‘Don’t be a bloody fool.’
‘Like the Chinese think I am, as well as everybody else?’
‘You heard…’ started Charlie but again Nelson refused him.
‘Enough. And I’m as determined as you are that Lu won’t succeed in his claim.’
He looked to the girl.
‘I don’t want you back at the apartment,’ he said evenly.
‘Please…’
‘Just pack your stuff and get out. Tonight.’
‘For Christ’s sake,’ protested Charlie. ‘This is ridiculous. What’s wrong with you?’
‘Nothing,’ said Nelson. ‘Not any more. And when I establish that Lu’s claim is false, there won’t be any more laughter either.’
So Nelson didn’t understand. Any more than he’d been able to, all those years ago.
The broker turned away from the bedroom, but Charlie called out, halting him.
‘Where are you going?’
‘To find one of the Chinese spreading the story she recounted and get him to swear an affidavit incriminating Lu,’ said Nelson, starting towards the outer door again.
‘Stop him!’ begged Jenny.
‘Robert,’ yelled Charlie, hurrying into the adjoining room. ‘That won’t work. Wait. We’ll go to the police first. They’re the people…’
Nelson slammed the door, without looking round, leaving Charlie standing near the tiny bar.
‘Assholes,’ he said.
She was at the bedroom door when he turned. Because she had only worn the cheongsam it had taken her seconds to dress. She had stopped crying, but her eyes were still swollen.
‘Your handkerchief,’ she said, holding it out.
‘You can keep it if you want.’
She shook her head.
‘Whores don’t cry for long.’
She shrugged, a gesture of defeat.
‘He expected to catch us,’ she announced.
‘What?’
‘Robert. He expected to find us. He never really trusted me… He thought I couldn’t forget the old ways. That’s why he came in without knocking. Always unsure…’
Just as Edith had always been unsure, thought Charlie, never quite able to believe their marriage was for him anything different from everything else he did, another way of proving himself equal.
‘But why me?’
‘You’d have been the obvious choice.’
‘He’ll have recovered in the morning,’ said Charlie hopefully.
Jenny shook her head.
‘No.’
‘Where will you go?’
‘I’m known in all the bars,’ she said bitterly.
‘Wait. Until tomorrow at least.’
‘Maybe.’
‘I’ll contact you tomorrow,’ he said. ‘After I’ve seen the police.’
She gave him a pitying look.
‘You don’t stand a chance,’ she insisted.
‘People have been telling me that for as long as I can remember,’ he said. It was good to feel confident again. It had been a long time. More than two years, in fact. Not since he’d started to run.
Charlie’s second telephone call stopped Willoughby as he was leaving his Knightsbridge flat for the City. The underwriter listened without interruption as Charlie repeated what the girl had told him, without naming her as the immediate source.
‘Dear God,’ said Willoughby softly.
‘There’s still no proof,’ warned Charlie, immediately detecting the feeling in the other man’s voice.
‘It would mean we wouldn’t have to pay a penny…’
‘I said there’s no proof.’
‘But you can get it, surely?’
‘I can get the police to investigate. To be produced in court, it will have to be something official.’
‘Do that then. And, Charlie…’
‘What?’
‘Thank you.’
There was no way to prick the man’s optimism.
‘Something else,’ Charlie said.
‘What?’
‘I want you to write a letter to Nelson, assuring him that his job is safe.’
‘Why?’
‘It’s important.’
The inner council were impressed, realised Chiu Ching-mao, looking around the faces before him.
They had remained unspeaking during the playback of Charlie’s bedroom discussion with Jenny Lin Lee and for those who did not speak sufficient English, Chiu Ching-mao had provided Cantonese transcripts.
‘The encounter was excellently monitored,’ said the chairman, when the tape ended. ‘Congratulate your people upon installing the devices so well.’
‘Thank you,’ said Chiu. ‘I will.’
‘So now the Englishman knows the truth?’
‘Yes.’
‘I wonder what action he’ll persuade the police to take?’
Chiu knew he wasn’t expected to give an opinion and said nothing.
‘Why did the girl try to seduce the Englishman?’ asked the chairman suddenly. ‘Why didn’t she just tell him about the fire?’
‘I assumed what she said on the recording was the truth… that she wanted to compromise him into protecting the employment of the man she’s living with,’ suggested Chiu.
The chairman shook his head.
‘Stupid woman,’ he said. ‘Will Nelson cause any problems?’
‘I’ve tried to use it to our advantage,’ said Chiu.
‘How?’
‘John Lu hasn’t the cunning of his father,’ said Chiu. ‘I’ve calculated upon him panicking.’
‘By doing what?’
‘Letting Lu’s people know what Nelson is trying to do in the waterfront bars.’
‘Yes,’ agreed the chairman. ‘It can’t do any harm.’
11
Charlie was still in his dressing-gown when Superintendent Johnson telephoned.
‘I was about to call you,’ he said, recognising the police chief’s voice.
‘I’d like to see you,’ said Johnson.
‘When?’
‘As soon as possible.’
Charlie hesitated. ‘What for?’
‘It had better wait until you get here.’
‘It sounds formal.’
‘It is.’
‘Thirty minutes,’ promised Charlie.
It took him twenty. The building was still wrapped in its ordered calm as Charlie followed the clerk through the hushed corridor to Johnson’s office. This time the man stood as Charlie entered, his manner different from their previous meetings. Johnson pointed to the same chair and Charlie sat down, curious at the changed attitude.
‘Unpleasant news,’ announced Johnson bluntly.
‘What?’
‘Robert Nelson was found by a harbour patrol-boat just before dawn this morning. Drowned.’
‘What!’ repeated Charlie, incredulous.
‘He’s dead, I’m afraid.’
‘She told me to stop him…’
‘I didn’t hear what you said,’ complained Johnson.
‘He was murdered,’ said Charlie.
Johnson spread his hands, shaking his head as he did so.
‘Of course it’s a shock,’ he said. ‘He drowned. An accident…’
‘I don’t believe it was an accident,’ insisted Charlie.
Johnson sighed, annoyance overriding the artificial sympathy. The superciliousness was returning, Charlie realised.
‘Any more than you believe what happened to the ship?’ demanded the policeman, intending sarcasm.
‘I know what happened to the ship,’ said Charlie. ‘Lu planned its destruction.’
‘Oh for God’s sake!’
‘Wait,’ pleaded Charlie. ‘Hear me out… and then see if you think Nelson still died accidentally.’
Johnson settled behind his desk. Predictably he looked at his watch.
Charlie watched the policeman’s face as he recounted the story that Jenny Lin Lee had told him, omitting only the circumstances in which Nelson had found them in the hotel suite, but when Johnson did react it was in a way quite unexpected by Charlie.
The police chief laughed, head thrown back to emphasise his mockery.
‘Preposterous,’ said Johnson. ‘Utterly and completely preposterous.’
‘But the facts…’ started Charlie.
‘There are no facts,’ Johnson crushed him. ‘Just one small inconsistency, the apparent willingness to pay a premium higher than that agreed with the other insurers. But that doesn’t prove anything.’
‘It proves everything!’
‘Lu is unquestionably a multi-millionaire,’ said Johnson. ‘The insurance money will only just cover the purchase of the Pride of America. The money honouring the contracts with the professors and staff he engaged for his university he has had to pay himself, so he’s actually out of pocket. He’ll recover?10,000,000. But will have spent more. Insurance frauds are for profit, not exercise. The 12 per cent would be proof if it showed he had made a profit. And it doesn’t.’