‘Her friend, Kai.’
Jon Junior sighed. ‘I told her to leave the phone off. If you found us, her father can, too. We’ll have to move.’
‘That’s your plan?’ I said. ‘To keep running?’
Her shook his head. ‘She’s eighteen next week,’ he said. ‘Then her family can’t do anything.’
‘To be honest, I don’t think her father is looking for you.’
‘Why do you say that?’
‘When I talked to him he seemed more worried about how much I knew then whether or not I knew where you were. Seems to me that he’s not telling anyone that Tukkata is missing.’
‘She’s his daughter.’
‘Yes, but she’s the daughter who knows his dirty little secret. I think the last thing he wants just now is a confrontation with her.’
Jon Junior nodded thoughtfully. ‘What about you, Mr Turtledove? What do you do now that you’ve found me?”
‘I’m working for your parents, not for Tukkata’s father. And to be honest all your parents want to know is that you’re safe.’
‘They want me back home, working for my father.’
‘That’s understandable,’ I said.
‘I want to stay in Thailand,’ he said.
‘A lot of people do,’ I said. ‘But you have to think it through. It’s not the easiest place to live and work when you’re a foreigner.’
‘You seem to be doing all right,’ he said.
I laughed. ‘I’ve got a Thai wife who makes my life a whole lot easier,’ I said.
‘That’s what I’m planning, Mr Turtledove. Tukkata and I, we’re going to get married.’
‘That’s what Tukkata wants?’
‘It’s what we both want.’
‘Jon, you’re twenty-one and Tukkata is just seventeen.’
‘Eighteen next week. Mr Turtledove, I’m four years older than her. When I’ll be a hundred she’ll be ninety-six.’ He grinned. ‘Who’s going to care about four years then?’ He waved a hand around the beach. ‘Since I came to Thailand I’ve seen sixty-year-old men walking around with girls in their twenties, girls young enough to be their grand-daughters. Is that what I should do, Mr Turtledove? Follow their example?’
It was funny but every time he called me ‘Mr Turtledove’ I felt about a hundred years old.
‘Because applying that philosophy, the girl of my dreams isn’t going to be born for another twenty years.’
‘I do understand what you’re saying, Jon, But you’re very young to be thinking about getting married, and Tukkata’s even younger.’
‘You’ve met my parents, Mr Turtledove?’
‘Yes. They came to my office.’
‘Well, next time you talk to them, why don’t you ask them how old they were when they got married?’
‘Ah,’ I said, catching his drift.
He nodded. ‘That’s right,’ he said. ‘Younger than me. Quite a bit younger as it happens. So I don’t think they’ll be casting the first stone on that score.’ He leaned forward. ‘You know that Mormons don’t marry for life, they marry for eternity?’
‘I had heard that,’ I said.
‘For eternity, Mr Turtledove. It’s not something that you enter into lightly. You have to make sure that you have made the right choice. And I know that Tukkata is the girl I want to spend eternity with. Do you understand that?’
I nodded slowly.
Actually, I did.
Because that’s exactly how I felt about Noy.
‘I understand,’ I said.
‘So now what?’ he asked.
I shrugged. ‘You’re an adult, you make your own choices. And like you said, as of next week Tukkata’s an adult too.’
‘What would you do, Mr Turtledove? About her father?’
I sighed. It was a good question.
‘You could try talking to him. Or she could. Or Tukkata could talk to her mother.’
‘It would destroy her family if her mother found out. Kai was underage. He could go to prison.’
‘I’m not sure if that would happen,’ I said. ‘I’ve met Kai, she’s hardly a victim in this.’
‘She’s just a kid,’ said Jon Junior. ‘Tukkata’s father committed statutory rape.’
‘Well, strictly speaking Tukkata’s under age too.’
Jon Junior frowned. ‘What do you mean?’
I nodded at the beach hut. ‘The two of you are sleeping together, right?’
His jaw dropped. ‘What, you think…?’ He shook his head. ‘I haven’t laid a finger on her. I swear to God.’
‘Okay,’ I said.
‘I mean it, Mr Turtledove. Yes, we stay in the hut together and we hold each other but that’s as far as it goes and we won’t be doing anything else until we’re married. I’m a virgin and so is Tukkata and that’s the way we’ll be on the day we exchange our views before God.’
I guess that’s the great thing about being young.
You’ve got your whole life ahead of you.
Jon Junior was a good kid and I figured he’d be all right.
I stood up. ‘I’m going back to Bangkok,’ he said.
‘You won’t tell anyone where we are?’
‘It’s none of my business,’ I said. I took my phone out of my pocket. I had already stored Mr Clare’s number in Utah and I called it. I didn’t know what time it was in Salt Lake City and I figured that the Clares wouldn’t care once they found out who was calling. The phone began to ring out and I handed it to Jon Junior. ‘But you need to talk to your parents.’
‘What do I tell them?’
‘The truth,’ I said. ‘Generally that works. Your parents are good people, Jon, They’ll stand by you.’
He nodded and took the phone from me.
CHAPTER 46
There was an intellectual argument going on when I walked into Fatso’s. Relentless was claiming that he’d met a girl called Komon Fukme working for the Bangkok Bank. Bruce and Alan were claiming that he was making it up.
Big Ron was holding court in his massive chair. Kom was a fairly common prefix for girl’s names he said, and Fuk, a type of vegetable, was often used in surnames. Komon Fukme wasn’t as far-fetched as it sounded.
Bruce wouldn’t have it and kept shaking his head and muttering ‘no way’. I eased myself onto the stool next to Big Ron’s. One of the Fatso’s girls was already opening a bottle of Phuket Beer for me.
Relentless raised the stakes and said that he’d once shared a taxi with a girl called Sukmy Boobies and Alan threw a handful of peanuts at him.
I leaned over and slowly rang the bell three times. The Fatso’s girls cheered and began pouring drinks for everyone.
Big Ron grinned and pointed a finger at me. ‘I knew it,’ he said triumphantly.
‘I should have listened to you,’ I said.
‘A girl?’
