THE DEAD AMERICAN (The Inspector Samuel Tay Novels Book 3) Read Online Free Page A

Future?”
    “Yes. I don’t think it’s what it appears to be.”
    “You mean they’re not really working on this car thing you told me about?”
    “Yes, they are. But I’m certain there’s something else going on there, too.”
    “Such as what?”
    “I don’t know yet, but something about that company just doesn’t feel right to me.”
    Tay wasn’t sure what to say to that, so he went back to nodding.
    “And another thing. Since I’ve started looking into The Future, a lot of strange stuff has been happening.”
    “Strange stuff?”
    “I think my emails and telephone calls are being monitored. I may even be under surveillance. It feels like I’ve stumbled into a spy movie.”
    Tay was beginning to think there was only one sensible thing for him to do here. Keep nodding his head a lot, murmur whatever platitudes might be necessary, and get this woman the hell out of his house as quickly as he could.
    “I guess that all sounds a little crazy,” she added.
    “A bit.”
    “I don’t blame you for thinking that, but it’s still true.”
    Tay didn’t know what to say. Even if he set aside the woman’s sudden confession of delusions about being caught up in a spy movie, Tay wasn’t about to get involved in a case that had been very publicly closed by the Singapore police. He had enough enemies among the senior ranks now. If he wanted to get his job back, which he most certainly did, making more enemies wasn’t going to help his cause. A police detective was what he was. It was who he was. If he couldn’t go back to CID, he didn’t know what would become of him.
    “I’m not a private investigator, Emma. And I don’t know anything about spies.”
    That wasn’t completely true, Tay thought to himself. He knew a few spies, and several more people he thought might be. The whole truth was he knew a lot more about spies than he wanted to. Probably more than was good for him.
    “I need your help, Inspector. If I’m going to write this story, I need the whole truth, and I’m convinced you’re the man to help me find it.”
    Tay cleared his throat. “I appreciate your confidence in me, Emma, but —”
    “Please, Inspector, don’t say no. At least promise me you’ll think about it.”
    Tay wasn’t sure he wanted to promise this woman anything, but it seemed cruel to say that so he remained silent. He hoped she would tell herself that his silence was agreement and let it go at that. She didn’t.
    “Will you think about it?” she asked again. “Then call me?”
    What would it hurt to say he would think about it? At least then this woman might go away. Tay had a vision of her bursting into tears right there in his living room, and he didn’t know how in the world he would deal with that if it happened.
    “Okay,” he said, “I’ll think about it.”
    “That’s all I ask,” the woman said. “I’m at the Ritz-Carlton.”
    A really expensive hotel , Tay thought, but of course he didn’t say that. “How long are you in Singapore for?” he asked instead.
    The woman lifted her chin and stared at Tay with such single-mindedness that Tay drew back.
    “As long as it takes.”
    Tay nodded quickly and stood up, hoping to put an end to the conversation before it became any more awkward for him than it already was. To his immense relief, the woman stood up too, and he walked her out. When they reached Tay’s front gate he opened it, but she stopped before passing through it.
    “Thank you for seeing me, Inspector.”
    “You’re welcome. It was a pleasure to meet you, Emma. From now on, I will read the Wall Street Journal with much greater personal attention. When I read it at all. Which isn’t often.”
    The woman laughed. “You know, you’re everything I heard you were.”
    “Heard from whom?”
    The woman just smiled. Then she pulled her gauze breathing mask out of her purse and tied it around her face just like it had been when she arrived on Tay’s doorstep. She nodded once, crisply. Then