A Lotus for Miss Quon by James Hadley Chase

Author:James Hadley Chase
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: General Fiction
Publisher: The Langtail Press Ltd
Published: 2011-01-28T05:00:00+00:00

2

During the past twelve hours there had been ceaseless activity in the search for the missing Jaffe.

While Jaffe was cycling to his rendezvous with Blackie Lee, a meeting was breaking up at Security Police Headquarters. Colonel On-dinh-Khuc and Inspector Ngoc-Linh sat on one side of the table and Lieutenant Harry Hambley of the U.S. Military Police on the other.

The meeting had lasted an hour and the three men were no nearer to finding Jaffe than they had been when they had sat down.

In a long, wordy speech, the Colonel had explained what steps had been taken to find the missing American. Over five hundred troops were still combing the countryside. Six suspected Viet Minh sympathizers had been arrested and questioned, but without results. Notices had been printed offering a substantial reward for the return of the American. These had been nailed to trees at the known places where bandits often entered Vietnam. An offer of a large reward to anyone who had any kind of information concerning the kidnapping would appear in the press tomorrow.

Lieutenant Hambley had listened with undisguised impatience. This young man caused the Colonel slight uneasiness. He was a little disconcerted that the Lieutenant returned his stare with one as hard and as unflinching as his own.

Finally, the Colonel paused and Hambley took the opportunity to make a speech which disconcerted the Colonel still further.

‘We don’t know for certain,’ Hambley said, ‘that Jaffe has been kidnapped. It seems to me there is something mysterious and sinister going on. I’ll tell you why. We know Jaffe told Sam Wade he wanted to borrow his car to go to the airport with a girl, but the car was found miles from the airport and there was no girl, instead there was Jaffe’s houseboy, and he was dead. Jaffe had a .45 revolver. It’s missing; so is his passport. Before he disappeared, he drew all his money from the bank. Why did he do that? I wanted to talk to Haum’s girl-friend, but as soon as your people had talked to her, she gets killed by a mysterious hit-and-run driver. I wanted to talk to Dong Ham, the cook, but he’s completely disappeared. See what I mean? It’s all mysterious and sinister.’

The Colonel pushed back his chair. He said all these points raised by the Lieutenant would have his attention. Further inquiries would be made. A report would be submitted. The American Ambassador could rest assured that no stone would be left unturned to find Jaffe.

The Colonel then got to his feet, indicating the meeting was ended. After hesitating, Hambley shook hands. He said he hoped to hear from the Colonel by tomorrow and left.

Colonel Khuc looked at Inspector Ngoc-Linh with cold, angry eyes.

‘You still have no idea whether the American has been kidnapped or is in hiding?’ he asked.

‘No, sir,’ the Inspector admitted. ‘I am still trying to trace this girl who used to visit the American. She may be able to help us.’

‘This Lieutenant is a trouble-maker,’ the Colonel said.

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