That reminded him of the time that someone had put out over the official radio, "Do the crosstown buses run all night?" and without a moment's hesitation someone had come back, "Do-da, do-da!"
He checked the car back in and returned to his office. Bob was still out, presumably chasing bank robbers. If that were the case, the bandits in question had something to worry about. Bob Nakamura looked less like a police detective than any man on the force, which helped him to be one of the best in the business.
It was close to six when the phone on Virgil's desk rang. He picked it up, expecting an internal call, and said "Yes?"
He was slightly startled to recognize Yumeko's voice com-
ing over the wire, "It is now I may still call you Virgil?*' she asked.
"Of course. What can I do for you, Yumeko?"
"I have worry because of Chin."
"Chin? WTio is Chin?"
"For three days he is gone," Yumeko said.
Tibbs reached for a pencil. "Now give me his full name and tell me who he is."
"He is Chin, Chin Soo. He is houseboy for Mr. Wang."
"Houseboy! No one told me about any houseboy."
"I am sorr›'. You did not ask and I did not think to say. He has gone away for three days."
It all came in a rush now, so much so that he hardly heard the words that continued to come over the wire. Houseboy! He should have thought of that, but as Yumeko said, he hadn't asked.
"I'll come over," he said almost mechanically, and then hung up. He was still a little dazed by the information. The missing element had turned up at last
CHAPTER 10
Yumeko admitted him with concern plainly written on her face. Part of it was certainly for the missing houseboy, but it was likely that an equal amount reflected her worry that she had incurred Tibbs' decided displeasure. "I am so sorry,*' she said before he could speak. *'I did not tell; it was entirely my fault. I think so much about Mr. Wang that I forget Chin Sool"
Then, to Tibbs amazement, she held out her arms to him.
No gentleman could refuse that except under drastic circumstances. Virgil gathered her in and pillowed her head on his shoulder. He was acutely aware of the shaking of her body, of the acid tension that was racking her. He had held girls in his arms before, but never one who was not completely of his own racial background. He was not prejudiced, it was simply that he had never been able to shuck off the drastic inhibitions that had been implanted in him during his years as a boy in the Deep South. To him, at that moment, Yumeko was Japanese. The fact that half of her heritage was the same as his was subjugated and he remembered only that she had been bom and raised in a foreign culture.
"Please, you will forgive me?" she asked.
For a moment he wondered if she were using her femininity to enlist his sympathy. Then he felt again the trembling of her body and knew that her question was genuine. "Of course,*' he said, and then forcefully held her at arm's length. He studied her as she looked up at him and he wished fervently, at that moment, that she was not involved in a murder investigation and one of the prime witnesses, if not a suspect, in the unhappy affair.
*'I think that you'd better tell me all about it," he said.
Yumeko continued to look at him. "I have made a little food; will you sit and eat with me?"
He had forgotten about dinner. To accept would be an-
other breach of police ethics and he knew it. "If you*d like," he answered. "But I want to know all about Chin Soo."
"Please to sit down." Yumeko gestured toward the living room. "It will be only a few minutes.*'
She came to the door after a scant five minutes and let him into the dining room. She had set two place mats and a small, intimate meal was waiting in basic Japanese style-a number of different items each presented in a small bowl. There was no evident main dish as in Western dining. Tibbs sat down, imfolded his napkin on his lap, and recalled the time that he had prepared to have lunch in the kitchen of a converted farmhouse that served as the headquarters of a nudist resort.
A candle stood in the center of the table, but Yumeko did not light it. They helped themselves in silence for a few moments, then the girl began to explain. "When I come here Chin Soo was houseboy to Mr. Wang. I do not know how long he was here, but for a while anyway, because he did not act like he had newness. Mr. Wang spoke to him many times, always kindly, but Chin said little. I do not under- ^ stand what they said, because they speak in Chinese." |
"Chin was from the old country, then? I mean, he was not a Chinese-American."
"That is so, he was from Hong Kong, I think." "Good. Go on."
'When Mr. Wang was made dead I have shock, I did not notice that Chin Soo was not here. His room is upstairs in the back of the house, so at night I never see him."
"One question. Did Chin Soo ever seem to be-^fond of you?"
Yumeko lowered her eyes. "I do not think so. Mr. Wang did not encourage this and Chin Soo saw too clearly what lam."
For a little while it was quiet, then Yumeko continued. "I tell you now all that I know. Mr. Wang secured for me a position. I did not wish it, but it was his desire that I not live here all day, that I go outside and see people." "I think he was right," Tibbs commented. "Because it was his wish, I went; from the first day of work I came home to find. ." She did not want to finish that sentence. "Chin was not here also, but that I did not think about. Then for a little while I think that he ran away because he was scared. But when he did not come back, then I called you on the telephone."
Virgil ate some spinach, which ordinarily he did not par-86
ticularly care for, but the kind that Yumeko had fixed was delicious. "How old is Chin?" he asked. "He has, maybe, twenty-five years." "Is he taU?" "No, you are more." "Is he a strong man?"
"Not to be unusual. I do not think that he killed Mr. Wang with the knife, it would be too hard for him. Also Mr. Wang was very good to him. He was very good to everybody."
Tibbs was content to let things rest at that point for a little while; he finished his meal without again referring to either Mr. Wang or the missing houseboy. Instead he tried to put Yumeko at ease and at the same time to probe for anj^thing that she might have forgotten to tell him. It was not until she had cleared away the food bowls and had brought in tea that he reopened the principal subject. "Yumeko, did Mr. Wang ever say anything to you that suggested he might be facing trouble of some kind?"
*That is yes," she answered. "He said to me that there were evil spirits, but he did not mean that as it sounds, he meant that there were real things, things like evil spirits that were bothering him."
Virgil, now fully alerted, asked, "Did he say anything else, Yumeko?"
"He said also that the wind does not always blow out the candle, even if the flame is. ." She could not find the word.
"Meaning that it was weak?"
"I think so."
*Teebler
"No."
*'Faltenng?"
"Yes, that is so! That is the word he said." She looked relieved that her language inadequacy had been overcome.
"Was he seeing a doctor?"
"I think not. He was old, but for a man of such age and small build, he was not weak-not faltering."
"It was something else then-something from outside."
"I think yes."
"Have you any idea what it was?"
She shook her head. "I do not know. He never told me, and myself I see and hear nothing."
Ideas were beginning to form in Virgil's mind. "Yumeko," he said. "I want to ask a favor of you. Could we go into the jade room?"
She rose quickly. "Come, please. It is good that you are with me."