Thai Horse

Aha, fishing, thought Ngy. He’s being subtle. Well, it won’t hurt to give him a little bit.

‘No,’ Ngy answered. ‘Nothing was taken. It appears he stepped into a fight and was killed for his trouble. There are witnesses who saw the whole thing.’

This is a smart cop, thought Hatcher. If there are witnesses he’s picked them clean., no need for me to appear interested. That’ll throw him off a little.

Hatcher decided to give him a little something in return.

‘That sounds just like Windy — that was his nickname, Windy — anyway, he was that kind, always ready to help someone in trouble.’

Ngy nodded, still smiling. ‘I see,’ he said. He seems to be leading me down this dead end, thought the Thai policeman, a chance killing. Didn’t he know that Ngy knew that Porter was an intelligence officer? Intelligence officers were not likely to be killed by chance.

‘Ironic, isn’t it,’ Hatcher went on, ‘an intelligence officer getting killed like that. He . . . deserved . . . I don’t know, a more . . . exotic death.’

Clever! thought Ngy. That clears the air about Porter’s job. He poses the problem and then answers it. What is the game here?

‘Well, we haven’t ruled out other considerations yet,’ Ngy said. ‘It’s just that from all the surface evidence it appears he was just an unfortunate good Samaritan.’

Is he here because he knows something we don’t know? thought Ngy. Perhaps Porter was on some questionable intelligence job and Hatcher is here to find out how much we know. Ngy decided to drop his hook a little deeper. ‘Was he . . . uh, involved in anything that might have a bearing on the case?’ Ngy asked.

Hatcher shook his head. Good, thought Hatcher, he doesn’t know a thing. He’s really fishing now.

‘No, actually his job was pretty much confined to embassy security. He wasn’t a working field agent. Windy was close to retirement. This was considered a kind of easy job to go out on.’

Ngy thought, Do I trust him? If what he says is true, then the Porter case could very likely be a chance encounter that ended in death. It would make the lack of arrests somewhat more palatable to his superiors.

‘Well, rest assured we are doing everything in our power to find the killers. We have adequate descriptions of both of them, and the man in the other boat.’

‘Other boat?’

Well, obviously he hasn’t spent a lot of time on this matter, thought Ngy. Even the papers had reported that there was a man in the other boat. I’ll give him some more free information. See how he reacts.

‘The one who seemed to be the intended victim,’ Ngy said. ‘He jumped in the river when this all started. It could very well be some kind of grudge fight between Street gangs and your Major Porter stumbled on to it. There was also a prostitute involved — but there was no implication that the major even knew her. I assure you we don’t suspect any connection between them.’

‘Thank God for that. This has been rough enough on his wife.’

Ngy thought, perhaps he can help with the note. He reached into the folder and tool out a five-by-seven sheet of lined three-ring notebook paper. It was stiff and faded and the blue ink was smeared.

‘We found this,’ Ngy offered. ‘But even our handwriting experts cannot decipher what was written on it.’

Hatcher looked closely at the paper, turned it over and looked at the back. It was the page from Porter’s diary on the day he died. He dropped it back on Ngy’s desk, not wanting to seem too eager.

‘Probably his grocery list,’ Hatcher said with a chuckle.

‘Probably,’ Ngy said with an equally forced smile.

‘Perhaps I could show this to some of his associates. I may be able to turn something up that will help you.’

Ngy was immediately suspicious again. But he decided his fears were unfounded. This Hatcher appeared to have no interest in the case other than to officially report he had looked into it. Thus far he had made no attempt to interfere. Ngy decided a concession or two would be all right.

‘I see no problem there,’ Ngy said with a smile.

Okay, thought Hatcher, now comes the breakthrough. ‘Good,’ he said. ‘Well, I know you’re busy.

I’m here really to see that the remains get back safely. Let the family know that the police are working on it. You know how it is, they’re on the other side of the world. . .

Ngy nodded vigorously. Why not put him at ease, he thought, get rid of him once and for all.

‘Perhaps,’ said Ngy, ‘it might help if you took a copy of the investigation report back to the family. Let them know that we’re doing everything possible.’

Hatcher could hardly contain his joy. Point, game, match, set.

‘Excellent idea, Major. I’m sure it will help.’

Harmless, thought Ngy after Hatcher had left. Apparently the Americans trusted Ngy’s handling of the case.

Sy and Hatcher returned to the hotel, where Hatcher rented a dark blue two door Chevy sedan. Then he went up to his room, ordered a bottle of Jack Daniel’s and a pot of Thai tea. He turned up the air conditioning, turned on the ceiling fan, peeled off his shirt, poured himself a cup of tea and laced it with whiskey, and sat down on the rattan sofa with all the files spread out on a coffee table.

The report was short and simple and told him very little. Witnesses reported that a man had made an