‘And what about Tukkata’s father?’
‘Vice is monitoring him when he goes online. He’s grooming a number of girls and next time he goes to meet one he’ll be picked up.’
‘And then what? A slap on the wrist? On an appeal for a donation?’
‘One step at a time, Khun Bob.’
‘I suppose so.’
‘At least no one died,’ said Somsak.
‘That’s true.’
‘I’ve some more news for you,’ he said.
‘My cup runneth over.’
‘Remember the owner of the Kube, the figurehead? Thongchai?’
‘I remember.’
‘He’s dead.’
‘Dead?’
‘He was found in a house out near the airport. Heart attack.’
‘Heart attack?’
‘Yeah, same as Ronnie Marsh, the manager.’
‘Coincidence?’ I said.
‘Amazing Thailand,’ he said. ‘Poker next week?’
‘Definitely.’
So that was that. Case closed. Still, as Somsak had said, at least I wasn’t dead.
I put my cellphone back into my pocket and headed inland. I found a small bar, little more than a wooden shack with a few roughly-hewn wooden tables and benches in front of, shielded with large beach umbrellas advertising Phuket Beer, which I took as a good sign.
I sat down and before I’d even taken off my baseball cap a pretty girl with skin the colour of mahogany and her hair tied back in a ponytail handed me a cold towel that send shivers down by spine when I wiped the back of my neck.
I ordered a Phuket Beer and it was as chilled as the towel. I overtipped her and showed her Jon Junior’s photograph.
‘Have you seen my friend?’ I said. ‘His name’s Jon, I think he’s staying near here with his girlfriend.’
She smiled and nodded. ‘He was here yesterday.’
My jaw dropped and I thought I’d misheard her.
‘With Tukkata,’ she added. ‘Pretty girl from Bangkok.’
I handed her another hundred baht note and thanked her. ‘Do you know where they’re staying?” I asked.
She pointed along the beach, to the west. ‘One of the bungalows down there,’ she said. ‘I don’t know which one.’
She went off to serve another customer, her ponytail twitching from side to side as she walked. I smiled to myself and raised my bottle in salute to no one in particular.
I love it when a plan comes together.
I finished my beer and then went back to the beach. It was almost three o’clock. I took off my shoes and socks and walked barefoot along the wet sand. Ahead of me was a resort of cheap bungalows, maybe a dozen, with sharply sloping roofs and small terraces shielded from the sun by coconut palms.
I could see a couple lying on rattan loungers under a large white beach umbrella. A farang boy and a Thai girl. As I walked towards them the boy sat up and began applying sunblock to his arms. Then the girl sat up, took the sunblock from him and began to rub it over his back and shoulders.
My heart began to race. I couldn’t see the boy’s face but I was sure it was Jon Junior. And the young Thai girl rubbing sunblock into his shoulders could only be Tukkata.
CHAPTER 45
Tukkata saw me first and she whispered something to Jon Junior. He looked around and stood up, his arms at his side as if he wasn’t sure if he should attack me or run off down the beach. I put my hand up in greeting. ‘It’s okay,’ I said, ‘I come in peace.’
‘Who are you?’
‘My name’s Bob Turtledove,’ I said, taking off my baseball cap. ‘Your parents wanted me to find you.’
‘My parents? Why?’ He was wearing sunglasses and he pushed them up onto the top of his head.
‘Because they haven’t heard from you in weeks,’ I said. ‘They’re worried about you.’
‘I told them I’d be in Thailand for a while.’
‘Your phone’s off and you’ve stopped using your email account.’
He waved at hand at the beach. ‘There’s no wi-fi here,’ he said.
‘And the phone?’
‘What do you want, Mr Turtledove?’
Tukkata slid off her sunlounger and put her arms around Jon Junior. ‘What’s happening?’ she asked him. She was wearing a yellow t-shirt and a long white wraparound skirt.
‘It’s okay, teerak, he’s a friend of my parents.’
Teerak.
It means darling.
He smiled at her. ‘Tukkata, can you wait for me in the hut?’
‘I want to stay with you,’ she said, resting her cheek against his arm.
‘Let me talk to him on my own,’ he said. He patted her on the hip. ‘It’s okay. We’re just going to talk.’
‘I’m not going back,’ she said. ‘I’m not going back to Bangkok.’
‘I know,’ said Jon Junior. ‘I just need to explain things to Mr Turtledove.’
Tukkata hugged Jon Junior and then kissed him on the cheek. She was close to tears.
‘It’s going to be all right, teerak,’ he said. ‘I swear.’
She nodded, picked up her towel and padded across the sand towards their hut in the shade of a clump of coconut palms.
‘She’s a lovely girl,’ I said.
‘The best,’ he said.
He sat down in his sunlounger and I dropped into the one that Tukkata has just vacated. ‘Your parents are worried, Jon,’ I said. ‘Frantic.’
‘I guess so.’
‘Why didn’t you call them? Or write to them?’
‘I’ve been busy.’ He looked out over the sea.
‘You’re sitting on a beach,’ I said.
‘Like I said, with no internet connection and I’ve no idea where the nearest post office is.’
‘You’ve got a phone.’
He looked across at me. ‘We can’t use the phone because then her father will find us. No phones, no credit cards. We have to stay off the grid.’
‘And how long can you live like that?’ I asked.
He gestured at the beach hut. ‘We can stay there for as long as we want.’
‘What are you doing for money?’
‘I’ve got cash. Tukkata has some. She had some gold jewellery that she sold in Bangkok. The hut’s cheap and we eat local food. A couple of hundred baht a day is all we need.’ He ran a hand through his sun-bleached hair and frowned. ‘How did you find us?’
‘Tukkata sent a text message, three days ago.’
‘Who to?”
