“No need to keep going,” I said and he stood still, probably grateful he didn’t have to wade across the damp verge. I imagined I’d given a final shove to get a car to the trees but couldn’t stop. Then I followed the line I’d spotted before, assuming one side of my car had come off the road. I’d be afraid of losing control as well. I imagined steering away. There was a three inch ridge and I pictured the car bumping back onto the laterite.
Maybe I wasn’t in control. Maybe I’d skidded a bit. Maybe I over compensated.
If I were travelling at thirty miles an hour I would cover about one and a half feet per second. In my head I counted seven seconds on the verge. That seemed too long. Perhaps he was going faster: fifty, maybe sixty miles an hour. In bad conditions the driver was indeed likely to be fighting with the steering.
I walked forwards, imaging my car was moving back to the left hand side. A pot hole caught my attention a few feet ahead. What if the second car had hit that with a front tyre?
I pictured him swerving back to the other side following the same trajectory. Twenty yards later I was at the opposite verge. And then I saw it: another rut driving through the grass. It was ten more yards ahead. Maybe the car had been going even faster or perhaps my assumed trajectory had been wrong, but here was a clue that the other car had swerved from one side to the other.
Hegarty joined me. “You think...?” He pointed ahead about another twenty yards. The verge here undulated, rough terrain even for a Land Rover. We could see two tracks across it. And they aimed straight for a bigger mound.
Up close, I could see that the mound was in fact a scattered pile of bricks probably shed by a lorry at some point. It had been buried by earth and grass but now it was partially flattened. Something had hit it at speed, stopped and manoeuvred back and forth until it had come free. The ground had been carved up by spinning wheels. I could see tracks go beyond the debris and back to the road further down.
“Not a null result after all, eh Hedge?”
“The staff car at Keppel?”
“I’d bet my lunch on it,” I grinned.
I spent the afternoon at Gillman Barracks hoping for a phone call from Colonel Atkinson to tell me who the driver had been.
I had just finished swimming when I got a phone message. But it wasn’t from Atkinson. A corporal handed me a yellow slip of paper.
“From your interpreter,” he said with a smirk.
Intrigued, I opened it up. It said:Pick you up at seventonight. Dance. Dress code: informal.
I checked my watch. Two hours away.
“You dark horse!” Robshaw said when I turned up at the office. I was dressed in my best casual clothes for my date.
Hegarty said, “She’s tall, Eurasian, pretty and has great legs.”
“Sounds like a taxi-girl—one I recently picked up at New World,” Robshaw laughed and flicked back his straw-blond hair.
I’d only been on the island five days at this point but I had heard a lot about the New World entertainment park. Men off the boat often went straight into its sister, Great World. There was another to the east called Happy World. New World was out-of-bounds for shore-leavers and had a popular dance hall, a huge room, like a featureless church with columns either side and between them, card tables and cane chairs. The central space was for dancing, at the far end was a band. The halls were cheap and basic, full of cigarette smoke and ideal for picking up a girl. Robshaw and many of the lads went there every Saturday night. The girls were mainly Chinese and Malay, but there were others such as Siamese and of mixed race. These were not prostitutes, they were dancers. The men would buy a book of tickets at the door and for a dance they would select a girl and give her a ticket. Of course the men usually selected and went back with a girl who was willing. They would have sex and the girl would expect to be paid.
“Eurasian,” Robshaw said pretending to struggle to remember. “Dark hair, golden skin, beautiful eyes and pretty good in bed. Did the Singapore grip as I recall.”
I ignored Robshaw’s crassness.
Hegarty said, “This one is no taxi-girl. She’s way out of your league, Robbo.”
“Rubbish! Sounds like my kind of girl! Perhaps I should come with you to the dance tonight. Perhaps she’ll prefer a blond.”
I sat down, waited a minute and said, “You missed an opportunity there, Hedge. Where does the expression dark horse come from?”
“Too obvious,” he said. “It’s from horse racing where a horse is unknown.”
Robbo laughed. “And so was your change of subject!”
Hegarty fetched us tea and I asked the lieutenant whether he’d obtained anything from the newspaper.
“All the old editions are on microfilm, these days,” he said. I had to put in a request and they’ll let us have it as soon as they have something. It’ll be a big job and they let me know what a big favour they were doing us—or more specifically you. It seems you have more clout as a government man than an MP with the press.”
“Politics,” I grumbled. “It’s everywhere.”
“Always has been, always will be,” Robshaw said. “For me, the main difficulty is with the police. What did Rahman say when you told him about Madam Butterfly?”
“He said he’d inform the other officers.”
“And did he?”
“I don’t know.”
“You see, I wonder if he did.”
I shrugged.
As Hegarty returned with a tray of cups, Robshaw said, “Hedge was telling me about your friend’s car crash. It looks like a naval officer was involved.”
After I had given him my version of what we’d learned, he said, “And the security issue. It sounds like you think there’s no progress.”
Hedge said, “Because there is no security issue, right Boss?”
I was about to answer when the desk sergeant ran into our room.
“Sir,” he said, breathless from running only twenty yards. “There’s been a sighting… of Madam Butterfly. An incident near Happy Palace… It’s on-going.”
