I said, “How did the meeting with the secretary go?”
Rahman tried to calm himself by first exhaling. “I did not see him. That’s what I was saying. There has been a most urgent development.”
“This Kim chap that you’ve picked up—he’s talked?”
“No. Well nothing of use yet. No, we have found something in his home. Under the floorboards he had a box of the flyers about the attack.”
Robshaw said, “So we have confirmation he is involved.”
I held up a hand and focused on Rahman.
The inspector continued, “We also found a lion or dragon dancer’s uniform, so again it seems to confirm that this is about the celebration but more than that.” He sucked in air to compose himself again. “We found newspaper clippings. Pictures. The photographs are of the general.”
“It’s an attack aimed at General Gaskill,” Robshaw added, stating the obvious.
Rahman held up his hands apologetically, “But I must have my meeting with Secretary Coates. I asked Lieutenant Robshaw here because no one knew where you were. So, my plan was that he could inform the general.”
“The parade isn’t until tomorrow. There’s no rush. Let’s all see the secretary and then let’s all inform General Gaskill.”
Rahman smiled and I could see he was grateful for the inclusivity. However, when we arrived at Coates’s door, the secretary asked to see me and the inspector, but not Robshaw. A petty political game, I figured, but the lieutenant accepted the exclusion with grace. A few minutes later the inspector and I were in front of the secretary giving him an update.
At the end, he unnecessarily told us to meet with the general and determine what action we’d take. He also asked to be updated once we had a plan. Then he focused on me.
“You haven’t mentioned Andrew Yipp,” he said.
“No, I haven’t.”
“You have just told me that the police have a suspect in gaol but you haven’t located the guns. What you haven’t explained is how you have confirmed there are guns.”
“It’s complicated and to be honest it’s not a hundred per cent. It is more important that we find and stop the attackers rather than worry about how they obtained the weapons.”
If I had overstepped the mark with my abruptness, Coates didn’t let it show. Instead he placed his hands together in a thoughtful manner.
“Andrew Yipp,” he said, after a pause.
“What about him?”
“He will be behind this. Directly or indirectly, it will be him.”
“We have no—”
“Then find the bloody evidence.” He paused and smiled beatifically and I figured he had unintentionally let his feelings show.
“If there’s anything against him, you can be sure we will act.”
Coates nodded. “Just find something.”
Hegarty drove the four of us up to Fort Canning but stayed outside with the jeep.
“I’ve not been inside before,” Robshaw said as we waited for the clerk to let General Gaskill know we were here. “What about you, Inspector?”
Rahman seemed a little distracted perhaps lost in his own thoughts. “Pardon?”
“Have you been here before?”
“Oh no. Sorry. Never.”
I said, “There’s nothing to worry about. The general may be a little blunt but he’s a nice guy.”
Rahman smiled nervously. “That’s very good to hear.”
I glanced at Robshaw’s straw-coloured hair that looked a little wild after the drive here. “However, Robbo, he may tell you to get your hair cut.”
The lieutenant rapidly smoothed down his hair and a moment later the clerk returned. We were asked to wait in the library and told the general would see us as soon as possible.
I sat in a chair and looked out of the window, Robshaw hovered at the bookcase, reading titles and Rahman paced anxiously. I watched the light change and then Hegarty jump out of the Land Rover and start attaching the canvas roof.
Huge drops splattered on the library window before Hegarty had finished but he just managed to get back inside before the torrential downpour began.
It had stopped before the clerk knocked on the library door to tell us the general was now free.
He led us along the corridors that rang out with our shoe fall and took us to the room where I’d met with the general and Colonel Atkinson previously.
I patted Rahman on the shoulder and whispered, “Really, he doesn’t bite.”
“Let’s hope you’re right, my friend,” he whispered back. And then we were through the door and standing in front of the general’s desk. He stood up and his big frame seemed to fill the bay window behind him.
We saluted and I introduced each of us.
“We’ll stand, if you don’t mind, gentlemen. I’ve been sitting down, hunched over this desk all day so far and at my age…” He arched his back to emphasize discomfort. “Now what news do you have for me?”
I said, “In brief, sir, we are now convinced there will be an attack of some kind in two days’ time. During the parade to be precise.”
Gaskill nodded. He didn’t need further explanation.
He said, “I’ll inform Colonel Atkinson to work with you on tightening security.”
“We believe that you, personally, are the target of the attack,” I said.
“Me personally?”
“We found your picture with other things associated with the crime,” Rahman said. “We are most concerned—”
Gaskill raised a hand quieting the inspector and gave me his avuncular smile. “I will be all right.”
“Sir, this is a serious threat and I urge you to take the necessary precautions,” I said.
The smile vanished and he held my gaze.
He said, “I don’t run away.”
“I’m not asking you to run away, sir. I’m asking that you implement the standard procedure for an attack on this position.” I had discussed it with the others and we were of one mind. The general should be in the bunker. To deliberately place himself in harm’s way would be reckless.
The general glanced away and the light briefly highlighted his beak-like nose. He looked like an eagle considering his position, and remained silent as he turned back to me.
