“How does she find her clients?” Frost asked.
“I’m better off not knowing the specifics,” Prisha replied. “Zara walls off that part of her world. Given that what she’s doing is technically illegal, I think she wants to protect me, since I’m a lawyer. But rich men have networks, especially in Silicon Valley. They know how to find what they want.”
“Have you ever met a man named Denny Clark?” Frost asked. “Or did your sister ever mention that name?”
“I don’t think so.”
“What about an Asian chef named Mr. Jin?”
Prisha looked puzzled. “Mr. Jin? Well, yes, we both know him, although I don’t know why that’s important. Zara and I are rather fanatical about dim sum. We’ve eaten at his restaurant in Chinatown many times. He’s catered a few Zelyx parties, too, where I brought my sister along as my guest.”
“So Mr. Jin knows her personally?”
“Oh yes. Needless to say, Zara and I aren’t shy. If we like what someone does, we make a point of introducing ourselves. We’ve chatted with Mr. Jin on several occasions.”
“Would he also know Zara as Fawn?” Frost asked.
Prisha frowned. The question unsettled her. “I don’t see how. He doesn’t strike me as the kind of man to have those habits. Anyway, as successful as he is, Mr. Jin wouldn’t be in the financial league necessary to afford my sister. So he would have no occasion to meet her outside the restaurant unless he—”
She stopped.
“Unless he catered a party where she was working?” Frost finished the sentence for her.
“Yes. I suppose that’s possible, although Zara never mentioned it to me if he did. Not that she would.”
Frost tried to connect the dots in his mind and see where they led him. There was a cruise on the Roughing It on Tuesday evening. Small group. Expensive, first-class tastes. Mr. Jin prepared the food. Frost imagined him meeting a beautiful young woman among the guests whom he already knows as Zara Anand. But before he can say anything, she introduces herself as Fawn and probably gives him a look with her eyes that asks him to remain silent.
Later he writes the name in his notepad: Fawn.
“What does your sister look like?” Frost asked.
“Zara? She’s very distinctive. That’s the most memorable kind of beauty. You can find many pretty faces, but there aren’t many that would linger in your memory the way hers does.”
“Do you have a photograph of her?”
“I do.”
Prisha leaned over and tapped a few keys on her laptop. She turned the screen so that Frost could see it, and he found himself staring at a young woman who was every bit as royal as her sister suggested. She could have fit in anywhere, from palaces to boardrooms. It was easy to see the family resemblance. Zara looked a lot like Prisha, with the same thick dark hair, but she also had a unique quality that would make a man stop and stare. Her long nose was slightly too long; her big brown eyes were slightly too big for her face; her angled cheekbones were so sharp they looked severe. And yet when it all came together in one package, she was like Helen of Troy launching a thousand ships.
“See what I mean?” Prisha said with a smile.
“I do. It’s also obvious that she’s your sister. You two look very much alike.”
“That’s flattering, but I know the difference. Billionaires don’t pay to have me with them, but they do with Zara.”
“Can you text me that photo?” Frost asked. “It may help me locate her.”
“I can, but only if you stop keeping me in the dark. We’re talking about my sister. I have a right to know what’s going on.”
Frost chose his words carefully. “Two of the people who were part of that cruise on Tuesday are dead. Mr. Jin is missing. And I can’t reach your sister, which worries me.”
Prisha’s brown eyes opened wide. “Oh no.”
“That’s why it’s important that I find Zara right away. I need to know what happened on Tuesday, and frankly, I need to make sure she’s safe. Do you have any way of contacting her?”
Prisha got up and paced. She rubbed her hands nervously together. “Only if she turns her phone on. Depending on where she is and what she’s doing, she stays off the grid. It’s part of the job.”
“Is there anyone else she might reach out to? What about your parents?”
“They died years ago.”
“A boyfriend?” Frost asked.
Prisha stopped. “Yes, she has a boyfriend. They’ve been together a few years.”
“Who is he?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never met him. Zara has never invited him to our house. She lives her life in compartments, Inspector. When you do what she does, you learn to be careful. I don’t know whether her boyfriend even knows about her ‘career.’ Very few people know anything about her life as Fawn. When she needs to be picked up for an engagement, she goes elsewhere. The limo doesn’t come here.”
“Would you be able to figure out who her boyfriend is?”
“I can try, but I can’t promise anything. Zara may have something in her room that would help me identify him. I’ll see what I can find.”
“I’d appreciate it.”
“You have me very scared now, Inspector,” Prisha admitted.
“I understand. I apologize for alarming you further, but I need to ask you something else. Have you had any unusual experiences here at the house since Tuesday night?”
“What do you mean?”
“Have you noticed any strange cars on the street? Have you spotted anyone following you? Do you have any reason to think someone might have broken into your house while you were away?”
Prisha thought about it. She wandered to the window and looked outside. “No, there hasn’t been anything like that. When you’re a single woman, you usually have radar for that kind of thing. I haven’t felt unsafe.”
“Okay.”
Frost didn’t tell her what he was thinking. If no one was looking for Fawn, that was probably because they knew she wasn’t a threat. She was one more loose end from the cruise on Tuesday that had already been tied off, like Denny and Carla.
“This may seem like an odd question,” he said, “but do you ever recall Zara mentioning the name Lombard?”
“You mean, like the street?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t think so. Why?”
“It’s just something I’m following up on,” Frost said. He stood up from the sofa. “I appreciate your time, Ms. Anand. If you hear from your sister, I hope you’ll let me know right away. And please tell her to call me immediately. I don’t know whether she’s in danger, but I don’t want to take any chances.”
Prisha nodded. “I will.”
“By the way, you said that Zara looked nervous and upset before she left on Tuesday. You thought she was meeting a client who made her uncomfortable. What exactly did you mean? Has she ever felt in physical danger with any of her clients?”
She looked as if she didn’t know how to answer. “You’d have to understand her world, Inspector.”
“Explain it to me anyway,” Frost replied.
Prisha stood close enough to him that he was in the cloud of her perfume. “The men who can afford a woman like Zara — Fawn — aren’t simply buying sex. That’s part of it, but they’re really buying an experience. And the experience needs to be perfect. When you pay that kind of money, you feel as if you own whoever is with you. They’re your slave. If a girl puts a foot wrong — even accidentally — terrible things can happen. I don’t know that Zara has ever felt in danger herself, but she knows girls who have. A few years ago, a girl was killed, in fact. It was someone Zara knew well. It affected her deeply.”
“Who was this girl?” Frost asked.
“I don’t know her real name. They only deal in aliases. Zara called her Naomi, that’s all I know. I only found out as much as I did because I found Zara crying in her room one evening. She was very upset about what had happened.”