Chapter Twelve
Elsie Chu shot a few additional scenes undressed, showing her vanity ring to the camera several times, and then decided to stop filming. The five hours of video shot that night were going to be included in the final footage of Casa Mollino, a blend of fictional adult-themed video and reality conversations and amateur-flavored sex between real people involved in it. The wealthy doyenne took off her lingerie in front of Clarity and Vanity, showing off her plump body. While she folded the tripod and placed the camcorder used to film on a night table, Clarity could see that something was bugging the wife of Dao Bin, because she kept looking at her smartphone, writing lines of text on a pad.
"I should get more credit within the Shade of the White Lotus," she said.
"I'm not sure you'd want Madame Wa as teacher," said Clarity. She added. "In fact, I'm not sure whether you like esoteric sexual practices or not.". Filming adult video did not seem very spiritual offhand to Clarity, although the ethics of Madame Wa seemed far from ideal or spiritual also.
"Yes, I do have some idea of the White Tigress practices. What do you know? You don't know anything about those practices. You don't know anything about business. I mean there's a hierarchy in life. You don't have any merit, you don't own anything. You're here thanks to me." Vanity pulled Clarity towards the bedroom door.
"We'll go talk to the girls to clean the bungalow and put things back in order while you change." That calmed down Elsie Chu.
"Ensure you're back at Wilkinson Vue by noon today," said Elsie Chu. "Otherwise, my husband will miss you. Clarity, we're leaving at nine this morning, I want you at the door at eight thirty." Vanity opened the door and pushed Clarity forward, before the teleoperator could reply to the billionaire's wife.
"What is the matter with her? That is so unfair," said Clarity, "everyone is entitled to learn at their own pace, it doesn't matter whether they understand business or not. And esoteric practices are not easy to understand, there's nothing obvious about them."
They went into one of the bathrooms on the second floor, to freshen up. Vanity picked up a bag with her clothes and filled the bath with water while she took off her playsuit. When the water filled the bathtub, Clarity got in naked, with the maid facing her. The warm water calmed down the teleoperator with auburn hair.
"She is just angry because she's not getting her way. I don't trust any of these Secret Societies, they all think they hold the spiritual truth of all truths. The truth is that no one does hold the truth, and that the only truth is decency." Clarity rubbed the back of Vanity with a coral sponge which looked oddly like a car wash item.
"So are the girls downstairs members of the skyline of kuala lumpur harem, the harem where there is no man around, or in charge?"
"There is a connection with it, but no, none of those girls are there. The girls of the skyline travel only with the very rich, and sometimes famous, those we never see anywhere else. Some of them come from the Samba schools of Rio de Janeiro, in Brazil, places like Unidos da Tijuca, Portela, Beija-Flor, and Salgueiro, you can find them at exclusive private balls which take place after the carnival, in places like the Copacabana Palace, wearing intricate floats with feathers, which are very difficult to make."
"They go with people richer than Elsie Chu or her husband?"
"Elsie Chu is an amateur in terms of money, compared to the customers of the skyline. Dao Bin is considered a beginner."
"So what is the connection?"
"The films sold or distributed by Telval, the film directors. Some of the girls in the harem are featured in those films, which are then sold or shown in limited edition, or in private, before being taken out of the market."
While they got out of the bath, looking for towels, Vanity grabbed the forearm of Clarity.
"Listen, I want to leave Dao Bin, can you help me?" The request took Clarity by surprise.
"I don't have much support here from anyone."
"I don't want to work as an escort for Dao Bin or Elsie Chu. I'd want to head Telval Studios, but I don't have any connections there. Elsie Chu would never let me do that."
Clarity dried her hair with a blow drier plugged to the wall and thought that without the decryptor, she could not get in touch with Wen Jhi or Xiaolu. And it was important to alert the monks about the fact that the wife of Dao Bin and Olivia Chai were tracing their health phone assembly plant.
"I can't get in touch with my friends at the Enlightened Jade Dragon Society. Not without my decryptor."
"There is a way to get in touch with them," said Vanity. Clarity reached for a large cotton towel, throwing another one to the maid of Dao Bin.
"Really?"
"I've heard of the Pentatone monks when I was cast at Telval. When the adult films are finished, they add scenes to draw people to their Secret Society. I'm sure we can find this plant you talk about, by watching Golden Lamp of Casa Mollino."
"We just shot one reality scene, we don't have the whole film. Do you know any way to watch it?"
