Suddenly at Singapore

by Gavin Black

  “That’s right.”

  “In the last year only seven of your junks have come to their home port of Singapore, some of those seven on more than one occasion, two of them only once.”

  It was my turn for the polite smile.

  “The explanation is quite simple, Inspector. And it accounts for my constant travelling. Singapore is only nominally our home port. We use other specific local areas on which junks are based, and from which their voyaging is relatively limited. For instance we have four operating from Kedah. We use local crews, recruited in the area. Then there are three on the north Borneo coast with Dyak crews, which cover the Sulu Sea and the Celebes and sometimes go over to Indo-China.”

  “Interesting. This must present considerable administrative difficulty.”

  “We find the advantages balance that up. We’re a small business. This method keeps down our overheads.”

  “I’m sure. And as you say, you’re a great traveller.”

  “Fortunately I like it. And I love this part of the world. The slightest excuse and I’m off to odd corners of it.”

  “And your brother kept control here?”

  “That’s it.”

  Kang was finished with his rank tobacco, a cloying stench which my good Manila couldn’t quite cover. He lit another.

  “You will remember Miss Feng? Have you met her, Mr. Harris?”

  “No. My brother kept that side of his life to himself.”

  Inspector Kang coughed, as though he needed to clear his throat.

  “Miss Feng is rather an unusual girl for her type. Ambitious, you might say. I have just come from seeing her again.”

  “Oh? Perhaps she is troubled? It might be a good idea to let her know that she won’t be forgotten. I will assume my brother’s financial responsibilities.”

  “It’s not quite that, Mr. Harris. It seems she had a theory that before long your brother would be settling, that he was no longer a young man and might, conceivably, wish for a relation of a more regular nature.”

  “Marriage, you mean?”

  “It is the sort of thing which might even have been in Miss Feng’s mind. She’s intelligent. She also has the instinct of her kind for watching her own interests. You could say that she was jealous of your brother.”

  “Surely she had no reason?”

  “Perhaps not, but women are women. It was essential to her plans that no rival was allowed into the picture. And for that reason she watched him, more carefully than you would imagine.”

  I didn’t like this at all, but I don’t think it showed. I waited.

  “Your brother had a bungalow at Changi, Mr. Harris.”

  “Yes, he used it for week-ends. He liked it a lot. It’s the only house he’s ever owned.”

  “And went there without servants?”

  “I don’t know. Didn’t he take his number one boy? The Changi bungalow wasn’t a place where Jeff entertained. I’ve only been in it once or twice.”

  “Even though he’s had it for six years?”

  “Yes. I know that may seem odd, but I never thought it strange. I assumed he went down to potter. And I should think he did. He had a boat, and used to fish.”

  “At night?”

  “I shouldn’t wonder. The nights are very beautiful down there with a moon. Actually I’ve been out with him once at night. He had the kind of line with hooks on it that a small boy might play with. He used slugs for bait. He got them under the casuarinas. There was a ritual about those Changi week-ends, everything simple and rather childish, and I think they were a complete relaxation from the kind of life he had here.”

  “Relaxation without women?”

  “In so far as I know he didn’t entertain down there.”

  “Yes. That was what Miss Feng found.”

  “I beg your pardon?”

  “I’ve told you, Mr. Harris, that she was jealous. She was afraid for the ‘other woman.’ And she couldn’t quite accept your simple explanation for the Changi week-ends. The slugs and the fishing with a hook and so on. Women like Miss Feng find such pursuits a little incomprehensible, when their charms are available as an alternative. It was why she went to spy on your brother one night just ten days ago. She has a cousin who owns a motor car, and he took her. They parked the car at some distance and walked down the track to the bungalow. It was lit and there was music from a radio.”

  “Yes?”

  “For a long time nothing happened. Then the moon came out and your brother went out under the casuarinas. It must have been to hunt slugs. Miss Feng had no idea what he was up to. And at this point her account becomes a bit vague, for apparently her cousin suddenly became amorous, something she hadn’t counted on. It’s an impediment to efficient spying.”

  I laughed, and after a moment Kang did, too. I was conscious of him watching me, carefully. I looked out at the Misuni Maru which was already using her own derricks—beginning to unload into a little flock of clustering lighters. I had a cold tingling feeling on my skin, like a warning of a nasty surprise just around the corner. Kang was making a slow and almost stately progress towards his point, and I knew there was going to be a point, a sharp one.

  “Mr. Harris, when Miss Feng was able again to resume her observations your brother was already in his boat, quite a distance from shore, rowing. From what she tells me he never paused to put over the hooks that night. He went straight out from the shore towards one of the many fishing pagars along the coast there. You know these, of course?”

  “Yes, they’re very decorative at night, with their burning lures for fish.”

  “Very. Those lights can be raised and lowered as you know, with the tide. There is always a man in attendance to do this, who stays out there all night on duty.”

  “Yes, I did know. I’ve actually been on one.”

  “Then there is perhaps no need for me to explain that these pagars are fairly solidly constructed, with a bamboo platform and a little hut on them for shelter if it should rain. I’ve pointed out the burning flare could be raised and lowered, a very simple form of signalling.”

