The Island Where Time Stands Still

by Dennis Wheatley

  ‘You have overlooked the fact that he was a law student. Such a step would mean his having to abandon his hopes of getting a degree. Most students, too, are dependent upon their parents. It’s hardly likely that he would be quite such a fool as to both wreck his future and carry a dumb wife off into the blue without knowing how he was going to feed her.’

  ‘It is you who forget the fact that these two young people are in love. Admittedly the poor Princess’s being dumb would prove an additional handicap, but any number of men have thrown away their careers for love’s sake. And love is the greatest of all incentives to earn a living. To begin with, having each other, they would be content with very little; and he could easily get a job as a waiter, a clerk or a garage hand.’

  Gregory shook his head. ‘I’m still not convinced that your explanation is a plausible one. It doesn’t account for her failure to claim her own things and her mother’s. Even if she had good reasons for not returning personally she could have had them collected by a firm of furniture removers, or have sent instructions for them to be sold on her behalf. Besides, your theory that she was afraid that relatives might coerce her is the wildest speculation. Her father had cut himself off from his family and there is nothing whatever to suggest that any of Madam Août’s family live in San Francisco. On the contrary, as far as we know her only relatives live in Saigon.’

  ‘If you can produce any more plausible explanation I should like to hear it,’ retorted A-lu-te a little sharply.

  The old scar that drew up the outer end of Gregory’s left eyebrow went white as his forehead contracted in a frown. ‘The contents of those letters have given me one line of thought. It is far from being a pleasant one, but it is slightly more plausible than yours because it does account for all her belongings still being here. We know that she and her mother had very few friends, and that in losing her mother she lost her only legitimate protector. It could therefore be assumed by anyone who knew them that if she disappeared no one would start a hue and cry after her; or at all events, not for several days, by which time any evidence concerning her last known movements would have become obscured, making it next to impossible to trace her.’

  ‘Are you suggesting that she has been White Slaved?’

  ‘More or less: I had in mind the old boy who was itching to pull her into bed with him. Naturally, as long as Mamma was around, marriage was the price, but once she was out of the way he may have taken a different view of things. Perhaps it sounds a bit melodramatic, but if he was rich enough what was to prevent him paying one of the Tongs to kidnap her?’

  ‘I don’t think he would have dared to. Although she was reduced to living very frugally she was a member of the Imperial Family, and he must have known that.’

  ‘He may not have, in view of the way the late Mr. Joseph Août chose to hide his light under a bushel.’

  ‘You may be certain that her mother would have told him.’

  ‘Anyhow, the sort of thugs he would have employed would not have known who she was, and being dumb she could not have told them. That, too, would make it impossible to enlist help to escape, providing all writing materials were kept from her. Once she had been handed over to him in some snug hideout he might keep her there for years without anyone learning of her identity.’

  ‘I feel sure that his inherent respect for her ancestry would have restrained him from behaving towards her as if she was a common tea-house girl.’

  Again Gregory’s lips twitched in a cynical smile. ‘You were saying only a few minutes ago that some men will commit any folly for love. It is equally true that others, particularly old worn-out ones, will sometimes throw overboard the precepts of a lifetime, if by so doing they can possess a woman who has re-aroused their lust. As she had so far refused to marry him that might quite well have driven him to seize this opportunity of taking her by force. I only hope that I am completely wrong. Anyhow, we had better show the letters to the others, and see if they get any bright ideas from them.’

  In the living-room they found Tsai-Ping still poring over the account book, while Kâo sat with folded hands in the most comfortable arm-chair, a bored expression on his chubby face. When A-lu-te produced Gregory’s find, both men were galvanised into eager interest, and Kâo so far forgot his decorum as to snatch the letters before the Mandarin could take them from A-lu-te’s extended hand. When both of them had read the letters, Tsai-Ping removed his steel-rimmed spectacles, blinked his weak eyes, and said in his awkward English:

  ‘One thing letters have make clear. Our big fear is that perhaps very much about her mother’s death grieving, the Princess make do herself away. These writings show very much that her mother’s wish she oppose. Where no filial respect there no very much grief for death of parent. Princess no commit suicide. She is alive. Time come, we find her.’

  7

  Death Without Warning

  The others agreed with the Mandarin’s reasoning; then A-lu-te and Gregory gave their respective theories to account for the Princess’s disappearance. Neither of the Chinamen could produce any third hypothesis, and both of them inclined to A-lu-te’s as the most likely; but they had not been arguing the pros and cons for long when Wu-ming returned with the daily woman.

  Her name was Lubsitch. She was of Lithuanian extraction, middle-aged, wooden-faced and of low intelligence. The Chinese treated her with patient courtesy and promised a generous reward if she could give them any fresh information worth working on, but she persisted that she had already told Mr. Kâo Hsüan all she knew about the Août household.

  Wu-ming Loo did most of the questioning and, having told her of the love letters, asked her about visitors to the apartment; but she had come there only for two hours in the mornings, and declared that she had never answered the door to anyone except tradesmen and touts who were trying to sell things on the ‘never-never’ system. Neither of the ladies had ever told her anything about their private affairs and she had no idea at all who Josephine’s two suitors might be; so, after pressing a five dollar bill into her moist palm, Wu-ming sent her about her business.

