Free THE DEAD AMERICAN (The Inspector Samuel Tay Novels Book 3) by Jake Needham Page B

about that.
    Was it really possible that ISD was watching who came and went at his house? His guess was that a Wall Street Journal reporter sent to Singapore to investigate Tyler Bartlett’s death would be on ISD’s radar. And Emma had come to his gate so, if ISD were watching his house, they would already know he had talked to her, wouldn’t they?
    Thinking about that also brought to mind the hole he had found running from Tyler Bartlett’s apartment to the apartment next door. Could that have been ISD’s work? Was it possible that Tyler Bartlett was under ISD surveillance and that they had planted cameras or other electronic devices in his apartment? The hole struck Tay as a little crude for ISD work, but he supposed it was possible. And if ISD had been watching Tyler, maybe that was what tied all this together. ISD had an interest in Tyler Bartlett for some reason and, when Emma had visited Tay as part of her investigation, alarm bells had gone off out at New Phoenix Park and they started watching him, too.
    That was when it occurred to Tay that Emma had been wearing a white-gauze breathing mask that covered most of her face when she came to his gate, and she had put it on again when she left. It seemed to him that she would have been unrecognizable even if the watchers had known her face, so maybe they didn’t know she had come to see him after all.
    Either way, what was he going to do now? Call Emma and ask her to come back to his house. Then say, By the way, don’t forget to wear your mask ?
    No, if he wanted to ask Emma about what Tyler was doing in Singapore in person rather than over the telephone, it would be better to go to her. Just in case.
     
    The Ritz-Carlton was part of a massive shopping complex on Marina Bay that boasted a half-dozen large international hotels and another half-dozen office towers studding more acres of retail space than Tay could walk in his lifetime. It was a stretch to think that he might personally be under surveillance even if his house was being watched, but he guessed it was at least possible. He’d had his problems with ISD before, and they were relentless in rooting out anything and anyone who might threaten the government in Singapore. Tay was hardly an enemy of the state but, as far as ISD was concerned, asking embarrassing questions of the wrong people amounted to more or less the same thing.
    If somebody were following him, Marina Bay would be a nightmare for them. He could enter it through any of several hundred entrances, walk through the lobbies of one huge hotel after another, go up and down elevators of a dozen different office towers, and lose himself in the crowds at Millenia Walk before crossing the pedestrian bridge over Raffles Boulevard and slipping into the back door of the Ritz-Carlton. ISD would need at least a dozen bodies to cover him there, even more to be certain they did it right, and there was no chance he was important enough to merit anything like that much manpower.
    Should he call first and make sure Emma was at the hotel? Tay thought about that for a moment, but decided not to. The idea of surprising her appealed to him. Sometimes he learned entirely unexpected things when he surprised people. And so what if she wasn’t there? It wasn’t as if his dance card was all that full, was it? What else did he have to do today that was important?
    Tay slapped the table and jumped to his feet.
    This might even be fun , he thought.
    Then he went inside to change into something appropriate for strolling the high-priced corridors of the Ritz-Carlton.

CHAPTER TEN
    WHEN TAY LEFT his house, he glanced around as unobtrusively as possible, but he didn’t see any obvious signs of surveillance. Then again, if ISD were watching him, he wouldn’t, would he?
    He still didn’t really believe ISD was cataloging his comings and goings, but he supposed it was at least possible. ISD was interested enough at least to talk to Robbie Kang about him, and he didn’t