I took the opportunity to continue: “Your bravery is not in question, sir. But just imagine the propaganda coup an enemy would achieve should you be assassinated.”
“And who is the enemy?”
“We don’t know… yet. The most obvious would be the communists.”
“You don’t know,” the general said, nodding as though it explained everything. I suspected it explained our weak position. After seven days I knew the target and I knew when—although not precisely. I didn’t know the location and, even worse, I was still unable to confirm the weapons. I sensed the case getting weaker as we stood and waited for the general to say anything more.
I was sure he was about to deny the request. And once denied, it would be nigh impossible to reverse.
So I gambled.
“Sir, can we speak alone?” I didn’t have a plan yet, I didn’t know how I would convince him. It was just a delaying tactic.
He dismissed the inspector and Robshaw and then gave me five minutes.
My arguments were weak. I just didn’t want him to commit either way in front of anyone. And by the time he said my time was up, I’d at least got him to accept that the bunker was a possibility, that if I could find my concrete evidence, he would use it. And I would have right up until the start of the parade to present my case.
A mark of my semi-success was the key he handed to me. It was a key to the bunker. I knew the contingency was for the general and his staff to lock themselves in and only a trusted few held a key to release them once it was safe. Of course they had a key to lock themselves in, but once inside they could hear nothing. The only contact was by phone. The heavy iron key, I now held in my hand, was more symbolic than anything and dated back to a practice before tel
ephones had been installed.
All I had to do now, was find my evidence.
On the drive back to the barracks, Robshaw and Hegarty wanted to talk. I sat in the rear, arms either side of the seat, my eyes shut. The roof was down again and I let the wind buffet my face as though it could drive away any negative thoughts. But it didn’t work. I was thinking about Su Ling again. Thinking about the irony that a one-eyed man had tried to make me see the obvious.
“We need to find the guns,” I said when we pulled up outside the office block. “Get the men on the streets and go over the parade route. We need to check every building that could possibly—”
“But aren’t the police doing that?” Robshaw asked.
“By all means coordinate with them, but if there are guns out there, intended for an attack on the parade, we need to find them.”
I didn’t wait for another response. I was already walking up the steps to the officers’ quarters. There was a diary I needed to check.
FIFTY
Bugis Street was humming with activity. It was ten in the evening and things were just starting to get more lively. I noted that the people were mostly locals, all colourfully dressed and in party mood. Bright awnings hung down from all the buildings that lined the street, sheltering much of it from the drizzle that had begun half an hour earlier. The sky was exceptionally black due to the cloud cover, but the lights along the street gave a daylight effect.
Corporal Whiteside tried to look casual as he leaned against a wall at the junction with Victoria Street, a main thoroughfare across the city. He held a bottle of beer and pretended to drink from it as he waited. Hegarty and I stood on the opposite side of the road, hidden from view by the street sellers. Twenty yards either side were plain-clothed MPs ready to rush into the road and prevent any car from leaving.
This was our trap to catch Madam Butterfly.
I had spent the rest of the afternoon in my room. The first thing I’d done was open Su Ling’s pocket book and read her appointments. Unfortunately it was written in some kind of short hand Chinese that I couldn’t read. However there were the occasional English words and times.
I couldn’t help check all the known days when Madam Butterfly had struck. Each day had multiple entries but I couldn’t be sure what they related to.
“Two minutes,” Hegarty whispered.
I ordered some roasted chestnuts from the street vendor in front of us and handed the hot bag to Hegarty.
He shook his head. “Too on edge.”
“Take one and pretend to eat it then.”
I shrank further back so that I wouldn’t be spotted—in case there was someone who might recognize me. Did I expect Su Ling? Based on Whiteside’s description it could have been her. I didn’t see a tattoo last night, but then again it had been dark and I wasn’t looking for one.
There had been one entry in the diary that had sparked my interest. Three hours before we staked-out Bugis Street, I asked Hegarty to take me for a drive. First we went to Keppel Harbour and I sent him in to speak to the carpool guy.
He wasn’t gone long and I was concerned our man had gone home for the night. But he was still there and he confirmed to Hegarty something I suspected. When he’d said the car had been a mess, he was referring to blood. There had been blood on the dashboard, front seat and inside the door.
“What does it mean?” Hegarty asked me.
“It means I’d like you to take me to see Tom Silverman’s girlfriend.” He drove us back to where we’d dropped her off five days ago and within ten minutes I was knocking on the door to her accommodation. A diminutive old Chinese lady answered the door, but I was soon welcomed in to meet Mei Fen.
The little lady fussed and offered me tea but I explained I wouldn’t be long.
I then asked Mei Fen to sit and I told her that I was making progress.
“You know who killed him?” she prompted.
“I do,” I said. “I haven’t worked it all out yet but you can be sure he isn’t getting away with it.”
“Can you tell me who?”
“I think it’s better you don’t know.” I nodded and hoped she understood. “Like I say, we will get justice—and soon.”
She accepted that and shook my hand, her tiny cold fingers dwarfed by mine.
Before I left I had a quick favour to ask. I pulled out Su Ling’s pocket book and asked her to translate tonight’s meeting.
