Free Naked in Saigon by Colin Falconer Page A

hadn’t seen me. I went inside the cool of the building and climbed the stairs to the second floor and knocked.
    I thought he might be pleased to see me, I thought he might be just plain angry. Instead he just looked intrigued. He folded his arms and leaned on the doorframe.
    “Well, princess, this is a surprise.”
    “Hello, Reyes.”
    “I didn’t expect to see you again, not after our last encounter.”
    “I’m sorry if I was rude.”
    “Castro’s secret police treated me better.”
    “May I come in?”
    He thought about it, then stood aside and bowed, as if he were welcoming royalty. “Would you like tea?”
    “If that’s alright.”
    “I’ve become addicted to Chinese green tea. For breakfast anyway.” He went into the kitchen.
    I looked around. The apartment was shaded by tamarind trees and looked out over a small square. There were silk carpets on the floor, green wooden shutters on all the windows. It was blessedly cool inside. It was as I remembered his house in Hollywood, neat, no clutter, elegant watercolours of water buffalo and cranes on the wall, nothing personal. At least that’s what I thought at first.
    In the corner was a low table with a bronze Buddha and lighted incense. That was a surprise.
    A calendar caught my eye, it was from 1958. I recognized it straight away--it was one of the promotional calendars Papi had ordered for our bar in Havana. There was a black and white photograph of Inocencia Martinez on the front cover.
    So at last there was a chink in the armour.
    He came back from the kitchen with a stone kettle and saw me staring at the calendar. I looked away and we both pretended he hadn’t seen me.
    “Do you want to sit outside on the balcony?”
    “Inside is cooler.”
    He put the kettle on a little stand at a table by the window and then fetched two small red lacquered Chinese cups. He poured tea into the cups and raised his in a toast.
    “To find memories.”
    I was speechless.
    “It’s hot today,” I said, shocked at myself for saying something so banal.
    “But it may rain later in the year,” he said, making fun of me. I guessed I deserved that. “You look heart-stoppingly beautiful as you always do. But why are you here?”
    I drank the bitter green tea, shifting the handle-less cup from palm to palm as the heat scorched my fingers. “I need your help.”
    “I guessed that.”
    “It’s about Connor.”
    “Keep going, I can tell this is going to be good.”
    “He’s missing. I haven’t heard from him for a week and I don’t know who else to turn to.”
    “Except the man you can’t forgive for saving your life.”
    “That’s the way it’s turned out, I guess.”
    “A week is a long time to wait before you call someone missing.”
    “He said he’d be three days, four at the most.”
    “Where did he go?”
    “Laos.”
    “Laos? He just got out of hospital.”
    I shrugged. That was my argument, too.
    “Hell, he’s just making it easy for these guys, isn’t he?”
    “He said he had a contact in Vientiane.”
    “The town is full of Corsicans, they still run the opium and morphine trade over there. They hate reporters worse than the mob. You shouldn’t have let him go.”
    “You think I didn’t try and stop him?”
    “I don’t know. Tell me something, do you love this guy?”
    “He’s my husband.”
    “That wasn’t my question.”
    “Of course I love him,” I said.
    He gave me a strange look that could have meant anything. He ran his fingers through his hair. “Well, all right, I’ll do what I can, but you have to be prepared for bad news.”
    “You heard about him getting beaten up?”
    “Of course.”
    “Do you know who did it?”
    “I think we both know who ordered it. You know as well as I do, with Angel and his people you don’t get a second warning. He’s used up all his chances, princess. Going to Laos was like spitting in their eye. But I’ll make some enquiries with some friends of mine, see what I can find.”
    “Thank