Midnight Never Comes - PC 04 (v5) by Jack Higgins Read Free Book Online Page A

Paul,' Mallory said. 'You'll find some of your own clothes in the bedroom. I thought you might be needing them. Don't be long. We've got a lot to discuss.'
    'I bet we have,' Chavasse said sourly, but as he went through into the bedroom, he was smiling and excitement moved inside him like a cold sword.
    His favourite grey flannel suit was neatly laid out on the bed together with shirt and underclothes. As he paused to examine them, Jean Frazer came out of the bathroom.
    'You think of everything, don't you?' he said.
    She smiled and there was a touch of colour in her cheeks. 'It's good to have you back, Paul.'
    She started to move away and he caught her hand. 'What's it all about, Jean? Something big?'
    She nodded slowly, her face serious. 'Better let him tell you, Paul. You know what he's like.'
    The door closed behind her and he stood staring into space, wondering what it was that Mallory had in store for him. But what the hell. Life began again. He went into the bathroom and stripped off the tracksuit.
    'It really is remarkable,' Mallory said as Chavasse poured his third cup of coffee. 'If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes I don't think I could have believed it. This chap Yuan Tao must be quite something.'
    Chavasse paused, the cup half way to his mouth. 'So you know about him?'
    'Naturally.'
    'You must have had me watched pretty closely. Now that's something I can't understand. I thought you'd written me off?'
    'Let's just say I didn't like to see you go and then I started getting daily reports which were more than interesting. Your friend could make a fortune if he set himself up in business.'
    'He wouldn't be interested,' Chavasse said. 'He has one already, together with three factories in Hong Kong and a half interest in one of the biggest shipping lines in the Far East.'
    'Yes, I was aware of that.'
    'I thought you might be.'
    'His niece seems a very attractive girl.'
    'She's returning to Hong Kong next week,' Chavasse said. 'I bet that's something you didn't know.'
    'What a pity. We'll just have to find something else to fill your time.'
    'I'm sure you won't have the slightest difficulty.' Chavasse lit a cigarette and blew out a cloud of smoke with a sigh of satisfaction. 'What's it all about?'
    'To tell you the truth, I'm not sure.' Mallory went to the desk, unlocked a drawer and took out a buff file. 'Have you ever heard of a man called Max Donner?'
    'The financier?' Chavasse nodded. 'You see him in the society columns all the time. Australian, isn't he?'
    'That's right. Comes from a place called Rum Jungle, south of Darwin in the Northern Territory. There's a hell of a lot of development going on there now, but in Donner's day it was just a dot on the map.' Mallory opened the file and pushed it across. 'Have a look at the photos.'
    Donner was a magnificent figure of a man, at least six feet three in height with a great breadth of shoulder, and dark hair swept back over his ears. The photos showed him in every possible aspect. Mingling with the stars at a film premiere, playing polo, shooting grouse, even shaking hands with Royalty at a Variety Club charity dinner and he was always smiling.
    'How old is he?'
    'Fifty.'
    Chavasse was surprised. 'He doesn't look anywhere near that. He seems to live a full life.'
    'He can afford to. At the last count he was worth at least a million and moving up fast. Not bad for an ex-Australian infantry sergeant with no formal education.'
    The last photo showed Donner on his yacht in Cannes harbour, reclining in a deck chair, glass in hand, gazing up at the young girl who leaned against the rail beside him. She was perhaps sixteen and wore a bikini, long blonde hair to her shoulders, blowing in the breeze, half-obscuring her face.
    'Who's this?' Chavasse said, holding up the photo.
    'His step-daughter, Asta Svensson.'
    'Swedish?'
    'Right through to her pretty backbone. That was taken three years ago. She's nineteen now and very, very attractive.'
    'I think Donner would agree with you to