The Island Where Time Stands Still

by Dennis Wheatley

  ‘It is true that he has said as much.’

  ‘There you are, then. But he has had darned little chance to do more than whisper it once or twice, and I am the barrier that has prevented his doing so. That’s why he has been driven so desperate that he is trying to get rid of me.’

  ‘If you were my husband and he a lover to whom I had given some encouragement, I can imagine him contemplating such a crime; but not as things are. But tell me, what grounds have you for your extraordinary suspicions?’

  For answer Gregory gave her an account of both attempts upon him; and, in order that she should not think him prejudiced, he went into every detail of his own speculations from the moment that the banana crates had crashed upon Tsai-Ping’s head up to his noticing that the cocktail glass had disappeared that morning.

  When he had done, she sat silent for a moment, then she said, ‘Even if it is true that Foo met Wu-ming by the upper deck companion-way and set down your drink while helping him to look for his toothpick, there are no grounds whatever for supposing that he put poison in the glass while Foo had his back turned. To me that looks like a red herring; and you say yourself that at first you suspected Foo of being Wu-ming’s accomplice. If you put out of your mind for one moment this idea of yours that Wu-ming has been planning your murder, you will see that no one but Foo could have poisoned your drink. Instead of suspecting him to be only an accomplice, you should have realised that it must be he who both planned and carried out his attempt to kill you.’

  ‘No,’ Gregory shook his head. ‘That won’t hold water. He has no possible reason for wishing me dead. On the contrary; not only does he owe me a great deal but my death would result in his being sent back to slavery in the stoke-hold. If he were implicated at all it could only be because someone else had tempted him with the promise of a very considerable reward for his help. But I am convinced now that my suspicions of him were unjustified. Besides, how about the business with the banana crates? Foo could have had no hand in that.’

  Again A-lu-te sat silent for a while, then her intelligent eyes narrowed a little as a new thought crossed her mind. ‘When you were telling me about your speculations after Tsai-Ping’s death, you mentioned that at one time you thought Quong-Yü might have been responsible.’

  ‘Yes. If, through his grape-vine, he had learned of my association with Edgar C. Grace he might have thought that I was investigating some much more serious matter than Josephine’s disappearance, and was using Kâo only as a stalking-horse to make certain of catching him at home. That would have been a motive for his trying to do me in before I could get at and cross-question him. But I discarded the theory as much too far fetched.’

  ‘You must admit, though, that if he had a motive it would have been a simple matter for him, as a Tong boss, to order one of his hatchet-men to cut that rope. Whereas, in the very short time available, it would have been far from easy for an ordinary business man, like Wu-ming, to arrange an attempt on your life.’

  ‘That is true; but where does Foo come into this?’

  A-lu-te’s eyes narrowed again. ‘We know that Quong-Yü and Lin Wân co-operated in carrying Josephine off from the United States. Let us suppose that they have some very strong reason for preventing anyone else getting hold of her. As you say yourself, Quong might have learned that the F.B.I. were behind you, and for that matter that you were helping us in our attempt to trace Josephine. If so, he would have realised that you were the only one of the four people coming to see him who really had the power to force his hand. Once he had eliminated you he would have had a good chance of stalling off his own compatriots. Tell me, does not that make sense?’

  ‘Yes, it certainly does,’ Gregory agreed. ‘As a matter of fact it was one of my own first lines of thought; but where do we go from there?’

  ‘Assuming I am right, on your first attempt to see Quong-Yü, Fate ordained that his thug should kill the wrong man; and on your second he had no chance to prevent you because you took him by surprise. We are already agreed that on being threatened by you he decided that things might be made too hot for him unless he told the truth; although no doubt he was largely influenced in that by the belief that we should give up our hunt rather than face a journey to Yen-an. Had you been in his place when he learned through his Tong members among the dock-workers that the yacht was being fuelled and provisioned for a ten-thousand mile journey, what would you have done?’

