Of course he wasn’t allowed to smoke on duty but I knew he’d take little persuasion. “Five minutes,” I said. “And Franks…”
“Sir?”
“Leave the keys.”
As soon as he was outside, I took the large bunch of keys from the duty desk and found the ones for the offices. The second one I tried opened Major Vernon’s door.
There was the tall metal cabinet with a huge number of drawers. I tried a few but they were locked. However I doubted this was where he’d file what I was looking for. I turned my attention to the credenza beside his desk. There was a key hole but the two doors weren’t locked. Inside were hanging files with dates on the tabs. I delved into one and pulled out a list: Staff movement. Names and ranks of people arriving at the barracks and leaving. Bingo!
I located a sheet from a year ago with ten names and was scanning it when there was a knock on the door.
Franks looked in, awkwardness etched on his face.
“Sir, the major has just driven up through the barrier. I saw his face in the spotlight. You have about a minute. God knows what he’s doing back here at this hour.”
I stuffed the papers in my pocket, closed the drawer and tossed the letter opener on the desk.
Outside the office I handed Franks the keys and thanked him. I was through the entrance door just as Vernon started up the path.
It was still dark and I was up close before he realized it was me and how I was dressed. He stopped, looked me up and down and then more deliberately at the suitcases in my hands. “Going somewhere Carter?”
I guessed he’d been drinking, his tone slightly off due to too much alcohol.
I didn’t break my stride.
“You need me, I’ll be at The Queens Hotel,” I said and headed for the gate.
“I hope you aren’t giving up on the Madam Butterfly case!” he yelled after me. But I didn’t respond and I didn’t turn round. I was starting afresh and Gillman was not in my plans.
It was almost half past five and still dark. A car stopped on the coast road and I thought it was a taxi. But it was just a guy who’d been out all night. He said he was in textiles whatever that meant. The car smelled of booze but he seemed sober enough. He was heading home to somewhere in the north of the city and I expected him to drop me in the centre. But he kindly took me all the way to The Queens Hotel.
The night manager looked at me dubiously when I asked for a room until tomorrow.
“You’ll have to pay for the night,” he said.
Of course. If the attack was going to happen tomorrow then I wouldn’t need the room another night but then it became clear what he meant: If I wanted the room now, I’d have to pay for last night.
He was probably playing me. What the hell? I showed him my government ID and told him to charge it to Secretary Coates.
I checked my watch and asked to use the phone. Just before six in Singapore which would be ten in the evening in London.
The night manager showed me to the manager’s office I’d used last time. After asking the operator for Whitehall in London, I waited a good three minutes before I was put through to my father’s office. He often worked late so I hoped he’d still be there. He wasn’t but his clerk was. The same lady I’d spoken to before. She sounded tired and I guessed she was about to pack up for the night.
I said, “I need a favour, Sam.”
“From me or your father?”
“My father if he’ll do it. Otherwise…”
I thought I heard her sigh then she said: “What is it?”
I asked her to write down the list of names that I’d taken from Vernon’s office, the men who had left a year ago.
She said, “And what do you want him to do with those?”
So I told her about Vernon’s fencing club. “I want to know how much they’ve received back,” I finished.
“And when do you need this by?”
“I’ll call same time tomorrow.”
Again the sigh.
“Please, Sam, this is really important. Do what you can but I need it for tomorrow morning here.” And I did because, based on my current thinking, I wasn’t going to be around after tomorrow.
“I can’t promise,” she said in a voice that said she’d do her best.
I thanked her, ended the call and went to find my room.
It was on the second floor and I flopped onto the bed suddenly dead tired. I didn’t recall falling asleep but woke up with bright sunlight in my eyes because of a gap in the curtains. I’d slept for three hours and still felt groggy even after splashing my face with icy cold water.
I needed a clear head. The parade was just a day away and I still didn’t have all the pieces straight in my mind. Being away from Gillman Barracks would hopefully give me a different perspective. I felt the need to break from the confines of military thinking and see the bigger picture.
I also wanted to park the Madam Butterfly case. It was a distraction and yet my mind kept returning to it. Not because of Vernon, more likely the betrayal of Su Ling.
Today there were things I needed to do and resolve. Then I could properly focus on the likely attack.
First things first. I needed to make three more phone calls.
FIFTY-FIVE
Undeterred when Su Ling refused to take my call, I left a message.
“Please tell her that I will return her pocketbook,” I said. “I’ll be at the Cathay Building at two today. I would be very grateful if she would see me briefly.” I added the last line in the hope that she didn’t just send an assistant to pick up the diary.
My second call was to Fort Canning and was put through to Colonel Atkinson.
“Have you found the guns?” were Atkinson’s opening words.
“Not yet, sir. That’s not why I called. I wondered if you could check the records for me. I’m interested to know where a Captain Keith served up to and during the invasion.”
“Here in Singapore?”
“Yes. I also wondered what happened—whether he was killed, sent to Changi or escaped.”
“It’s not a familiar name, but I’ll check for you.”
