Jackpot

32

Teddy was in no mood to talk when he got back to the Golden Desert, but there were two police officers waiting for him who wouldn’t take no for an answer. He didn’t want them sniffing around Stone Barrington’s suite, so he agreed to answer their questions down at the police station.

The police station in Macau was a bunker-style building that looked like someone had decorated a military barracks with gingerbread trim around the top. The officers led Teddy through the building as casually as possible and dumped him in a beige brick room that could have easily been an interview room from any suburban American police department. Teddy didn’t have to wait long for a lanky detective wearing an ill-fitting suit to join him. The detective started talking to Teddy in fractured and awkward English before Teddy assured him he could understand questions in the man’s native language.

“I don’t speak it as well as I understand it, but I’m sure we’ll find a way forward,” Teddy said.

“Tell me about what happened at the production offices,” the detective said.

Teddy wasn’t sure how much the detective already knew, and he didn’t want to give up any more information than was necessary, especially any information that might incriminate him further.

“I only know what I heard from my business partners. They said the triads attacked their film sets and then tried to blackmail them to make it stop.”

“The film sets don’t interest me. I asked about the production offices. You were there just today, I believe.”

The man knew more about what Teddy had been up to than he’d anticipated. The key question was how.

“I was there with a woman, Dale Gai. Have you talked to her?”

“Officers are rounding up all of the interested parties,” the detective said.

“Including Ms. Gai?”

“Let’s talk about what you were doing at the production office. We’ve had officers patrolling that area due to complaints of attacks on the film crews. Was this your first time there?”

Teddy started to answer but held his tongue. It was the kind of question a detective asked when he already knew the answer and wanted to see how the subject would respond. Peter and Ben hadn’t called the police to report the attacks, at first because they hadn’t even realized the accidents around the set were attacks, and then because they feared the deepfake blackmail video would land them in hot water. Teddy assumed someone from the local film crew had made the calls.

“I only recently learned of the existence of this office,” Teddy said.

“So that was the first time you’d been there?”

“We both know I’m not going to answer that the way you want me to.”

“How do you think I want you to answer it?”

“I don’t even know how many days I’ve been here. They all kind of bleed together. It’s hard to keep track of what I’ve done or when I’ve done it.”

“There are two production companies in that office, one American and one from Macau.”

“I did know that, yes. I’m a producer with the American production company, Centurion Studios.”

“Are you in Macau on Centurion Studios business?”

This was the question Teddy believed the detective had been building to, and Teddy wasn’t sure what the best way was to answer it. Frankly, he was having trouble answering the question himself. He was helping Peter and Ben, but not strictly on Centurion Studios business — that they had been targeted by a blackmailer was personal.

“I was on my way back to Los Angeles and had a layover in Hong Kong.”

“This is not Hong Kong.”

“Dale Gai met me at the airport and told me I was needed in Macau.”

The more he could stick to the truth, the better everything would be for everyone involved.

“Before or after you attacked her?”

Teddy smiled and leaned back away from the detective. There didn’t seem to be anything this man didn’t know about him. Teddy could see the traps being laid for him. He was done putting himself in a position to set them off.

“I came here voluntarily, thinking you and your associates were acting in good faith to keep your city safe and to protect those of us from outside of the country doing our part to support your economy.”

“You came here voluntarily because you didn’t want to make a scene in the resort where you are staying and where Dale Gai works.”

“Tell me about Dale Gai,” Teddy said.

“You followed a woman you don’t know anything about from Hong Kong to Macau?”

Teddy shrugged. Then he had an idea. He kept a low profile in L.A. and didn’t run into trouble much, but when he was around the police, he found his work in the film industry afforded him a certain status. He’d once heard someone refer to Hollywood celebrities as the American version of royalty, and he believed it every time he saw how everyday people reacted when they heard he worked in movies. He wondered if the same was true of the police in Macau.

“She told me she’d come on behalf of Centurion. She mentioned the film festival, and that my help was needed,” Teddy said.

It seemed to work. The detective put his pen down and scratched at his right earlobe. Teddy also saw the flicker of a smile developing in a corner of the detective’s mouth.

“They have a movie about a gangster showing at that festival. Maybe they should also have a movie about police officers,” the detective said.

“Yes, maybe they should,” Teddy said. “I really do need to get back to work with the festival. Is there anything else I can help with?”

“We know where to find you if anything comes up.”