«So what happened?»
«Do you know who Captain Bruce Fairbairn is?»
«Yes, of course.»
Fairbairn was Chief of the British-run Shanghai Police Department, and one of the best-known westerners in Shanghai.
«Fairbairn came to me—he and McCoy are two peas from the same pod. They're friends, and that knife McCoy carries is the one Fairbairn designed. He gave it to McCoy and taught him how to use it—anyway, Fairbairn came to me and said that if the Marine Corps went forward with the 'ridiculous' court-martial, he had three agents of his Flying Squad prepared to testify under oath that McCoy was the innocent party, they had seen the whole thing.»
«Had they?»
«I don't really think so, baby. But Fairbairn didn't think McCoy attacked anybody, and he wasn't going to see him sent to prison for twenty years—or life— so an unpleasant diplomatic incident could be swept under the rug.»
«So he was set free,» Milla observed. «And now they call him 'Killer' He has a killer's eyes.»
«He's a tough little cookie,» Ed said. «But the Italians weren't the only people he had to kill. One time when he was on a supply convoy to Peking, the convoy was ambushed by Chinese 'bandits'—almost certainly in the employ of the Kempeitai, the Japanese Secret Police. Anyhow, McCoy and the sergeant with him, Zimmerman—but mostly McCoy—really did a job on them. After it was over, there were twenty bodies. When that word got out, he became 'Killer' McCoy for all time.»
«Incredible!»
«He likes you, Milla,» Ed said.
«How can you say that?»
«He talked to you. For the Killer, he talked a lot. And he just doesn't talk to people he doesn't like.»
«Are most of your friends like him?»
«I really don't have many friends, Milla,» he said after a moment, thoughtfully. «To me a friend is somebody you can trust when the chips are down—do you know that expression, 'when the chips are down'?»
She nodded.
«I trust the Killer. Like I trust you, my love.»
note 3
One day, in the middle of the morning, he came to her apartment, unexpected. Milla knew it was over as soon as she looked in Ed's eyes.
«I don't know how to break this to you easy, honey,» he said, just looking at her, not even kissing her.
«Tell me.»
«The Fourth has been transferred to the Philippines,» he said. «I'm on the advance party. I fly out of here the day after tomorrow.»
I
knew it was too good to be true, too good to last
.
«Good God!»
«Which means we don't have much time.»
«Two days…«
She wrapped her arms around him and fought back the tears.
«I've got to transfer title to all my stuff to you.»
«I don't want anything!»
«You're my wife.»
«I am not.»
«You will be at eleven o'clock tomorrow. Jim Ferneyhough—Father Ferneyhough—at the Anglican Cathedral says he'll marry us, and to hell with getting permission from my colonel or anybody else.»
«But you will be in trouble with the Corps of Marines.»
«Oh, to hell with that, baby.»
note 4
Milla came very close to taking her life the day Ed left Shanghai. When she saw him enter the huge, four-engined Sikorski Pan American Airways «China Clipper,» she was absolutely convinced that she would never see him again. And without Ed, she didn't want to live. Not the way things were now in Shanghai, and certainly not in the Shanghai that was soon to be. Even though Ed was an intelligence officer and should know how things really were, she was sure she knew what really was going to happen better than he did.
Because it had a basement garage, and she wouldn't dare leave the red Pontiac on the street in front of her own apartment, Milla drove from the wharf to Ed's apartment—which by now she had begun to think of as their apartment, their home.
Maybe
, she thought,
it would be best to take my life in our apartment, where we were so happy
.
The bed was still mussed from their last time together. Wondering why she was doing it, she made it over with fresh sheets.
The towel in the bathroom was still damp from his last shower, and he had forgotten to take a half-empty bottle of his aftershave lotion that smelled of limes.
She went so far as to take out the Colt automatic pistol he had left with her, after teaching her how to load and cock and aim it.
Then she decided she would wait until the 4th Marines actually left Shanghai. The advance party, to which Ed was assigned, would fly to Manila to arrange for the arrival of the regiment, which would be moved by ship.
She did not want Ed to receive news that she was dead. But if she took her life before the regiment left, especially in his apartment, it was possible someone would notify him in Manila.
It would be different after the 4th Marines were gone. No one would then care if a Nansen person shot herself in an apartment once occupied by an officer of the 4th Marines.
note 5
Two days before the 4th Marines had finished loading aboard the USS
President Madison
, the ship sent to transport them to Manila, Milla had a visitor in her apartment. It was a Marine, a sergeant. He was short, barrel-chested, round-faced, and stubby-fingered; and her first impression was that he was stupid and crude. Behind him was a flat-faced Chinese woman, with a pair of children in tow—obviously half white—and a third in her arms.
«Mrs. Banning?» he asked.
It was only the second time in her life that she had been so addressed. The English priest at the cathedral had been the first. «May I congratulate you, Mrs. Banning, on your marriage, and offer my best wishes for a long and happy marriage?» he had said, knowing full well how the odds were stacked against that.
«I am Mrs. Banning,» she said.
It was the first time in her life she had ever said that. It sounded strange and made her want to cry.
«Sergeant Zimmerman, ma'am,» he said. «Fourth Marines. This is my woman, Mae Su, and our kids.»
The woman nodded at Milla but did not speak. Milla, somewhat unkindly, thought they were a well-matched pair. Mae Su was built like Zimmerman, short, squat, and muscular, and looked no more intelligent.
«How may I help you, Sergeant?»
«I don't need any help, but Mae Su and the kids are probably going to need some help. Before he left, Killer McCoy said I should get the two of youse together. And before he left, I asked Captain Banning about it, and he said it was a good idea that the two of youse could probably help each other out.»
«Well, if my husband said that, Sergeant, I'll be happy to do anything I can for you,» Milla said, noting what she had said. It was the first time she had ever used the phrase «my husband.»
This is insane. I'm insane. I'm in no position to help anybody. What I need is somebody to help me.
«Okay,» Sergeant Zimmerman said. «The Killer said you was smart and would know how fucked up things are going to get around here once we get on that fucking ship and sail off.»