It was an address in Kallang, an industrial area on the far side of the river. And the entry was for two in the morning. I was briefly relieved that it wasn’t for now, in Bugis Street, but then I later figured Madam Butterfly might not put these dates in her work diary, if she recorded them at all.
Just after quarter past ten, a woman approached Whiteside. They spoke for a moment and she melted back into the crowd. If it was the right woman, the pre-arranged signal was for Whiteside to place his bottle on the table. He didn’t. It stayed clutched in his nervous hand.
“Too short, anyway,” I whispered. “The woman we’re after is almost as tall as Whiteside over there.” I was picturing Su Ling in high heels. “Taller in fact.”
I realized my mistake as soon as I said it. How would I know how tall she is? Whiteside had only seen long legs. He’d not seen her stand. And other reports were inconsistent. However, Hegarty didn’t seem to spot my disclosure.
He glanced up the road, busy with cars and rickshaws. Except for the people drinking, everyone was on the move.
“We need to move,” I said. “Standing around, even in the shadows, makes us stand out.”
“Can we move under an awning? This drizzle is almost as bad as back home.”
His comment made me smile. We started to stroll and I signalled the other plainclothes to copy.
I said, “You’ve been in the Tropics too long, Hedge. You’ve forgotten what cold and damp means. This is refreshing.”
Then the sergeant grabbed my arm. “Bloody hell!”
“Not too obvious,” I said, glancing Whiteside’s way, “Stay relaxed.”
Another woman was talking animatedly to our bait. It wasn’t Su Ling, at least I didn’t think so from a distance of thirty yards, but she was the right height.
I looked for a limousine, but couldn’t see one. In fact there was no vehicle waiting anywhere. Maybe she came on foot this time. Maybe the plan was to walk to a car parked on another street.
Suddenly we couldn’t see our man. The ebb and flow of people had resulted in a melee at the end of the street.
Hegarty did a small circle, walking into the road and back, trying to see through the bodies.
By my side again, he said, “I can’t be certain but I don’t think the bottle is on the table.”
We were heading back. We reached the roasted chestnut seller opposite Whiteside. The woman had hold of his sleeve and was pulling at it. Whiteside was resisting.
We closed in but my eyes locked with Whiteside’s. He mouthed something desperate and it took a few repeats for me to get it.
He was saying: “It’s not her! Help me!”
I signalled one of the plainclothes who pushed through the crowd to Whiteside’s table. In a swift move, he broke the woman’s grip on Whiteside’s arm and, ignoring her protestations, pulled her away and into the crowd.
Nothing happened for another five minutes. The crowd thinned and occasionally, Whiteside glanced our way for reassurance, I guessed.
The MP who had intervened walked past, heading back to his original position. “Bloody Ruby!” he whispered and Hegarty groaned.
He looked at his watch. “It’s not looking good. One chat up and a lady-boy. Shall we call it a night?”
I said, “Let’s give it until eleven.”
Eleven o’clock came and went. The rain stopped and the clouds began to separate. There was still considerable activity on the streets although it had gradually thinned as couples had met and restaurant goers departed. The chestnut vendor began to pack away his stove and an odd shop light went out.<
br />
“She’s not coming,” I said more to myself than the sergeant. “Let’s go home.”
Thirty minutes later I was back in my room. I put on the black clothes I’d bought two nights ago. I took Pantelis’s gun from my kit bag, checked the rounds and stuck it in my belt. Then I changed my mind. I didn’t need it. This wasn’t about confrontation; it was about observation. I needed to know what was going on.
Two minutes later I slipped out over the fence behind the MT yard and jogged down the road.
I had an appointment in Kallang.
FIFTY-ONE
Uncomfortable in my hiding place, it took me a good thirty minutes before I was used to the smell of sewage, gas and diesel. This was the industrial region in a wedge between the Rochor and Kallang rivers. I’d jogged as far as Commercial Square and decided to risk taking a taxi. I knew my destination was somewhere near the little civilian airport at Kallang but wasn’t sure of the exact location.
The driver showed no interest when I asked for Kampong Bugis and I asked to be let out at the end of the road just after a gas works.
I’d found the building—a warehouse beside the smaller of the two rivers and hunkered down behind oil drums. From here I was hidden but had a clear line of sight of the entrance.
The moon was at its zenith and only a few days off full. However I had a route to the warehouse that was mostly in the shadows.
This part of the industrial area was deserted. Once I’d left Kallang Road and the taxi behind me, I’d seen no one.
I had located the warehouse and noted it had two doors, large enough for a truck. One of them had a smaller pedestrian entrance. There were no windows but there appeared to be a long skylight in the roof. I found a wooden box and a barrel and moved them to the rear of the warehouse.
I found my hiding place behind the drums, the river stink in my nostrils, and waited.
There were noises from boats on the river and out at sea. I also heard cars and the occasional metallic noise from somewhere on the site. These gradually diminished and nothing happened until one-thirty when a lorry drove up. I couldn’t see the make but it looked like a Bedford fifteen-hundred. The vehicles the army used. With half panel sides and a frame that could be covered in canvas, I judged it to be empty.
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