“Will you keep trying, please?”
“Of course, Miss Parker.”
The operator looked up at the man standing guard beside the switchboard, and he gave her a conspiratorial smile.
At his downtown headquarters, Robert Di Silva was looking at a warrant that had just been delivered. It had Jennifer Parker’s name on it.
I’ve finally got her, he thought. And he felt a savage satisfaction.
The telephone operator announced, “Inspector Touh is in the lobby to see you.”
Jennifer was surprised, for she had not been expecting him. He must have some news about Stefan Bjork.
Jennifer took the elevator down to the lobby.
“Forgive me for not telephoning,” Inspector Touh apologized. “I thought it best to speak to you personally.”
“You have some news?”
“We can talk in the car. I want to show you something.”
They drove along Yio Chu Kang Road.
“Is there a problem?” Jennifer asked.
“None at all. Bail will be set for the day after tomorrow.”
Then where was he taking her?
They were passing a group of buildings on Jalan Goatopah Road, and the driver brought the car to a stop.
Inspector Touh turned to Jennifer. “I’m sure this will interest you.”
“What is it?”
“Come along. You will see.”
The interior of the building was old and dilapidated-looking, but the overpowering impression was of the smell, wild and primitive and musky. It was like nothing Jennifer had ever smelled before.
A young girl hurried forward and said, “Would you like an escort? I—”
Inspector Touh waved her aside. “We won’t need you.”
He took Jennifer’s arm and they walked outside into the grounds. There were half a dozen large sunken tanks and from them came a series of strange slithering sounds. Jennifer and Inspector Touh reached the first pen. There was a sign: Keep Your Hands Off the Pool. Danger. Jennifer looked down. The tank was filled with alligators and crocodiles, dozens of them, all in continuous movement, sliding over and under one another.
Jennifer shuddered. “What is this?”
“It is a crocodile farm.” He looked down at the reptiles. “When they are between three and six years old they are skinned and turned into wallets and belts and shoes. You see that most of them have their mouths open. That is the way they relax. It is when they close their mouths that you must be careful.”
They moved on to a tank with two enormous alligators in it.
“These are fifteen years old. They are used only for breeding purposes.”
Jennifer shivered. “They’re so ugly. I don’t know how they can stand each other.”
Inspector Touh said, “They can’t. As a matter of fact, they do not often mate.”
“They’re prehistoric.”
“Precisely. They go back millions of years, with the same primitive mechanisms they had at the beginning of time.”
Jennifer wondered why he had brought her here. If the inspector thought that these horrible-looking beasts would interest her, he was mistaken. “May we go now?” Jennifer asked.
“In a moment.” The inspector looked up toward the young girl who had met them inside. She was carrying a tray toward the first tank.
“Today is feeding day,” the inspector said. “Watch.”
He moved with Jennifer toward the first tank. “They feed them fish and pigs’ lungs once every three days.”
The girl began throwing food into the pen, and instantly it erupted into a churning, swirling mass of activity. The alligators and crocodiles lunged for the raw, bloody food, tearing into it with their saurian fangs. As Jennifer watched, two of them went for the same piece of meat, and instantly they turned on each other, savagely attacking, biting and slashing until the pen started to fill with blood. The eyeball of one was torn loose, but its teeth were sunk into the jaws of its attacker and it would not let go. As the blood began pouring out more heavily, staining the water, the other crocodiles joined in, savaging their two wounded mates, ripping at their heads until the raw skin was exposed. They began to devour them alive.
Jennifer felt faint. “Please, let’s get out of here.”
Inspector Touh put his hand on her arm. “One moment.”