  ‘Guessed that the hunt was still on,’ replied Gregory promptly, ‘then endeavoured to warn my pal Lin Wân that I had been forced to disclose Josephine’s whereabouts, and that a bunch of people was setting out for China to attempt to get hold of her.’

  ‘Exactly. And what do you think Lin Wân’s reaction would be to such a warning?’

  ‘He would curse Quong for having let him down and prepare a hot reception for us when we reached Yen-an.’

  ‘Why should he wait till then?’

  ‘True. He may try to make trouble for us directly he learns we have landed in China.’

  ‘That would be difficult, because he cannot possibly know for what part of China’s immensely long coast we are making. But he might have wirelessed back to Quong instructing him to do his utmost to prevent the key members of our mission ever getting there.’

  ‘Ah!’ Gregory exclaimed with an admiring glance. ‘Now I see how your mind has been working. You think Foo is one of Quong’s hatchet-men and was smuggled aboard with orders to do me in. But why me? In the first instance I was a special case, because I was the link with the F.B.I.; but as soon as we left the States I once more became only an auxiliary. Your uncle is the head of the mission, and since Tsai-Ping’s death Wu-ming has been the driving force behind it.’

  ‘Regard the matter from Quong’s point of view. Being acquainted with Uncle Kâo he would appreciate that he is elderly, lazy and self-indulgent. He could know nothing of Wu-ming’s change of spirit; and if he ordered a full enquiry into the way we spent our time while in San Francisco he would have learned that Wu-ming was neglecting his business to dance attendance on me, so probably assumed that he came on this voyage only on my account. Whereas after his meeting with you he would have recognised that you were the brains of our party.’

  ‘Thanks!’ Gregory smiled. ‘But what about that subtle brain of yours?’

  She shrugged. ‘I am only a woman, so he would write me off as of no importance. And he would be right to do so, for unaccompanied by a determined man I should be quite incapable of reaching Yen-an.’

  ‘There is one assumption in your theory which I think invalidates it,’ Gregory remarked after a moment. ‘Except through neutral Legations, I doubt very much if anyone in the United States can now communicate by wireless with a private person in China. Quong may have sent a warning to Lin Wân by some under-cover route, but I’m quite certain he could never have got a message to the borders of Mongolia and received a reply to it before we sailed.’

  ‘Yes, I suppose you are right about that,’ A-lu-te admitted slowly. ‘Still, if Quong has some big interest at stake in stopping us from reaching Josephine, he might have put Foo on board on his own initiative.’

  ‘That is possible; but I don’t believe it for one minute. In fact I’m sure that in all this you have been barking up the wrong tree from the beginning. After my talk with Foo this morning I am convinced that he is innocent.’

  ‘How, then, can you explain the disappearance of the cocktail glass?’

  ‘I can’t; unless Wu-ming sneaked up behind you when you and the others came to see me. You were all crowded round my bed with your backs turned to the door so he could have slipped his arm past the curtain and picked it up off the dressing table with comparatively little risk of being caught.’

  A-lu-te passed the point of her little pink tongue over her full lips before she said slowly, ‘I should not be honest if I did not tell you that Wu-ming came with us when we left the saloon. But as you had threatened him he did not like to come into the cabin again, and wa
ited outside to learn what we thought was wrong with you.’

  ‘Then that settles it!’ exclaimed Gregory, sitting up in bed. ‘To my mind that lets Foo out entirely.’

  ‘It does not to mine. It proves nothing, and I am convinced that Wu-ming is innocent.’

  ‘In that case I am afraid we could argue the matter for hours without getting any further.’

  ‘But we cannot leave things like this, otherwise another attack may be made upon you; and next time it may prove successful. The first precaution you must take is to get rid of Foo by sending him back to the stoke-hold.’

  Gregory shook his head. ‘That wouldn’t help. In fact it might even make it easier to get me.’

  ‘Why should you think that?’

  ‘Because I shall stand a better chance of foiling another attack if I have a watch-dog; and this morning Foo volunteered for the job.’

  A-lu-te clenched her small hands and cried, ‘How can you even think of trusting this stowaway of whom we know nothing except that he brought you a drink with poison in it? You must be out of your mind!’

