THE GIRL IN THE WINDOW (The Inspector Samuel Tay Novels Book 4) Read Online Free PDF
Author: Jake Needham
personal sense, and Tay knew they never would. That wasn’t Robbie’s fault; it was his. He simply wasn’t someone who felt comfortable confiding in other people.
What’s more, he really couldn’t picture himself as the godfather to some little kid. What if he didn’t even like the kid? Or the kid didn’t like him ? What would he do then?
He would think about it for a couple of days, but he really couldn’t see it. He just couldn’t. He didn’t want to hurt Kang’s feelings when he turned him down so he would have to come up with an excuse of some kind. Maybe he could tell Kang he was dying of some horrible disease. No, that was clearly a stupid idea. Still, it was a step in the right direction.
Tay looked around to see where they were. From here, Kang would have to take the long way around to get into the part of Emerald Hill Road where he lived. Tay loved his neighborhood, but sometimes the warren of one-way and dead-end streets that protected it from the rest of the city was a real nuisance. The only way in to Emerald Hill Road from the south was either to drive far to the north and circle back or to walk in from Orchard Road.
When Tay was coming from this direction in a taxi he usually told the driver to drop him off on Orchard Road. It was less than a hundred yard walk from there through Peranakan Place, up into the bottom of Emerald Hill Road, and straight to his front gate.
“No need to go the long way, Robbie. Just drop me on Orchard Road.”
“It’s no bother, sir.”
“I have to go to the Cold Storage anyway. I’ll only need to walk back later.”
Tay had tossed out the business of going to his local market as an excuse so he wouldn’t have to argue with Kang about where to drop him off, but the moment the words were out of his mouth he remembered he had nothing at home for dinner and he certainly didn’t feel like going out to a restaurant. He was still carrying around in his head the image of that mangled mass of tissue and bone lying in the little blue tent, and now he needed to figure out how to extricate himself gracefully from this godfather business.
With those two things banging together in his head, he would far rather be at home eating alone in his garden than out at some restaurant surrounded by people he didn’t know and probably wouldn’t like if he did.
CHAPTER SIX
IT WAS TOO late for the housewives and too early for the after work crowd so the Cold Storage Market wasn’t very crowded.
Tay squatted down to reach the bottom shelf in aisle four and picked up a jar of Skippy Creamy Peanut Butter in one hand and a jar of P28 High Protein Peanut Spread in the other. He had barely begun pondering their respective merits when images of the corpse hauled out of the Singapore River began coming back to him again.
Most people who lived in Singapore had no idea what went on in this city. Singapore was clean; Singapore was orderly; Singapore was safe; Singapore was a nice place to live. At least that’s what you said if you didn’t know what the cops knew. If you did know what the cops knew, you would have to take a shower about three times a day.
Tay supposed the truth was that most people didn’t want to know what the cops knew. They complained about all the things people who lived in most cities complained about, but they didn’t want to think about what lived under the rocks. Under the rocks was where the maggots were, and the maggots were every working cop’s life, day in and day out.
Why would Kang and his wife want to bring a child into this sort of world? It was none of his business, Tay knew, but he couldn’t help but wonder.
Tay sometimes thought that was why he had never married. Never even had a real girlfriend, not really. He would go out to dinner with a woman and try to find a way to tell her he had almost been stabbed that afternoon, and she would be talking about all the trouble she was having getting her apartment repainted. A guy tries to sink a
What’s more, he really couldn’t picture himself as the godfather to some little kid. What if he didn’t even like the kid? Or the kid didn’t like him ? What would he do then?
He would think about it for a couple of days, but he really couldn’t see it. He just couldn’t. He didn’t want to hurt Kang’s feelings when he turned him down so he would have to come up with an excuse of some kind. Maybe he could tell Kang he was dying of some horrible disease. No, that was clearly a stupid idea. Still, it was a step in the right direction.
Tay looked around to see where they were. From here, Kang would have to take the long way around to get into the part of Emerald Hill Road where he lived. Tay loved his neighborhood, but sometimes the warren of one-way and dead-end streets that protected it from the rest of the city was a real nuisance. The only way in to Emerald Hill Road from the south was either to drive far to the north and circle back or to walk in from Orchard Road.
When Tay was coming from this direction in a taxi he usually told the driver to drop him off on Orchard Road. It was less than a hundred yard walk from there through Peranakan Place, up into the bottom of Emerald Hill Road, and straight to his front gate.
“No need to go the long way, Robbie. Just drop me on Orchard Road.”
“It’s no bother, sir.”
“I have to go to the Cold Storage anyway. I’ll only need to walk back later.”
Tay had tossed out the business of going to his local market as an excuse so he wouldn’t have to argue with Kang about where to drop him off, but the moment the words were out of his mouth he remembered he had nothing at home for dinner and he certainly didn’t feel like going out to a restaurant. He was still carrying around in his head the image of that mangled mass of tissue and bone lying in the little blue tent, and now he needed to figure out how to extricate himself gracefully from this godfather business.
With those two things banging together in his head, he would far rather be at home eating alone in his garden than out at some restaurant surrounded by people he didn’t know and probably wouldn’t like if he did.
CHAPTER SIX
IT WAS TOO late for the housewives and too early for the after work crowd so the Cold Storage Market wasn’t very crowded.
Tay squatted down to reach the bottom shelf in aisle four and picked up a jar of Skippy Creamy Peanut Butter in one hand and a jar of P28 High Protein Peanut Spread in the other. He had barely begun pondering their respective merits when images of the corpse hauled out of the Singapore River began coming back to him again.
Most people who lived in Singapore had no idea what went on in this city. Singapore was clean; Singapore was orderly; Singapore was safe; Singapore was a nice place to live. At least that’s what you said if you didn’t know what the cops knew. If you did know what the cops knew, you would have to take a shower about three times a day.
Tay supposed the truth was that most people didn’t want to know what the cops knew. They complained about all the things people who lived in most cities complained about, but they didn’t want to think about what lived under the rocks. Under the rocks was where the maggots were, and the maggots were every working cop’s life, day in and day out.
Why would Kang and his wife want to bring a child into this sort of world? It was none of his business, Tay knew, but he couldn’t help but wonder.
Tay sometimes thought that was why he had never married. Never even had a real girlfriend, not really. He would go out to dinner with a woman and try to find a way to tell her he had almost been stabbed that afternoon, and she would be talking about all the trouble she was having getting her apartment repainted. A guy tries to sink a