East of Suez (3 page)

“It’s been a hundred years, Benny!” she said, showing fine, even teeth. “Well, maybe only seventy-five.”

“At least. What have you been up to? I heard you discovered Asia.”

“Let’s see. I’ve been a bit of a vagabond since you saw me last, Benny. I’ve lived all over the place. A year in London, two in Paris, another in Mombasa. Another two in Germany. I worked in Singapore for a Canadian bank. I got married and had a family in Hong Kong. Jake ran scuba-diving trips to the reefs in the Andaman Sea, off the west side of the Malay Peninsula …” Her use of the past tense put me on my guard. Nobody calls on a private investigator with good news. I was thinking, “You poor kid!” as I tuned in on her again.

“Did I tell you? That was in Takot, Miranam. Ever heard of Miranam? It’s between Singapore and Bangkok. That’s where we’ve been living for the last six years. I’ve only been back home for a few weeks. Our business grew to be a big operation for those parts. Too big. The government horned in and nationalized the business. They took over everything, wiped us out, but somehow wanted Jake to go on running it for them. That ended badly. I was lucky to get out of there with my life. I sent the kids off on the first available flight. My husband, in all probability, was murdered there. But I don’t know. I’m going crazy, not being sure. I
need
to know, Benny.”

“You’re not sure?”

“I couldn’t find out one way or the other. The authorities, you see. It was terrible. Every way I tried to get information, I hit a brick wall. I could write a book about the art of unhelpful bureaucracy. I couldn’t get away myself for days.”

I was glad she’d tipped me off with her past tense along the way. I tried to find the right words. They were where I’d left them, on the tip of my tongue. “You poor kid. You’ve been through the wringer.”

“I guess I have. And now, Benny, things are looking dark again because I can’t get help. I can’t go back there.”

“I’m sorry, Vicky,” I said lamely. She smiled at my first use of her name.

“About four and a half weeks ago, I got word that the kids, Moira and Teddy, were safe with good friends in Mombasa. They’re ten and eight. I phoned and they were put on the next plane home.”

“Mombasa? Where is that? New Guinea? Australia? Africa?”

She nodded, smiling, showing her good manners. “Africa. Kenya, on the east coast. They were safe there while I began to sort out this tangled mess.”

“Tell me about it.”

“Well, Benny—”

“Oh! Before you do, Vicky, I should tell you that I’m no longer in the business. I’m not a private investigator any more. I’ve retired. That doesn’t mean I’m not interested in your problems. I am. But I just wanted you to know where I’m at.”

“I see.”

“So while I’m willing to listen and give you the best side of a sympathetic ear, I … I can’t offer you much practical help. Advice? Sure. But you see, I came up to the office today to try to finish packing up.”

She looked around her at the mess and confusion for the first time. “I see.”

“I’m sorry. It’s a matter of timing. I’ve been sick. I was in hospital for … for a long time. I can’t remember names of people or places any more. I can’t read. I’m a mess. I can’t be much help to myself these days, let alone try to help others.”

“I see.”

“Don’t keep saying that! I’m
sorry
, Vicky, but that’s the way it is.”

She took a deep breath. She couldn’t be controlling her temper; what had I done to merit that? I had simply told her where I stood.
Hell
, she’s the one who’d climbed the stairs!

“I’m sorry, Benny. It’s not your fault. But I’ve come so far and I guess I’m worn out with worry and despair.”

“There are other people in this line of work, Vicky. Even here, in town. Toronto’s phone book is full of private investigators.”

“I know, I know. It’s just that since it all started here, and you were part of it …”

“
Me!
In what way was I involved?”

“Well, you introduced me to Jake in the first place.”

“Wait a minute. Who are we talking about? Jake who?”

“You can’t have forgotten!”

“Vicky, there are just a handful of things I
haven’t
forgotten. Jake who? Tell me.”

“Jake Grange. You remember Jake! You
introduced
us. He was on the football team. You were a few years ahead of us but you knew him. So I asked you if you’d make the introduction and break the ice for me. You don’t remember? I’ve never forgotten a moment of it. You made the introduction, very natural, very casual, and we walked over to the Di to have milkshakes. I can’t believe you don’t remember!”

