A NAUGHTY picture of what seems to be American-Vietnamese actress Maggie Q emerged on the Internet yesterday, and netizens have quickly linked it to the ongoing Edison Chen sex photo scandal in Hong Kong.

This, even as Edison himself is facing calls to return to Hongkong to face the music.

Although fully clothed, the woman is seen kneeling in a suggestive pose with her skirt lifted up to reveal her white panties and a hint of a tattoo on her left hip.

The real Maggie Q (short for Quigley) sports a tattoo of a rising phoenix on the same spot. It can be seen in her Hollywood film Balls Of Fury.

It is not known how the photo got leaked, but its appearance confirms recent speculation online that the next female celebrity to be implicated is one whose name bears the letter Q.

If so, this will make her the eighth victim in the scandal, and by far, the most famous star of the lot.

Others whose raunchy photos have surfaced in the past two weeks include actress Cecilia Cheung, retired actress Bobo Chan and singer Gillian Chung, who admitted on Monday that she was 'naive and silly'.

It was her first public appearance since the news broke.

All of them have been romantically linked to Edison, 28, at one point or another.

Hawaii-born Maggie, 29, who had started out as a teen model, starred in the Hong Kong film Gen-Y Cop with Vancouver-born Edison in 2000.

Sharing a similar Westernised background, they reportedly bonded well and even became lovers.

Even though her name came up early in the scandal, Maggie told the Hong Kong media last week through her manager that she would not give any comments because she is currently in the US and has not seen any reports so far.

But, she is slated to return to Asia next month to promote her new film Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon. It opens here on 3 Apr.

Resourceful netizens have been conducting their own investigations though.

From two old photos of Edison wearing a T-shirt and a pair of sports shoes that match those in Maggie's picture, they concluded that it must been taken in Edison's home.

Perhaps Edison can do his own explaining when he returns to Hong Kong by the end of the week.

His manager told reporters on Monday that he will leave Boston on Friday, after spending Valentine's Day with his girlfriend Vincy Yeung.

The manager added that Edison will definitely hold a media conference, and it will be different from Gillian's brief session that did not allow any reporters to ask questions.

But details will only be worked out after Edison returns.

Also, Edison confided in his actor pal Jaycee Chan recently that he will definitely give a public response soon.

Jaycee told reporters on Monday he managed to contact Edison via MSN and he could sense the latter was 'very unhappy'.

Meanwhile, there is talk that Cecilia got down on her knees to beg her actor husband Nicholas Tse not to file for divorce.

Apparently, their marriage is on the rocks because Nicholas suspects Cecilia cheated on him with Edison.

A clear sign of trouble: His wedding band was conspicuously missing when he was last seen by reporters recently.

But it seems Cecilia has no intention of coming out to face the public yet.

When asked, her assistant said on Monday that Cecilia did not want to comment on the saga - she only wanted to enjoy Chinese New Year in Hong Kong.