had ever encountered. But armed with her new insight, the smile appeared contrived and deceitful. Hashwini hated it. She also hated the invisible woman she had been dealing blackjack for. Hashwini wondered what the woman looked like.

That was when it struck her. She could try the swipe code. The first guess was obvious. She did a figure “5”, Teddy Toy Boy’s favourite number.

And it worked.

Hashwini tapped her way into the gallery and browsed through the albums until one particular album stopped her cold. There was a collection of photos where Teddy was in intimate poses with the woman—except that it was not a woman. It was a man, who looked majestic and stately with a head of white hair.

Hashwini had seen the man featured in the news on quite a few occasions. He had been at the airport to receive Aung San Suu Kyi. He had presented a pot of Vanda Miss Joaquim to Prince William and Kate Middleton at the Botanic Gardens. Hashwini did not remember his name, but the man definitely held a very high position in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

And here he was in the photo, embracing Teddy Toy Boy from behind and planting a loving kiss on his neck.

With a trembling tap of her fingertip, Hashwini forwarded the photo to her own Gmail account.

Chapter 11

Jessica could feel the tingle in her toes as she clicked on the link. It led to a Facebook page titled “We Love Jessica”. This was the third Facebook Page created by fans that Andreae had managed to hunt down. The latter had been actively searching so that she could insert links back to the “J Bruise” website to trigger sales.