"You sound very confident."
"When Chiun and I get on something like this," Remo said, surprised at his own boastful words, "we usually bust everything wide open."
''I see," said Nalini in a quiet voice. Remo found himself disappointed in her response. For some reason, he wanted to impress her very much.
Chiun had reached the car when they drew near. His face wore an impatient frown.
"Well, thanks for your help," Remo said.
"I am happy to. Tell me, where are you staying?"
"I don't know yet."
"There is a nice motel three miles beyond Ukiah. You might try that."
"Thanks, I will." Remo hesitated. Normally, he avoided entanglements when on assignment, but there was something about this dusky-skinned woman that caught his interest. "Gonna be here a few days?"
"Yes, I believe so."
"Maybe I'll catch you around."
Nalini's smile was a shy ivory carving beneath the luminous jewels that were her dark eyes.
"Maybe I will allow you to catch me," she murmured.
And Remo smiled back.
He watched her walk away, her slim body swaying in time with the sari, and Remo thought he heard music.
Remo unlocked the door for Chiun and got behind the wheel. The Master of Sinanju's face was a thing carved out of stone.
"What's your problem?" Remo asked after they had started up the road.
"You let that harlot touch you."
"And?"
"She is a Hindu."
"So? She's a nice person. Anyone who would take care of an old dingbat like Pearl Clancy has to have a good heart."
"You did not hear what I said. She is a Hindu."
"I did hear you, and I don't care. I like her."
"Hindus only eat with their right hands."
"So?"
"You know what they do with their left hands."
"No. And knowing you, I don't want to hear."
"They wipe themselves," said Chiun. "Without toilet paper. That is why they do not eat with their left hands. Only their right."
"I knew I didn't want to hear it," said Remo, gunning the engine.
"Now you will need to wash yourself," Chiun sniffed.
"I'm sure Nalini is Americanized."
"Nevertheless, until you have washed the parts of your body that woman has touched, do not touch me."
"Oh brother. Anything else I should know in case I meet her again?"
"I did not like the color of her sari."
"What was wrong with it?"
"It is too vivid." Remo eyed Chiun's vermilion kimono. "Said the Korean fashion cop."
Chapter 9
Ukiah was smaller than Remo had expected. A tiny town of probably a thousand or so people. That limited the choice of hotels. There were two. And both had prominent ABSOLUTELY NO VACANCY signs lit up.
"Let's hope the motel Nalini told me about has some space," Remo said as they put the town behind them.
"It is no doubt infested with roaches if it serves Hindus," Chiun sniffed.
"Get off it, will you?"
"Only if you promise not to get on that Hindu."
"No deal."
Remo drove on and three miles up the road came to a little ticky-tacky nest of bungalow duplexes.
"Doesn't look so bad," Remo said.
As Remo pulled into the parking lot, the Master of Sinanju said, "This does not meet my modest standards."
Remo stabbed a finger out his window. "Look, see that sign? VACANCY. We're in luck. It may not look it, but we are."
"It is insufficient for my needs."
"After the press gets all the film and quotes they want, they're going to be descending on every fleabag motel from here to Oregon. We're just lucky they're so hot to get their stories they didn't bother to book their rooms first."