  Since it now seemed that they could learn no more at the apartment, Wu-ming proposed that they should all lunch with him at his hotel, and over the meal discuss the next steps to be taken. A-lu-te begged to be excused, on the plea that she wished to buy some American clothes before appearing in such a public place, and asked Gregory to act as her escort until it was time for them to return to the ship. The others endeavoured to persuade her to change her mind, and Gregory told her that even in a creation by Dior or Balmain no Chinese woman looked so soigné and attractive as she did in her national costume; but she proved adamant. So at the entrance of the block of flats the party split up and, having secured a taxi, Gregory took her down to the city’s smartest shopping centre.

  From that hour onward A-lu-te gave little thought to the search for the Princess. A new world had opened to her and she threw herself into its delights with a reckless abandon engendered by her years of pent-up longing. Until they were actually launched among the luxury shops and great department stores, Gregory had never realised how utterly strange life in a big city would appear to her. From books, radio talks and magazines she knew a great deal about the United States in theory, but even the pictures of buildings, streets, homes, clothes and people had not prepared her for the bewildering crowds, the flashing-past of hundreds of cars and lorries, the ceaseless noise, and the desperate urgency that seemed to inspire every form of activity. Until that morning she had never driven in an automobile, been up in an elevator or heard a loudspeaker. To her the smell of the throngs hurrying along the pavements was both noticeable and surprisingly unpleasant, but her mind was largely distracted from it by amazement at the immense variety of goods displayed in the shop windows, and having frequently to ask Gregory the use of various articles that she had never previously seen.

  She had come ashore with a wad of hundred dollar bills, and when Gregory saw the rate at which she was disposing of them
he remonstrated with her; but she only laughed and assured him that if she spent as much every day for a month that would still not exhaust the sum that her father had placed at her disposal. Even so, it was only with the greatest difficulty that he dissuaded her from buying everything that took her fancy, on the plea that if only she would be a little patient she would almost certainly find things she liked better when they had had time to inspect the goods in other shops.

  He was wearing a light suit of tussore that had been made up for him in the island and, knowing the scantiness of his wardrobe, as soon as she had satisfied her immediate craving for a collection of smart Western clothes she made him take her to the best men’s shops, where she insisted on his acquiring a complete new outfit and being measured for several suits. Her generosity did not end there either, as she bought expensive presents for her maid and all her friends aboard the yacht. Then, much to his surprise in view of her normally intellectual recreations, a mechanical bear in a toy shop having caught her eye she went in and bought it, and after it a dozen other playthings of a similar nature, emitting little squeals of childish delight as the assistant made them display their clockwork antics for her.

  Only the closing of the shops put a temporary end to her spending, and although they had not eaten since breakfast it was not until they got back with their mountain of parcels to the yacht that either of them realised that they were at all tired or hungry.

  Gregory had derived the same type of fun from their expedition as one gets from taking a child to the pantomime for the first time, and so absorbed had he been that not once during the day had he thought of Erika. It was not until he was getting into bed that night that she came into his mind as a graceful presence, rather than a reproach, and he felt now that she would be glad that the sights and sounds of the city had not re-aroused his useless longing for her.

  However, it occurred to him that he ought to let others know of the tragedy that had overtaken Sir Pellinore’s party, and of his own survival; so after breakfast the following morning he wrote to his solicitor in London, giving a full account of the yacht’s sinking. He still felt no desire to take up the broken threads of his old life, and doubted if he would ever wish to do so, but as a precaution against his estate being dispersed in his absence he added that even should he not write again for many years his death was not to be presumed except on the production of irrefutable evidence.

  By the time he had finished his letter, A-lu-te was impatiently waiting for him to accompany her ashore. She was dressed in some of her new clothes and, although he secretly felt that her head looked as if it did not belong to her body, he good-humouredly complimented her on her turn-out. Half an hour later it transpired that she was perfectly well aware of the unsatisfactory contrast, and had already dedided to spend her morning in a beauty parlour. Having found one that was obviously patronised by wealthy women she asked him to call for her later and take her to lunch at one of the big hotels; so he bought a number of papers and periodicals and whiled away the next few hours sitting on a bench in the park, bringing himself up to date with the international situation.

  When he collected her at one o’clock he was pleasantly surprised. They had made no endeavour to disguise the fact that she was Chinese, but by clever make-up had made her skin appear whiter and her cheeks a delicate pink. They had also thinned her thick eyebrows and done her hair in a different style, so that she appeared quite Westernised and very attractive. Gregory teased her about the admiring glances she received as they went in to lunch, and she pretended that they embarrassed her, but he could tell from the brightness of her long almond-shaped eyes that the interest she had aroused filled her with delight. After the meal he took her to her first movie. She sat through it enthralled, and when they returned to the yacht she was much more anxious to tell the others about her exciting day than to hear the result of their inquiries about the Princess.

