"God, it's still dark out," Penny complained, accepting the coffee. "Thanks," she said, taking a sip. "Let me take a quick shower to wake up."
They found Mr. Chang waiting for them downstairs and made it to Changi Airport just as Amy's plane was arriving.
"Hi, Grant," Amy waved as she exited the arrivals hall, Penny needing to force herself not to gape at the track-suit clad woman with the frizzy red hair and black Nike tennis shoes. "That was 30 hours too much," she said, shaking her head. "My body clock is so screwed and I slept most of the way."
"You two haven't been formally introduced yet," Grant said. "Amy Harrison, Penny Lane."
"Hi," Penny said, shaking hands. "Welcome to Singapore."
"Thanks. Isn't it Penny Lane Studder, though?" Amy asked, smiling.
"Did you tell her?" Penny asked.
"No need," Grant laughed. "Let's go collect your baggage," he said.
"This is it," Amy said, indicating the backpack hanging from one shoulder. "I checked you out when I heard that Grant had hired a drop-dead gorgeous, walking wet dream as his right hand," she explained as they made their way to Mr. Chang and the car.
"A what?" Penny gasped.
"I like to know who I'm going to be working with," Amy shrugged as they got into the car. "Grant's movie-star hot, so when he hires someone like you, I want to know why."
"Mr. Chang, could we have some privacy, please?" Grant asked.
"Certainly," Mr. Chang replied, pressing a button on his dash to raise a smoked-glass window separating the passenger compartment from the driver.
"You...you checked me out?" Penny asked, stunned.
"That's what I do," Amy replied, shrugging.
"Amy vets all of our prospective clients, then does the deep digging to learn as much about them and their acquaintances as possible," Grant explained. "She spent two years with the NSA before joining me."
"The NSA?" Penny asked. "I thought that you were a lawyer."
"Oh, I am, but I spent a couple of years working in cyber counter-espionage with the NSA," Amy explained.
"Which is why we need her for this client," Grant explained. "If anyone can find out the information we need, it's Amy."
"What did you find out about me?" Penny asked, curious.
"Oh, nothing too salacious," Amy replied, laughing. "I just wanted to know the basics. Dual degrees in political science and business administration from Vassar, graduated top of your Columbia law school class summa cum laude in just two years. Enough to know that he hired you for your brains. It's not your fault that you're so hot looking. I figured you weren't using your last name because you didn't want anyone thinking that you got the job based on nepotism."
"Well, you certainly are direct, aren't you?" Penny asked, laughing.
"That's the bane of my life," Amy replied, smiling. "I don't snoop into people's lives because I want to, I do it because that's my job. Grant tells me who to snoop and to what degree and that's all that I do."
"How could you come all this way with only that small backpack?" Penny asked.
"I'm here to snoop," Amy replied. "I've got a change of clothes and my toys."
"Toys?" Penny asked.
"Laptop and some other goodies," Amy explained. "Here are the files that you wanted," she said, reaching into her backpack and extracting a folder which she handed to Grant.
"Give me a quick synopsis," Grant said. "I'll read it later."
"Okay," Amy said. "Lady Hawthorne, 48, 3rd cousin to the King, formerly a spinster until she met Nicolai 'Nicky' Sirotkin, a Russian émigré, 56. He styles himself an industrialist, but the origins of his money, almost a billion pounds sterling, are murky. He married her for her connections to the royal family, she married him because nobody else had ever asked. She's had/has a few lovers, both men and women, and he's strictly into men, the younger the better, which is where the problem is. Apparently there's a photo of him in a compromising situation with one of his younger friends and the Palace is having a hissy fit trying to control the situation. He's desperate for a knighthood, thinks that it will open doors to people with connections to the royal family that have deep pockets. She's trying to avoid the embarrassment of having married him at all."
"The other one, our Hollywood A-list couple...why do these people even bother to get married?" she asked, shaking her head. "They seem to be competing with one another to see who can fuck the most people. They're both into recreational drugs; marijuana, ecstasy, and cocaine, and they like orgies, both together and separately. They're of approximately the same net worth. The problem is that they own a lot of stuff jointly, houses, art, even a vineyard in France. Good luck trying to unravel that mess."
"Here's the other thing that you wanted," she said, handing him an envelope.
"This is for you, Penny," Grant said, extracting a black credit card from the envelope and handing it to her. "It's a corporate credit card so that you don't have to use your own and put in for reimbursement anymore. Your first job is going to be to take Little Orphan Annie here shopping for some appropriate clothes."
"What's wrong with my clothes?" Amy protested. "I'm into comfortable, not fashion."
"I would have never guessed," Grant laughed. "I can't have you meeting the Minister of Security dressed like some vagabond. Make sure that she has enough outfits so that she won't stand out like some homeless person."
"This is going to be fun," Penny laughed.
"Where are we going?" Grant asked, looking out, then rapping his knuckles on the partition window which lowered. "Mr. Chang, where are we going?"
