Singapore Girl_An edge of your seat thriller that will have you hooked

by Murray Bailey

  She said nothing.

  “Where is the private hospital—the one with the blue ambulance?”

  No response.

  “Has Petersen got something to do with this?”

  “Go!” she said, and I could almost taste the venom. And that was it. I tried more questions and got nothing in return.

  As I travelled back to Singapore I was cross with myself for thinking I could make Miss Liang talk. She knew what was going on, I was sure of it. I also thought about the adoption department at the Johor Bahru hospital—the Sultana Aminah—and of Andrew Yipp. Was Miss Liang guilty of something or was she afraid to talk? Was she afraid of Yipp?

  We approached the city and I instructed the driver to drop me at the Cathay Building. I travelled up to the twelfth floor and asked to see the Chinese businessman.

  Su Ling came out to see me. Her eyes were cold and formal. “He’s busy,” she said.

  “I need to see him.”

  “You are forgetting your manners, Captain Carter.” Only Andrew Yipp called me by my old rank and it felt wrong now hearing it from the woman who had once been my lover.

  I said, “Would you be so kind as to ask your esteemed employer if he would meet with me.” It was over the top but she accepted it and told me to wait by the Padang.

  “The bench outside St Andrew’s Cathedral,” she added.

  I knew which one she meant. I also knew I could be waiting a long time. Which was fine providing it didn’t rain.

  An hour passed. There was a rugby match at the sports field end and it provided a distraction. They were by no means professional and it reminded me of my schoolboy days. Rugby in the autumn meant wet ground and a plastering of mud. At least that was preferable to frozen ground and hard impacts.

  A pale blue Bentley caught my eye as it drove past. It was pre-war and in great condition. It was also one of Yipp’s fleet. It turned the corner into Coleman Street and was out of sight around the cathedral.

  I got up and walked to the junction. The Bentley was parked a short distance ahead. The rear door opened.

  Like before, I expected Wang would drive me somewhere to meet Yipp, but I was wrong. Yipp was in the back of the car.

  I closed the door behind me and the Bentley pulled away.

  I nodded to the businessman, remembering my manners this time. There was nothing to be gained by confrontation.

  “I am grateful for your intervention in Malaya,” I said.

  “I am not your enemy,” he said, as he had told me before.

  I wanted to say, “But we both know that the gang could have been your rivals.” They were Yipp’s enemy. Instead I nodded and said, “It is better to capture an entire army than destroy it.”

  He nodded, recognizing Sun Tzu.

  I continued: “It would have been beneficial if some of the gang had been spared. They could have provided valuable information. They may have had connections with the communists.”

  He shook his head, a wan smile on his lips.

  I said, “But Sun Tzu…”

  “Captain Carter, you are naïve. Of course Sun Tzu’s words are incredibly wise and a strategist would be a fool to ignore them. However, there are other wisdoms in the world.”

  I waited for him to explain. Through the window I saw we had left the city and were heading east.

  He said, “Who defeated the great Chinese empire?”

  “The Mongols.”

  “A young man called Temujin. If I find a serpent’s nest and cut off the head of a few, what do I have left?”

  “A serpent’s nest.”

  He nodded. “And in time it will grow and be stronger. Temujin defeated the Chinese because he believed in total annihilation. At least that’s how it seemed. He knew it was about the spirit. As his army swept through the Great Wall and into the villages, his men killed everyone. Except one. That survivor would be sent to the next village, not to warn them, you understand, but to instil fear in their hearts. A man who is afraid will lose a fight.”

  I appreciated that from boxing. Respect for your opponent was one thing, but if you feared him, you would undoubtedly lose. I knew it was why Slugger Stevenson had tried to intimidate me before our bout. It was the same principal whether Slugger knew it or not.

  Yipp continued: “Eventually the enemy did not fight Temujin’s army and he became one of the greatest leaders the word has ever known.”

  “Genghis Khan,” I said.

  “Annihilation is a tool, a means to an end. Genghis Khan won the ultimate victory. Measured by population, he ruled the largest empire in the history of mankind. Greater than the British Empire.” He paused. “Sun Tzu was correct. The greatest victory requires no battle, however this does not mean that this is achieved without extreme actions beforehand.”

  “I understand,” I said. “But then let us not pretend that you did this for me.”

  For a moment I thought I’d offended him with my directness, but then he laughed. Then he spoke to the chauffeur and the car turned around, returning to the city.

  To me he said, “This wasn’t what you wanted to talk to me about, was it, Captain?”

  “I need to understand what is going on.”

  He waited for my explanation.

  “The body on the causeway, the missing girls… the private hospital.”

  “Private hospital?”

  I told him about the blue ambulance and the girl in Kuala Lumpur.

  He shook his head.

  “Please tell me about the hospital in Johor Bahru. What is your interest there?”

  “The Sultana Aminah Hospital. I am a patron,” he said, confirming what Su Ling had told me.

  “Women are paid and their babies taken away.”

  He studied my eyes for a moment and I thought he wasn’t going to comment, but he did. “A service,” he said.

  “A business.”

  “Of course it is a business, but these women do not want those babies and there are wealthy families in Singapore who do.”

