Bill for the Use of a Body (23 page)

Knowing that several hours must elapse before Pao Tin-yum and his wife could reach Kyoto with the Kuan-yin, Julian decided to kill time by having another look at Hayashi's house and also finding out exactly where the Phoenix was situated. As soon as he had dressed he hired one of the hotel cars and drove, as he had done with Bill Urata, down to an old quarter of the city. Leaving the car on the corner of a lane, he again walked slowly round Hayashi's property. As on the previous occasion, the high walls and big wooden gates prevented his seeing into the garden; so he had to content himself with staring for a while at the section of long tiled roof that he could see through the pine trees and silently praying that Merri had come to no harm there.

Returning to the car, he told the driver to take him to the Phoenix. It proved to be in the same quarter of the city and only about half a mile away. But unlike Hayashi's house it was not surrounded by a garden. It was a large ancient two-storeyed wooden building on the corner of a street and on both sides of it were rows of shoddy shops.

By eleven o'clock Julian was back at the Miyako sitting in the hall impatiently awaiting the arrival of Pao Tin-yum, his mind going round like a squirrel in a cage about his chances of making a deal with Hayashi. Optimistic as he tried to make himself feel, he could not overcome the belief that those chances were far from good. There could be no doubt that it was Tilly Sang whom Hayashi wanted to get his hands on, and that he had had Merri kidnapped only to force her mother to come to Japan. Could he really be tempted to forgo a chance to eliminate the woman who had done so much harm to his dope trafficking and whose husband had been in part responsible for having him sent to prison for ten years, simply to add
another antique to his fine collection? And what if he refused or, clever devil that he was, managed to trick them out of the Kuan-yin, as it seemed almost certain that he would attempt to? If either happened then, Julian realised, his only hope would be in Rinzai. If the wisened little detective secured definite information that Hayashi had Merri in his house it might be possible to get in and rescue her.

It was not until half past twelve that Pao Tin-yum and his wife Pao Ping at last arrived with their precious package. At first sight Julian was by no means favourably impressed by them. The couple were well on in middle age. The man was tall, gaunt and with a fleshy nose. He was sallow-skinned, but his features suggested that he had European blood as well as Chinese. His mouth was cruel and his eyes inclined to be shifty. The woman was squat, fat and had a waddle. Her mouth, too, was hard and her eyes shrewd. She was wearing a well-made dark blue coat and skirt and a rope of good-sized pearls; pinned to the lapel of her coat there was a diamond brooch that must have cost well over three figures in pounds sterling. Her husband's long grey overcoat was also of good quality, and his large feet were encased in well-polished shoes.

They asked at once to be taken to their room, but would not allow the seven-foot-long oval-shaped wicker basket that contained the Kuan-yin to be taken up in the luggage lift. As it was now in the same city as the unscrupulous Hayashi, Julian agreed that it could not be too carefully guarded; so it was placed on end in one of the electric passenger lifts and all three of them went up with it to the double room that Julian had engaged for the Paos in the same corridor as his own. Having seen the Kuan-yin carried into it, he asked them to meet him in the upstairs lounge when they were ready to go in to lunch; then he left them to unpack and have a wash.

Over lunch he found them decidedly taciturn. They had left Mrs. Sang in as good a state as could be expected
and had had an uneventful voyage. Pao Tin-yum's grandmother, it transpired, had been a Portuguese and he had been born in Macao, but had lived since the war in Hong Kong. About his business he was somewhat vague. He said that he owned an interest in an amusement parlour and in a small restaurant and that, as he had been a friend of Mrs. Sang's husband, when she had come to live in Hong Kong he had taken over the management of her affairs.

Finding it difficult to extract any further particulars of interest from him, and that Mrs. Pao was even less inclined to be communicative, Julian told them about the arrangements for that evening. He then raised the question of transporting the Kuan-yin to the Phoenix, but learned that the problem could easily be dealt with. Mrs. Sang had realised that it was too large to go in a car, so had cabled a garage in Osaka to have available a small closed van in which it could be taken to Kyoto. Pao, with his wife in the cab, had driven the van himself, and it was now in the hotel garage; so it could be used again to take the Kuan-yin to the Phoenix. It remained only for him to be guided there; so Julian said that he would take a taxi and tell the driver to go at a moderate pace, then Pao would have no difficulty in following him.