"Mrs. Wang is moving you to a more secure accommodation," Mr. Chang explained. "Some of our people have already collected your things from the Marina Bay Sands."
"Well, you've got to admire her organizational efficiency," Grant said.
"If triads are involved, you can't have enough security," Amy said.
"You know about triads?" Penny asked.
"When I worked for NSA, I was assigned to the China desk," Amy replied. "They're about as ruthless as they come."
"Hey, this looks pretty nice," Penny commented when they turned into Scotts Square, nestled between the Grand Hyatt and the Marriott off of Orchard Road.
"Armed guards?" Amy asked as they pulled up to the portico.
"This is a level-3 secure facility," Mr. Chang explained. "Nobody can access the property above the 4 levels of shops and restaurants without proper clearance. There are a lot of families living here and they don't want to have to worry about their children being kidnapped for ransom, so the armed security guards help ensure that. There has never been a security breach that I'm aware of."
"Works for me," Amy said as they alighted.
"You need to get registered with security first," Mr. Chang explained, leading them into the building, then to an office clearly marked SECURITY, where their palm prints and retinal scans were recorded. He then led them to a bank of elevators. Your palm prints will call for an elevator," he explained, indicating that Grant should place his palm against the reader. "Once you enter the elevator, built-in optical scanners will further verify your right to access. Only then will the controls be activated so that you can choose the floor that you want to access."
"Nice system," Amy said, smiling.
"Mrs. Wang owns the top two floors of the Orchard wing," Mr. Chang explained, pressing the button for the 34th floor. "She lives on the 35th floor where the sky pool is located. The main swimming pool is located on the 5th floor, which is level 8."
Exiting the elevator, Mr. Chang led them to one of three doors marked only by the letter A, the others labeled as B and C respectively.
"Any of your palm prints will open the door," he explained, Amy reaching out and placing her hand on the reader, the door making a slight snicking sound as it released, then opened. "Mrs. Wang is occupied with business right now, but she asks that you join her for dinner at 7:00 this evening. If you wish to travel anywhere, I can be reached by dialing 888 from the house phone," he explained, pointing to it next to the front door. "By the time you get downstairs, I will be waiting."
"Thank you, Mr. Chang," Grant said as they looked around at the spacious unit.
"That's what I call service," Amy said.
"I'm starved," Penny said. "I'm not used to waking up before the sun rises."
"I need a shower first," Amy said, leading the way into the unit. "Looks like you and I are going to share a bathroom," she observed. "Grant gets the master bedroom, I guess."
"I don't mind," Penny said. "Looks like this bedroom is mine," she said, entering the one closest to the master bedroom and finding her clothes hanging in the closet.
"Doesn't matter to me," Amy said, going into the far one and tossing her backpack on the bed. "Give me 10 minutes, okay?"
"It looks like there's a good place to get some breakfast, Wild Honey," Penny said as she perused the book of amenities available. "It's open all day. And the shopping looks every bit as good as at the Marina Bay Sands. There's Damiani, Hermes, and even Michael Kors."
"Okay, I'm ready," Amy said when she appeared, wearing yet another track suit.
"You are definitely going shopping for something to wear after we eat," Grant said, shaking his head.
"Does he give you grief about how you dress?" Amy asked.
"Only that I don't wear a bra and I like sheer material," Penny replied, smiling.
"I've never heard you complain about Cindy dressing like that," Amy said.
"Cindy's not my daughter," Grant pointed out.
"Oh, lord, you can't be serious," Amy laughed, rolling her eyes.
"You and I are definitely going to be friends," Penny laughed.
They took the elevator down to the shops area and easily found Wild Honey.
"Nice menu," Amy commented as she looked it over. "I'll have the Boulevard St. Michel," she ordered, a savory French toast with double baked cheese and spinach souffle, parmesan-crumbed poached egg, slow-roasted tomato, grilled bacon, and tomato chutney.
"I'll have the Norwegian," Penny ordered, avocado with grilled asparagus and poached eggs wrapped with Norwegian smoked salmon, with Hollandaise sauce and pearls of salmon eggs on brioche bread.
"The Delancy for me," Grant ordered, pastrami with poached eggs, tomatoes, and mustard Hollandaise on a sesame bagel.
"That was delicious," Penny declared when they finished and were having coffee. "It's nice to have somewhere close by to have breakfast."
"I'm going to leave the two of you to go shopping," Grant said. "I've got some phone calls to make. I'll see you later, okay?"
"Why don't you go shopping and I'll make phone calls?" Amy suggested.
"Nice try," Grant laughed, leaving them.
"What do you have against shopping, or nice clothes?" Penny asked as they made their way out to the shops.
"I only wear clothes when I leave home, because I'd get arrested if I didn't," Amy replied. "I've never sought the limelight or attention, so dressing up never really interested me. I don't begrudge those who like to dress nicely, it's just not a priority for me."
"I grew up with nice clothes, so I never really thought about it," Penny said. "Working with Grant now, I have to maintain some sort of an image because I have to interact with the clients."
"Do you always refer to him as Grant?" Amy asked.