He said he’d let me know and I told him where I was staying. He didn’t question why I had moved out of Gillman and for that I was grateful.
My final call was to Gillman. I asked for Hegarty but was put through to Robshaw. Again the other man spoke first.
He said, “Where the heck are you?”
“The Queens Hotel.”
I could hear him processing that but he didn’t question my reasoning either. Instead he said, “That girl in a coma…”
“Yes?”
“She died last night. Since the paperwork was in motion, she’s now been moved to the Alexandria but she’s in the morgue.”
“Natural causes?”
“Looks that way.”
I thought for half a second. I’d decided Tai Tai was pivotal to the case. There was something just out of reach that I wasn’t getting and now she could never tell me herself. Too frustrating. Too convenient.
“Ask the coroner to make absolutely sure. Double check. No – tell him to triple check.”
“Will do. Was there anything else?”
“Is Hedge there and available?”
A moment of muffled talking and Hegarty came on the line.
I said, “Can you chauffeur me around for a few hours?”
“Yes. Where shall I pick you up?”
“The Queens Hotel.”
“Why—?”
I cut him off. “Bring Corporal Whiteside with you. How long before you can be here?”
“I’ll pick you up in half an hour.”
While I was waiting I went back to my room and lay on the bed. There was a crack in the ceiling and may as well have been the lizard from the barracks, since neither moved.
I stared at it and thought about guns going from Tanglin to Keppel and then Pantelis selling them back to Cooke. Tai Tai was his girlfriend. Or was she? Was this all the wrong way
round? And if it were then what did that mean for the guns? What did it tell me about Cooke’s murder? I played a few scenarios through my mind and decided that I would know for sure if someone needed Tai Tai dead. So that she couldn’t talk. So that she wouldn’t point her finger at the guilty party.
A knock on the door broke my train of thought and I followed a porter downstairs where Hegarty and Whiteside were waiting.
The sergeant grinned to mask his surprise. “Out of uniform now?”
I smoothed my jacket and nodded.
“But you’re still on the case?” he asked.
“At least until the end of tomorrow,” I said. “But for now I’d like you to take me to Goodwood Park on Scotts Road.”
“I’ve never been inside before,” Hegarty said as we got into the jeep, me in the passenger seat, the junior man in the rear.
“Sorry, Hedge,” I said, “you aren’t going in this time either. I’d like you to wait outside… unless there’s any trouble. In which case you can come in and rescue me.”
He laughed. “What about Whiteside? Mind telling me what you need him for?”
I swivelled so that I could see the young man behind.
“I just want you to keep your eyes peeled. I want to know if you see the woman you snogged in the back of the car.”
He nodded meekly.
“You think we’ll meet Madam Butterfly,” Hegarty asked as he turned up Orchard Road and put his foot on the accelerator.
I shrugged. “She’s in this city somewhere, Hedge. We just need to know where.”
We arrived twenty minutes before my appointment with the German—assuming he’d received the message that is. Since I hadn’t eaten since yesterday lunchtime my stomach complained as I walked across the lounge and smelled fresh baked bread.
The waiter showed no surprise when I ordered a full English breakfast as an early lunch. I also asked for some of the bread with butter while I waited.
It didn’t disappoint. The bread was still warm with a hint of yeast and the butter oozed over it like nectar.
I had barely begun when a side door opened and the German appeared. He surveyed the room first before deciding I was alone and it was safe to join me.
He hung back a second as my breakfast was served. Then he sat down opposite me.
“Hungry?” he asked.
“Like I haven’t eaten in a week.”
He smiled and nodded. “I should leave you in peace then and let you eat.”
“Have you brought the letter?”
The smile faded momentarily. “You said you have information for me.”
“Who is your boss?” I asked. “The man I met—the one with the cataracts?”
“A business man.”
Now it was my turn to smile. I recalled how Su Ling had introduced Yipp and said, “A business man, a merchant and philanthropist.”
“And not forgetting a politician.”
“He’s on the Elected Assembly?”
“Not yet. But one day. One day things will be different. At least we hope so for Singapore’s sake.”
“Is he sympathetic to the Communist cause?”
“I don’t think you should be asking me that.”
“But I am.”
“In which case I am not answering.”
“Why all the secrecy? Can you at least tell me that?”
“Because he is a ghost.”
I shook my head, not comprehending.
The German explained: “Chen Guan Xi travelled to China a few months ago and was refused the right of re-entry. According to your Secretary Coates, he was a threat and so invoked the Internal Security Act. And therefore you never met him because he is not in the country.” He paused and took a sip of water before fixing me with gimlet eyes. “You said you have information to trade for the letter but I am already saying too much.” He patted his breast pocket suggesting that he did indeed have the letter on him. “What do you have for me?”
So I told him about Yipp’s warehouse beside the Rochor River. His expression told me that he didn’t know about it. He also didn’t know what they had been doing.
“Bottles of opium being crated up?” he asked.
“That’s what they said and that’s what it looked like.”
