At least she had lost some of her terror. She had read the newspapers. The police seemed convinced that Steve had been kidnapped. There was no mention of the diamonds. She couldn’t understand how Haum had been found in the ditch, but this she thought was very good for Steve. There was no question now of the police thinking he had killed Haum. She wondered about Steve’s meeting with Blackie Lee. There were so many things to discuss with Steve. She was so impatient to be with him again!
Jaffe was also impatient to see her. He had been pacing the tiny room and continually looking at his watch. When he heard the bus coming, he went to the window and watched as it pulled up outside the lacquer factory.
There were very few people on the bus. He saw Nhan get off. She was wearing an electric-blue tunic over her white trousers, and no hat. The sight of her gave him a little jolt of sentiment.
When she came into the room, he held her close to him, gently touching her face with his lips while she relaxed against him, smiling, her eyes closed. She let him fondle her for some moments, then she reached up and kissed him.
“I have brought the papers,” she said.
They sat on the bed side by side, her head against his shoulder while he quickly scanned the badly set type.
It gave him an odd sinking feeling to see his name in print. The paper told him nothing he hadn’t already learned from Blackie the previous night. As he expected, there was no mention of the diamonds. A quick look at the other paper confirmed this.
But unlike Nhan, he wasn’t fooled by the police statement that he had been kidnapped by bandits and was probably dead. He was sure they were secretly searching for him, hoping to find him alive. They could not tell, of course, if he had been kidnapped or not, but he was quite sure that someone in authority knew about the diamonds and would continue to hunt for him until that someone had convincing proof he was dead and the diamonds out of reach.
“You see,” Nhan said, “it is going to be all right. They don’t know what happened to Haum. They don’t know about the diamonds. They think you were kidnapped. It’s good, isn’t it?”
“Yes, it’s good,” he lied. There was no point in frightening her until he had to. He went on to tell her about his meeting with Blackie. “He has agreed to let me take you with me,” he concluded. “It could be fixed by the end of the week. Who knows? In ten days, possibly less, we could be in Hong Kong.”
He saw her face cloud.
“What’s the matter? You want to go to Hong Kong with me, don’t you?”
Yes, she wanted to go, she said, but she had others to think of beside herself. There were her mother, her uncle and her three brothers. There would be no real happiness for her if she deserted them and left them to look after themselves.
Jaffe put his arm around her.
“Don’t worry about that,” he said. “I’ll fix it. I’ll get a lawyer in Hong Kong to arrange an allowance for them. Once we get out of here, I’ll be rich. You don’t have to worry about them, kid. I’ll fix it.”
While they were talking, Lieutenant Hambley and Inspector Ngoc-Linh were standing in the large sitting-room of Jaffe’s villa.
Hambley had gone all over the villa with a thoroughness that had made the Inspector uneasy.
“I knew there was more to it than kidnapping,” Hambley said, staring at the Inspector. “This guy was running away. I’ve checked with Pan Am. and I’ve dug out the record of his luggage when he first arrived here. He had three suitcases. One is missing. His shaving kit is missing. When he left here he took all his money.” He pointed his finger at the Inspector. “Jaffe was on the run. He never intended to come back here. That’s why he borrowed Wade’s car. He hoped he could bluff his way out with C.D. plates.”
This could be very awkward, the Inspector was thinking, if Hambley pursued this theory. He must convince this over-smart Lieutenant that his theory was wrong.
“I should like to speak frankly with you,” he said. “You haven’t been in Saigon very long, have you, Lieutenant?”
Hambley stared at him.
“What’s that got to do with it?”
“If I remember rightly, you came here two months ago. Two months is a very short time to get to understand the mentality and the methods of our enemy.”
Hambley shifted. He had been aware ever since he had arrived in Saigon that he wasn’t properly equipped for the job he had to do. It irritated him that he was unable to speak the language and had to work through interpreters all the time. He was continually finding the Vietnamese mentality utterly baffling.
“I don’t get any of this,” he said aggressively. “What are you driving at?”
“On the other hand,” the Inspector went on, ignoring the interruption, “we have had years of experience with these bandits. We know the sole purpose of their activities against us is to create political trouble. Nothing could please them more than to upset the good relations between your country and mine or create an unsavoury incident that would have repercussions in the world press.
Hambley became aware it was very hot in the room and that he was sweating. He took out his handkerchief and mopped his puzzled face.
“At the meeting last night,” the Inspector went on, “you raised several interesting points that you said were both mysterious and sinister. You were right in saying they were mysterious, but wrong to say they were sinister.”
“Don’t you think it’s sinister that the girl was killed as she left your headquarters and the cook has disappeared?”
“The cook hasn’t disappeared,” the Inspector said gravely. “He was found a few hours ago in the river.”
Hambley started. “He’s dead?”
“Oh yes, he’s dead.”
“I suppose you’re going to tell me he committed suicide?” Hambley said, his voice heavy with sarcasm. “Well, this makes it even more sinister. The houseboy, his girl and now the cook - all dead. Each of them would have been able to have given me a lead. It’s damn sinister!”
The Inspector smiled patiently.
“If I were in your place, Lieutenant, I would think the same thing, but with the information I have, it is not sinister at all. It would appear to be the most natural sequence of events imaginable.”
Hambley drew in a deep breath. He felt his temper rising, but he controlled himself with an effort.
“Look, suppose we cut the cackle and get down to facts? If you know so much, let’s hear what it is!”
“The key to this apparent mystery,” the Inspector said smoothly, “is that Haum, his girl and Dong Ham were agents of Viet Minh. Once you know that, the situation is neither mysterious nor sinister.”
Hambley felt suddenly deflated and unsure of himself. To give himself time to think, he took out a pack of cigarettes and lit one.
“Why didn’t you say so at the meeting?” he demanded.
“My dear Lieutenant, if I had known then I would naturally have said so, but it was only this morning that I learned of this.”
“How did you learn it?”
“There are many Viet Minh agents in Saigon. Every now and then some of them realize how much better life is here than in Hanoi. They become converts. It is through these converts we get some of our information. This particular informant was unwilling to give Haum, the girl and Dong Ham away while they were alive, but when he learned they were dead, he came to me and told me all had been active agents of the Viet Minh.”
Hambley groaned to himself. He was sure he was getting tangled up in a web of lies, but all the same, he would now have to step warily. This fantastic story just could be true.