Bill for the Use of a Body (15 page)

With that, for the moment, Julian had to be satisfied; so he said good night to her and walked slowly back to his hotel. On the way there he told himself that he ought to be a little comforted by this new development. At least Merri had not been white-slaved and disappeared for good to suffer as her mother had done in some house of ill fame in Macao or Formosa. He felt, too, that for the present she was in no immediate danger, since for her kidnappers to kill her prematurely would be pointless and by keeping her alive they could put the squeeze on Mrs. Sang by forcing Merri to write a pathetic letter of appeal to her mother. Even so, he knew that the week to come was going to be a desperately anxious time for him.

Since coming out of hospital he had several times thought of going down to Aberdeen to thank the woman sampan owner who had saved his life, but had still been so groggy from his recent fever that he had not felt up to it. By Monday morning he was practically his old self, so he had a car take him to Aberdeen and sought out the woman.

Having through an interpreter expressed his gratitude and admiration for her courage, he asked what he could do
for her by way of reward. She replied very humbly that her boat was old and that if he could possibly spare a hundred dollars that would help her to exchange it for a better one. Smiling at the modesty of her request, he had her take him to a boat builders and, to her delighted amazement, ordered the best sampan that money could buy to be made for her; then he gave her five hundred dollars to buy new clothes for herself and her son.

But that had occupied only a morning, and he knew that he had to get through another two or three days of suspense before a reply could be expected from Japan. Thinking it just possible that Tilly Sang might receive a cable, and fearing to be out should she telephone him, he spent the time hanging about the hotel. It was while he was having breakfast on Thursday morning that the anxiously awaited call came through. Hurrying into his clothes, he went down to the house. On his arrival Tilly lost no time in telling him the result of their bid to ransom Merri.

‘He's interested,' she said. ‘Although he pretends that he knows nothing about Merri's having been kidnapped. But he says that it is impossible to judge from a photograph whether the Kuan-yin is a genuine antique; so I must send it to him on approval.'

‘Thank God!' Julian exclaimed. ‘We'll get it packed up at once.'

She gave a bitter laugh. ‘Yes, I suppose so. But you are an optimist if you expect a man of his kind to give us a fair deal. He'll keep the Kuan-yin. He may even pay me for it. As we'll have proof of delivery he can hardly avoid doing that. But he won't let Merri go. Not unless I go to Japan; and I doubt if he'll do so even then.'

‘If he wants the Kuan-yin badly enough he will,' Julian replied promptly. ‘And there's no need for you to go there. I'll take the Kuan-yin to Japan and negotiate with him. Either he hands Merri over to me or he doesn't get the goddess.'

‘Perhaps you're right. It's certainly a good idea that you should act as my intermediary. I can only pray that you may be successful.'

‘If we're on the right track you can be sure I'll leave nothing untried,' Julian assured her. ‘But his having denied all knowledge of Merri does make it possible that he is innocent and you've picked on the wrong man.'

Tilly gave an angry snort. ‘You wouldn't expect him to be such a fool as to admit his guilt, would you? Of course he'd deny having Merri in order to protect himself.'

‘That's true. Still, you had better show me his letter, so that I can see exactly what he said and be better able to judge the form.'

After a moment's hesitation she went to a drawer in her desk, took the letter from it and handed it to him. It was typewritten, in English, and read:

Dear Mrs. Sang
,

The honour of your acquaintance having been denied me and, in fact, never previously having even heard speak of you, I was much surprised at the contents of your letter. And more particularly so as you appear to believe that I am, in some way, connected with the most regrettable disappearance of your daughter. Having disabused your admirable mind of this unworthy suspicion, I send you my condolences on your loss and sincerely trust that the all-seeing gods will devise ways in which your estimable daughter will shortly be returned to you
.

Now with regard to your fortunate possession of the figure of the Queen of Heaven, a photograph of which you enclosed in your letter. It undoubtedly appears to be an exceptionally beautiful portrayal of the goddess and, should it be genuine, I should greatly like to add it to my collection. However, without casting the faintest aspersion on your own unquestionable honesty, I feel sure you will forgive me for remarking that certain skilful, crafty and evilly disposed persons have, at times, succeeded in
producing very passable faked reproductions of such valuable antiques
.