“Interesting. Although I too have no idea why.” He watched me eat and seemed to be thinking. Then he asked, “Will you tell me what you were expecting to find, Captain? You went to a great deal of subterfuge to watch them packing medical supplies.”
“Guns maybe.”
“Because of the rumoured attack?”
I watched his face as I ate for a moment.
He reached into an inside pocket and handed me the Japanese letter found in Cooke’s bag.
I thanked him and said, “Could you also assure me of something? As far as you know, is your boss or any of his men planning anything tomorrow night?”
“Oh I’m sure they are.” He laughed and continued: “There’s the parade and people are bound to party. Oh and the Ho Ho Biscuit Company—one of his businesses—has a float.” When he saw I was serious he added: “There will be no trouble from us. Not even the rivalry with Yipp will be a problem. That is all under the water.”
I figured he meant like a duck’s feet paddling. An observer couldn’t see what was going on beneath the surface.
He said, “You want assurance? I can give you assurance. The guns have nothing whatsoever to do with us. I can also reaffirm that we have heard no rumours about an attack or the acquisition of guns. It looks to me, Captain Carter, as if someone wants you to think there are guns.”
“And why would they do that?”
“That, Captain, may be the pertinent question.”
FIFTY-SIX
Did the German’s final comment bother me? Not really. I had also been thinking that the whole thing could be Secretary Coates’s mechanism for getting me to find leverage against Yipp. Or maybe it was leverage against Gaskill.
Hegarty drove back down Orchard Road and stopped outside the Cathay Building. I positioned Whiteside outside and asked him to look as casual as he could.
Su Ling kept me waiting ten minutes before the elevator doors opened and she stepped out. For a moment I thought that she would change her mind and go back up. She stood still and regarded me as the doors clunked shut behind her. Perhaps she was composing herself or deciding what to say. Whichever, she eventually started to walk towards me, her eyes straight ahead, unfocused as though I were invisible.
When she stopped a few feet away, her eyes met mine and I registered how green they looked. The cool air-conditioned atmosphere of the foyer seemed to drop a notch as we faced one another, neither speaking.
I opened with, “Hello.”
“You have my pocket book?”
“It’s here,” I said digging it from my pocket and holding it out.
She took it but said nothing.
I said, “I’m sorry.”
“So you said last night. Thank you for returning this.” She tapped the book in her hand. “I hope—”
“I have a small favour to ask,” I interrupted. Her expression said you’re joking! but I held out the letter from Tai Tai to Billy. I said, “Something’s been bothering me. The relationship and the trades between Sergeant Cooke and Pantelis. Please could you look at this and tell me whether you think it could be left-handed.”
She smiled then although it was mirthless.
As she took the letter, I moved slightly to one side. I wanted Whiteside to get a good view, just in case he hadn’t moved already.
Su Ling studied the paper and I could imagine her thinking about the pen strokes; how would she have written the letters. Then she handed the letter back to me and gave me a quizzical look.
I said, “The ledger entries were by someone left-handed but Sergeant Cooke was right-handed.”
She nodded. “I can’t be sure but I would bet that these Japanese characters were drawn by a left-handed person.”
“I know it
’s an imposition, but—”
“What? You are asking me to find out whether Tai Tai was left-handed? The answer is no, Captain Carter.” She started to turn, hesitated and continued: “I’d rather I never had to see you again.”
And then she was back at the elevator and I was alone in the foyer.
My motives had been two-fold. Yes I’d wanted to find out if Tai Tai was left-handed but I’d also wanted Whiteside to get a good look at the woman I’d spent the night with. Could Su Ling be Madam Butterfly?
“Better looking,” Whiteside said when I asked him.
“So you’re sure it’s not the same woman?”
“Both looked Eurasian but like I said, the woman you just met was a knock out, Captain. The woman I was in the car with was sexy, but… well, just not as good looking.”
I pumped the young man’s hand and then felt awkward for showing how relieved I was to hear his judgement.
“Where to now, Boss?” Hegarty wanted to know.
“Hill Street Station. Let’s find out how the search for the guns is going.”
We scooted around the fort to reach the station and, when we got there, I suggested the other men come inside with me.
Rahman met us at the reception, his eyes bulging with excitement. And when he spoke, his words came out like rapid fire.
“Where have you been? I’ve been trying to get hold of you for over an hour. I asked at the barracks and they couldn’t tell me.”
“What’s happened?”
The inspector looked from me to the other MPs at my shoulder and said, “Can we speak in private?”
I followed him into the corridor where he turned and gripped my arms. “We have some news of the guns. Kim has talked.” He glanced about, checking no one could overhear. “I’ve been delaying things because I wanted you to be with us when we go there. But…”
“Yes?”
“It’s awkward. I appreciate you are an MP…”
“Not really, Anand. You know the situation.”
He smiled. “Well it’s good to hear that! It’s just that… This is a big deal for me… for the police. You understand?”
“You don’t want to share the glory with the army. Is that what you’re telling me?”
Singapore 52 Page 25