  “And did Miss Feng see such a signal?”

  “No. All she saw was your brother not apparently pausing to fish, but going straight to the pagar, climbing up the ladder, and then disappearing. As you know, they’re well out from shore and shadows swallowed everything. Except one thing. Miss Feng was sure there were three moored boats at the foot of the ladder.”

  “Perhaps my brother had been asked to a party?”

  Kang smiled.

  “We wondered about that. So we arrested the fisherman yesterday.”

  I looked at Kang.

  “And what did your fisherman confess to?”

  “Quite a lot, Mr. Harris, quite a lot.”

  “Do you mind, Inspector, if I pour myself a small whisky? You’ll appreciate that my nerves are a bit upset these days. A reaction to strain, I think. You won’t join me?”

  “No thank you.”

  “Go on,” I said, from the cabinet.

  Kang was irritated. He liked to watch his victims, it was part of the early schooling in his trade, a thing adhered to even after the kind of experience which makes one begin to forget the rules a bit. I clinked a decanter on a glass, with my back to him.

  “The fisherman is a Malay, a very simple man. It’s really quite surprising, Mr. Harris, when one thinks of it, to find people like that living almost primitive lives within fifteen miles of Singapore.”

  “The Malays have survived by ignoring the fact that your people are here as immigrants, Inspector.”

  I heard him draw in his breath sharply. The veneer of amiability had gone again. Kang’s voice sharpened.

  “The man was certainly in terror. He kept nothing back. He told us exactly how much your brother paid him and how many visits he made to the pagar each month.”

  “What did my brother pay him?”

  “Not too much. Not to make it seem too important. Fifty dollars a month.”

  “F
rugal. My brother could be very generous, but he also watched his money. And how often did he visit the pagar?”

  “Some months only once, other months three or four times. He stayed for an hour on the average, and he was met there by captains of his junks. The Malay is sure the men who came were from junks because he could see them over at Pulao Besar, and the small boats going to and from. The captains’ boats had outboards but these weren’t used until half a mile from the pagar.”

  “So you suspect my brother of being in the opium trade?”

  “No, Mr. Harris.”

  “Thank you. As a matter of fact it’s something we wouldn’t have done. There’s been plenty of opportunity, of course. It would have been a most profitable sideline with our north Borneo fleet. I take it that your Malay fisherman has given you a detailed account of all that was arranged at these secret meetings?”

  “No,” he said. “He speaks no Cantonese. Not one word.”

  I laughed. I came over with my drink.

  “I’ve never asked you to sit down, Inspector. Won’t you? Tell me, why did you admit that the Malay fisherman couldn’t give you a report on my brother’s secret talks with his captains?”

  “I would have been foolish to make any play with that, since it was something you knew.”

  “I see. So you believe I was in on all this?”

  “Naturally.”

  “Inspector, what I told you about going to my brother’s bungalow in Changi was the truth. And I was never at one of these parties on the pagar.”

  “I can’t prove that you were.”

  “May I ask you something else? In what way do you think these curious investigations into my brother’s life at the week-end are going to help you?”

  “That’s simple to answer, Mr. Harris. The first step in the hunt for a murderer is to get a clear picture of the victim’s life, as complete a picture as possible. I’m still at the first stage, because your brother’s life was very complex indeed.”

  “And you won’t find the murderer until you have a complete picture?”

  “I’ll be very lucky if I do.”

  “I’d say you won’t find the murderer, Inspector.”

  “You don’t sound greatly concerned!”

  “I’m not.”

  There were two little spots of colour in Kang’s cheeks, they grew and then faded.

  “It’s an extraordinary statement, Mr. Harris, from the brother of a man who has been shot in the back of the head.”

  “Perhaps. Have you found the type of gun that was used?”

  “Yes, a small Colt automatic. Very popular. There must be at least a thousand of them in Singapore. Kept in the bedside drawers of almost every rich man.”

  “So that’s not a great deal of help?”

  “No. Particularly as the man who owns it may be a thousand miles from Singapore now. Or even only a few hundred, but in another country. We can’t pretend to control the flow in and out of people to this island, and we don’t. It’s why I continue to hope for a lead from you.”

  “I’m afraid I’m not going to be able to do very much for you, Inspector.”

  “By which you mean you hope to take the matter into your own hands? I can think of nothing more unwise. Probably fatal. I won’t detain you any longer now.”

  “Before you go … just one thing. Won’t you release that Malay fisherman?”

  “Not at the moment.”

  “In that case I shall employ my lawyers on his behalf. They are very good lawyers, Mr. Kang. On what are you holding the man?”

  “Protective custody. I think he might be in danger.”

  “I’m sure he isn’t. When you’ve left this office I’ll phone a statement to my lawyers. Would you like to hear what it is?”

  “Yes.”

  “Very well. I did not know of my brother’s activities by night out on a pagar. On the other hand I’m not greatly surprised by them. My family, Inspector, has always been a little odd. If we had been in England, and rich, I think there’s very little doubt that we would have been classified as eccentrics. You know that in the old country there is a very real tradition of these characters, and they were much admired, men who spent vast sums building follies, or dissipated fortunes on propaganda for the turnip as the elixir of life and then died young, bankrupt. These types interested my brother. You’ll find in his library evidence of this. And the pagar was a mild little eccentricity.”