  “And are willing to pay for the privilege.”

  “Of course. It is not illegal, you understand.”

  “Is the private hospital connected in some way?”

  Again he held my gaze and I believed him when he said, “I do not know of this private hospital.”

  We re-entered the city: the shanty town, the industrial sector, the shop-houses, the offices and hotels, and finally the colonial centre.

  “Just tell me one thing,” I said as we stopped beside the cathedral. “Where does Miss Liang fit in?”

  He frowned and considered his response. “She used to be at the Sultana Aminah. I think she disapproved of the service.”

  “And her connection to the missing girls?”

  He shook his head. “I cannot help you.”

  As I watched the Bentley drive away, I realized Miss Liang had been very clever. She had not only used attack as a form of defence but misdirected me. I knew then that I needed to go back armed with the full list of children transferred to the adoption centre.

  I rang Jane from the office and had to wait until she was free to speak.

  “Did you get the list of names?” I asked.

  “No.”

  “You used my name and position?”

  “He was uncomfortable. He’s normally so dopey but that really riled him and he got aggressive. He said you didn’t have any authority.”

  That rang a bell. “Dopey, you said? What’s his name?”

  “Lipscombe. Richard Lipscombe, I think. But everyone calls him Lippy.”

  FORTY

  I told Jane that I’d be in Penang as soon as I could. Without bothering to go home and pack, I just got in a taxi and headed for Woodlands Crossing.

  Like the day before, I directed the driver up Route Three to Tebrau airfield.

  “You said you’d do anything to help,” I said to Flight Lieutenant Turner when I arrived.

  He looked surprised and uncertain. “Yes?”

  “You have my
authority to fly the Dinah. Get her ready, I’d like you to fly me to Penang.”

  He disappeared inside to tell Squadron Leader Kennedy and was longer than I expected.

  “Filing the flight plans,” he said when he emerged. “And Alex is fine with it.”

  After giving the ground crew instructions, we had to wait for the plane to be pulled out of the hangar and prepared. And finally we were taxiing and punching a hole through the clouds.

  We didn’t speak much, and I watched the vast jungle bubble and swell beneath us. The light bled from the sky and it was dark when we finally touched down.

  Jane was waiting. She ran from the office block and leapt at me, wrapping her arms around me so tightly that I could hardly breathe.

  I thanked Turner and asked if he’d fly me back in the morning. He’d told me he didn’t like flying over the jungle in the dark so I knew he’d stay over.

  Early evening and the hospital at Minden Barracks was still busy. However, the adoption centre was locked up. Jane said she’d seen Lipscombe leave the barracks just after six and he wasn’t expected back until his office opened at nine.

  In a taxi she asked me for more details about Monalisa. After I told her what I knew, she said, “Before we eat, I’d like to speak to the doctor at the Alexandra.”

  “Of course,” I said, although my voice betrayed my uncertainty.

  “I need to know,” she said. “How sure is he? If Monalisa was abused”—she had difficulty even saying it—“then how likely is it that Laura was too?”

  There was no point in me commenting. Doctor Thobhani couldn’t express a view on Laura’s condition and what Jane needed was a hundred percent confirmation of abuse.

  She found an office and I picked up the phone and asked for the Singapore hospital and then the doctor.

  “Sorry, I was so rushed earlier,” Thobhani said when he came on the line.

  I explained that Jane wanted to hear about Monalisa and I handed him over. Jane listened and asked questions and listened. Eventually she said, “So you’re sure.” And then: “Thank you.”

  She handed the phone back to me.

  “Sorry,” he said. “I told her as gently as I could. She’s all right, no?”

  I thanked him for his help, but before I put the phone down, he said, “Is this connected? I meant to ask you earlier but, you know, I was needed…”

  “Connected?” I wondered which piece he was thinking about.

  “To the letters RZ?”

  “Pardon?”

  “RZ. You know, the letters on the cadaver on the causeway.” His voice trailed off. “You didn’t know?”

  “Tell me.”

  “I told Lieutenant Cole. It wasn’t 221. To be honest I never really saw that myself. Cole didn’t tell you?”

  “What did you tell him?”

  “Well you know it was written in blood. By a finger I think. But I don’t think it was originally 221. It was like the letters had been written, washed off, and the numbers gone over the top. Like I said, I wasn’t so sure, so I used ultraviolet light. It did look a bit like 221, but upside down. The number 21 looks like a broken R, no? When I got a close look I could see the fainter areas. And it wasn’t a 2 but more like a Z. Yes, it had definitely been RZ. Is it connected?”

  “I don’t know,” I said.

  “And there’s the other marks.”

  “Tell me.”

  “Again they must have been washed off, but there were two chevrons—you know, arrows—one up and one down.”

  “Meaning?”

  “I have no idea, you’re the detective. But I can tell you they were also washed off.”

  “Could it have been natural—water from the straits?”

  “Not a chance,” he said. “My opinion, for what it’s worth, is that someone tried to remove both and deliberately tried to make RZ look like 221.”

  “And you told this to Lieutenant Cole?”

  “Yes.”