“Look, Vicky, a lot has happened to me this last year like I said. I have a fractured memory. I remembered you and your sisters all right, but it might take me a minute or two to remember Jake Grange. Let’s see, there was Emil Eurynuk, Ted Lanskey, Jocko Thomas, Pete Neuman, Steve Oneschuck—”

“And Jake Grange! He was on the line, but he didn’t have the build for it. He was tall, with the shoulders you expect to see on a quarterback.”

“Yes, I begin to get something like a picture. He had a brother who was a friend of my brother.”

“That’s
right
! That was Ernie. He was in the school plays and went into business in Niagara Falls next to the funeral home.”

“Yeah, the ghost of a face is coming through the mist. He took the last year of Tech and then went on with a bunch of the football players to do the last year of high school in the academic stream so he could go on to university.”

“The University of Toronto, where he played for the Varsity Blues.”

“He was a six-footer at sixteen or seventeen. Sure, I remember him now!”

For a minute or so we grinned at one another, like this was some sort of class reunion. I could feel the stretch in my cheeks as I looked at her smiling back at me. We almost hugged, but there was the desk between us. It was a happy moment. Then I remembered what she’d told me: Jake was dead. Killed somewhere in Africa, or was it Asia? I had already forgotten the name of the country.

The smile slipped sadly from my face. I got up, came around the desk, and perched on the corner. “When did he die?” I asked, taking her hand. It was cold, like Mimi’s in the opera.

“I’m not sure, exactly. Maybe in the spring. I couldn’t get confirmation of anything. It took weeks and weeks trying to find out. By that time I was back in Grantham.”

“Where are the kids now?”

“We’ve been staying with my mother, here in town. The kids are doing wonderfully. You wouldn’t believe it. Jake would be so proud of them.”

“And you’re staying with them, at your mother’s?”

“Yes. That’s right. She doesn’t have much room, but we manage.”

“And her name is still …?”

“No, she remarried after Dad died. It’s under Dr Riley Adams in the phone book.”

I tried to think of the next question, but the thought was trampled by the overriding realization that I was asking out of idle curiosity. I was no longer in the business, so why was I gathering the available facts in a neat bundle? I took a breath to try to clear the clutter in my brain. “Vicky, isn’t there somebody you can turn to at a time like this? I’m not very useful to anybody nowadays. I forget things, you see. I repeat myself and I’m not much good with facts.” I knew she’d bite her lip and she did.

“You were my last hope, Benny. I got the runaround from three Toronto agencies. One didn’t know where Miranam is!”

“Yeah. It’s the other name for Burma, isn’t it?” I took a chance. If I struck out, I was off the case with honor, no hard feelings. If I got it right, I could only blame my big mouth.

“Burma’s new name is Myanmar.
I’m
talking about Miranam, Benny.”

“It’s Asia, right?”

“Right! See, I
knew
you were the man for the job!”

I took another deep breath. “What is it exactly you want me to do, Vicky?”

“I have to know whether he’s alive or dead. I need a date, a death certificate. I want to know if he had a proper burial and all the things that the kids will want to know when they’re old enough to ask me. I need the official papers if there are any.”

“In a civilized country, that shouldn’t take very long. Is that all you want?”

“Miranam will pass a lot of tests for being civilized. It was building marble temples while we were building log cabins. Civilization isn’t something that’s either present or absent. It’s like marble cake: civilization and barbarism are all tangled and mixed together.”

“What else needs doing?”

“Jake had a small suitcase. A briefcase, really. He always carried it with him. It had all of our personal papers in it: birth certificates, marriage license, health cards, everything but our passports, plus other personal things.”

“Such as negotiable bonds, rubies, diamonds, emeralds? Come on, Vicky, you have to give me the
facts
!”

You heard me say it. I heard myself say it. But I still couldn’t believe it. I was talking like I had already taken Vicky’s little problem from her fair shoulders and hoisted it onto mine. Send for a shrink! I shouldn’t be allowed out without a keeper.

Vicky’s eyes had narrowed. I’d have given a million to know what was going on inside her head at that moment. “Benny, your job is to discover what happened to Jake, and then find the suitcase. Get it back to me. Believe me, I know what I’m doing. What’s
inside
is none of your affair.” She was showing a metallic side of herself that was new to me.