TWENTY-SEVEN
Shouting our destination to the desk sergeant, we ran from the offices and took a jeep. Hegarty and I were in the front, Robshaw and a corporal in the back—the one who had reported the sighting.
Just as the security barrier was raised for us, a gleaming cherry-red convertible pulled up. The lights of the security gate sparkled off the body and made its white-walled tyres both attractive and stark in the same instance.
Su Ling leaned out of the window. “You are leaving?” She could have been annoyed but her pretty face showed nothing but the pleasure of seeing me.
Hegarty was rolling passed. I leaned across him, “Something’s come up. Another time?”
“Yes,” she said.
“Sorry…” I started to shout but it was lost in the rush of air as Hegarty hit the accelerator.
Robshaw pressed his face between the front seats. “Oh my God, she’s a knockout. Outrageously gorgeous!” he said.
The corporal leaned forwards next. He said, “I’d have stayed with the girl.”
“And that was a brand new Pontiac Chieftain,” Hegarty said with serious awe. “What a fantastic car. I bet it’s the only one on the island.”
“All right, enough all of you!” I said. “Let’s focus on the job in hand and catch us a butterfly.”
The streets were alive with people. In the area of the two main fun parks, the ratio of soldiers and sailors to civilians was more than two to one, I estimated. And then most of the civilians were young women.
The jeep had to slow to a crawl to avoid the revellers in the narrow streets.
“There!” The corporal pointed out a policeman standing on the street close to the entrance to Happy Palace. The officer flagged us down and then stood on the jeep’s footboard.
“We’ve cornered her,” he said with breathless excitement. “Up two blocks we’re in Little India. She ran into a Hindu temple there.”
Hegarty pulled up outside
the temple that was garish and yet somehow didn’t look out of place. It was as though a slice of India had been blended with the Chinese. Every side of the fascia was covered with images of gods and animals and painted in many colours.
On the ground, a crowd of about thirty people stood around either looking uncertain or excited. Half of them were soldiers, probably from the Windrush troopship that had docked at Keppel Harbour during the day. An Indian-looking policeman stood guard in front of giant doors, large enough for someone three times my height.
He saluted. “We have trapped the Madam Butterfly inside.”
“What happened?” Robshaw asked.
“A Staffordshire private picked up a Eurasian girl at a club called Happy Palace. She took him out back for sex. When his trousers were down, she tried to mug him and take his money. Luckily his mates were suspicious and we arrived just in time. We chased her in here and I’ve been guarding the door since.”
“There isn’t another way out?” Robshaw asked.
“No, sir.”
“Why didn’t you go in and get her?”
“Sanctuary, sir. And the chief said we had to wait for you.”
I said, “Is she armed?”
“No, sir.”
I kicked off my shoes. Robshaw did the same and told the corporal to come with us. He asked Hegarty to stay outside and make sure none of the mob got in.
I’d never been inside a Hindu temple before. It had the echo-quietness of a church but there were mats and a couple of stone benches instead of pews. At the far end was a wooden screen about a yard high. Behind that was a neutral coloured curtain.
The lieutenant and I exchanged looks. The room appeared empty so the only places she could be were behind the screen or curtain.
She wasn’t behind the screen.
I pulled back the curtain and revealed a dimly lit, short corridor with rooms off to the left and right. Directly ahead there was a teak door covered with brass bells. The other men looked into the side rooms and I went to the teak door. As I started to turn the handle the door burst open.
Because of the gloom it was too late by the time I realized what was happening. A long pole glanced off my side as I tried to twist away.
Then the pole thrust out again but clattered to the floor and the door swung shut.
Robshaw eased it open with his foot and shone a torch through the opening. We could see it was a small room with items draped with sheets. Robshaw checked the gap by the hinge to make sure she wasn’t behind the door. She wasn’t.
“Wait here,” he said to the corporal and he stepped forwards. Immediately, the torch flew from his hand. In that same instant our assailant flew at us with animal ferocity, arms windmilling, legs kicking out.
She had planned a shock attack to break past us, but Robshaw and I both lunged forwards. He yelped in pain and I grabbed anything I could. Then I let go and stepped back in surprise.
“What?” Robshaw asked me but before I could answer, the girl lashed out again and again like a wild cat.
In the faint light, we forced her back until she walked into a sheet. The statue underneath clattered to the ground and she followed. I pinned down her arms and Robshaw snapped cuffs onto her hands. Then we pulled her to her feet and dragged her kicking and screaming through the door into the light.
“Accompany her to the police station for processing,” I said to the corporal.
“Ash?” Robshaw said.
I dusted myself off and walked to the temple entrance.
“Ash?” Robshaw said again at my side. “It’s a military matter. We should take her to the Bras Basah cells.”
I shook my head.
Outside, Hegarty was also confused. The crowd of soldiers cheered and catcalled as the policemen marched the girl away.
“You don’t seem very pleased, Boss,” Hedge said, “We’ve got Madam Butterfly. If nothing else at least Vernon will be happy.”
