After the Kowloon-bound passengers were allowed to disembark, those waiting were allowed to board. Willy let himself be swept along by the human tide.
He remained on the lower deck with the majority of the people.
He stayed close to a large family, as if he were a member. No one seemed to think twice about his presence. After the short ten minute trip, Willy disembarked and walked up toward the Mandarin
Hotel.
The Mandarin was in the same category as the Peninsula. He
Sknew he’d have no difficulty making an overseas call from there.
The problem wasn’t making the call, but rather that it would be so unpleasant. It was Willy’s first major failure, and he wasn’t pleased.
Before he entered the Mandarin Hotel, he took advantage of his reflection in a store window to straighten his clothes and comb his hair. Once he felt he looked presentable, he went into the lobby. Downstairs, in a room just outside the men’s room, he found a bank of telephones affording some privacy. Taking a deep breath, he rang Charles Lester.
“The Blumenthal woman is here,” Willy said as soon as he had Lester on the phone.
“I know,” Lester said.
“Ned found out through emigration.
She took a flight from Brisbane.”
“I tried to have a conference with the interested parties a few. minutes ago,” Willy said, using their established patois in case, they were overheard.
“But things went badly. I failed. The Williams fellow was uncooperative and actively canceled the meeting before I could use my material.”
Willy held the phone away from his ear as a string of Australian expletives sizzled over the line. Once he heard Lester revert to a more normal pitch, he put the phone back to his ear.
“The situation keeps getting worse and worse,” Lester complained.
“It will be much harder to have a conference now,” Willy admitted.
“Everyone will expect us. But if you would like, I’ll do my best to arrange another meeting.”
“No!” Lester said.
“I’ll have Ned come and have the meeting.
He has more practice. All I want you to do is make sure that these customers don’t get away. Watch the hotel. If they change hotels, follow them. It would only exacerbate the problem if we lose contact with the Blumenthal woman in Hong Kong.”
“I also lost the material I was going to show them,” Willy said.
“It was left at the conference site.”
“Then you’ll have to get some more,” Lester said.
“Was what you had adequate?”
“It was perfect,” Willy said.
“Absolutely perfect.”
The Royal Hong Kong police inspector was what Tristan called a “bloody porn” when he described him to Marissa later on. He even looked British with his gray skin tones and his baggy
English suit, complete with a vest and fob. He and Tristan were sitting in the manager’s office of the Peninsula Hotel.
“Let us go over this again,” the inspector said in his clipped English accent.
“You’d just handed over your safe deposit key when you became aware of this gentleman of Oriental appearance approaching you.”
“That’s right, mate,” Tristan said. He knew his jocular Australian phraseology would grate on the inspector’s nerves. It was purposeful torture. The police inspector had been grating on him for almost two hours.
Tristan tried to be patient. He knew that the reason the inspector was making a fuss over the incident was because the police didn’t like to have trouble in an area so crucial to tourism, particularly tourism in a place as posh as the Peninsula Hotel.
At that point you turned around and saw the man coming at you,” the inspector continued.
“That’s right,” Tristan said. It was the twentieth time they’d gone over this.
“How did you know he was approaching you rather than someone else?” the inspector asked.
“He was looking directly at me,” Tristan said.
“Giving me the evil eye,” Tristan glowered at the inspector in mock imitation.
“Yes, of course,” the inspector said.
“But you had never seen this man before?”
“Never”‘ Tristan said with emphasis. He knew this was the point of particular interest to the police. But Tristan had not been willing to divulge that it had been Marissa who had recognized the man. As long as the police failed to question Marissa, they d never find out. Tristan didn’t want to admit to everything he knew, fearing that if he did so, the meeting with the Wing Sin the following morning would be compromised.