The Perfume Collector

New York, 1927

‘Andre, hand me that book, will you please? We must go to a bookshop today or we shall be forced to read what’s in the ship’s library, which will be appalling.’

Valmont passed Madame Zed a novel from her bedside table. They were in the midst of packing – the ship for Lisbon left in the morning – and they had enlisted Eva’s help; she hauled a pile of garments out of the closet and laid them on the bed, ready to fold in layers of tissue paper.

But instead, Madame stared at her, appalled. ‘What are you doing?’

‘Packing, ma’am.’

‘No, no, no, no, no! Those clothes are old. They reek of last year’s thoughts and aspirations. Absolutely not! Stop immediately!’

Eva looked to Valmont, who rolled his eyes, stepping in to intervene. ‘So what exactly do you want us to do with them?’

‘I don’t care what you do with them! We are creatures of fashion and fashion is about change. About the new and exciting. We cannot be married to the past like this. No.’ She turned her back on the pile. ‘Just looking at them makes me weak with indifference.’

‘Fine,’ Valmont sighed, ‘but you will need something to wear. Or will we simply be spending all our time in the cabin?’

Madame draped herself across the arm of the sofa, picking at a tray of French confections. ‘Well, that’s an excellent point. As it happens I’ve met the cleverest little man in Chinatown who has the most beguiling selection of Chinese silk you can imagine and is most industrious with a sewing machine. I’ve ordered an entirely new wardrobe.’ She popped a pink sugared bonbon into her mouth and smiled, that characteristic one-sided grin. ‘Paris will be agog when we return! There is nothing like it to be had in the whole of Europe! Picture yards and yards of flowing silk, matched with embroidered fitted jackets with stiff mandarin collars, exotic bell-shaped sleeves, all in jewel colours that will make you weep from longing. I’m going to have some Arabian slippers made as soon as we come into port. The only thing is, you need to collect them, Andre. He doesn’t speak a word of English and never sets foot out of Chinatown. His name is Mr Wu.’

‘Mr Wu,’ Valmont repeated, flatly. Eva got the impression there were many Mr Wu’s all over the world, and that Madame always managed to engage their services. ‘And how will I find this Mr Wu?’

‘Oh, that’s easy! His shop is in a basement. Somewhere between a grocery and an apothecary.’

‘Easy?’ Valmont ran his hand over his eyes. ‘A basement. In Chinatown.’

‘But you will know the apothecary because there are two great stone dragons with their tongues sticking out by the entrance and huge blue porcelain jars of herbs in the windows. Of course all the signs are in Chinese so giving you a name is of absolutely no use.’ She stood up. ‘I have every confidence in you, my boy. But do hurry. We’re running out of time and there’s still so much to do.’

‘Do I need to pay him?’

Madame paused, her brow wrinkling. ‘Now there’s a question. You know, I can’t recall. It seems I spent quite a long time there one afternoon. We drank vast quantities of green tea, had a very vivid conversation neither of us understood; measurements were taken, fabric was discussed. I must have had my purse with me…’ she mused, looking about the room. ‘Have you seen it since?’

‘I’ll take cash along anyway,’ Valmont decided, going into his room to retrieve his jacket and hat.

‘Now,’ she turned to Eva and waved at the pile of signature voluminous creations lumped together on the bed, ‘do me a favour and remove all these. I can’t bear to have them in my sight!’

Eva stared at the yards and yards of beautiful fabric. ‘What do you want me to do with them, ma’am?’

‘Burn them! Drown them! Do whatever one does to stray cats with no home. One must never be sentimental about leaving the past behind.’

‘Do you, I mean, would you mind terribly if…’

‘Take them!’ Madame cut her off. ‘As long as I don’t have to see them, I don’t care what becomes of them.’

When he came back, Valmont was holding a small glass vial. He handed it to Eva. ‘Here.’

She looked up at him in surprise. ‘What’s this?’

He shoved his hands into his pockets. ‘Why don’t you sniff it and see.’