"Yes, this woman who works with Dao Bin, Olivia Chai. She takes care of all real estate matters for Dao Bin and his wife. I know she has a copy of the latest version of the movie. I asked her to join us tonight, but she declined. She's smart, she doesn´t want to be filmed naked in front of people she doesn't know. But she's acting as custodian of the film. I know how to get in touch with her, through the Singapore polo club, she's a member there." Clarity had a naughty thought which included leaving Elsie Chu for good. She donned her sweater and jeans.
"Let's elope together, and leave Elsie Chu here," said Clarity. Vanity kissed Clarity on the lips and kneeled down to kiss her intimate parts with her tongue. "All right." After a few minutes of caressing their bodies, they fell asleep for two hours, ensuring the cell phone alarm of Vanity awoke them.
Around eight in the morning, Vanity talked to the girls downstairs, relaying a message for Elsie Chu that Clarity would be back with her at Wilkinson Vue, around noon, and that they went shopping. They took a cab and grabbed an early breakfast at a diner, before heading out to the Singapore polo club. Introduced to Singapore by officers of the King's Own Regiment stationed on the island, polo was an exclusive sport in the city, catering to the wealthy and socially prominent. The Singapore polo club, or Singapore Grounds, was the oldest polo team in British Malaya, and in addition to the riding field, it also included a spa, jacuzzi and swimming pool.
Inside the clubhouse, Vanity asked for a receptionist in charge of discipline and complaints, Kenny Hock, that she'd met during a visit to the polo club with Dao Bin.
"I can't let you see the list of club members," he said. "They'd fire me if anyone finds out."
"No one will find out," said Vanity. "I'll give you what you like, if we find what we're looking for." Kenny Hock liked full body massages with a happy ending.
"What I like, you mean with a happy ending?" He asked.
"Yeah," said Vanity.
"Get in behind the counter, your friend can as well." He looked more closely at his computer screen and opened a file showing all active members of the club. Olivia Chai's residence was listed as Block 231 HDB on Toah Payoh, ten minutes by car from the polo club, a residence managed by the Belmont Limited servicing company, which also managed Wilkinson Vue apartments, and a group of bungalows which included the one on Mount Pleasant Road. Clarity pulled Vanity aside.
"How are we going to get in?"
"Easy, hold on."
Vanity asked Kenny for an additional item.
"Kenny, can you lend me the lock pick you use in case someone loses their locker room key?"
"Make it a very happy ending," said the polo club employee. He opened a drawer and took out a lockpick which he handed to Vanity.
"Thanks. The alarm code of Olivia Chai please?"
Olivia Chai requested polo club servants to deliver groceries to her home while she was working, and she gave her alarm code to them. Kenny Hock did not shy away from his potential full body massage appointment. He presse
d the page-down key and jotted a five number combination on a piece of paper which he handed to the maid of Dao Bin. Kenny Hock left a colleague at reception and dropped Clarity and Vanity one block away from the home of Dao Bin's real estate director.
At eleven in the morning, Olivia Chai opened the door of her residence and left her home, heading to her office, which was also at Republic Plaza in downtown Singapore. Clarity let Vanity use the lockpick to open the door of the business woman's home. The maid of Dao Bin looked for a control panel and keyed in the combination number to turn off the alarm. They walked into the living room area and noticed a widescreen television set. In the second drawer of the sideboard where the television rested, Clarity found a DVD titled 'Golden Lamp of Casa Mollino."
"Let's watch it."
One of the scenes of the film included Xiaolu, being cast for a secretary position by a sultry female agent. Clarity noticed that the scene was shot indoors in an office which showed a door sign labeled S-Park 1. She pressed on the interactive internet access button of Olivia Chai's television set, and googled S-Park 1 in Singapore.
"It's a business park, a landmark development which redefined the Singapore Science Park. Part of the Ascendas-Singbridge offer of industrial parks." Clarity was skeptical.
"You think the monks are there?" She asked.
"They use subtle signs in the films like this to lead people into their Secret Society. I've heard Elsie Chu talk about it several times with Dao Bin. At least, we might be able to get in touch with them. Let's go there and find out."
"It's worth a try," said Clarity.
They turned off the television set, taking the copy of the adult film. A taxi took them south west of the city in fifteen minutes to number two, Science Park drive. The taxi stopped at the business park drop-off point.
Clarity stepped out with Vanity, and heard a loud noise coming from the left, which sounded like a police siren. Several police cars were driving towards them, and behind them, several trucks painted green with a red star on it were approaching the industrial park entrance. The uncomfortable thought that they'd been followed entered the mind of Clarity.
"Those trucks are not from Singapore," said Vanity. Clarity looked closer, noticing the vehicles carried soldiers inside. The trucks belonged to the People's Liberation Army of China. They'd probably been called by the Economic Counsellor's Office.