  ‘I assure you I’m not. There is only one person out of his mind in this ship. That’s Wu-ming, who has become so obsessed by you that his madness takes the form of wanting to murder me.’

  ‘It is you who are obsessed by a prejudice that makes you blind to reason. You know well enough that I would not lose a wink of sleep if I never set eyes on Wu-ming again; but since you will not accuse him and give him the chance to defend himself, in fairness I must speak for him. He is well-bred, well-educated and of a kind and gentle disposition. Violence is contrary to the very nature of such a person, and he has shown no signs whatever of madness.’

  ‘He soon would though, given certain circumstances; and, believe me, breeding and natural disposition count for nothing in psychological cases of this kind.’

  With a slight frown, A-lu-te asked, ‘What do you mean by “given certain circumstances”?’

  ‘I mean if his obsession were sufficiently stimulated he would lose all control, and break out into a frenzy. For example, if he saw me entering your cabin at night I am sure he would force his way in and attempt to strangle me with his bare hands.’

  For a moment A-lu-te considered this, then she said, ‘Gregory, we cannot calmly ignore the fact that you are in great danger. Somehow we must find out who it is that menaces you. Even the risk you would run in an attack deliberately provoked would be less than that of waiting to be struck at again without warning. Do you agree?’

  ‘Yes,’ he replied, wondering what she was leading up to. ‘It may sound rather boastful, but I’d back myself against most men in a scrimmage in the open.’

  ‘Then I will tell you what I propose. Because I have at times shown impatience with Wu-ming, you must not think that I am not sorry for him. And now, I am most loath to cause him additional suffering by deliberately turning the knife in his wounded heart. But to do so seems the only way in which I can demonstrate to you that your suspicions of him are unfounded. Do you think you will be sufficiently recovered for us to put him to this test this evening?’

  ‘Yes; the sooner the better. I meant to get up for lunch anyhow.’

  ‘Very well, then. After dinner I will give him real cause for jealousy. If you are right in your contention it will send him temporarily out of his mind, and he will offer you physical violence. But, if, as I anticipate, he shows only dignified distress, you must fulfil a promise that I ask of you now.’

  ‘What do you wish me to promise?’

  ‘That you will send Foo back to the stoke-hold.’

  Gregory did some quick thinking. Such a test could not prove really conclusive either way. Wu-ming might still be guilty yet manage to keep his head. In that case the unforunate Foo would have to be sacrificed. On the other hand, normal jealousy might drive Wu-ming to violence on this occasion without his ever having contemplated murder, and the case that A-lu-te had made out against Foo was unquestionably a strong one. All the same Gregory was still convinced that it was not Foo but Wu-ming who was trying to murder him, and if the latter did swallow the bait that would present an opportunity to put him out of action for quite a long time to come; so he said: ‘All right. I’ll gamble my watch-dog against Wu-ming going berserk. Anyway it should provide us with a very interesting evening.’

  11

  The Provocation

  After A-lu-te had left Gregory, Ah-moi and the elderly doctor looked in to see him. The latter was much surprised to find that the sick man’s treatment of himself had had such excellent results, but both congratulated him heartily on his recovery, then cracked the sort of jokes about his misadventure in which the Chinese unfailingly delight.

  It was true enough, as they suggested, that the purge had probably done him more good than harm; as, now that the soreness in his throat and stomach had worn off, he felt as fit as ever he had been. He was by nature the lean type, and when young had held the belief that violent exercise was not only liable to strain the heart but often led to surplus fat later when hard games had to be given up. Occasional tennis, shooting, fencing, gardening and bouts of ju-jitsu had proved sufficient to keep his muscles in good trim, and he looked forward without the faintest misgiving to the night’s encounter, should A-lu-te’s promised provocation of Wu-ming produce one.

