The Ambassador's wife

“No, it’s not.”

“The Thais think it’ll go down rough,” DeSouza said. “This is no time for a woman to start showboating.”

“I can handle anything you can handle, Tony. If I don’t go, you don’t go.”

“It might be interesting to hear how you think you can stop me.”

“You’re not the only one with friends who like to play cop.”

Cally thought that had a nicely ambiguous ring to it. Of course, it meant nothing at all, but she figured her comment was weird enough to discourage DeSouza from pursuing it. Apparently it was, because abruptly DeSouza pushed himself up from the chair and stood for a moment looking at her, his arms folded over his chest. Then he leveled his right hand at Cally, holding his thumb and forefinger as if they were a little gun.

“Be at the back gate in an hour,” he said.

After a moment he winked, then tossed Cally a salute and walked out of the office.

THIRTY-FIVE

Tay got no answer the first time he dialed Cally’s cell phone, not even voicemail. He lit a Marlboro and tried again. Exactly the same thing happened so he called the operator at the Marriott, got the main number for the American embassy in Bangkok, and dialed that.

“Embassy of the United States,” a pleasant female voice answered in an American accent. “Good morning.”

“Cally Parks, please.”

“Who are you calling, sir?”

“Cally Parks. P-a-r-k-s. She’s in the security office.”

“There is a Ms. Parks who is the Regional Security Officer in Singapore. Is that who you’re calling, sir?”

“Yes. That’s right.”

“The number of the embassy in Singapore is 65-”

“No, Cally is here today. In Bangkok. I came up with her yesterday.”

“May I ask who is calling, please?”

“Inspector Samuel Tay of Singapore CID-SIS. Miss Parks and I came up to Bangkok yesterday because of the murder of Ambassador Rooney.”

The woman paused. “Because of what, sir.”

Now it was Tay’s turn to pause. “You don’t know what I’m referring to?”

“No, sir. I’ve already told you that Ms. Parks is in Singapore. She is the Regional Security Officer there. I can give you the number if you like.”

“I know her number in Singapore, but Cally is in Bangkok today so it’s not going to do me much good, is it?”

“Can someone else help you, sir?”

“You don’t know about Ambassador Rooney’s murder, do you?”

“Would you like me to connect you to someone else, sir?”

A robotic tone had crept into the woman’s voice and for a fleeting moment Tay wondered if he could be talking to some sort of computer system rather than an actual person. He stubbed out his cigarette.

“Just connect me to your security office.”

“I need a specific name, sir.”

“I don’t have a name. Just ring the security office for me please and I’ll sort this out myself.”

“I can’t do that, sir. I must have a specific name in order to connect your call.”

“Look, ma’am. I’m an Inspector in the Criminal Investigations Department of the Singapore police. You have heard of Singapore, haven’t you?”

The woman remained silent, which didn’t altogether surprise Tay.

“I came to Bangkok at Ms. Parks’s invitation to work with her on an investigation of the murder of your ambassador. The ambassador was found in an apartment here two days ago with her face beaten in and a bullet in her head.”

“Sir-”

“Cally told me she would be at the American embassy today. Her cell phone doesn’t answer and I need to find her. It is very urgent. Am I getting through to you?”

“I still need a specific name to connect your call, sir.”

“Never mind,” Tay said. “I’d just like to thank you for your help. You’re a great American.”

The line went dead.

Tay had no idea where the American embassy was and so he was surprised when the taxi from the Marriott took no more than five minutes to get there. He could have walked. Well, probably not in Bangkok’s heat and rancid air or over the broken-up sidewalks and through the traffic, but the embassy was certainly close enough for him to have walked if he had been in any normal city.

The embassy’s main gate was set back about fifty feet off the street and there was a small paved courtyard in front with parking areas to both the right and left. A sliding metal barrier topped by a row of spikes blocked the driveway. The taxi driver, appropriately intimidated, didn’t even try to turn in. Instead, he stopped at the curb and motioned to Tay to walk the rest of the way.

A concrete guardhouse stood between a large drive gate and a smaller walk gate. It had a heavy Lexguard window with a steel tray beneath it. The arrangement reminded Tay of the drive-up window at a bank. A man who looked Thai glanced out at Tay and opened the tray. Tay removed his warrant card from his wallet and placed it inside, then watched as the tray closed again. The man in the guardhouse examined the card carefully.

“Who you here for?” he asked, leaning toward a microphone that was curled in front of him on a long gooseneck. Through the background hissing of the intercom his voice was thin and metallic, like the sound of a telephone answering machine that no one had bothered to program.

“Cally Parks.”

“Who, please?”

“Ms. Cally Parks. P-a-r-k-s. Parks.”

The man pulled a clipboard from a hook that was somewhere outside of Tay’s field of vision.

“What office?”

“She’s a security officer from the embassy in Singapore, but she’s here today.”

The man looked at the clipboard, flipping through several pages.

“Not here,” he said with finality and returned the clipboard to wherever it had come from.

Tay arranged his face into what he hoped was a friendly and cooperative expression.

“She came to the embassy this morning.”

“You have appointment?”

“No, no appointment. I’m just trying to find her.”

“Not here.”

There was a slight squeaking sound and the tray opened again. Tay’s warrant card lay in the bottom of it, but he did not pick it up.

“I am Inspector Samuel Tay of the Singapore police. I am in Bangkok with Ms. Parks to investigate a murder. I know she is here at the embassy. It is very important that I speak to her and I would like to see her now, please.”

The Thai man inside the guardhouse looked unimpressed.

“You not on list. Must have appointment.”

“Then she is here?”

“No,” the man said. “Not here.”

“Then exactly how would you suggest I make an appointment with someone who isn’t here?” Tay snapped.