‘It’s personal.’
‘Do you know him?’
‘We were friends a long time ago.’
‘Is that why you are looking for him?’
Hatcher thought about the question for a moment, then said, ‘That’s part of it.’
‘Who told you Cody called himself Thai Horse?’ Earp asked.
As Hatcher’s eyes became more accustomed to the room he became aware that there was another person there. The old Chinese who had been attending the cook pots had also entered the room. He was a dim figure, an old, stooped man sitting in the darkest corner of the room.
‘A man named Wol Pot, a North Vietnamese POW commandant during the war. His real name was Taisung and he ran a camp called the Huie-kui in Laos.’
‘And how did he know Cody?’
‘I think Cody was one of his prisoners.’
‘I told you,’ Earp repeated, ‘Cody was killed in a plane crash in 1972.’
‘And how would you know that?’ Hatcher asked.
‘I read it somewhere,’ Earp snapped back.
‘A common misapprehension, said Hatcher.
‘Misapprehension?’ Namtaan said.
‘A lie.’
‘Why do you think so?’ she asked.
‘Because it was to Wol Pot’s advantage to turn up Cody. He wanted a visa to the United States. Cody was to be his trade.’
‘And why would Cody be that important?’
‘His father was general of the army during the war.’
‘Perhaps this informant was playing a game.’
‘Perhaps.’
‘But you don’t think so?’
‘No.’
‘You give such quick answers, Mr. Hatcher, I hope you don’t feel like I am interrogating you,’ she said with a smile.
‘You
‘This is all a lot of bull,’ Earp piped in suddenly. ‘I don’t think so,’ said Hatcher. ‘I think Murphy Cody is alive.’
‘Because of what that greaseball told you?’
‘That has something to do with it.’
‘I don’t believe a word of this,’ said Earp. ‘He’s Sloan’s man.’
‘I’m not Sloan’s anything. He hired me to do a job.’
‘Christ, he admits it!’ said Earp.
Hatcher tried to ignore them. ‘What have you got against Sloan?’ he asked.
‘We think he hired you to turn up Cody and kill him,’ said Earp. ‘Do you deny that?’
Hatcher was stymied. What Earp said was true.
‘No, I don’t deny it,’ Hatcher said.
The honesty of his answer obviously surprised everyone in the room.
‘But,’ he went on, ‘I didn’t accept the job on those terms.’
‘What were your terms?’ Earp said with a sneer.
‘That I would find Cody — if he was alive — and deliver a message to him.’
Earp turned away in disgust and shook his head. ‘Jesus!’ he said.
‘Listen to me, Wyatt. This started out to be a simple job. Find Murphy Cody and deliver a message, that’s all. In Bangkok, Sloan changed the signals on me.’
‘Earp whirled to face him. ‘How?’
‘He wanted me to make a judgment call. If Cody was mixed up in something — embarrassing, he implied I should get rid of him. Sloan never says anything directly. He’s a master of innuendo. And incidentally, I have as much right as anybody to hate Sloan. He framed me and I spent three years in a Central American scum hole called Los Boxes.’
‘And you still took this job?’
