‘And how! The man at the top has decided I’m a government spy: he’s ordered Tony to kill me.’
‘And does Tony plan to? Are you hiding from him?’
‘No. He loves me; we’re getting off the island together, as fast as we can. That’s why we need the money. Tony’s playing for time. He has me hiding out with a friend in the theatre company, and he’s told the leader that he’s carried out his orders and that I’m dead.’
‘Does the guy believe him?’
‘We don’t know for sure. He said that he did, but that others might not, so he wants to see my head. Tony told him that he’d buried my body out on the nature reserve. He told him, tough, to dig me up.’
‘I don’t think he’s convinced anybody,’ I told her. ‘I went to Tony’s office this morning; it had been turned upside-down. Would you bet that whoever did it wasn’t looking for your film?’
Jesus, this woman: the thought ran through my mind that maybe I should just shoot her. Easier all round. ‘So,’ I hissed at her furiously, ‘this deadly, ruthless international terror organisation thinks you’re a government spy, and you’ve set up a meeting with me, in a public place. Thanks a fucking bunch. Why didn’t you just put a chip in a fucking android or something and send it to my hotel? “Help me, Obi-Wan Blackstone. Only you can save me!” Come to think of it, you even look a bit like Carrie Fisher, minus the daft hairstyle. Well, I have news for you, dear, I’m not Obi-Wan, I’m Darth Vader. Now, please, fuck off. I’ll see you at nine tonight.’
22
When I thought about it, I realised that if these Triads had followed Maddy to our meeting-place, I’d have found her on the other side of the bridge, minus her head. Not that that improved my mood a hell of a lot.
Even Sammy could see that something was wrong when I caught up with him and Mike, although he said nothing. We saw it through to the end of the Siloso tour, then caught the cable car back to the mainland. We picked up a taxi at the terminal and headed back to the hotel, where I left the other two with the excuse that I had to speak to the telly people about the night’s events.
In reality, I went to my room to speak to a man about fifty thousand US dollars. Maddy had been right: people like me can always get their hands on cash at any time. I called American Express, found someone senior enough to make big decisions and told him what I wanted. He guaranteed that the money would be at the Stamford by five o’clock.
After that I really did have to speak to the television people; the show’s assistant producer told me that they would send a limo for me at six, and that I had been slotted in as the first item, after the presenter Mai Bong’s warm-up. He said that the questioning wouldn’t be difficult, ‘just the usual stuff’. I grimaced at that: the day I’d had. . so far. . and here I was, giving some interviewer I didn’t know a blank cheque.
In my experience there are two kinds of talk-show host, those who ask intelligent questions and convey an interest in their guests, and those who see them as a wall off which they can bounce their own sparkling personalities. I hoped that Mai Bong wasn’t one of those, otherwise it might be an interesting ride.
I checked my watch for the umpteenth time that day. I had one and a half hours to wait until the money arrived, but at least it was late enough to call home without having Susie slaughter me.
She sounded so pleased to hear me that it moved my homesickness up several notches. ‘How’s the quest?’ she asked.
‘With a bit of luck, it’ll be over tonight. I’ve located the woman, and she’s willing to deaclass="underline" the pics for fifty thousand US.’
‘That’s not too bad: Harvey can afford that, no problem.’
‘Not as well as I can, though. It’ll be a present for my sister.’
She laughed. ‘Sometimes you can be too nice for your own good.’
‘That’s not what Maddy January thinks: she’s had to choose whether I’m bluffing or whether she should be really scared of me. Happily she’s made the right choice.’
‘What’s she like? A bit of a bitch, like Harvey says?’
‘No, that’s probably an understatement. She’s a thoroughly dangerous woman, but this time she’s bitten off way too big a mouthful. Shit!’ I had just remembered that I still had her gun in my pocket. I didn’t need to read the tourist guide to know that the locals would take a pretty dim view if they found it.
‘What?’ Susie asked.
‘Nothing. I nearly dropped a drink, that’s all.’
‘Speaking of drink,’ she retorted, ‘how’s that long glass of water you’re travelling with?’
‘Better now than he was this morning. We had a couple last night. I worked them off; he didn’t.’
‘What are you doing tonight?’
I told her about the short-notice television show. ‘After that I’m meeting Maddy to close on our deal. All being well, we’re on the first available plane out of here, and home on Tuesday.’
‘All had better be well. Oz, once you’ve paid her off, is there any chance Harvey will ever hear from her again?’
‘Very little, I would say. She’ll probably be off the island before we are.’ I asked her about my dad; she said that he was doing so well they were letting him home the following day, with nursing support from his local medical practice. It was the first good news I’d had in Singapore. I told my wife I loved her and hung up, then helped myself to that drink I’d pretended to spill, a half-bottle of a pretty decent Aussie chardonnay.
As I sipped it, I thought about what I had got myself into or, rather, what Harvey had got me into. Time to report back, I decided, so I called him. He was astonished when I told him that Maddy had contacted me. I didn’t go into detail, just said that things had gone sour for her in Singapore and she needed to raise cash to do a runner. We had a discussion about whose cash it was going to be, Harvey insisting that it would be his, but we left that issue unresolved. . or, at least, I let him think we had.
Finally, I called Semple House, Auchterarder. I was after Miles, but it was Prim who answered. ‘They left last night: I told you it was only a flying visit.’
‘I didn’t think it was that short. How’s your dad?’
‘Fine. How’s yours?’
‘Getting finer by the day. He’s getting home tomorrow.’
‘That’s great. Would you mind if I went to see him?’
‘I wouldn’t, but you’d better phone Mary first to make sure he’s receiving, so to speak.’
‘Will do.’ There followed one of those Prim pauses, where you could hear her mind work, and her curiosity get the better of her. ‘Oz,’ she asked at last, ‘what the hell are you doing in Singapore? There was no mention of it when I was with you in Monaco.’
‘Family business. There’s a situation involving Harvey and his former wife; I’m sorting it out for him and she’s out here.’
‘Maddy January?’ she exclaimed.
‘You know her?’
‘I’ve met her, yes.’
‘You never told me that.’
‘The subject never came up; I didn’t see the need to.’
‘I suppose not,’ I conceded. ‘Where did you come across her?’
‘In Edinburgh, before I met you. It was when Dawn was trying to get her career under way, working in the Lyceum theatre company. I was home on leave from my nursing job in Africa; I hung around with Dawn’s crowd, and so did she. As I recall it, she was screwing an actor at the time; an insipid jerk he was. I’m sure she was still married to Harvey, but that issue was never raised. There was a rumour that she’d had a fling with Ewan Capperauld before that. . Well, actually, now that I recall it, it wasn’t a rumour: she was quite open about it. I assumed that she was bullshitting, though.’
‘No, she wasn’t; I have that from the man himself, but let it not pass your lips.’
‘His secret’s safe with me.’ She chuckled. ‘No chance of an introduction to said man, is there?’
‘Maybe, if the opportunity arises. I’ll warn him first, though. Come to think of it, you almost did meet him, that day on the set in Edinburgh when Miles poleaxed your boyfriend.’