The Red Pavilion Read Online Free Page B

grew up with, bosom friends.’
    ‘You make it sound as if the estate is under siege?’ Blanche probed for more information.
    ‘Not as far as I know,’ George answered but the tone implied it might well be, and he added, ‘My payroll delivery has been ambushed twice on the road from Ipoh to the mine. I’ve been trying to convince the powers that be that we need more guns to protect our property and our employees. The Colonial Office says there are plenty of guns in Malaya. The trouble is,’ he finished dourly, ‘they’re in the wrong hands.’
    ‘We have some at Rinsey,’ Liz put in.
    ‘I hope they’re still there,’ George said. ‘I hope everything is fine ... ’
    ‘But?’ Blanche prompted as he let the sentence hang doubtful of conclusion.
    ‘Well, I’ve met your husband several times, had drinks in Kuala Lumpar and Ipoh with him, know your neighbours, the Wildons — ’
    ‘Oh, they’re back?’ Blanche brightened momentarily at the thought of hospitable, amusing friends re-established on their estate.
    George Harfield nodded. ‘It was Aubrey Wildon who told Robbo about the outcome of the telegram Neville had sent. They had intended to stay at Raffles and meet you but news came their tappers were being intimidated, so they rushed back to their estate.’
    ‘How did they know the telegram had come too late?’ Liz wondered.
    ‘The people in your home post office sent word you had already left.’
    ‘That was good of them,’ Blanche commented.
    ‘In the circumstances, very,’ Liz said dryly.
    ‘And my husband?’ Blanche asked. ‘What did the Wildons know about Neville?’
    ‘They saw him in Ipoh the day he sent the telegram. No one has seen him since. Later they went to Rinsey and found the message saying you were already flying out, but your husband was not there. In fact, they could find no one.’
    Liz wondered who had been there when she had telephoned — of all the things they were being told, she still found that distant voice the most chilling. Had there been a stranger, a communist terrorist, standing in their lounge answering their telephone? Had he been holding her father prisoner? Or had it been Kurt or even Josef answering — being held at gunpoint as he spoke? She pushed the mounting panic of speculation aside; she must concentrate on facts.
    ‘And what do you think?’ her mother was persisting.
    Harfield drew in a deep breath, held it for a couple of seconds, then exhaled in a great gusting sigh. ‘I’m worried. You expected him in Singapore, I expected him in KL or Singapore, demanding help from the authorities. It doesn’t add up ... ’
    ‘Because?’ Liz prompted.
    ‘Because this lot are into terrorism. They want to create mass panic. They’re not into the business of hiding crimes.’
    ‘So people are not just disappearing?’
    ‘Quite the opposite,’ Harfield emphasised. ‘The atrocities are warnings to all workers not to help the British. We’ve had strikes and disruption, now we have murder. You two could be playing right into their hands by going to Rinsey without proper protection.’
    ‘If Neville has run into ... difficulties,’ Blanche said with admirable control, ‘you could be right.’
    ‘This brings me to Robbo’s proposition — ’
    A proposition from Major Sturgess! Liz thought it highly unlikely to be anything to which either she or her mother would agree. But whatever George Harfield might have said next was obliterated by the scream of the train’s brakes suddenly and fiercely applied. Metal screamed on metal as the train lurched backwards and forwards like a clockwork toy in the hand of a fractious child.
    Gripping the edge of her seat, Liz for a fleeting moment felt half annoyed yet half amused as she thought she had expected turbulence in the air, not on the train. Then she was jerked from her seat. They all tried to protect themselves and each other as pieces of luggage fell from the racks. Liz gave one glance towards the window,