Chapter 73
‘Tell me everything you know about the Red Chamber,’ Poe said. ‘Everything the FBI knows about the Red Chamber.’
Susan Hawksworth looked to her boss. He nodded.
‘This is bigger than the NCA and the FBI, Poe,’ she said.
‘Way bigger. We’re leading on it as it’s believed the main players are domiciled in the UK, but in partnership with Europol and Interpol we’re assisting with active investigations in the US, Germany, France, Denmark, Canada, Estonia, Australia and Belgium.
A few others I can’t remember off the top of my head. ’
Poe took his time answering. ‘OK,’ he said. ‘We’ve stumbled into something big. Tell me about them. Who are they? What do they do?’
‘What have you found out?’
‘They’re either an offshoot of the Forty-Fours, or they’re affiliated.
They certainly hand over a percentage of their money.
They run a high-end concubine service. The man I spoke to thought the punters paid a seven-figure fee per annum.
Half goes to the Red Chamber; the other half is put into an investment fund.
The woman is given access to it when her twenty-year contract is complete. ’
‘Go on.’
‘Because the Red Chamber had a problem with competitors, they use a gifted artist called Kai Jin to tattoo an exquisite portrait of the woman on the sole of her foot. There’s a tattooist in this building, and she tells me that’s an incredibly difficult tattoo to do.
Painstaking work and it’s easily damaged. ’
‘You’ve been busy,’ Gilliard said. ‘How long have you been working on this?’
‘Three days.’
His eyes widened. ‘Three days? It’s taken us almost five years to get to this point. And we didn’t have the name of the tattooist until we overheard you talking about him.’
‘DCI Flynn did say he doesn’t hang about, sir,’ Susan Hawksworth said. ‘What do you know about Chinese concubinage, Poe?’
‘Not much. I only found out about the Red Chamber this afternoon.’
‘In that case, I’ll give you a potted history.
In pre-modern China, it was illegal for a man to have more than one wife, but it was socially acceptable for him to have as many concubines as he could afford.
The concubine’s position was inferior to the wife’s, but superior to servants and slaves.
They were recognised sexual partners and were expected to bear children for the man they were attached to. ’
Poe saw Esmerée stiffen. She held her tongue. Her hand didn’t do anything crazy. He said, ‘The children weren’t considered illegitimate?’
‘No. Although they were legally inferior in status to the wife’s children, they were still legitimate heirs.’
‘How were concubines selected?’
‘During the Ming Dynasty, the age of the candidates ranged mainly from fourteen to sixteen. It wasn’t uncommon for poor families to sell their daughters to rich ones. It was considered the pragmatic thing to do. There was certainly no shame attached to it.’
Poe thought how the ‘then’ related to the ‘now’. He said, ‘And what would be considered a decent candidate?’
‘The usual,’ Susan replied. ‘Looks, body condition. Virtue and character. Intelligence.’ She paused for half a beat. ‘Much like the meat markets of today, I suppose. It was just more organised back then.’
‘Is it still practised?’
‘Not officially. The Chinese Communist Party banned it in 1949.’
‘And unofficially?’
Susan shrugged. ‘Who the hell knows? Probably. The Red Chamber are certainly doing their best to keep the tradition alive.’