Silently Yumeko inclined her head. Calmly he dialed and waited. When he had Duffy on the line he was very brief. "I'm at the Wang house. I think it would be a good idea if you came over." Then he hung up.
"I do not understand," Yumeko said.
Even though it was still relatively early in the day, Tibbs felt a wave of what might have been fatigue, but he recognized it as relief. "In a few minutes Mr, Lonigan and Mr. Duffy will be coming here," he said. "K you wish to prepare tea for them, now would be the time."
She was not quite sure whether it was a dismissal or not,
but she left him. He watched the huge bow of her obi as she retreated toward the kitchen.
When he was alone Tibbs sat down once more and folded his hands in his lap. He pressed his fingers together so tightly they almost seemed to turn white as he thought, evaluating what he had discovered against what he already knew and the few things he still had to learn. There was one awkward little compUcation that had him stymied and which obstinately refused to yield to logic. He attacked the problem once more, as he had several times before, but the light would not come through the darkness. The thing defied him and he could not crack its defenses.
He leaned back, shut his eyes, and began to go over the whole thing again from the beginning. Once more he fitted the pieces together, as he had done with slips of paper on top of his desk, and filled in the several gaps that he had accumulated enough data to close. But the one damnable thing remained, the one circumstance that he could not explain.
He heard Yumeko busy with her preparations and wondered if things were any easier for her than they were for him. In addition to other immediate problems, she was now effectively alone in a strange country. He had no idea what sort of visa she had, but the fact that she had been admitted into the country at all was unusual in view of the antique and grossly unfair immigration laws which applied to Orientals. The very people who made the best citizens on record were the specific ones who were all but excluded, thanks to legal hangovers of the worst thinking of 1910. Anyway, she was in America and at least she had a job. Like most people, she would probably work things out in time.
When the doorbell rang he answered it himself. Lonigan and Duffy were there, and he read on the instant that they had cast themselves in the role of gentlemen callers this time. That made matters a Uttle simpler, because he would not have permitted them to give Yumeko another hard time while he was present. They might be Feds and all that, but he had his own methods and Pasadena was his town.
Yvmieko came in and the two narcotics men responded most appropriately to her appearance. They seemed almost relaxed and their manner reflected itself in Yumeko, who began the final preparations for serving with what Tibbs observed to be a decided easing of her former concern. "I believe that we are to have some tea," he said quite formally.
"After you've enjoyed that, then I may have some information that might interest you."
"We're fully prepared to be interested," Lonigan said. "You're beginning to live up to your reputation."
"Yes," Duffy contributed. "I hope you had fun playing with those two guys from LAPD."
"We had coffee afterwards," Virgil said.
"Yes, I know. They were almost certain that they had a make on your partner. And it would have been a big one for them."
Tibbs turned serious. "We weren't trying to pick on them, and I had damn good reason for wanting to go on the street. How are things, by the way?"
Lonigan shook his head. "Virgil, the panic is on and you'd better beUeve it. The LAPD has half of the drugstores in critical areas staked out, the treatment centers are jammed, and every hour more come in."
"Something else," Duffy added. "We were tipped on another shipment coming up from Mexico. Not a big one this time, but very carefully covered up. Normally it would have gotten through no matter how hard we tried to stop it. We passed the word on to the customs people and they made the grab."
"Is there any heroin in town?"
"I doubt it, Virgil. At least there's not enough for anyone to find. A few junkie dealers may have some stashed away for their own use, but there's none to buy."
"How about keto?"
*There's a little, thank God that's all at the moment. We had two DOA's from it yesterday. Hot-shotted. One was a sixteen-year-old girclass="underline" a pretty thing from a good family. Hippie boyfriend, you know the rest."
Yumeko appeared carrying a tray. Lonigan offered to take it from her, but she set it down and began to arrange the tea things. When she was ready she sat down and prepared to play hostess. "I must explain," she said, with her eyes modestly lowered. "Mr. Tibbs, he suggest that I offer you Japanese green tea. This is something which most Americans, I know they do not like. So I make some just for him because he understand it. For you I give the regular black tea-is this aU right?" Then she looked up, all innocence.
At that moment Tibbs for the first time seriously wondered if she were really capable of murder. Yumeko was not the simple child that he had unconsciously assumed her to be.
"Excellent," Lonigan said. "I do prefer the black tea and George, Mr. Duffy, does too."
"That is good." Yumeko said. Carefully she poured and served, first the black tea to the federal men, then the thick, bitter green tea to Tibbs and herself. Then, after passing a plate of small cookies, she sat down quietly beside him on the davenport. "I will come here if you allow," she said. *Then you can protect me." "Touche," Tibbs said. "I do not understand."
"Mr. Tibbs is admitting that you are a smart girl," Duffy said. "Allow me to second that thought."
"Enjoy your tea, gentlemen," Virgil said. *Then, if you don't mind Til consult my superiors at our headquarters. After that, I believe I can show you how the drug you have been chasing has been coming into the country." He pulled a small wax evidence envelope out of his coat pocket and handed it to Duffy. "You might check that stuff out," he suggested, indicating a small supply of white crystals that the envelope contained. "If it's what I believe it to be, you have your inmiediate problem solved."
Duffy's mood changed on the moment. "Virgil, if it is, we can't thank you enough. And you'll get the credit."
Tibbs shook his head. "Skip the credit," he said. "All I want is a murderer."
"Can we help?" Lonigan asked.
"Yes, if you will. Assuming that the lead I'm giving you pans out, I want to ask that you leave things strictly alone and trust our boys for just a short while. Then you can have the whole ball of wax."
"All right, but you understand that we will want to make some arrests."
Tibbs sampled his bitter tea, but refused to let his reaction to it show on his face. "Certainly," he agreed, "but only after I've got my man first."
The doorbell rang. Yumeko rose to answer it, but Tibbs got up too and paused, on his feet, just around the comer. He heard Yumeko say, "Come in," then he waited.
In a moment the visitor came into his line of vision; he was a young man, Chinese or possibly Japanese, and his manner betrayed strong hesitation. Tibbs had seen it too often, the symptoms of suppressed fright or fear. As he stepped out, Yumeko was very quick to perform introductions. "I present you to my friend Mr. Tibbs," she said."This is Chin Soo, houseboy to Mr. Wang."
Tibbs decided immediately how to play it. "We have been very worried about you," he said. "And Miss Nagashima has been most upset. Are you all right?"