To assess the social status of quite well dressed foreigners, particularly when they are Asiatics, is never easy; but Julian had soon decided that the Paos were very far from being the sort of people he had visualised when thinking of them. He had not expected them to be high-caste Chinese but had supposed that Tilly Sang's man of affairs would probably be a sedate lawyer, or at least a business man of some standing who spoke good English. But clearly the Paos, although they appeared to be quite well-off, were not of a type that would have been accepted in such circles, or even reasonably well educated. Both of them at times fumbled with their knives and forks—which showed that they habitually used chopsticks—the man ate voraciously,
cramming his food into his mouth, and the woman repeatedly began to suck her teeth, then remembered not to.

When Julian had signed the bill they agreed that they should meet down in the hall at half past seven, have the Kuan-yin loaded into the van and be ready to set off at a quarter to eight. They then went upstairs to spend the afternoon in their respective rooms.

Considerably relieved to be free of his unattractive guests, Julian partially undressed and lay down on his bed. Somehow he had yet to get through another five hours before he could take the first active step in his attempt to secure Merri's freedom. To have gone out into the city would not, he knew, have served to distract his thoughts; so it was better to surrender to them, although they were far from happy ones.

When he had set out from Hong Kong he had counted on having the aid of Bill, his father and a Chinese couple—the man of whom might prove more capable than any of them in bargaining with Hayashi—and a pleasant woman whom, should Hayashi refuse to do a deal, he might possibly be willing to allow to share Merri's captivity and comfort her until her mother could be persuaded to come to Japan. With the assistance of four such people, gathered as had been earlier planned in Urata's house, Julian had even toyed with the idea that, should Hayashi prove obdurate, they might resort to force and detain him there until he agreed to send for Merri.

But now the situation was very different. Bill was out of the running; his father might, conceivably, still be playing some deep game, so could not be relied upon entirely; and, although the Paos had faithfully carried out their mission of bringing the Kuan-yin to Kyoto, Julian instinctively felt that he would not trust either of them further than he could see them.

The more, too, that he thought of the whole business from start to finish the more gloomy he became about his
prospects of inducing Hayashi to part with Merri in exchange for the Kuan-yin. For what now seemed an endless time he had buoyed himself up with that hope; but Tilly Sang had never put much faith in his idea, and he himself knew, only too well, that Hayashi was as cunning as a weasel. When offered the Kuan-yin he must have laughed to himself at the thought that his plot was going to bring him a quite unexpected and valuable bonus. Somehow he would manage to trick them out of it. Without acknowledging that Merri was his prisoner he might turn the conversation to women and remark that he was looking for a new concubine, then revert to her disappearance, offer his co-operation in searching for her and ask for the Kuan-yin as the price of his assistance. Faced with some subtle threat of that kind how could they refuse to give it to him? And he would still hold Merri as the bait to bring her mother to Japan.

Minute by minute the long afternoon wore away into evening. At half past six Julian got up to shave and dress. He had only just gone into the bathroom when his telephone rang. It was Hidari Rinzai and he was down in the lobby. Julian told him to come up at once.

As soon as the little man entered the room Julian saw from the grin on his wisened face that he had good news, and two minutes later he had poured it out. He said that with a good part of the money Julian had given him he had succeeded in suborning a maid in Hayashi's house. Merri was there, locked in an upstairs room. No harm had come to her and she was being well looked after; but she was very sad and wept a lot.

Greatly relieved that she was there, and safe and well, Julian sat down at the desk in the window and wrote a cheque for a handsome sum in Rinzai's favour. As he gave this reward to the detective his hand was trembling with excitement at the thought that, now he knew definitely that Merri was in Hayashi's house, he could go to the police and demand that they should search it.