Since you are agreeable to disposing of the figure, I therefore suggest that you should have it shipped to Japan in order that I may inspect it. Even with my limited knowledge of ancient craftsmanship I might then be able to satisfy myself with regard to its genuineness. If so I should be most happy to ask your acceptance of a suitable return for it
.

May the gods prosper all your undertakings, my dear Mrs. Sang. Meanwhile I shall hope to hear further from you shortly; and, I hope, favourably
.

With my respectful compliments to your esteemed-person
…

Julian read it through quickly, looked again at the small letters of the signature—which at first glance were a little difficult to decipher—then gave a gasp.

‘What is it?' Tilly Sang asked quickly. ‘What's the matter?'

A slow, grim smile spread over Julian's face. ‘Inosuke Hayashi,' he murmured. ‘Well, you were right about him being our man. I haven't a doubt about that now.'

‘You know him, then?' she exclaimed in surprise.

‘Yes. It's a small world, isn't it? Although I suppose there are not many really big operators of dope rings in it; and that is the tie-up. Before the war Hayashi spent a lot of his time in Europe. His cover was chief representative of the Shikoko Products Company, who were wholesale exporters of soap; but his real business was distributing narcotics. He was one of a group of super-crooks. They were much too canny ever to risk being caught through doing a job themselves, but employed scores of smaller fry on espionage, bullion thefts, I.D.B., white-slaving and every other filthy racket. I was then a young diplomat. I chanced to find out about them while in my first post, at Brussels, and flattered myself that I was clever enough to land the whole bunch in jail; but they very nearly landed me in jail instead. Anyway, matters ended with a most
unsavoury scandal that ruined my career. Later I succeeded in reducing the number of the group and doing it a considerable amount of damage, but that is another story. The last I heard of Hayashi was that he had been sentenced to ten years as a war criminal. Being a good bit older by then I decided, rather than risk my own neck again in an attempt to get even with him, to leave it at that. But now, after the suffering he has caused Merri, I mean to put an end to the little swine if I possibly can.'

Tilly nodded. ‘I don't wonder you feel so bitter about him. You are right, too, about his having been given ten years.'

‘Why didn't you tell me about that?'

‘I … well, I didn't think it really necessary. Although I suppose I ought to have because it's probably one of his reasons for wanting to get me into his clutches. You … you see … Sang, my late husband, was one of the witnesses against him at his trial and gave evidence about the atrocities he committed while in Singapore.'

‘I do see; and I no longer wonder that you are so scared that if you go to Japan he'll try to do you in. I suppose the damage you are doing to his dope smuggling would be quite enough for him to want you out of the way. But with the long-term desire to be revenged added to it you have ample grounds for your fears. Still cupidity, if it's strong enough, can overcome vindictiveness, and from his letter it looks to me as if he really means to do a deal.'

She sighed. ‘I hope to God you're right. Anyhow, I'll get the Kuan-yin packed up this morning, and arrange for the first ship leaving for Japan to take it. I think, too, I'll get … er, Pao Tin-yum, and his wife … Pao Ping to go with it as well as you.'

‘Who are they?'

‘He is a shrewd man and manages all my business affairs. I'm sure you will find him a great help. And if you do succeed in getting Hayashi to hand over Merri the poor child is sure to be in a terrible state of mind; so
it would be a good thing to have a woman with you to comfort her and look after her on the journey home.'

‘Yes; that's a good idea. When can I meet them?'

‘Come back after lunch. I'll have them here and the Kuan-yin packed up by then.'

Having agreed to do as she suggested, Julian took his leave and walked back to the Repulse Bay. On entering his room he saw, to his amazement, Bill Urata sitting there in one of the armchairs. Next moment the stalwart young Japanese had sprung to his feet and was advancing on him with blazing eyes.

Pausing in the doorway, Julian exclaimed, ‘What the hell are you doing here?'

