“What are you saying, Sam?”
“Until we receive a formal notification of the ID from Interpol, let’s just continue to conduct our own investigation in the way we normally would. We’ll check all the available surveillance tapes carefully and see if we can find anyone at the Marriott who saw Elizabeth Munson there. Then I’ll do some very discreet digging into her background and see if we can identify a possible motive that might not be obvious. If we can place Elizabeth Munson at the Marriott and develop something on a motive by the time we receive notification of the fingerprint ID, our investigation ought to survive whatever scrutiny it gets.”
The OC looked at Tay for a long time in silence, pinching his lower lip gently between his thumb and his forefinger.
“I see what you mean,” he said after a while. “Okay, do it that way.”
“And I’d like to interview the ambassador,” Tay added quickly.
“Why? I thought you told me he was in the clear.”
“What I said, sir, was that as far as we know now the ambassador was out of town. We have to confirm that.”
The OC looked at Tay some more and scratched his chin.
“Do you really have to interview the man? Couldn’t you confirm where he was in some other way?”
“Well, sir, his wife was brutally murdered. If we don’t interview her husband at all, that wouldn’t look very good for us, would it?”
“I suppose not.”
“No, sir.”
“Do you think DeSouza would be willing to arrange it?”
“If we offer to give him a copy of our case file, it might be hard for him to say no. Getting cooperation from us ought to justify him giving cooperation in return.”
The OC snorted. “You mean cooperation like you hiding the real cause of death from him?”
Tay cleared his throat. “I’ll give DeSouza a copy of the autopsy report as soon as I get it, sir. He doesn’t need to know about a personal conversation I may or may not have had with Dr. Hoi before her report was provided to us. I’m sure if we seem to be acting open-handedly with him, then he’ll respond to us in the same spirit.”
“You don’t know the Americans very well, do you, Sam?”
“Not really, sir, no.”
The OC snorted again, this time putting some real feeling into it. “You’ll learn. This kind of thing is never a two-way street for them, not unless they’re sure they’re getting the best of it.”
“Then I won’t give him the files and the autopsy report.”
“Don’t climb too far up that tree, Sam. You’ll just end up getting hurt when you have to jump. Assuming the deceased really is who they say she is, we’ll have to give them everything eventually and you know it would be the right thing to do.”
“Let me call him about the file and ask if he’ll arrange the interview. Maybe there won’t be any problem.”
“I wouldn’t bet on that. Governments can get awfully sensitive about matters of protocol, whether or not there’s any good reason for it. And don’t forget about diplomatic immunity.”
“I thought diplomatic immunity only applied to charging someone with a crime, not conducting an interview.”
“It means whatever the country invoking it wants it to mean. You remember that.”
“Yes, sir.”
The OC stood up and stretched. “Get out of here, Sam. I’ve got to call a few people and give them a heads up on this one. I agree with you that we don’t have to know anything, at least not officially, until we get a formal reply from Interpol, but it’s all going to hit the fan then. We need to be ready for it.”
“Yes, sir. I’ll get someone onto the surveillance tapes and the background stuff right away.”
“Good. Do it.”
“What about the press, sir?”
The OC already had one hand on the telephone, but he quickly took it away again.
“What about the press?”
“I mean, if we haven’t told them and they find out-”
“It wouldn’t be responsible of us to tell the press anything on the basis of what we know now, would it, Sam? We’ll deal with that when we get a formal response from Interpol.”
“Right, sir.”
The OC thought for a moment. “One other thing, Sam.”
“Yes, sir?”
“You sure you’re up to this one?”
Tay paused, now genuinely puzzled rather than just feigning it. “I don’t understand what you mean, sir.”
“I thought I was being pretty clear. Are you sure you’re up to handling this case? To deal with something this…” the OC hesitated, looking for the right words, “high profile.”
“Why wouldn’t I be, sir?”
“Well, Sam…” The OC hesitated again. “You’re not getting any younger, you know. There’s no telling where something like this is going to take you. You’ve got to have the energy for…well, you know.”
Tay looked away and made a show out of weighing the OC’s question, but he was doing nothing of the sort. He was furious and he knew if he looked the OC in the eye that the Chief would see it.
“I think I can handle it, sir.”
“Okay, I just wanted to let you off the hook if you wanted off.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“Watch your back on this one, Sam. God knows what you’re walking into.”
Tay consulted his shoes, but they told him nothing. Then, not able on his own to think of anything particularly constructive to say to that, he only nodded.
BACK downstairs in his office Tay sat for a long time and watched a white-faced clock hanging high on his wall as it advanced steadily toward midday. When he grew sufficiently bored with staring at the clock, he pulled a yellow pad toward him to make a list of things to do. He had written nothing on it when the telephone rang.
“Tay,” he said when he picked it up.
“Ah, Inspector. I’m so glad I caught you.”
It was a woman’s voice, one that sounded familiar, although Tay couldn’t immediately place it.
“This is Susan Hoi,” the woman continued, bailing him out.
“Dr. Hoi, yes.” Tay cleared his throat. “Of course.”
“I just wanted to tell you the full autopsy report on your deceased from the Marriott will be on your desk by three today.”
“Thank you for letting me know.”
Tay wondered if he should tell her about the identification they had, tentative or not, but with the completion of the autopsy report her job was done and there really wasn’t any reason to tell her so he said nothing more.
Then again, neither did she.
“Was there something else, Doctor?” Tay finally asked when the silence had stretched almost to the point of embarrassment.
“Well…”
Tay heard the hesitation in her voice and wondered what it meant.
“Actually there was,” she said. “Is this a bad time for you? You sound as if you may be busy.”
“No, it’s fine. Go ahead.”
“I was thinking about the case over the weekend. I might have something for you.”
“Yes?”
“It might be better if we met to talk about it.”
“You mean now?” Tay asked.
“No, not now. How about…”
That hesitation again.
“Look, let me buy you a drink at the end of the day,” Dr. Hoi said. “Will that work for you?”
