Page 111 of The Friend Zone Experiment

“Camera,” said Ket Siong. It was a serious one, too. Ket Siong could imagine it would record decent footage, even in a park at night.

“Thought so,” said Renee. She folded her arms, turning on the man a coolly assessing gaze, like that of a gardener who has come across a particularly unpleasant slug.

Ket Siong had seen versions of this look on Renee’s face before, mostly when she was discussing Andrew or her brothers. He found himself disturbingly into it.

“Who was it who hired you?” said Renee. “Goh Su Beng, or Goh Su Khoon?”

“Who are you?” said the man. “Why so many people want to follow you? Are you famous or what?”

“Tell us, and he’ll let you go,” said Renee. “Otherwise, we can all go to the police station together. Stalking is a crime, you know.”

The man opened his mouth. Renee said, “And if we have a look at what’s on that camera, it might be hard for you to argue you haven’t been following us.”

“The client won’t give me their name,” said the man sulkily. “You think they’re so stupid?”

“Somebody has to be making the arrangements,” said Renee. “Is it a lady called Jessie Chan?”

The man scoffed. “You really think everybody wants to know your business—”

“Or Penny Ooi?”

The man’s expression froze. After a moment, he said, “I won’t tell you anything. You let me go, or I’ll call the police.”

“It’s OK,” said Renee to Ket Siong. “You can let him up. I know who it is now.”

“Who’s Penny Ooi?”

“Su Khoon’s PA,” said Renee. She passed a hand over her face, sighing. “Here I was, thinking we were getting along better.”

Ket Siong considered the situation. “Should I take the camera?”

“It’s fine,” said Renee. “It’s not like there’s going to be anything on there that’s going to make a difference to anything.” She shook her head, wry. “My brother’s problem is he can never predict what I’m going to do. What I’m planning is going to piss Dad off more than any blackmail material he could come up with.”

Ket Siong got off their follower. The guy stood up, shook himself, glared at Ket Siong and stomped off, back the way they came.

“I’ll have to tell Dragan to keep an eye out for him,” said Renee.

“Do you think…” Ket Siong hesitated. “Your brother wouldn’t do anything worse.”

“Oh, he wouldn’t hire someone to hurt me. Not physically,” said Renee. “Not unless I really pissed him off. Don’t worry.”

Ket Siong did not find this reassuring. He wished he hadn’t let her come out with him.

“I can hear you worrying,” said Renee. “That’s a direct contradiction of orders.”

When he didn’t smile back, she said, “Look, I’ll take a cab home from the station if it really bothers you. Are you sure you’re OK?”

She checked him over, brushing his shoulders to rid them of some microscopic contamination, visible only to her. He found himself relaxing under her touch, despite himself.

“AreyouOK?” he said.

Renee shrugged. “I’m fine.” She wouldn’t meet his eyes. “It makes me feel better, in a way. I was feeling bad about what I’m going to do—you know, with the Freshview deal. My brother agreed to work with me in good faith, and I’m about to turn around and blow that all up.”

It was important not to criticise Renee’s family to her. She would only feel obliged to defend them.

But Ket Siong couldn’t let this pass.

“As I recall,” he said, “he agreed to work with you after it turned out he couldn’t blackmail you. After you caught him with his mistress.”