  I ended the call frustrated that Cole hadn’t told me. RZ was clearly important, and it looked like 221 had been a diversion. What did RZ mean? Could it be the initials of the dead man? And then there were the arrows.

  Jane was looking at me quizzically.

  I shook my head. Too many unknowns.

  “Let’s eat,” I said.

  We went to Tucker’s and ate the same meat and bread meal we’d had before. We sat side by side and talked and I went over everything again. It had only been ten days but it seemed an age. So much had happened: following the aid truck, Hegarty dying beside me, capture by the Chinese gang and the subsequent rescue by Yipp’s men.

  “Was it worth it?” she asked.

  “My friend getting killed in exchange for stopping the alcohol and drugs trade? Definitely not.”

  She hugged me then and we sat in silence for a while. I could see lights dancing on the water of the straits. Given a bottle of wine, I think I could have finished it easily, but we’d agreed to stick to water.

  When we started talking again it was about what I’d found out at the hospital, that Monalisa had been with two other girls. She’d recognized Laura’s name apparently but that couldn’t be verified. She’d also repeatedly referred to poison flowers and yet there was no evidence of poisoning.

  Jane wanted to hear about the private ambulance and the mystery of who had signed out the body and where it had been taken.

  I told her about the villagers who had seen Monalisa and two other girls but were sure Laura wasn’t one of them.

  “The blue van again,” Jane said.

  “Too much of a coincidence,” I said.

  She wanted details of my second meeting with Miss Liang and how she had deflected me back to Andrew Yipp.

  “She’s clever,” Jane said.

  “Or scared.”

  Jane checked her watch. It was just before the hospital went into night-mode at ten. That meant reduced staff and reduced lighting.

  “Still too early,” I said.

  “We should wait a few more hours,” she said. “We should get some rest.”

  I didn’t have officer’s quarters arranged this time so we snuck into her small room. We lay in each other’s arms on her single bed.

  We kissed and talked about trivial things.

  She said, “I don’t do sad sex.”

  I held her closer and said I understood.

  An hour later she’d torn my clothes off and decided it wouldn’t be sad sex after all.

  At three in the morning, feeling refreshed and more positive, we snuck back out of her dormitory. We walked into the hospital and up a flight of stairs and along two corridors and passed no one.

  As expected, the adoption centre door was locked.

  I checked left and right and barged it with my shoulder. The door jamb splintered and we slipped inside.

  For a few beats we listened in case someone investigated the sound. But no one came.

  Jane switched on the light.

  It was a cramped room with a small window. There was a desk, a filing cabinet and a storage cupboard. I opened the cupboard and saw that it was stacked with children’s clothes. Donations, I figured.

  When I turned back, Jane was already forcing open the filing cabinet. It had four deep drawers and each was packed with hanging files. Each hanging file had a child’s details.

  They were in alphabetical order and Jane checked both V and L before declaring that Laura’s file wasn’t there. Monalisa’s file wasn’t there either.

  “There will be a record somewhere,” I said.

  There was a draw in the desk and I kicked it open. Inside I found a ledger. It was similar to the one I’d seen at the adoption centre in Johor Bahru—the one Miss Liang had shown me the first time. That book hadn’t had Laura’s name in it, however this one did. There was a date of arrival and a date of transfer. Seven weeks ago she’d transferred to JBAC—Johor Bahru Adoption Centre.

  It was just like the other children. A date in and a date out. Only Laura’s recor
d was different. Against the entry was a faint tick. I found the entry for Monalisa Cardoso. Transferred to JBAC eighteen months ago. Tick.

  In a list of maybe a hundred names there were twenty-two with ticks. All girls. None of them had an Asian name.

  “All mixed-race,” Jane said.

  “Looks that way.”

  “So, what now?”

  I sat in the chair and put my feet on the desk. “Now I wait,” I said. “He’s coming back to get this ledger and I’ll be here to greet him.”

  FORTY-ONE

  I persuaded Jane to go back to bed and get some sleep. I waited until I was sure she’d gone before I picked up the telephone. For the early hours of the morning, the operator was far too perky. Perhaps my call had broken the monotony of the night. She was called Deborah and said she enjoyed working nights.

  We chatted briefly and then I asked her to place two calls, one to Gillman Barracks and the second to the Kota Tinggi camp. There was a process at Gillman for night calls and I wasn’t kept waiting long before Lieutenant Cole came on the phone.

  I talked and he listened and agreed.

  My second call was more frustrating. It took Stevenson over half an hour before he spoke on the other end.

  Deborah kept asking if I wanted to keep holding. I said I did. She said, “You have a nice voice.”

  “So do you,” I said.

  “Are you single?”

  “Yes.”

  “But you are probably short and fat, right?”

  “And ugly,” I said.

  “Just my type, then,” she said, and we both laughed. Then she switched back to her professional voice and said, “Connecting you.”

  Stevenson’s voice was instantly on the line. “No one calls us at night,” he grumbled.

  I said, “You want to help?”

  “Do you think I can get my two men out of clink?”

  “They were trading in illegal alcohol.”

  “But they were just driving that time. We’re all involved.”

  I thought it over for a moment before saying, “I’ll see what I can do, but this is linked to Jeevan’s death.”