A second later his elation ebbed, for his old fear had suddenly recurred to him—that going to the police might ruin everything. Before entering Hayashi's house they would have to get a search warrant from a magistrate, and they might not be able to do that until the following morning. If, as Tilly Sang believed, Hayashi had men among the police whom he paid for information he might be warned, and during the night spirit Merri away to some other hiding place. After a moment's thought Julian asked:

‘What chance do you think there is of getting into the house and rescuing Miss Sang?'

Rinzai shrugged. ‘Iss possible but would be difficult. Hayashi not often leave house and he have several menservants. But pick time perhaps maybe.'

‘I happen to know that he is going out to dinner this evening,' Julian said quickly.

‘Ah! Chance good then. Master go, servants also seek amusing. Go too. One stay perhaps and few women. That all.'

‘Do you know in which room Miss Sang is locked up?'

‘Yes, sir. Corner room on upper floor, south end of house, on right of landing back side of building.'

Julian's pulses were racing again as he asked, ‘If I made it very well worth your while, would you be willing to go in with me and help me to get Miss Sang out?'

The detective thrust out his hands. ‘No, sir. Pliss excuse. I not break law. If caught I lose licence. No money you give make good for end my business.'

‘I appreciate that,' Julian nodded. ‘Still, you could lend me a gun, or sell me one. I don't mean to kill anybody, but I may come face to face with the servants and need a weapon to hold them up.'

‘No, sir; no!' Rinzai again vehemently declined. ‘All pistols numbered, and permit now required to carry in Japan. If found on you traced to me. Big trouble for lending. Not doing, sir. No.'

Feeling that he stood no chance of persuading the little
man to change his mind, Julian thanked him again and quickly got rid of him.

It was by then nearly seven o'clock and he had to make a decision that was all-important. Should he go to the dinner and try to make a deal with Hayashi or use his absence from his house to make an attempt to rescue Merri? His hopes of pulling off a deal had dwindled sadly; so, after a few minutes' thought, he made up his mind to go in and try to get her.

Although, owing to the import of arms now being forbidden in so many countries, he no longer travelled with a pistol in his luggage, he had always retained a short sword cane. It was in the form of a leather-covered swagger stick such as many Army officers carried, and he had bought it during the war. It looked innocent enough, but had been made by the Wilkinson Sword Company and contained a deadly steel blade about fifteen inches long. Getting it from the bottom of a suitcase he tried it, to see that it still drew easily, then put it handy to slide down the inside of his trousers so that it would lie against his left thigh when he went out.

Sitting down again at the writing desk, he wrote two letters. The first was a brief note to Urata, simply saying that he had been unavoidably detained; so not to wait dinner for him, but he hoped to come in later. The second was much longer and to the police. In it he said that he had received information that a Miss Sang, who had been kidnapped in Hong Kong on the 3rd March, was being held prisoner in Mr. Inosuke Hayashi's house and that he was about to attempt to free her. Should they receive the letter they could take it that he had been overcome by the servants and was also being held prisoner there. In that event he would rely on them to take immediate action and come to the assistance of Miss Sang and himself.

By the time he had finished it was a quarter past seven, and to avoid having to give an explanation down in the lobby he decided to tell the Paos at once that he would
not be coming with them. Taking his note to Urata with him, he went along to their room.

In answer to his knock Pao cried, ‘Who iss there?' and when Julian told him he shouted back, ‘Cannot come in. My wife undressed.'

To that Julian replied in a sharp voice. ‘Then come to the door. I wish to speak to you urgently.'

After an interval of at least a minute Pao Tin-yum unlocked the door and opened it, but only a couple of inches. His shifty eyes alive with suspicion he said, ‘Iss not time yet to go. We not ready. What you wish?'

‘To tell you that I shan't be coming to the dinner after all,' Julian replied abruptly. ‘Something has occurred that will prevent my doing so; but I will engage a taxi to guide you to the Nest of the Phoenix and when you get there I want you to give this letter to Mr. Urata.'

‘Whether you come is no matter,' Pao returned indifferently. ‘I am responsible for the Kuan-yin. Mrs. Sang make it clear that it for me to hand over goddess if Hayashi agrees our terms. But will do as you wish.'