Robshaw was looking at me curiously. Then he said, “That wasn’t our girl was it?”
“No,” I said. “Tall enough, possibly good looking enough, but not our butterfly.”
“How—”
“Two reasons. The modus operandi was all wrong.”
“And the second reason?”
“Without question,” I said, “we just arrested a man.”
TWENTY-EIGHT
On the way back to Gillman I explained, “The first time I tried to grab the girl, I caught hold of something I didn’t expect!”
Hegarty gave a booming laugh. “You mean: meat and two veg?”
I put my hand on the steering wheel, as he almost lost control.
Robshaw said, “Don’t worry. We won’t tell any of the men that you’ve been handling the forbidden fruit.”
Hegarty was still laughing. “Speak for yourself! I’m not promising anything of the sort.”
“It’s ironic,” I said. “I could have been dancing with a beautiful woman right now. Instead I’ve had my first introduction to a transvestite.”
“We call them Ruby-with-the-bollocks here, Boss.”
“Charming.”
“But you have to admit it—” Hegarty started laughing again— “he was very good looking. Perhaps you could have a dance with him.”
It was almost midnight when the night clerk knocked on my bedroom door. He stood apologetically in the dimly lit hallway.
“Yes?”
“Sir, Sergeant Hegarty has asked that you return to the office as a matter of urgency. Something has come up.”
I was tempted to ignore the request. Hegarty was up to something and I suspected there would be a welcoming committee and reminder of my evening’s experience, grabbing a man’s tackle. However I decided to humour him.
When I arrived, Hegarty was grinning.
“Couldn’t resist, could you?” I said. “OK let’s do this.”
Hegarty carried on grinning but shook his head.
“What?”
“There’s someone at the main gate to see you. I thought it best that you went now. You know, repair your reputation after the incident with the Ruby.”
I went outside, wondering what Hegarty meant. In the sodium lights by the gatehouse I could see a red convertible. Su Ling stood up and waved.
I jogged down to her and ducked under the barrier. “Hello. How was the dance?”
“Wasn’t much happening,” she said. “No fun. So I thought I’d come back and see if you were available.”
She patted the passenger seat and I got in beside her.
“What do you have in mind?”
“Let’s go for a drive. I’d like to show you somewhere.”
She pulled away smoothly and soon the open top car made her luxurious hair stream behind. For the first time I saw that she wasn’t dressed in her usual formal clothes. Her style was American. A short polka dot dress with bobby socks and black shoes, presumably for dancing. Her silk wrist strap was white with black spots.
“You are staring,” she scowled with reproach and then smiled to let me know she was joking.
“Guilty as charged. You have beautiful legs.”
Like she hadn’t heard, she said, “Mr Yipp was impressed by you, Ash.”
“I’m pleased.”
“But you took a big gamble when you hit Wang.”
I nodded. “What did Mr Yipp think of that?”
“He didn’t say, but I suspect he respects you.”
“And Wang? What does he think?”
She laughed. “He’s just a thug. I’m pretty sure he will show you more respect in future as well!”
She drove us west along the coast road and felt the fresh wind in our faces.
“Any luck with the Chinese numbers,” I asked.
“Four, ten, two, ten? I’m afraid they don’t mean anything to me.”
“Could four, ten actually mean forty?”
“Yes.”
“The police seem to think two ten could be February the tenth. But don’t know what four, ten or fort
y means.”
I watched her face and saw no clue that the numbers meant anything to her. A silence grew between us until she made small talk. I wasn’t really paying attention when she told me the names of the small islands and bays. I found myself more interested in her profile and flowing black hair than the dark coastline.
I don’t know how far we had travelled before she turned the car around. I thought she was going to take me back but we went past Pasir Panjang with Gillman somewhere to our left. Instead she turned into a car park at the foot of a hill.
“Come. I have something to show you.”
In contrast to the lights of the city at night, the hill was lit only by the stars. I could see a path leading from the road. Su Ling looped her arm through mine and we walked up.
It was hard to see the path as it wound through dense trees. Gradually they thinned to nothing and we walked up towards a clear, grassy knoll.
At the very top, she sat and patted the ground. “This is Mount Faber. It used to be called Telok Blagah Hill which means Clay Pot, in Malay. I have no idea why it was called that. It should be called something more fitting, more attractive. This is my most favourite spot on the island.”
She pointed below us, to the south. “The harbour is there and you can just see the small islands behind it.”
We sat down on the warm grass. Through the trees I could just make out a few rooftops and knew that one of them was Commander Alldritt’s HQ. The trees ended and the harbour began with its long wall and fence. In the dock, I could see the two funnel troopship, Windrush lit by the orange sodium glow. I could just make out the odd soldier or dockhand moving on the harbour front. I could make out the depots and the offices. Beyond I could see the mounds of jungle in the sea that made up the islands; the smaller, Pulau Brani, was in the foreground to the left. Cargo ships were anchored in between the harbour and islands.
I spotted a patrol boat as it manoeuvred between the ships, on the lookout for illegal activity.
“Lovely,” I said.
She pointed north east towards the city. “You’re looking the wrong way,” she said. “The city’s my favourite view.”
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