"Damn," McGowan said.
"That's putting it mildly, sir. I'm beginning to appreciate the position that Frank Lonigan and George Duffy are in; the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs has a fearful responsibility."
"Yes, with a flow of more than two million dollars' worth a day. Anything we can do to help them, Virgil, I want it done." He went to the door and asked his secretary to bring in some coffee. When he sat down once more his thoughts had changed somewhat. "Now fill me in on the Wang case," he directed.
Virgil laid aside his notes. "It was sticky because it wasn't simply a matter of who killed Cock Robin. Not long ago the Chinese communists came up with a new product: a synthetic drug that outdoes heroin in both euphoric properties and addiction. A victim caught in the grip of this narcotic would be enslaved, to the point where his life would be ruined. The Chicoms were most anxious to introduce this fearful drug into this country, so they looked for a method to smuggle in steady quantities without using any of the usual dope routes. They hit on the scheme of using jade boxes; the carvings themselves are so compelling they were sure that no one would pay attention to the boxes. It was the stage magician's misdirection applied in a new manner."
He paused while the coffee was brought in, then continued. "Wang Fu-sen was a thoroughly honorable dealer in jades; but without his knowledge or consent he was set up to become a link in the chain. Jades are individual and each one has its own fitted box. By sending pictures of the jades in the loaded boxes to a suitable agent here, he could then buy them and acquire the drug as well. After that the boxes could be unloaded and the jades resold-they have a ready market here despite the prices."
McGowan drank some of his coffee, and continued listening.
"Of course it would all have been much easier if Wang Fu-sen had consented to cooperate, but when he was tentatively approached he j amp;rmly refused. Subsequently he let it be known to certain other Chinese-Americans that he was under pressure. They promptly arranged a bodyguard for him and began their own investigation."
"Why didn't they come to us?"
"I have found, sir, that they very much tend to handle their own affairs. Meanwhile, on a trip to the Far East Mr. Wang met Miss Nagashima and realizing that her situation in Japan was a most unhappy one, he brought her back with him. It was personal generosity and nothing more; she returned it by helping to look after his house and by providing a companionship which, while platonic, he much appreciated. The terms of his recent will make that very clear.
"Now about Mr. Harvey. He is, or was, a stock trader who made his living for some time through speculation. But when I examined the records of his stock transactions, I discovered that Uke a great many others, he had badly misjudged the heavy and sustained bear market of 1969 and 1970. He sometimes held short positions, but he knew that that is a dangerous game and tried to guess the upturn instead. He lost most of his financial resources and capped it by getting into a bitter confrontation with his wife; his position became, for him at least, almost untenable.
"In near desperation he looked for some field where he could make a fast and near-certain profit, legal or not. Through channels which I frankly haven't traced yet he got into the fringes of the narcotics trade. I suspect he made his initial contacts through gambling associations; he admitted to me that he is an inveterate gambler. Gambling and narcotics have been shown to have close connections in many instances. With his remaining capital he began to i finance shipments from Mexico and within a few weeks he realized some sharp gains. However, the Mexican narcotics trade had been penetrated by the Chinese communists and i through that connection they were able to get to him. He I was approached with an inviting proposition which offered steady substantial profits at apparently very little risk: all he had to do was to appear as a jade collector, and
to phone in certain tips he would be given on heroin shipments. Even if the roof fell in on the whole thing, it would be almost impossible to prove anything against him-and that part was perfectly true.
"So Harvey began, but he made a serious mistake right at the beginning-he underestimated the intelhgence of Wang Fu-sen. He was instructed to buy certain jades, but his apparent, too-rapid choices from a magnificent stock aroused Mr. Wang's suspicions. In view of the pressure to which he had already been subjected, Mr. Wang put two and two together, reasoned it out, and discovered the secret of the boxes. The next time that Harvey called, Wang gave him a simple choice: stop immediately or the whole thing would be reported to us.
"Harvey told his contacts and they in turn promptly imported two Chicom enforcer types via fake passports and tourist visas to deal with the matter. They called on Wang and attempted to frighten him into silence and cooperation. He calmly refused-and then made a new will. Not too long after that he was killed." «,
"Which is where you came in." "
"Yes, sir, but despite the fact that the case had complications, a few things were apparent from the beginning and they led to the eventual solution. When I first saw the body of Mr. Wang, I could not help noticing the way in which it lay. The arms were at the sides and it was face up at a thirty-degree angle to the jade cabinets. It was manifestly impossible for anyone to be stabbed and then to faU into that position, so despite the fact that a stone knife, or something resembhng one, was deeply buried in the chest, I questioned it immediately as the cause of death.
"Also the deceased had been a slender, frail man and to drive such a weapon into him while he was standing would have been all but impossible: he would either have fallen backwards from the force before such penetration could be achieved or he would simply have collapsed in a heap. The only logical inference was that the knife had been driven in after the body was lying on the floor. That was quite possible, because the floor itself would have provided the necessary backing. There is a vast difference between a very sharp, slender stiletto, for example, and the stone weapon that was used and which, I know now, wasn't really a weapon at all."
"Wait a minute, I want to get some more coffee," Mc-Gowan said. Once more he went to the door and signaled. 160
"How did you get onto Harvey?" he asked when he came back.
"At first, pure luck, later on by a process of elimination. When I started in on this case I didn't know the first thing about jade, but it would have taken a blind man not to be impressed by the magnificent display in Wang Fu-sen's home. Despite the fact that I had the owner's dead body lying on the floor and demanding my attention, the jades were fascinating; I had never seen anything like them before.
"I picked up an immediate lead to Donald Washburn, whom I had just met that afternoon. I called on him promptly and discovered two things: that he had a very genuine interest in jades and a narcotics problem within his own family. I didn't really tie in the narcotics angle, however, until I discovered that our friends Lonigan and Duffy had been to see Miss Nagashima and apparently had given her a pretty hard time. That was plainer than a letter to Santa Claus and the possibility, even the likelihood, that the deceased had been a dope dealer was right there in front of me.
"As you know, I'm not overly impressed by character references, but I was subsequently interested in the fact that everyone whom I interviewed, without exception, gave him top marks for good character, and the people concerned were of a high level of responsibility-Aaron Finegold for example. Of course that left Miss Nagashima to be considered and you can believe that I considered her. Particularly when I discovered that she had failed to mention the houseboy to me over a period of several days. And there were some other indications.