James Chase - A Coffin from Hong Kong

“I don’t know that I am. He happened to be a witness at Herman Jefferson’s wedding. Do you know him?”

MacCarthy stared blankly at the wall behind me, then reluctantly he nodded.

“Yes… we know him,” he said. “So he was a witness to Jefferson’s wedding. Hmm… interesting. You wouldn’t know where he is?”

“I’m asking you that… remember?”

“So you are.” He leaned forward and straightened his snowy while blotter. “Belling is a man we are anxious to contact. He is a member of a very active drug-running organisation here. We were about ready to grab him when he vanished. We’re still trying to find him. It’s my bet he’s either skipped to Macau or Canton.”

“Have you looked for him there?”

“We’ve made inquiries in Macau, but we haven’t any facilities to check on a man in Canton.”

I eased myself in the hard upright chair.

“He’s English?”

“Yes… he’s English.” MacCarthy tapped down the rising tobacco into the bowl of his pipe. “We know for certain he is part of an organisation here that is causing us a lot of trouble. Large quantities of heroin are being smuggled in from Canton. Up to a couple of weeks ago. Belling was playing an active part in getting the stuff into Hong Kong. We had been watching him for some time, waiting for a big consignment to come in.” He relit his pipe, then went on, “We had a tip from one of our informers that delivery was to be made on the first of this month. Then Belling vanished. It’s my guess he was tipped off we were readv to grab him and he skipped either to Macau or Canton.”

“The first of this month… that would be two days before Jefferson died?”

“So it would,” MacCarthy said, stared, then asked politely, “Does that mean anything?”

“I’m just getting the facts straight in my mind. The woman witness at the marriage was Chinese: Mu Hai Ton. That name mean anything to you?”

“No.”

I lit a cigarette while the Chief Inspector watched with disapproval.

“Do you think Jefferson was hooked up with the drug ring?”

“Maybe,” MacCarthy said, shrugging his shoulders. “We never got a line on him. I’ve no reason to think so, but if he was friendly with Belling, he could have been.”

“You can’t give me a line on the girl?”

“I’ll check our records. If I get anything I’ll let you know.” He stared quizzically at me. “You’ve moved to the Repulse Bay Hotel?”

“That’s right”

He shook his head enviously.

“You investigators have a nice life. Everything on the expense account I suppose?”

I grinned at him and got to my feet.

“That’s right,” I said. “Well, so long and thanks. I’ll be seeing you.”

I went down into the crowded Queen’s Road Central. The time was now half past eleven. I got in the Packard and drove to Wanchai waterfront. Leaving the car, I went into the bar where I had met the Madame who had drunk a glass of milk with me.

The place was empty of customers. Two Chinese waiters talked together behind the bar. They recognised me and one came over, showing gold-capped teeth in a wide smile of welcome.

“Good morning, sir. Very happy to see you again. A drink or perhaps lunch?”

‘I’ll have a Coke and rum,” I said. “Madame around?”

He looked at the clock over the bar.

“She’ll be here any moment, sir.”

I sat down and toyed with my drink. The Chinese woman didn’t appear for half an hour, but to the Chinese that was no time at all. I waved to her as she came in and she crossed the bar to shake hands. She sat down opposite me.

“I am very happy to see you again,” she said. “I hope all was satisfactory with the girl.”

I grinned at her.

“You pulled a fast one that time. She wasn’t Jo-An and you know it.”

One of the waiters came over with a pint glass of milk which he set before her. Then he went away.

“That was a mistake,” she said. “The girl was more pleasing than Jo-An. I thought you would not mind.”

“There is another girl I want to meet,” I said. “Her name is Mu Hai Ton. Do you know her?”

Her face was expressionless as she nodded.

“She is one of my very best girls. You will like her very much.”

“Only this time,” I said, “she will have to prove who she is. I have business to discuss with her.”

Madame thought for a moment.

“She will be able to prove who she is. What business do you want to discuss with her?”

“That need not concern you. When can I meet her?”

“I will try to arrange something. When would you like to meet her? Now?”

“Not right now. How about tonight? I’ll be here at eight o’clock. Will you arrange for her to be here?”

She nodded.

“If she is the right girl, and if she is co-operative, I will give you fifty dollars.”

“She will be the right girl and she will be co-operative,” Madame said, a sudden steely expression in her eyes,

I finished my drink.

“Then tonight at eight.” I got to my feet. “I will know if she isn’t the right girl so don’t pull another fast one.”

She smiled at me.

“You will be satisfied.”

I drove back to the Repulse Bay Hotel, feeling my morning hadn’t been wasted.

I leaned on the rail of the first-class deck of the ferry-boat and watched the third-class passengers fight their way up the gangplank onto the lower deck.

It was a colourful and interesting sight. Everyone, and they were all Chinese, acted as if the boat was about to sail immediately whereas it had at least a quarter of an hour before pulling away from the Star Ferry pier. Coolies, staggering under enormous burdens slung on bamboo poles, rushed up the gangplank, jostling and pushing as if their lives depended on getting onto the already overcrowded deck. Chinese women, babies strapped on their hacks, surrounded by sharp-eyed children in padded coats, pushed and shoved their way along the pier. Two slim Chinese girls in black coats and trousers came up the gangplank at a trot earning between them on a bamboo pole a large sausage-shaped wicker basket in which lay a full-grown and grunting pig. A half-naked Chinese youth, his right shoulder horribly deformed through carrying heavy burdens slung on his carrying pole, grinned happily as he bustled a group of tiny children ahead of him. Two smart uniformed Chinese policemen stood, their thumbs hooked in their revolver belts and watched the scene with a fatherly tolerance.

I shifted my gaze to look at the few first-class passengers who were coming aboard. There was no sign of Stella, but I was sure she would arrive at the last moment. She was the type who timed her entrance. She would never be either too early or too late.

A squat, heavily-built Chinese, wearing a black city suit, a bulky briefcase under his arm came up the first-class gang-plank.

Looking down at this powerful-built man, I had the image of a figure reflected in the mirror at Enright’s hired villa. I was suddenly sure that this was the man I had seen watching me from the darkened lobby.

I watched him come, studying him. He could be any age up to forty, but there was great strength and power in his squat limbs and he moved with the speed and ease of a gymnast.

I told myself all Chinese look alike and I was being cock-eyed to think this was the man who had been watching me in Enright’s villa, but the feeling persisted even when he walked past me without looking at me and sat down, opening a newspaper with a flick of his wrists and hiding himself behind it.

At one minute to sailing time, I saw Stella, wearing an apple-green cotton dress and carrying a straw basket, come along the pier. She paused at the foot of the gangplank and waved to me. She was the last passenger to arrive.