Gelignite (17 page)

He was almost certain he knew the identity of the final victim.

*

Nicola Feiffer thought, "I will." She laboured out of the front entrance of the Government apartments to find first, a taxi, second, something to keep her company in her weeks of foetal bane and wretchedness, and third, somewhere to buy said thing to keep her company in said bane.

She thought, "Bloody leases!" and dropped the change from her purse all over the pavement.

*

There was the remains of a child's plastic doll still in the gutter by the Indian provisions shop. O'Yee looked away from it. He looked back. The doll had both its arms burned off and a long black mark down its cotton dress where something metal had ripped into its workings and come out the other side. He looked away. There was a woman's leather lace-up shoe by the doll. The doll's eyes were open and staring. The doll had black hair. The hair was dishevelled, wet and caked with something like ink. O'Yee took out a cigarette and glanced towards the entrance of the funeral society for Feiffer. Feiffer was still inside. He glanced at the doll. He lit the cigarette and walked to the front of one of the bombed-out stores and gazed in the cavity where the plate glass window had been. He wished he had gone with Spencer and Auden to help Yan with the residents. He thought, "Robert Newton." He thought, "No, Wallace Beery." It seemed old and grimy, something he had thought about too often. He looked at the doll and said, 'Shit!'

He thought, "Are you a rich bugger, William?/My brother is—/our poor hovel—" He said, 'Damn it all!' and looked in at the rubble of stock in the glassless window. He saw a birdcage on its side with something in it. He thought, "Joseph Cotton, Holly something—" He thought, "Two thousand years of death, war, pestilence, the Borgias and what do you get?" He thought, "Switzerland, cuckoo clocks." He thought, "Orson Welles." He thought, "Holly—something." The storeowner came out and smiled at him and O'Yee shouted at him, 'What the hell have you got hidden away in that fucking birdcage?'

The storeowner said, 'What?'

'What the bloody hell have you got bloody secretly and bloody criminally got hidden away in that bloody birdcage?'

The storeowner said, 'Nothing ...' He was a short, wizened man. He retreated a little back into the corridor of the store.

'Don't you bloodywell try and get back into your store! I want to know what you've got hidden in that bloody birdcage in your window! STAY WHERE YOU ARE!!'

The storeowner froze. He said, 'Nothing.'

'You've got a bloody bird in that birdcage!!'

The storeowner said, 'What?'

'Don't you try to bloody deny it! You've got a bird in that birdcage!'

The storeowner said, 'It's dead.'

'I know it's bloody dead!!'

The storeowner said, 'I didn't kill it!' He said, 'It's stuffed!'

O'Yee said, 'Ah-ha!!'

'It's a stuffed bird.' The storeowner said, terrified, 'It's stuffed. It's been dead for years.' He said, 'I didn't have anything to do with it.' He said, 'It's very cheap.'

'I'll bloody bet it is!'

The storeowner said—

'What sort of a bloody bird is it?' O'Yee demanded, 'Aye?'

The storeowner said, 'It's a—'

'It's a bloody Ramphastes Toco, that's what it is!'

The storeowner blinked. He said, 'Is it?'

'You know damn well it is!'

The storeowner said, 'Yes.' He said, 'I always thought it was a Palaeonis Torquatus, but if you say it's a—'

O'Yee shouted, 'It's a Ramphastes Toco!' He said, 'It's a bloody Ramphastes Toco, that's what it is!' He shrieked, 'ISN'T IT!'

'Anything you say! If you say it's a—' The storeowner said, 'It is, it is!'

'It is
what
?'

'Whatever you said it was!' The storeowner said, 'That's what it is all right!' He said, 'Have it! It's yours!'

O'Yee looked at the storeowner. He felt himself seething. He looked at the storeowner. The storeowner retreated a few inches back into the corridor. The storeowner said, 'It's very cheap . . .' He forced a smile. The storeowner said, 'Um—' He glanced anxiously into the street for someone. There was no one there. The storeowner said, 'Um . . .'

O'Yee said quietly, 'I am now going to tear your rotten, horrible shop into a thousand pieces.' He took a step forward and felt someone's hand on his shoulder.

The storeowner said to Feiffer, 'He was going to kill me!!' He took two steps backwards and then fled along the corridor. He appeared a moment later in the window and wrenched at the birdcage. He held it up. He said, 'See! Look! It's a—' He forgot the name. He shrieked, 'It's a white parrot with only one wing!' He shouted at Feiffer, 'He was going to murder me for a crippled white parrot!' He waited, breathing in and out quickly, for Feiffer to do something.

Feiffer nodded to the storeowner. He said to O'Yee quietly, 'Come on.' He led him across the street, past the doll in the gutter, to the other side of the road. He said, 'Dien was going to see the funeral society about his partnership in the cemetery. He wasn't happy about something.' He turned O'Yee gently in the direction of one of the police cars behind the cordon. (O'Yee saw Spencer and Auden come out of one of the shops to see what the shouting had been about.) Feiffer said, 'I'm now going to have a little chat to your friend, Mr Kan.' He propelled O'Yee in the direction of the car and said, 'I want you there as well.'

