“That last part sounds true,” I said.
“Yeah,” Jack laughed. “Guilty as charged. Al Cluster is one of the few Annapolis men who went into PT boats. He’s a good officer and I don’t want to disappoint him. Or myself for that matter. I got two men killed, Billy. Harold Marney and Andrew Kirksey. I need to do right by them.”
“You saved the rest,” I said. “Ten men survived, that should count for something.”
“All I did was get my boat sunk,” Jack said, scratching his damp hair. “I swam around for a while looking for help, hoping the rest of the squadron would return to search for us. All that did was get my feet cut up on the coral. It was a Coastwatcher who sent the two natives out to look for us. If it weren’t for them, we would have died out on the little island. Or been captured by the Japs, which amounts to the same thing.”
“It was a pretty long swim from what I heard,” I said. “Didn’t you tow a guy who was badly burned?”
“Yeah, Pappy. He was in the engine room. I guess he was lucky to get out alive. The doctors said he’ll be okay. Even though his hands were burned, he kept flexing them all the time. They said that saved them, kept scar tissue from forming and tightening his hands into claws.” He closed his eyes, turning his head away. Finally, something had gotten to Jack Kennedy.
“Jack, it could have been a whole lot worse,” I said, sensing the depth of his emotion. It was the first time I’d ever seen him even close to feeling guilty over something he’d done.
“It could have been avoided,” he said, slamming his hand down on the table. “It’s criminal that none of the radar boats told us they were leaving the strait. It’s criminal that no one came looking for us. They gave us up for dead. I can’t forget that, not ever.”
“What do you mean about the radar boats, Jack?”
“I told you, half the boats don’t have radar, including the 109. The boats that had radar saw the Jap destroyers barreling down Blackett Strait. They fired their torpedoes and got the hell out of there. They didn’t score one hit or bother to radio that they were leaving, much less that we had company headed our way. When that destroyer sliced the 109 in two and our fuel exploded, the other boats hightailed it for home.”
“Sounds like a FUBAR nightmare,” I said.
“The sea is dark and huge, Billy. More so when you’re abandoned and left to die. Cotter lied. He claimed he searched the area, but we never saw anyone. With all the burning fuel on the water, it would have been a cinch to find us. He ought to be court-martialed. Or worse.”
“Jack, threats aren’t going to help you get another boat,” I said. “Calm down, okay? You and your men got a raw deal, but you’re mixed up in two murders already.”
“Jesus, Billy, I’d never laid eyes on Sam Chang until last night. I had no reason on earth to murder him or Daniel Tamana. Give me a break, alright?” That was more like the old Jack, asking for a favor, special treatment, for me to be a pal. I’d been down that one-way street before.
“You told me that you’d met Daniel the day before he was killed, at Hugh Sexton’s place,” I said. “Who else was there?”
“Besides Hugh and Daniel, there was Fred Archer and Gordon Brockman,” Jack said. “Along with John Kari. Deanna Pendleton, too.”
“Why were you there?”
“I wanted to ask about Reg Evans, the Coastwatcher who sent the natives out to find us. Hugh told me he was still out on Kolombangara, so I asked him to pass on my thanks. And besides, I’d heard about Deanna and hoped she’d be there as well. I got lucky.”
“What can you tell me about Daniel?” I asked, more interested in the murder victim than Jack’s luck with the ladies. “Did he seem upset about anything? Get in an argument with anyone?”
“No,” Jack said slowly, tilting his head back and closing his eyes. “Not that I can remember. There was a lot of talk about the new radios and getting back out on station before the next big offensive.”
“Any mention of Sam Chang?”
“Never came up,” Jack said. “It was business as usual; they talked radio frequencies, supply drops, that sort of thing. Silas Porter showed up too, but that was after Daniel had left.”
“What was Daniel like?” I asked. I knew I was grasping at straws, but Jack was a shrewd judge of character and a keen observer.
“Smart. That was the first thing you noticed about him,” Jack said. “Well, after the dark skin and fuzzy hair. He was sharp, didn’t waste a lot of words. And when he asked a question, it was straight to the point. Observant and intelligent.”
“What are relations like between the white islanders and the Melanesians?”
“It varies, from what I’ve seen,” Jack said. “It’s not like Negroes and whites back home. The natives here are so different; it’s like some of them are still living in the Stone Age. To no great disadvantage, either, for many. Daniel was raised near a mission and learned English from an early age. It seemed that Sexton and the other Coastwatchers accepted him as one of their own. I don’t get the sense that whites here have a problem with a native adopting Western ways.”
“So no resentment about an uppity native taking on airs, that sort of thing?”
“No, not that I saw,” Jack said. “In general I think the English treat the natives as nothing more than a convenient labor pool for their plantations. On an individual basis, there are some genuine friendships. Whatever the relations, it’s going to be hard after the war to get the natives to go back to the old ways. They’ve been fighting the Japs alongside us and earning good money unloading ships for the navy. They’re not going to fancy returning to plantation work for cheap wages.”
“That’s fascinating, Jack, but it still doesn’t tell me why Daniel got his head bashed in.” As usual, Jack looked at the big picture. I needed a cop’s take on things, not a politician’s.
“Money or sex, isn’t it always one or the other? That’s what you told me back in Boston.”
“Yeah,” I said, sighing at how little I had to go on. “Daniel didn’t mention Sam Chang, did he?”
“No, I wasn’t aware they knew each other.”
“I’m not sure they did. Thanks, Jack. Good luck with Cluster. I’ll drop by to see how you made out.”
“I can fill you in on how I make out with Deanna as well,” Jack said with a smirk. “I’m taking her to lunch in Chinatown. There’s a joint on the docks that does great things with fresh fish.”
“Making up for ignoring her at Sexton’s party, Jack?”
“Deanna’s a good kid, don’t get me wrong,” he said. “But you can’t blame a guy for enjoying the few other available women in this dump. I don’t mind that she was sore at me; can’t blame her for that either.”
“Well, enjoy,” I said. Jack may have been a cad, but he was such an easy-going one, it was hard to stay mad at him.
“Hey, Billy,” Jack said as I rose from the table. “What are you going to do about Sam?”
“You mean about you being seen in his room?”
“Yes, that,” Jack said, his easy grin fading as he turned serious. “I really need to get another command, Billy. Give it some thought, okay?”
“Sure, Jack. See you around.”
He must have seen it in my eyes. I wasn’t going to give him a free pass. Like I said, Jack could really read people. That’s why he changed tack and asked me to give it some thought. Hard to say no to that.
Chapter Sixteen
I was looking for food, Hugh Sexton, and Jacob Vouza. I struck gold on the verandah of Sexton’s place, where the two of them were eating off tin plates. Rice, fish, and breadfruit, which is kind of like a potato. White and starchy, anyway. Hugh went inside to fix me a plate and returned with three cans of beer, kept moderately cool in his ancient refrigerator.
“What have you found out about Daniel?” Jacob asked around a mouthful of food.
“I’m afraid not much,” I said. “Did he know Sam Chang?”