Blackie had decided to listen and not talk too much. He wouldn’t let the American know he already had some knowledge of this affair. It would be more interesting and possibly more profitable to hear what the American had to say and to find out if he was going to lie or not.
He said, “Mr. Jaffe I don’t understand what is happening. Nhan came to me this evening and said you wanted to talk to me here. Why could we not have met at the club or at your villa? This is all very mysterious and puzzling. I would be glad if you would explain.”
“That’s what I’m here for,” Jaffe returned. “I’m in trouble. I’m the guy who wants a false passport. I have to get out of the country, and fast.”
“I hope I am not a stupid man,” Blackie said smoothly. “I guessed the passport was for you. I think I can help you. It will cost money, but providing you haven’t committed a capital or a political crime, the matter won’t be difficult to range.”
Jaffe took out a crumpled pack of cigarettes. He offered a cigarette to Blackie who shook his head. He lit one for him-elf and Blackie who was watching him saw his hand was steady as he held the match flame to his cigarette.
“I have accidentally killed my houseboy,” Jaffe said.
This came as a shock to Blackie. It was the last thing he had expected to hear.
He remembered what Tung Whu had told him. Both the Vietnam and the American police believed the houseboy had been murdered by bandits. Now here was the American saying he had killed the boy.
He managed to say calmly, “I don’t understand, Mr. Jaffe. What you are telling me is very serious. How does anyone accidentally kill a man?”
“I caught him stealing from my wallet. He tried to get away. He was in panic. I guess I don’t know my own strength. While he was struggling, I somehow broke his damn neck.”
Blackie looked directly at Jaffe, his eyes running over his muscular frame.
“You are a very powerful man,” he said, a note of respect in his voice. “Yes, it could easily have happened.”
“Well, there I was with a body on my hands,” Jaffe said, relaxing slightly as Blackie seemed to be accepting his story. “A tricky set-up. I decided to clear out. You know what the police here are like. I could get a jail sentence. I’m relying on you to get me to Hong Kong.”
Blackie couldn’t accept such a story. It didn’t make sense.
“You considered going to the police and explaining the situation, Mr. Jaffe? Houseboys are notorious thieves. If you had told them…”
“I thought of all that,” Jaffe said curtly. “These Vietnamese don’t like Americans. They might have shoved me in jail. I wasn’t taking the risk.”
This still didn’t make sense to Blackie, but he decided to go along with the American.
“And the body?” he asked: “What happened to it?”
“I left it in a closet in my villa,” Jaffe said. “The police have been to see you, haven’t they?”
Blackie nodded. He was intrigued and puzzled. If Jaffe had left the body in the villa, how had it turned up in the ditch with the dead bandits? Who had moved it from the villa to the ditch? The police? Why had they given out to the newspapers that Haum had been killed by the bandits?
“They called on me,” he said. “They told me you had been kidnapped by Viet Minh bandits. They wanted to know if you had any particular girl. Naturally I said I knew of no girl.”
“Nhan had nothing to do with this. It happened before we met last night. She has nothing whatsoever to do with it.”
Blackie didn’t say anything. This was an acceptable lie. He was sure Nhan knew a great deal about this business. He couldn’t understand why the police had moved Haum’s body. There was no point in keeping this secret from Jaffe. He would read about it in the morning’s paper. He decided to tell him.
“I spoke to a newspaper reporter this afternoon,” he said. “He tells me the police are saying Haum was killed by the bandits. His body was found near the wrecked car you were driving.”
For a long moment Jaffe sat motionless, not quite sure if he had heard correctly. Then he suddenly realized that if this were true he had put himself into Blackie’s hands by prematurely admitting he had killed Haum. He cursed himself for not waiting to read the papers before seeing Blackie. He realized at once why the police had moved Haum’s body. Someone in authority wanted the diamonds!
They found the hole in the wall, he thought, and they knew the villa once belonged to the general’s woman. They have guessed I found the diamonds and I killed Haum to shut his mouth. They are setting the stage so when they catch me, they can shut my mouth and grab the diamonds.
Blackie was saying, “This is a puzzling business, Mr. Jaffe. How do you explain that Haum’s body was found in a ditch?”
“Maybe they don’t want to make an international incident out of it. After all I am an American,” Jaffe said cautiously.
“I don’t think that explanation is likely,” Blackie said. “A few months ago an American sailor murdered a prostitute in Cholon. The police didn’t hesitate to arrest him. Why should they hesitate to arrest you? Why should they arrange matters to look like a Viet Minh outrage?”
“Maybe they didn’t move the body. Maybe the girl and my cook moved it.”
“If you mean My-Lang-To,” Blackie said, “that suggestion is quite out of the question. How could they take the body so far? It may interest you to know your cook and the girl were taken to headquarters for questioning. As she was leaving headquarters she was knocked down and killed by a hit-and-run driver. This has happened before from time to time to people arrested for questioning. It is an efficient method of getting rid of people who could be embarrassing.”
Jaffe felt a drop of sweat fall onto his hand. He realized he was suddenly scared.
“Nothing has been seen of Dong Ham,” Blackie went on. “It would not surprise me if he too was dead by now.”
And if they catch me, Jaffe thought, they’ll kill me too.
“I don’t understand anything of this,” he said. “The thing is as much a mystery to me as it is to you.”
That, my friend, is a lie, Blackie thought. Is this thing political? Could this American be working with an opposition group to overthrow the regime? Did Haum find this out and the American killed him to silence him. No, it couldn’t be that. He wouldn’t be asking me for help if he had been working for a group. They would get him out of the country. Then what was the explanation?
“I don’t like mysteries,” he said. “I like to know all the facts before committing myself. When you took your friend’s car, Mr. Jaffe, you were planning to escape?”
“That’s right. I thought I might bluff my way into Cambodia with C.D. plates. As I arrived at the police post, the attack started and the car was put out of action.”
“Was Nhan with you?”
“No.” Jaffe paused, then went on, his voice hardening, “We’re wasting time. Can you or can’t you get me out?”
“As much as it would please me to help you,” Blackie said, “what you ask is an impossibility. There is no way to get you out of the country:
every exit by now has been sealed off. Security police are extremely efficient. Apart from the impossibility, Mr. Jaffe, I have myself to consider. I have a wife and a very good business. If it were discovered that I have even talked to you, they would close down my club. If it were found out I had helped you escape, I would go to jail.”
Jaffe knew the Chinese character well enough to know this wasn’t the final word.
“That I understand,” he said, “but nothing is ever impossible providing there is a big enough incentive. I have got to get out. I’m willing to pay.”
Blackie shook his head.
“Even if I could think of some method of getting you out, Mr. Jaffe, the cost would be prohibitive.”
“That’s for me to decide. Suppose you had unlimited funds, could you fix it?”
“Unlimited funds? I suppose something could be arranged, but we are wasting time. Who has unlimited funds these days?”
“I put a pretty high price on my life,” Jaffe went on. “I admit I’m not wealthy, but I have funds in America. I could stretch to ten thousand American dollars.”
