People come and go, most of them staring at us as they pass. We don’t bother looking out for Mr Du: we wouldn’t know him.
We chat to Anthony, who wants to visit Scotland. He loves golf and would like to tour all the famous courses. A cousin of his is studying in Seattle and he’d like to visit him too.
At the next bench along a small child, dressed like a princess with net skirts, a shiny pink bodice and a headband with pink rosebuds on it, trots across the path and stumbles. Her mother runs to pick her up, kissing her head and patting her back. It’s so much easier to protect them when they’re tiny, I think, but once they’re grown the parent’s role diminishes, even though the sense of responsibility, the propensity for guilt, never goes. Lori’s princess days were short-lived: a few months at nursery school, then she switched to witches, superheroes and animals.
I check my phone: quarter to one.
A man walks past and begins to clear his throat noisily, a retching sound, urk urk urk, then spits hack into the bushes.
Two little boys arrive with, I guess, their grandmas. The kids carry fishing nets and the women stand beside them while they have a go at catching the carp in the pool nearby.
‘The press conference will be on Thursday,’ Tom says to Anthony. ‘We want to get the search on the news, in the papers, kick up a fuss.’
Anthony nods. ‘Many girls go missing in China,’ he says, ‘often in the villages, kidnapped.’
Jesus! Does he think this fate might have befallen Lori?
Tom’s eyes narrow. ‘Does it happen to foreigners?’ he says.
‘No, no, not foreigners.’ Anthony gives an uneasy smile. ‘Only Chinese. To be married.’
Because of the shortage of women, I think, a result of the one-child policy.
‘And some for…’ Anthony thinks a moment ‘… trafficking?’
I nod. ‘Yes.’
‘This is not in the papers,’ he says.
‘People don’t talk about it?’ I say.
‘That is right. But your daughter is an English girl so I think they will put her on the news. Maybe the police will find her first.’ He brightens at this. ‘Then all will be well. This is often the way. When the police have success then it is public.’
But if Lori’s disappearance isn’t publicized in the first place, what chance of success is there?
At one o’clock we try the flat again. This time someone’s home. Mr Du gives a little start as he opens the door, obviously surprised to find the three of us on his doorstep. He’s young-looking, quite tall, with a narrow face and pointed chin. I can smell cooking fat and garlic from inside. Mr Du listens as Anthony talks, only occasionally glancing up at him.