‘I'm here to see you, of course,' Urata shouted. ‘The desk gave me your room number. As it's still early it seemed likely you'd be here. Door was on the latch so I figured you must still be around and decided to wait. But what's become of my honey? You're responsible, damn you! Where have they taken Merri?'

‘If I knew I wouldn't be here,' Julian snapped.

‘I'll lay you would,' stormed the young Japanese. ‘What's she to an old stuffed shirt like you? Just a young Eurasian girl you took on as a guide. I know you British. You think yourselves so mighty superior that anyone with a coloured streak can be treated as dirt.'

Julian had difficulty in controlling his temper, and retorted caustically, ‘Before you start talking nonsense about the colour-bar you'd better get back to the States, go south and start going about in public with a negress.'

His face livid, Urata thrust out his arms and in a furious rush attempted to grapple with him.

When young, Julian had been quite a passable boxer. Taking a quick pace back, he feinted at Urata's face and hit him hard in the stomach. With a gasp the Japanese fell backward and collapsed, doubled up on the bed.

‘Now!' said Julian, while Urata was still striving to get back his breath. ‘Get some sense into your thick head, or clear out. I'm no more responsible for Merri's having been
kidnapped than you would have been had it been you who had taken her to dine at Aberdeen. And I'm every bit as concerned about what has happened to her as you are.'

‘You … you can't be,' Urata wheezed. ‘She … she's my honey. My … my fiancée.'

Staring at him, Julian said, ‘I don't believe it. I know you proposed to her. She told me so. But she didn't accept you.'

‘Well … well, maybe not one hundred per cent, but when I left her I was plenty hopeful.'

‘Then you will be interested to hear that we are rivals for the lady's hand. I, too, proposed to her, and she came very near to accepting me.'

‘You're kidding.' Urata struggled to his feet. ‘I'll not wear that one. What'd a girl like Merri see to go for in an old bastard like you?'

Julian felt like hitting him again, but kept control of himself and retorted:

‘Quite a number of qualities that she wouldn't find in a half-educated little Japanese whipper-snapper whose long suit is to ape the manners of an American hobbledehoy.'

Urata's black eyes smouldered dangerously. ‘You bloody Limey! You lay off me and Americans too. If it weren't for the States with Lease-Lend and Dollar Aid the whole bunch of you would be as old-hat as the Greeks and Romans by now.'

With a disdainful shrug, Julian said, ‘I suppose it's understandable that people like you should think that and take no account of the fact that in both wars we stood up to the Germans for years before America felt that her own salvation depended on coming to our aid. But such recriminations get us nowhere. Why did you come to see me?'

Urata smoothed down his crumpled check suit and replied, ‘When I was in Macao I got an urgent cable from
my old man to return to Japan. This past week I got off three airmail letters to Merri. Receiving no reply got me all steamed up, so yesterday I called her office, and they gave. Being crackers about her I hopped the afternoon plane and got in late last night.'

‘May I take it that you are already fully informed about this ghastly affair?'

‘Yeah. What I want to know is what's being done and who's doing it?'

‘The police are doing everything they can, but up till now they haven't got a clue.'

‘And you're just sitting on your fanny knocking back champagne and caviare, eh, instead of creating hell to get the search revved up?'

‘If I were I'd prefer them to your national delicacies of warm saki and raw fish,' Julian returned icily. ‘But what do you expect me to do?'

‘Why, for Chris' sake! Get ahold of Mrs. Sang. Squeeze her for the low-down that she might not be willing to give to the cops about other guys besides you and me that Merri's been going places with recently. Maybe it's some lecherous old coot who's snatched her, or maybe someone who had a grouse against her family.'

The young man's distress was so evident and urgent that Julian decided that, in fairness, he should be told what was going on. Sitting down in one of the armchairs, he motioned Urata to another and said:

‘If you hadn't been so abusive I would have told you before that that is exactly what I have done. Moreover, I've offered a reward of ten thousand Hong Kong dollars for information which will enable us to get Merri back.' Then he went on to relate the relevant facts that had emerged from his meetings with Tilly Sang and their outcome to date.