  Actually they had only negative results to report. The law school from which the student had written was attended by more than a score of young Chinese, and now, during the long vacation, they were scattered; some doing temporary jobs in holiday resorts to earn their fees, others on walking tours or visits to Eastern cities; so it would only be possible to find and interview a few of them. The professor who had been left in charge of the college had no more than a nodding acquaintance with the Chinese students and the only hope he could render was to instruct the office to furnish a list of their home addresses.

  The occupants of flats on the same landing as the Aoûts had been tactfully questioned, but could throw no fresh light on the two-month-old mystery, or give any information which might help in identifying Josephine’s elderly suitor.

  The police Captain of the district had already forgotten the case, but got out the file on it to refresh his memory. Madame Août had been knocked down by a black Ford sedan at twelve-twenty, when crossing the road to re-enter her block of flats after doing her morning’s shopping. The car had not stopped and they had failed to trace it, so no prosecution had ensued. The lady had been taken to the St Ignatius hospital and died from her injuries shortly after admission. Her daughter had been reported as missing the following day, but there had been no suggestion of foul play in connection with the girl’s disappearance, so no special effort had been made to find her. Her name and description had been passed to the Bureau of Missing Persons, but no information about her had been received.

  The Captain had added that after this lapse of time it was now unlikely that any would come in. He then went on to say that thousands of people were reported missing each year, and by far the highest proportion of cases concerned young women. White-slaving accounted for only a very small proportion and most disappearances were carefully prepared beforehand. The commonest causes were secret love affairs with men who were already married, a desire to take up some career of which the parents disapproved, and revolt against restricted liberty, crowded conditions, or having to hand over the greater part of earnings to the head of the family. Since none of the latter circumstances fitted the case of Josephine Août, all the odds were that of her own free will she had gone to live with some man, probably in another city. Anyway, there was nothing further the police could do in the matter.

  This series of culs-de-sac had been more or less anticipated and plans were already in hand for an attempt to break them down. The following morning an advertisement was to appear in the leading Californian papers offering a thousand dollars’ reward for information which would lead to Josephine being found. All Madame Août’s acquaintances and all the Chinese students at the law school who were still in San Francisco or its vicinity were to be interviewed.

  A-lu-te listened to all this with ill-concealed impatience, then boldly tackled her uncle on a matter that she had been meditating for a good part of the afternoon. Lunching with Gregory at the Fairmont had inspired in her the wish to dine and dance there, but she had no chaperon and was rather doubtful if she would be allowed to go ashore at night without one.

  Easy-going as Kâo was by nature, his reaction proved far from favourable, but Wu-ming Loo at once took up the cudgels on her behalf. He argued that when away from the island none of them continued to observe its customs, and that since the Council had given permission for A-lu-te to come to San Francisco it was only reasonable that while there she should be allowed to behave like an American girl.

  Gregory had already noticed that since A-lu-te’s return from her beauty treatment the young Chinaman could hardly keep his widely-spaced eyes off her, and that he was not disinterested in championing her cause he showed a moment later by saying to Kâo:

  ‘Unfortunately I do not dance; but given your honourable permission I should be most happy to take the lady A-lu-te to dinner and a theatre tomorrow night, if she will allow me to do so.’

  After brief consideration Kâo replied, ‘As I am responsible to her father I do not think I can agree to that, or that she should go ashore at night accompanied only by Mr. Sallust. But I would
raise no objection to her going if she were escorted by both of you.’

  A-lu-te accepted this solution with delight, and Wu-ming with the best grace he could muster, while Gregory was secretly amused by the thought that he might soon have to play gooseberry.

  As matters developed during the following week, it became clear that he was not to be called on to do so. Wu-ming made no secret of the fact that he had fallen in love with A-lu-te, but although she always treated him kindly, she could not altogether conceal that she preferred Greg-gory. About that Gregory was sorry, as he felt that the new life on which she had entered would entirely unfit her for a return to the island, and that when she had to do so there would be less chance than ever of her finding a suitable husband or settling down happily there. On the other hand, if only she could fall for Wu-ming, what could have been more suitable? As the Council had given her permission to go abroad they would certainly not oppose her remaining there if she married Wu-ming. Her unusual intelligence and passion for Western civilisation would make her the perfect wife for the island’s Export Manager. She would prove a great asset to him in his work, and he would be able to provide her with a life of elegance and culture in one after another of all the great cities she longed to see.

  With this in mind Gregory did all he could to further Wu-ming’s suit, but the Chinaman evidently believed the goodwill he displayed to be only feigned and, with little cause, soon began to show signs of the most bitter jealousy. Each evening they went to a cinema or play, then on to Marsalli’s, the 365 Club, or one of the big hotels on Nob Hill to dine and dance. Gregory had always danced passably well and from their first evening out A-lu-te had taken to it like a duck to water. So keen on it had she become that she would rarely let a number pass, which meant that from ten o’clock till one in the morning, or later, Wu-ming spent the greater part of the time sitting morosely alone at their table.