“Look, Vicky,
none
of this is any of my business. And when I carry a suitcase across an international border, I want to know that I’m clean, that I’m not going to be separated from my liberty for a stretch in some fetid foreign dungeon. Thank you and good afternoon. Unless you want to talk old times. I’m still up for that. I’m always glad to see old friends. Give my love to your sisters. I always thought that you three were very smart and attractive, but, of course, I never mentioned it. Goodbye, Vicky, and good luck.” She made no attempt to take the hand I was holding out over my pad of foolscap.

“Oh,
Benny
! Always playing games. Never could get a straight answer out of you. This suitcase won’t go
bang
! You’ve been reading too many dime novels about that part of the world. Life isn’t like that.”

“Vicky, they haven’t published a dime novel in sixty or seventy years. I’m surprised you even know the term. What about ‘made-for-TV movies’? Try again.”

“How did you get to be so cynical and jaded? I pity you, Benny Cooperman!”

“Same to you with lemon! Now, either you tell me what’s going on or clear the hall. I’m packing up this office, remember? I’m taking my shingle down, Vicky. I’m not in the mood for silly tricks, and, apart from that, I’m not in the business.”

“I know. I heard you. You sound like that English comedian with the dead parrot. Does this condition you have make you repeat yourself?”

“Probably. No,
certainly
. Vicky, I’ve already told you that I can’t take your case because I can’t do that sort of work any more. Have you tried the cops?”

“I can’t go there. Not officially. I don’t know how culpable Jake was. It’s bad enough that he might be dead. His widow doesn’t have to blacken his name while his mother is still alive. And there are the kids to think of. If Jake was playing fancy games with the people down there, I’d just as soon the local cops didn’t know about it.”

“Local cops rapidly lose interest at the city limits, but they do have links with Interpol, which is more than I have. No matter which way you look at it, Vicky, you can do better than me.”

“But I
know
you! You’re just selling yourself short.”

“That’s gargle and you know it!”
I had to catch my breath. “Look, Vicky, you want a major job of tracking. You want it done in a place I’ve never seen, where I don’t know the language, and where my abilities, such as they are, would be stretched like an old corset. Believe me, I know my competence and my limits. You talk about scuba diving. The only scuba-diving course I ever took was ten years ago in a pool in Miami. Fresh water! Let me give you the name of a friend in Toronto. He’ll help you out. I think he has a wife who comes from over there someplace.” I wrote a name and address on a piece of yellow foolscap and passed it to her. She didn’t even look at it.

“Benny.
Please!
”

“Look, Vicky, while your belief in my competence is very flattering, I’m beginning to get suspicious. I once was hired to do a job because my client thought I’d screw up. Is that why you want me? So that I’ll fall on my face, but you can show your lawyer that you took steps to get to the bottom of all this? No, I think you’ll have to go on to Plan B. Plan A has just exploded on takeoff.”

“I never met a more unreasonable man! Don’t you have any idea of what people think of you? You’ve earned a reputation over the years. You’re the best person around. You’re the best there is, Benny.”

“Flattery will get you everywhere. But—”

“You know Staff-Sergeant Chris Savas?”

“Sure. He’s a pal from way back. What about him?”

“
He
told me I should talk to you.”

“You
said
you haven’t been to the local cops. Why can’t I get a straight statement out of you? You’ve got more twists and turns than a spaghetti dinner.”

“Chris Savas is
my brother-in-law
. He married my sister Lizzy. His advice was unofficial. I haven’t officially done anything yet. I was hoping—”

“Yeah, I know this next bit. Chris must be losing his grip if he recommended me. He used to have one of the best heads in the business.”

“He still has, and he named you as the best man to take the job.”

“Well, before I say no again, you’ve got to sell me better than you have. You’re going to have to tell me a lot more than you’ve told me already. All I know now is that Jake is missing in Southeast Asia someplace, probably dead, that there is a connection between there and east Africa. Mombasa. What’s the rest of it? It isn’t about scuba diving, is it?”

“Benny, there’s government intrigue and interference involved. And there are some Asian business practices that might not be approved of by the Grantham Chamber of Commerce. It’s like what that writer says of the past: ‘They do things differently there.’”