“You called for taxi?” the driver said.
Quinn cocked his head, then smiled businesslike and said, “You know where I need to go?”
“I know where it is. No problem.”
“Then let’s go,” Quinn said as he opened the back door.
A sliver of a moon had risen in the east, hanging low on the Singaporean sky as the cabby drove Quinn back across the river. There were a few stars out, but most weren’t visible through the glow of the city lights.
At first, Quinn thought they might be going somewhere on Orchard Road. There were plenty of clubs, late-night restaurants, and hotels where Jenny could be hiding. But the driver turned before they got there.
To their right were the lights and activity of the city, but to the left was a dark mass of wilderness, a wooded hill rising in the middle of civilization. It took Quinn a moment before he realized what he was looking at. It was Fort Canning Park.
The fort was where the British had built their defenses to watch over the Singapore River in the distant colonial past. Quinn knew many of the buildings were still in place high on the hill, behind the trees and brush, but from his vantage point everything looked black and uninhabited.
The cab first slowed, then pulled to a stop along the left shoulder. The driver turned and looked at Quinn. “All right?”
Quinn stared out the window for a moment, thinking perhaps Jenny would be joining him in the cab, but no one approached the car.
“This is fine,” Quinn said. He pulled out some cash and held it out.
The driver smiled at the healthy tip. “The steps are back there,” he said, pointing off to Quinn’s left. “Hard to see in the dark.”
“Thanks,” Quinn said, then got out.
After the cab pulled away, Quinn walked in the direction the driver had indicated. At this time of night, the park was technically closed, so there would be few, if any, people about.
Behind him, he could hear the sounds of the cars on the street, but ahead there was nothing. Silence. Not even the rustle of leaves in the trees. The lack of noise made his feet sound like sledgehammers slamming against the ground with every step.
The stairs were a bit to the right of where the cabby had pointed, but Quinn found them with little extra effort. They were concrete and led up a steep hill. No one seemed to be waiting for him at the base, so he assumed Jenny must be somewhere near the top. Before starting his ascent, he pulled his pistol out of his bag. After what had happened at the Far East Square, he wasn’t about to take any chances.
He started up the stairs, keeping his pace steady and tuning out everything but what was immediately surrounding him. He heard something in the distance as he neared the halfway point, something falling from a tree. A branch, perhaps, but too far away to be anything significant.
He continued upward, following the stairs as they curved to the right. Suddenly a bird took flight from a tree beside the path. Quinn paused, wondering if it had been his arrival or the presence of someone else that had set the bird into motion. After thirty seconds of nothing, he returned to the climb.
He could see the top of the stairs now. Though still several dozen steps away, he would reach it soon. He adjusted the strap of the bag, then quickened his pace.
“Quinn?”
He stopped. The voice had come from his left, off the path and behind a group of bushes.
“Jenny?”
“Are you alone?”
“Yes,” he said, though she must have been watching his approach and already knew that.
His eyes scanned darkness, looking for her. At first, there was only the brush and trees, then she moved out from her hiding place, no more than a shadow among other shadows.
“Over here,” she said.
Quinn stepped off the stairs and onto the grass that surrounded the concrete steps. As he did, Jenny disappeared back into the brush. He crossed to the point he’d last seen her, and found a narrow slot through the bushes. He slipped between the branches, then followed the only path he could make out.
He was about to call out to her when he suddenly emerged into a small clearing. It was no more than fifteen feet square, like a room carved out of the faux wilderness.
Jenny was standing at the far edge, her posture rigid. Even in the darkness, Quinn could see there was a look of determination on her face. But there was also exhaustion, like it had been weeks since she had actually slept through the night.
He took a few steps into the clearing, stopping several feet away from her. “I’m glad to see you’re okay,” he said.
“I’m not coming with you,” she said, the words rushing from her mouth. “Understand?”
“Okay.”
She seemed surprised by his answer. “I know that’s why you came here.”
He shrugged, but didn’t answer. “You’re not going to try to convince me?” “Would that work?” he said. She shook her head. “I didn’t think it would,” he said. “You should leave then.” “Perhaps. But I think we’ll stay.” She held her defiant stance for a second longer, then lowered her
head in exhaustion. “He’s really dead?” she asked. Quinn could only answer with silence. Jenny’s lip trembled. “How?” “You don’t want to know this.” “I need to know,” she said. “When Steven didn’t come back, I kept
