'It's the way powerful people work. You lose face, so you have to let your associates know you've 'fixed' the problem. Not doing so would be a sign of weakness.'
'So you think running and hiding is the answer? When would it all end?'
'When somebody's dead,' said Noy, calmly.
None of us was eating.
'You really think…?'
'Yes. I know what they want me to do. When I refuse, they'll have no choice.'
Whatever happened over there in the States had followed them back home and traumatized them.
'They've already sent a message,' said Mamanoy.
'What sort?'
'We left two cats behind. Before we fled, we asked the neighbors to take them in. We thought they'd be safe. But som-somebody went to the neighbors' house and killed our cats.'
'What? But that could have been some random psychopath,' I said.
I knew no end of people who would gladly torture cats.
'The neighbors had three cats of their own. They weren't touched. The next day some people went to their house claiming to be local police officers investigating the cat killings. But the neighbors hadn't reported it to anyone. They told the men they didn't know us. They said they just noticed the cats weren't being fed and took them in. The officers left a phone number and told them to get in touch if they had any contact from us.'
'How do you know this?'
'The neighbors are actually close to us. The husband is in e-mail contact with my husband. He writes from his office.'
'And what machine does your husband write from?'
'He uses Internet cafes,' said Noy. 'We all have notebooks, but we've agreed not to use them with cell-phone dongles. Neither do we use our cell phones. Once every two days we call him from a pay phone. Here we used the one at the end of the lane. It's underwater now. We usually call him at a land number in-'
'Shh,' said Mamanoy, and blushed immediately.
I smiled.
'I'm so sorry,' she said.
'No problem,' I replied.
Once paranoia sets in, it's hard to keep it under control.
'We knew they'd be looking for a mother, father, and daughter, so we went in different directions,' said Noy. 'We came down Highway 41. After Hua Hin we started traveling at night on back roads to avoid highway cameras. We'd find small resorts like yours to rest in in the daytime. We'd drive past, remove the plates, then drive back. We didn't want anyone reporting our registration details. We only stayed at places that didn't insist on seeing our IDs. On the day we came here, we'd been driving all the previous night. We'd stopped at two resorts where they said they had to write down our citizenship card details. They said it was the local regulation.'
'Well, you're here now,' I said. 'And I don't want you pulling any more stunts like today. Now think back. Did you do anything in Pak Nam to draw attention to yourselves?'
'No,' said Noy.
'Tell me exactly what you did there.'
'We waited for the passenger truck and realized we didn't have money. We'd given your mother the last of our cash for the room here. We hadn't taken the car because we couldn't buy petrol.'
'Where was the last place you used your credit card or ATM?'
'Hua Hin.'
'That's four hundred kilometers away. Technically they could have traced you to there. All they'd need is someone at the bank to check the records. Either way they'll probably have assumed you were heading south. So, since Hua Hin?'
'All cash.'
'We underestimated the costs of food and petrol,' said Mamanoy. 'We should have taken out more. Enough to get us to Malaysia. We hoped we could use the ATM today and be on a bus before they could trace it.'
'So in Pak Nam, you tried the ATM and it was down. You tried to get money on your credit card, but they needed a guarantor. The bank phoned us. At no stage did anyone note down your card number or ask for personal details?'
'No,' said Noy.
'Good.'
'Not at the bank.'
I gasped.
'Somewhere else?'
'I did send a letter EMS while we were waiting to be delivered back here.'
'How did you pay for that?'
'We didn't. I told the manager I'd left my wallet at your resort. When we arrived, I borrowed the money from your mother. We'll pay you back.'
'I hope you didn't put your actual name in the sender box.'
'I left it blank on the EMS form.'
'Good. The post office can track that. That's why it costs extra. When the power comes back on, they'll type the details onto the computer.'
I was getting as paranoid as them. I mean, who was going to hack the post office express delivery details?
'Tell me you didn't give this resort as your return address.'
'Of course not,' said Noy. 'I put c/o the post office.'
'Well, that's something, I suppose.'
'Mair!' I shouted. I could hardly hear myself. There was a backhoe twenty meters away digging an escape channel for the flooded river. The local administration had decided my vegetable garden would be the perfect spot for it. Mair was on the veranda of her hut surrounded by creatures like some kindly lady in an old Disney animation. The three dogs were wrestling with her. Sticky had taken an immediate liking to little Beer and seemed to be unaware of how diseased she was. Even antisocial Gogo was tag-teaming with Mair. The monkey lounged on the rattan table above them, unpeeling tiny lady finger bananas. A toad hopped unimpeded across the deck. Two daring parakeets sat on the railing opposite, waiting for dropped bananas, and a whole parliament of ceiling lizards hung above, ever hopeful that the electric light might be switched on. The paraffin lamp attracted, then fricasseed any insects that made it through the drizzle.
'Mair!'
Gogo growled. The others ignored me.
'Yes, child?'
'Do you have the number for your friend at the post office?'
'Nat? Of course I do.'
'Can I have it?'
'It's in my phone.'
'Where's your phone?'
'Phuket.'
'Phuket?'
'I'm assuming so. I contacted the gibbon rehabilitation center at Bang Pae. I'd taken some pictures of Elain here, and I wanted them to see her. See if they'd agree to take her on.'
'So naturally you put the phone in the envelope so they could take a look.'
'There's probably a way to send the pictures separately, but I couldn't for the life of me get them out. So I'll let them sort it out in Phuket.'
'Did you, at least, turn it off?'
'The phone? Naturally. Do you think I'm completely useless? I'm sure animal activists will be able to work out how to turn on a telephone.'
Sticky was mating with Mair's foot. He had an impressive erection for a young fellow. I had to turn
