And murder was to be the task of Kurt Reid. The first week he spent worrying. No one came to see him, no one advised him of the exact nature of his arrest, he heard nothing of the two strange women who had indirectly caused his incarceration. A man can find a great deal to worry about when he is confronted with four yellowish walls and when the scurrying rats forbid his sleep. He was unable to pry information out of his black-uniformed guard. In the second week he began to suspect the Russian Varinka Savischna. At the end of ten days he received a short note via the one window of the cell. Kurt Reid; I have tried to find out about your case, but I am afraid to take my information to the authorities, fearing that the affair aboard the Rangoon would also be brought against you. I have tried to bribe Lin Wang, but he will have nothing of it, saying that you are an enemy of China. If fate brings you back to me, I promise that our next meeting will be far better than the last. Anne Carsten There was some slight solace to that, and he found himself looking forward to seeing the girl—if and when—he ever got out.
