We, the Drowned - Carsten Jensen [197]
At any rate, his impatience with her suddenly and swiftly evaporated. Bending toward her, he looked searchingly into her eyes with an intensity that frightened her. She stopped talking. What did I say? she wondered. Why's he looking at me like that?
Then he took her by the hand. "Come" was all he said.
They took the elevator to his office on the third floor. It was the first elevator she'd ever been in. When the floor wobbled beneath her feet, her hand trembled in his.
He told a secretary to telephone to cancel the meeting he'd been on his way to. He was still holding her hand, as if afraid she'd vanish into thin air if he slackened his grip.
He gestured her into his office. "I don't want to be disturbed," he said to the secretary. He pulled a chair out for her and they sat opposite each other at a large desk of dark wood. Through the window she could see the statue of Niels Juel below.
"Chance is a strange force," he said, stroking his white mustache. "You came to me for reasons that seemed to me quite unclear, and I was close to asking you to leave. But in reality you and I have much more in common than you can imagine."
"It was something I said," she mumbled, and looked down.
"Very much so. But perhaps you don't realize what it was?"
She shook her head. Again she felt her inadequacy.
"I understand that you have some papers you wanted to show me. Let's get that out of the way first."
He held out his hand. Obediently she delved into her spacious oilcloth bag and handed him the envelope containing Albert's will, together with the relevant deeds and share certificates.
For a while he sat bent over the documents, glancing up at her critically from time to time. She said nothing. Finally he gathered the papers back into a pile on his desk. "It's as I thought," he said. "The shipping company's just the tip of the iceberg. The actual fortune is invested in plantations in Southeast Asia and factories in Shanghai. You're rich, Mrs. Friis. Not quite as rich as I am. But still rich. Your assets in Asia actually constitute a kind of parallel enterprise to my own. It's not as strange as it may sound. The same person created both fortunes, you see."
She looked at him, astounded.
"You mentioned her name yourself. I'm speaking of Cheng Sumei. I understand that she was Albert Madsen's mistress. She was mine once too. She wasn't a woman who left her men empty-handed."
He folded his hands on the desk. For a moment he looked lost in reverie. His gaze darkened. "For many years I knew nothing of what became of her," he murmured. Then he snapped out of his trance and looked at her with new energy. "Now tell me about your plans."
She'd never described them completely to anyone before and as she gave an account of them, she felt unsure how they'd sound to a stranger's ears. She felt she was breaking out of a shell of loneliness, one she'd been trapped in for months. When her flow of words finally ebbed and ceased, he was silent for a long time.
"Have you heard of Xerxes, king of Persia?" he finally asked. "Xerxes got it into his head to punish the sea because a sudden storm arose and destroyed his fleet before a decisive battle against the Greeks. His method was somewhat unusual. He had the sea whipped with iron chains. I'd say, Mrs. Friis, that you're a modern-day successor to Xerxes." He looked at her, but she didn't react. What he said had made no impression on her. "I hope you understand that your plans will have fatal consequences for your little town."
"On the contrary," she said, mustering all her courage. "I intend to save it."
THAT SAME EVENING she dined with Markussen in a suite that he kept at his disposal in the Hotel d'Angleterre. He used it for business's associates and important meetings. This evening it was reserved for the story of Cheng Sumei.
"Women," he said, "see themselves as conciliators. They're always diplomatic: not by nature, but by necessity. Women need to have a supple grip. Cheng Sumei did too. But only until she'd found her real mission. Then that grip became as tough as steel."
As he spoke,