In the last episode of Special Delivery, Rocky and Chinatown detective James Wong cornered two men Wong identified as members of the Chinese Communist Party. The following continues the action described in the notebooks on April 25, 1949:
The office of James Wong was made to appeal to the fantasies of the average moviegoer. He had a chubby, brutish garbage man standing guard outside his door, and inside the walls were a deep red, the color of blood, stained with a shiny gold. Another Buddha statue, one much like the one I saw in the Weller house, sat placidly in the corner. Wong's secretary, a lovely twig of a girl in a traditional high-necked dress, stood slowly at attention as we entered, carrying the two men he identified as Communists with us. He cuffed them both and they quietly followed our instructions as we pushed them forward. I found a chair to place my Communist in, but Wong wasn't as careful with his and shoved him to the floor.
“I have clients who are very interested in these gentlemen,” Wong explained and stared them down. They looked back as if they didn't understand English. “I've come to think of them as old friends. When a truck appears on their doorstep and stays there for a length of time, it gets my attention.” He turned and caught my eyes. “And you, Rocky. You interest me greatly. We've not seen each other in years, and yet today, here you are, ready to do battle with Communist expansion.”
“Save the patriotism,” I broke in. “My secretary just happened to spot you looking around and I just happened to be doing business with the driver. The package he was supposed to deliver came from a Frank Weller. Heard of him?”
Wong split an edge of a grin on his face. “I know his wife. By reputation only, I'm happy to say. By the words 'supposed to,' I assume...”
“The package never arrived. Taken in transit, and his wife might as well have confessed.” I knew they were both listening. I wanted to see if they understood. They just stared off, so I continued, “The story the driver was given was the simple delivery of a statue to a repair shop. Any grain of truth in that?”
He shook his head. “None at all.” He turned and pushed the seated Communist out of his chair. The poor sap landed right next to his partner with an awful crash. Other than a slight wince at the moment of impact, the man betrayed nothing in his face. He just stared like a fish.
“So your fellas didn't take it,” I added, “and these boys wouldn't steal their own crate, so who do you suppose made off with it?”
“The highest bidder, of course,” Wong replied. “It all depends on what was in that delivery.”
He kicked one of the Communists in the side but didn't get a reaction to it so he shouted a few angry words in Chinese at him. Nothing in response, as if he didn't understand Chinese, either. As a last resort Wong pulled out a gun and put it to his nose, added some more words for good measure. The Communist thought about it for a second. His eyes twitched. It was just a little thing, but it was obvious: he was already broken. He was more of a coward than I would have expected. He should have known Wong wouldn't sully his reputation by shooting a man in cold blood in his nice clean office.
There was a window of opportunity and I took a chance. I looked the man straight in the eye and said to Wong: “If he won't tell you, shoot him. Maybe the other one will confess.”
“No, wait!” said the Communist in a broken but clear voice. “There are Russians...Soviets...they want the package too. Don't shoot!”
All Wong could do was laugh.
Have the Russians taken the package? And what could the package contain? Find out in future episodes of The Adventures of Rocky Stone!
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