Auden and Spencer came out onto the road. They stopped to watch.

Feiffer said gently, 'Christopher?'

O'Yee looked at him. He shook his head. He said very quiety, 'Harry—'

'Yes?'

O'Yee said, Tor the love of God, will you please get someone to take that doll away?' He screamed at Spencer, 'FOR CHRIST'S SAKE, TAKE THAT BLOODY DOLL!'

He put his hand to his face.

Amongst the other paintings and treasures in the entrance hall of Conway Kan's mansion on Hanford Hill there was a nineteenth-century coloured lithograph of Hong Kong showing part of Hong Bay in 1856. The part of Hong Bay was barren, rocky and inhospitable. O'Yee thought not much had changed. He turned to Feiffer with a puzzled look on his face. He said, worried, 'You don't really believe that it was all aimed at Dien?' He said, 'Who'd go to all that trouble just to knock off an undertaker?'

Feiffer glanced at the picture with interest, and then at another, an oil of Macao by George Chinnery. 'Dien was co-owner of a cemetery.'

'Whatever.' O'Yee said, 'How did the bomber know he had an appointment with the funeral society at that particular time?'

'He didn't. If he'd been after Dien he wouldn't have planted the bomb sixty feet away from the place he knew Dien would be.'

'So you're saying now that Dien wasn't the victim?' He corrected himself, 'The planned victim?'

Feiffer said, 'I don't think I ever said I thought he was. Dien was a coincidence. An accident. I didn't actually say Dien was the target of the bomb; what I said, was that the funeral society in Matsu Lane told me that Dien was not happy about continuing his co-partnership of the cemetery with Conway Kan. I didn't say that was the reason he was killed.' He said, 'In any event, there's nothing certain. I'm only working on an idea.'

O'Yee said, 'Which has something to do with Conway Kan.'

'Which has something to do with Conway Kan.' Feiffer said, 'It's odd that a Chinese millionaire has pictures of China by western artists, isn't it?' He said, 'You'd think he'd have something more traditional.' He glanced at the collection of pictures and said, 'Maybe it's for his western friends.' He looked at one of the three pictures of Macao by Charles Elliot and said, 'I gather from the funeral people that he's a very rich man indeed.' He said casually to O'Yee, 'I don't think the final victim —so called—is going to be killed at all.' He said to the picture of the Macao Praya in 1850, 'It isn't a question of killing.' He said, 'Dien was only the co-owner of the cemetery for tax reasons. Kan owns it all. Bumping off Dien wouldn't have got him anything he didn't already have.'

O'Yee said, 'You seem to have it firmly in your mind that it's Kan.'

Feiffer said, 'It is.'

'—who's been doing all the bumping off.'

Feiffer said, 'No.' He glanced along the long black lacquered floor of the corridor to where the servant had gone to inform Mr Kan they were there. Feiffer said, 'No, Kan's not the bomber.'

'Then what the hell does "it is" mean?'

Feiffer said—

The servant, an aged man with wrinkles, part-bowed from age and deference wearing noiseless slippers, came noiselessly and deferentially back down the hall. He made a slight bow and moved his hand a little behind him in an arc. Feiffer paused. The aged servant said, 'The scroll room, gentlemen,' in careful English. He beckoned them to follow down the long corridor, knocked on a heavy lacquered door, then opened it and stood aside, ushering them into Mr Kan's presence.

Conway Kan, seated in a carved chair, stood up. He had a half corona cigar in his mouth held in a short stubby ivory holder. He took it out of his mouth for a moment and then replaced it, drawing on it gently. He indicated two more lacquered chairs and sat back down in his own.

He looked very cautious and thoughtful.

*

Conway Kan tapped the end of the cigar into a little porcelain ashtray by his side. He looked at Feiffer in silence.

Feiffer said nothing.

Conway Kan said, 'Poor Mr Dien.' He sighed. He said, 'That was the second attempt on his life.' He said, 'If it had not been for your man, Mr Spencer, the letter bomb would have probably been successful.' Mr Kan said, 'Mr Spencer is courting a Burmese-Chinese young lady of my acquaintance, Miss Nu.' He said, 'Mr Spencer's brave action reaffirms my opinion of him.' He asked Feiffer, 'Have you met Miss Nu?'

'No.'

Conway Kan said, 'She comes from a very good family. As, I believe, does Inspector Spencer.' He asked O'Yee, 'Did you know that?'

O'Yee nodded. He glanced at Feiffer.

Feiffer glanced at one of the scrolls on the wall. It took his breath away. Conway Kan nodded in agreement. Conway Kan said, 'It is a regrettable event, the death of poor Mr Dien.' He added quickly, 'And of course all the other people.' He said quietly, 'Terrible.'