  Lunch and the afternoon’s routine of a nap, a little reading, then casual talks over the tiny tea cups with some of the officers passed off as usual. Foo, as he had himself suggested, acted as taster when presenting Gregory with his before-dinner cocktail, and over the meal A-lu-te exercised her wit with even more sparkle than was her wont, keeping her end of the table in roars of laughter. Only Gregory could guess that her bubbling chatter was largely due to suppressed excitement, and when they left the saloon he could hardly contain his curiosity to learn what means she would adopt to develop a situation.

  As was their custom, with Wu-ming in attendance they retired to A-lu-te’s canvas-walled sanctum in the stern; but nothing out of the ordinary was destined to happen there for some time to come, because Kâo joined them shortly afterwards. It happened that he was in a reminiscent mood and, after some general conversation, he settled down comfortably with his hands folded over his paunch to tell them of his gambling exploits, when he had taken time off from his job of Export Manager to pay visits to Deauville and Monte Carlo. On any other calm night, sitting there under the awning watching the phosphorescent wake of the ship fade away into the distance, Gregory and A-lu-te might have enjoyed listening to these tales of freak runs, lucky coups, and last-minute reversals of fortune; but as things were they could only suffer them in silence.

  At length Kâo yawned prodigiously, declared himself ready for bed and asked if the others were coming. A-lu-te replied no; she thought it would be nice to dance for a while first, and asked Gregory to put some records on her gramophone. There was nothing at all unusual in that, as since Gregory had taught her to dance in San Francisco they had kept it up with a turn or two on deck most nights when weather permitted.

  Kâo wished them good night, they all stood up with the politeness of well-bred Chinese to bow him away, then Gregory started up the gramophone and took A-lu-te decorously in his arms. Again as usual at these sessions, Wu-ming settled himself a little more deeply in his chair to watch his beloved’s every movement.

  For three numbers, with the half-smile on her face that was habitual to her at these times, A-lu-te continued to dance sedately and, apparently, quite happily. Then, as the music stopped for the third time, she suddenly snatched herself from Gregory and rounded on Wu-ming.

  Simulating anger long suppressed that had at last burst its bounds, she stormed at him, ‘Why must you always sit there staring at us like that? Have you neither manners nor discretion? Out of pity I have borne with you for far too long! Are you so stupid that you cannot see when you are unwanted? Have we not made it plain enough that there are times when we wish to be alone? Get out of my sight! Go to bed! Go anywhere; bu
t leave us to amuse ourselves as we please!’

  Gregory was filled with admiration for the act she had put on. He had feared that at the last moment she might feel squeamish about hurting Wu-ming’s feelings, but she had gone the whole hog with a vengeance, and if Wu-ming failed to react there could be no putting it down to her having taken half measures. Without moving a muscle, but ready for anything, Gregory kept his eyes fixed on the Chinaman.

  At A-lu-te’s first onset, as much astonishment as any Celestial ever permits himself to show had appeared on Wu-ming’s broad face. Then he slowly rose to his feet, bowed solemnly, and said in a half-strangled voice:

  ‘This person was entirely unaware that his presence was unwelcome, and is deeply humiliated to realise his lack of perception. He had yet to learn that the sparrow may not delight his eyes by gazing on the bird of paradise without giving offence. While hoping to receive pardon for his own shortcomings, he also prays that the lady A-lu-te may never have cause to regret the deterioration in her manners which has resulted from her contact with the West.’

  Bowing again, first to A-lu-te, then to Gregory, he turned and walked quietly away through the gap between the ship’s rail and the end of the starboard screen.

  Gregory let out a sharp breath. It was the perfect exit; a thing always to be remembered as an example of dignity maintained under great stress. He felt that their little plot had been cheap and unworthy; and it could not have failed more dismally to produce the result for which he had hoped.

  Glancing at A-lu-te, he saw that two patches of rouge stood out on her high cheek bones, no longer blending harmoniously with the golden skin of her cheeks, and that even her lips had gone pale. Wu-ming’s parting shot had been well-aimed, and must have hurt her cruelly. She was on the point of bursting into tears, and Gregory realised that he must do something to restore her morale without loss of a moment.