Eva lifted the lid off. The fragrance rising up was at first green, mossy and coolly fresh. Then, gradually, it warmed to a sweeter, subtly musky base. It was a perfume balanced precariously between unfolding layers of pure white flowers, spring green herbs and something darker, more knowing.

‘Where did you get this?’

‘I made it.’

‘You…?’ She stared at him in disbelief.

His cheeks coloured a little. ‘I told you I could make perfume,’ he said, turning away from her, adjusting his hat in the mirror.

‘But this is… it’s beautiful!’

‘You didn’t believe me, did you?’

‘No. Not at all.’

‘Well,’ he tried to appear nonchalant, ‘you can have it if you like.’

‘You can’t give this to me,’ she protested, putting the stopper in the vial and handing it back to him.

‘Don’t you like it?’

‘Yes, of course. But you mustn’t waste it.’

‘Waste it? What were you going to do? Pour it around the room?’

‘No, of course not. I don’t mean to be ungrateful—’

‘Then don’t be,’ he cut her off, pushing it back into her hand as he headed for the door. ‘Now you’ll know better than to doubt me,’ he added, on his way out.

Madame glanced sideways at Eva as she lit another cigarette. ‘He’s trying to impress you, you know.’

‘Me, ma’am?’

‘Yes, you,’ she laughed. ‘Men aren’t as complicated as they seem. They simply want to be admired by everyone. Also,’ she nodded to the vial in Eva’s hand, ‘that’s good. The first really good perfume he’s ever made. Who would’ve thought he’d find inspiration in the heat of New York City? Oh, damn. Look, he’s forgotten his key again.’ She pressed it into Eva’s hand. ‘Do run after him, will you? I don’t know where I’ll be when he gets back.’

Eva hurried down the hallway and caught up with Valmont just as he was about to get in the elevator.

‘Wait!’ she called. ‘You forgot your key.’

He stopped, the elevator doors closed. They were alone in the corridor.

‘I’ve been meaning to say something to you,’ he began, looking down at his feet.

She wasn’t sure she wanted to hear it. ‘Yes?’

‘Well, the thing is…’ he hesitated, frowning, ‘I just wanted to say you were probably right about the lavender.’

‘I’m sorry?’

‘You remember, the lavender in the cleaning solution you made?’

Had he really been thinking about that all this time? ‘I didn’t put any lavender in.’

‘Yes, but that’s what I meant. To not put it in. There were a number of notes one could’ve concentrated on, all equally interesting,’ he continued, assuming his familiar, lofty tone, ‘and, although I might well have used lavender to great effect, I appreciate that your… your…’ he searched the air around him for the right word, ‘your resolution of the problem had merit.’

‘Thank you.’ She was unsure of what she was actually thanking him for.

‘It seems you have an appreciation for scents.’

‘I guess.’

‘So, did you try it? I’ve never made a perfume for anyone specific before,’ he suddenly admitted. ‘Have you put any on?’

She nodded shyly. ‘Just a little.’

‘May I?’ He held out his hand.

Eva extended her arm. Valmont took it, pressing the white skin of her wrist to his lips.

The effect was beyond what he could have imagined. His perfume highlighted her youthful freshness and yet blended naturally with her rich, musky undertones. It ‘finished’ her, gave her a polished elegance, joining the fractured sides of her together. It was astonishing how she added so much to his composition; how the very fact of her fuelled his imagination. And he felt an inner quickening. Already his mind was whirring with half a dozen refinements and variations.

Eva watched him. The expression on his face was familiar; it was the same look of transcendence and ecstasy she saw every week on the stone faces of the martyred saints in St Boniface, that teetered precariously between pleasure and pain. It frightened her.

She pulled away. ‘Why did you make this for me?’

Valmont stared at her in astonishment. It was impossible to put into words the way her natural scent had inspired him; driven him, in fact, to devise a fragrance that would match the complexity of her skin.

‘I had to,’ he said.

‘What do you mean, “had to”? You don’t even like me.’ She took a step forward. ‘Do you?’

The elevator doors opened and closed again.

Neither of them moved.

‘You don’t understand,’ his expression was reverent, almost sad. ‘You’re extraordinary.’