Feiffer nodded. He said directly to Kan, 'All roads seem to lead to the cemetery.' He waited.

Conway Kan blinked. He looked for a moment at O'Yee. Conway Kan said, 'Hmm.' He glanced at the beauty of the scroll depicting the journey of man through life and said politely, 'Yes.'

Feiffer said, 'I meant, figuratively.'

Conway Kan looked at his cigar. He cleared his throat. 'Yes.'

Feiffer said, 'Literally.' He said slowly and clearly, 'In this instance.' He said, The Double Tranquillity Resting Place of Heavenly Peace.' He said, 'Your cemetery.'

Conway Kan said, 'Oh.' He had thought Feiffer had been trying to be Oriental. He said quickly, 'Not mine.'

'No?'

'Held in trust for the families of the—'

Feiffer said, 'Not Mr Dien's cemetery?'

Conway Kan shook his head. O'Yee thought he looked totally innocent.

Feiffer said, 'No?'

Conway Kan shook his head. 'Mine.' He said, 'Mr Dien was the nominal co-owner for the purpose of tax.' He said, cleared of responsibility now that the man was dead, 'And for the purpose of giving him capital and financial assistance with which to restore his fortunes.'

Feiffer said, 'In other words, you lent your name to him as collateral?'

'Yes.' Conway Kan said, 'The funeral society people told you all this.' He said quickly, 'I have no objection to your knowing.' He said, 'Dien repaid my consideration a number of times over. He was going to the funeral society to sever our connection.' He said, to explain, 'He had no further need of the backing of my name and he was therefore releasing me from its use.' He said, 'He was a man of integrity.' He looked at O'Yee and wondered what he was doing here. He said, 'I own a number of businesses.'

Feiffer said, 'I'm only interested in the cemetery.' He said, 'It seems a significant fact that the only people involved in the bombings who seem to have a common connection have it in relation to your cemetery.' He said, 'The ivory shop owner's partner, Mr Tam, plans to be buried there and spends most of his time watching it from a window—'

Mr Kan said, 'Ah, my watchman—'

'Mr Dien, who is sent a letter bomb, is the co-owner of the cemetery—'

Conway Kan nodded.

'—with the provisos you've mentioned. And the bomb in Matsu Lane just happens to kill the same Mr Dien.' He said, 'The other one, Mr Wong, the chestnut seller, I haven't had time to speak to today.'

Mr Kan raised his hands. There were a lot of Wongs in the world.

Feiffer said, 'And it just so happens that the escape route used by the bomber in Matsu Lane is a disused drain that surfaces in the backblocks of that same cemetery.' He said, 'Which pre-supposes that he's familiar with the place.' He asked Kan, 'Does that seem reasonably overwhelming to you?' He said, 'It does to me.'

Mr Kan paused. He glanced at O'Yee and remembered something. He asked softly, 'The, ah, other—matter—?'

O'Yee shook his head. He looked at Feiffer and shook it again.

Feiffer said to Conway Kan, 'Well?'

Conway Kan said, 'What is it that you want me to say?' Conway Kan said, 'All I know of the cemetery's recent history—that is to say, the past few weeks—is that my watcher—'

Feiffer said, 'Mr Tam at the window.'

'Just so. Mr Tam reports to me that he has seen ghosts there.' He waved his cigar deprecatingly, 'I know nothing more about it. I have an interest in a great number of properties.' He looked at Feiffer's face and explained, 'Ghosts. Spirits. A spirit rising from the graves.'

'Which one?'

Conway Kan looked confused. He asked, 'Which spirit?'

'Which grave?'

'Oh.' Conway Kan shrugged. 'A number of them.' He said, 'As you know, Tam is close to death.' He said, 'It is wishful thinking.' He said, 'People have taken a small interest in him' —he motioned to Feiffer with his other hand—'I mean, yourself, Chief Inspector, and he is probably attempting to be helpful.' He said, 'That is the charitable view at any rate.' He glanced oddly at O'Yee, looking a little embarrassed that O'Yee was there to hear it, 'The Chinese, as you may know, are a very superstitious race. Everything is spirits and ghosts and superstitions—' (Feiffer thought, "That's the second time I've heard someone say that in the past few days.") 'The cemetery is just the cemetery. There are the normal feelings and beliefs about the bodies and spirits of one's ancestors by the families of those who are buried there—' He said in explanation, 'That is what I meant by my owning it in trust—but as for supernatural happenings in the western sense—well—' He glanced at O'Yee and then down at his burning cigar. He ashed it in the porcelain ashtray absently. Conway Kan said, 'There is a slightly perturbing atmosphere in the room which leads me to believe, Mr Feiffer, you may suspect me of some crime, of attempting to kill people and, in the case of Mr Leung and the Indian letter-writer, of succeeding. Not to mention the bomb in Matsu Lane.' He said urbanely, 'Of course, I know my perception of that feeling is incorrect, but I should like to know.' He set his eyes on Feiffer's face and waited.