Duffy calmed things down. "You're right, Virgil, I can't dispute that. I suggest that we do work together; we'll put you in the picture if you, in turn, will give us what help you can with what we're up against."
"All right. Let's have it"
Lonigan began. "Generally there are three sources for the Dlegal narcotics and drugs that are on the market: the Middle East via France, Mexico, and the Far East. Most of the heroin that feeds into the East Coast originates in Turkey as opium; it's converted to morphine in Lebanon and in turn into heroin in southeastern France, usually in or around Marseilles. Heroin also comes up from Mexico, but it's usu-ually of much poorer quality; it's consumed for the most part in California and some in Hawaii. The price has gone well above four hundred and fifty dollars an ounce, and that's for a diluted product."
"I know most of this," Virgil said.
"I assumed that you did, but I've got a reason for going over it now. There are certain prime ports in Southeast Asia that are shipping out illegal drugs to this country. They include Bangkok, Penang, and Singapore. Much of it, in the form of solid blocks of morphine trademarked 999, is shipped to Hong Kong. There the conversion to heroin is done. At one step in the process, if the stuff is heated a little too much, the whole place can blow up. That happens, ever›^ now and then."
"That should help a httle with the control problem." 50
"I'd like to think that it does. But now let me put some pieces together for you: the chief sources for jade carvings are also Hong Kong, Singapore, and to a lesser degree Bangkok. For a while jade wasn't allowed to come into the United States, but our late friend Mr. Wang managed to keep supplied. Or so we are reliably informed. And there is some supporting evidence that the narcotics traders have been in frequent contact with him; we have that pretty well established as a matter of fact. Then, just at a crucial period, the young lady now living in his home arrived from the Orient and took up residence with him for no visible reason. And no sooner was she here than the supply began to increase."
Tibbs interrupted with a question. "Is this circumstantial so far, or do you have any direct evidence?"
"Nothing direct-as yet. Now two more things that may help to focus the picture a little. Literally every day hundreds of tons of imports of all kinds arrive in this country; it's a physical impossibility to search every shipment thoroughly for contraband, so we rely very heavily on informants overseas. We stop a lot of stuff that way. Not all, of course. Some of the information we have been getting pointed to Wang. That's definite."
Duflfy picked up. "The big kicker we've been saving for last. You'd better brace yourself for this one."
"Go ahead."
"Let me ask you: what's worse than horse-heroin?"
"Nothing that I know of," Tibbs answered. "In some cases LSD because of the unpredictable aftereffects. The fact that the user can take off on another trip anytime, without warning, weeks or months after the most recent use of the drug."
"True, but LSD isn't truly addictive. I'm talking now about drugs of pure addiction."
"On that basis, heroin heads the list."
Duffy shook his head. "It used to, but not anymore. Have you ever heard of keto-bedmidone? Or Claradon, that's another name for it."
Virgil shook his head.
Lonigan folded his hands on top of the table. "It's a synthetic, made and used in Europe for certain very limited medical purposes. It's a powerful analgesic which can be administered for the relief of extreme pain, say to a person who has been badly mangled in an accident and isn't expected to live."
"How about Demerol?"
'There are lots of things that can do the job; keto-bed-midone is one of them. But it has two other properties that make it extremely dangerous. First, it produces significant euphoria, in addicts' language a tremendous high. And it is extremely addictive. Considerably more than heroin.*'
"In other words, it outdoes heroin all the way?"
"In broad terms, you could put it that way."
"It must be hellish stuff," Tibbs said.
"It is. It's completely banned in this country, but recently it has turned up here. I doubt if many junkies, knowing what it is, would risk it themselves, and you know what they do to their bodies."
"I've seen some things."
Lonigan paused, as though he was choosing his next words with great care. "Virgil, we have it that the Chicoms have been making this stuff and that they have definite plans for introducing it into this country in quantity. They know what it can do."
Tibbs had a question. "Frank, gone as the junkies are most of the time, they have some brains when they're normal. As long as they can get heroin, do you think that they would lay themselves open to anything like this?"
Lonigan nodded. "That's our hope. They got wise to speed and eased up on it. If any more of this stuff gets on the market, then we'll put out the word and do it fast. Of course there's a small percentage of drug users who'll try anything just to prove how brave they are. They play Russian roulette with their lives all the time. Have you heard of fruit salad?"
Virgil was grim. "We brought two of them into Huntington Memorial last month. One terminal, one made it by the grace of God and a stomach pump. About keto-bedmidone; have you any idea when it's supposed to be coming in?"
"No, we don't have that. Only some pretty solid information from Hong Kong that it would be on its way, and that the late Mr. Wang would be the recipient. Or the girl; she may have been planted there for that purpose. So you see now why we're so interested in that young lady.'*
When Tibbs got back to his office Bob Nakamura was there. He was catching up on paper work, mountains of which cleared through the department every month. It seemed that pohc^ administration had to be buttressed by a phalanx of paper or it would not operate.
"After all these years I ought to be getting used to you, 52
Virg," he said, looking up from his typewriter, "but you never cease to amaze me. I've been in touch with the morgue. How in the hell did you know that that stone implement sticking out of the late Mr. Wang Fu-sen's chest probably wasn't the cause of his death? You were right, but I have it from Floyd Sanderson that all you did was kneel down and look at the body passively for two or three minutes."
Tibbs shrugged. "If you'd been there, you would have seen it too."
"I'm not so sure; armed robbery is more my line. Anyhow, what was the gimmick?"
"First, please tell me how the man died."
*That's the funny part, Virg; they aren't sure yet. Apparently somebody may have stabbed him with it after he was dead."
*That was my conclusion," Tibbs said dryly.
"All right, wonder boy, open up. What gave it to you?"
*'The position of the body principally, that was the major factor. Once that suggested the idea, several other things contributed."
"Such as?"
"Have you seen the pictures?"
"Not yet."
"Go look at them. K you have any questions after that, we'll talk about it."
"You don't want to discuss it now."
*That's right; I've got another idea I want to think about. Forgive me, will you?"
"Of course. When you get an idea, I usually keep out of the way."
Tibbs looked at his own desk and shook his head in despair. "It isn't anything tremendous right now-at least not on the surface. It may never be. But I think, in the interests of duty, of course, that I'm going to take a lady to dinner."
"Miss Nagashima?"
"Yes, if that's who she really is. The Feds had a go at her this morning, but when I talked to them, they were notably mum about what went on. I have a few innocuous questions I'd like to ask her myself. In a nice way, of course."