Marissa smiled in spite of herself. Tristan’s playful behavior, his good humor, and his Australian dialect were a balm for her troubled soul. Moment to moment she couldn’t anticipate which bad thoughts would plague her: Wendy’s violent death, her deteriorating relationship with Robert, her life that was generally in ruins, or her inability to conceive.

Marissa’s smile faded as she thought about her life. There didn’t seem to be much more that could go wrong. On top of everything else she still didn’t feel physically or mentally normal, even though she’d been off the hormones for a week. She wondered when her old equilibrium would return.

A shower, some makeup, and clean clothes helped improve Marissa’s spirits. When she was ready, she rapped on the connecting door. Tristan instantly appeared. They breakfasted in front of the window with a view of Hong Kong Island in the distance. As they ate, the green mountains slowly emerged from their enveloping morning mist.

“I already ordered a limo as you suggested,” Tristan said as they sat back to enjoy their coffee. “I told the concierge we wanted an experienced driver. He said that all their drivers were experienced.”

“What’s our schedule?” Marissa asked.

“First we should go to the bank where I wired the money,” Tristan said. “After the experience last night, I have a feeling that we’ll be needing a lot of squeeze. Then I thought we’d follow through with your other suggestions and visit one of the hospitals. We can ask about Wing Sin there, as well as TB. If we still don’t have any leads for the triad, we’ll ask the limo driver. What do you say?”

“Sounds good to me,” Marissa answered.

When they got downstairs and walked outside the hotel, they found that the limo was already waiting. It was a black Mercedes sedan. The driver introduced himself as Freddie Lam.

“To the Hong Kong National Bank, Freddie,” Tristan said as he settled comfortably in the back of the Mercedes.

It took almost half an hour to cover the quarter-mile of congested city traffic to the bank.

“We could have walked here quicker,” Marissa commented.

The bank was an impressive marbled affair, and was extremely efficient. The impeccably dressed banking officer’s expression did not alter when Tristan made his withdrawal.

“That seems like a lot of money,” Marissa said as they climbed back into their limo.

“A lot of squeeze,” Tristan corrected. Then, leaning over the seat, he told Freddie to take them to the New World shopping center.

“Don’t you think we should go directly to the hospital?” Marissa said. She couldn’t believe Tristan had any interest in shopping.

“Patience, luv!” Tristan said.