  “You expect me to believe this?”

  “I’m giving you my statement. Yes, my brother contacted his captains out there. Now that I think of it I can remember occasions on which I was surprised by something he knew. You see, I was the contact man for our scattered ships. But I find that my brother had his own way of keeping check on what I was up to.”

  “Mr. Harris, this would seem to suggest a lack of trust between you.”

  “Oh, not at all. Jeffrey was eight years older than I. My father died when I was fourteen. My brother had to bring me up. He was always a kind of nanny, and I knew it and I never resented it. It’s not a habit that’s easy to outgrow. He gave me a great deal of freedom in the business, but he kept on his private checks, too. It doesn’t surprise me that he should do. There is nothing criminal in meeting your captains in any way you choose. The way Jeffrey chose may seem suspicious to you, but it doesn’t to me. I’m sure he thoroughly enjoyed his little mystery of the Changi bungalow and rowing out to the pagar when he got the signal one of his captains had arrived. I wish now I could have joined one of those parties, but of course the whole point was that I mustn’t know.”

  Kang had his hand on the doorknob.

  “Is that all, Mr. Harris?”

  “Are you going to release the Malay?”

  “No. Not at the moment.”

  “Very well. He’ll be out to-morrow. There is another thing. Do you need three men watching me all the time?”

  “Yes,” Kang said.

  He opened the door without saying good-bye, and closed it again quietly. I got out the binoculars and looked at the Misuni Maru. She was unloading fast. She might be able to sail ahead of schedule, the crew were probably working as stevedores, in the way the Japanese do sometimes. A busy people, also.

  I thought then of the guttural voice on the phone, with one word repeated twice.

  CHAPTER IV

  “WHERE ARE you calling from?” Kate asked. “Your office?”

  “No, I’m afraid my office phones are becoming a bit suspect. After this morning.”

  “What about this morning?”

  “Well, I’ve had a long session with an Inspector Kang. He hasn’t been to see you?”

  “No.”

  “He can’t know yet that you drove down from K.L. with me. I don’t think we should give him a lead.”

  “Paul, I want to see you! It’s been three days.”

  “I know. I want to see you, too. But if I came to your hotel it would be just advertising. There’s a man down the passage now reading the wall plaque of who rents office space. And another outside the main doors with a newspaper. I’ve lost the third man at the moment, but there’s a ‘gents.’ I expect he’s loitering behind the door.”

  “Is this going on the whole time?”

  “Yes. At home, too. They prowl the garden trampling on the cannas. But I think it gives Ruth comfort to have them there.”

  “How is she?”

  “Tired. Very. We don’t … talk much.”

  “Oh, Paul. You’re so alone.”

  “I wouldn’t be if I could put my hand over yours.”

  “I’ll come into town. We’ll meet some place.”

  “Yes. But make it accidental. I’ll go around to a hotel bar for a bit. Then I’ll come out to reach the square at three-thirty. We’ll meet on the north side pavement by accident. Make the signs of that. We’ll go into Rosetta’s for a cup of tea. I doubt if Kang’s boys will follow us in to watch us eating crumpets. Probably watch the front and kitchen entrances instead. It’ll be almost on
our own.”

  “All right. I’ll be there.”

  Kang’s bloodhounds didn’t follow us into the little mock British tearoom where, with air-conditioning working overtime, tea and cakes in the afternoon were made possible. The waitresses were Eurasian girls who only stooped to this kind of trade because it was something frightfully English. And it might have been the Cozy Corner anywhere, the girls in black with little caps and aprons and sweat stains under their arms.

  “What’s been going on?” Kate said.

  “Don’t whisper, honey. Nothing’s been going on. I’ve been in my office trying to get the routine rolling again. There’s a lot I don’t know, that Jeff just did without talking about it. I spend most of my time asking my head clerk questions.”

  “These men following you … you might be suspect?”

  “Protection. Kang thinks the killer’s after me, too.”

  She looked in my eyes.

  “So do I, Paul.”

  “So does Ruth.”

  “But you’re sure he isn’t?”

  “No. Far from it. I think Kang may have something. Very much something. I wouldn’t say that to Ruth, though. I’m trying to get her to go to the States.”

  “Oh.”

  “But she won’t. She has some idea that I need her.”

  “And do you?”

  “Not now, Kate. I did for a long time, but not now.”

  “Sometimes … I feel sorry for her. Horribly.”

  “So do I. But I can’t help her. I tried. It’s too late.”

  “It’s such a cruel thing to have to say. I think when any woman hears it she thinks it might be said about her.”

  “I could never say it about you.”

  “Oh, Paul! These last few days, it’s as though a wall had been built up between us. A great solid wall.”

  “I know. But we’ll break it down.”

  “But how can we? If I can only see you like this? With three men hanging around wherever we are. Last night I lay in bed and thought what a fool I’d been, what a prissy fool.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “It’s you I want, isn’t it? Why do I have to set terms and regulations? It’s something so simple. I want you. I don’t care about terms any more.”