from the Thai side.
‘Who is this woman?’ Kelly continued. ‘Is she Australian?’
‘That’s what we’re trying to find out,’ Ratratarn said. ‘In the meantime, keep your eyes open. We can’t let anything slip at this point.’
‘For sure,’ Kelly said. ‘You’ll keep me posted?’
‘Excuse me?’ Sometimes Kelly’s vernacular was beyond him.
‘You’ll let me know, right?’
‘Of course.’ He paused for a moment. ‘You do realise this latest development affects our agreement.’
‘Oh, come on—’
‘I have to dedicate additional manpower to finding the farang woman. Such services cost time and money.’
Ratratarn wanted him to understand how the system worked: everybody served somebody. Ratratarn served the local mafia boss, while the jao por’s underlings served him. Pornsak, Tanin and Komet served Ratratarn, too, as did Kelly, although the Australian failed to appreciate this. Kelly laboured under the delusion that if he paid enough money he could buy himself out of the hierarchy. He thought the issue was price when, in fact, it was all about order and respect.
‘Listen, mate,’ Kelly said. ‘Can we meet in the next day or so? I agree, this changes things.’
Ratratarn smiled. ‘I’ll come tomorrow at midnight.’
He hung up and returned to the files on his desk. When Pornsak interviewed the owner of Man Date, he’d mentioned meeting a farang woman on the night of the murder. He said she’d accompanied the Canadian to the bar, witnessed the argument between him and Khun Sanga and left soon after. He couldn’t recall her name but said she spoke Thai.
One of the kids there also mentioned a farang woman. But Officer Tanin, who conducted that interview, hadn’t thought it warranted further questioning; he hadn’t even bothered taking down a physical description.
He read over the particulars in Pornsak’s report:
Name: Unknown
Height: approx. 1.6 metres
Race: European (white skin)
Appearance: Black-brown, curly, shoulder-length hair
Nationality: Unknown
Address in Thailand: Unknown
Other: Can speak Thai
He pressed the intercom button on his desk. ‘Send Sergeant Pornsak to me.’
‘He’s on patrol, Sir,’ the receptionist said.
‘Then put through a call to his meu teu , will you?’
The department did not distribute mobile phones to officers of Pornsak’s rank but he’d bought his own. Ratratarn picked up the receiver after the first ring and heard Pornsak’s voice through the static.
‘You wanted to speak to me, Sir?’
‘Yes. Pornsak, I want you to go back to the bar behind the Night Bazaar and question the owner again. See if he remembers anything else about the farang woman who was there on the night of the murder.’
‘Sir?’
‘Any details at all, especially where she might be staying in Chiang Mai. I want you to track down the kid whose statement Tanin took, too…’ he leafed through the file, ‘Khun Mana Traisophon. Lives at 4/17 Soi Wat Chiang Yeun. Ask him for the same information. I need a name.’
‘Yes, Sir.’
‘And Pornsak, you are to report back directly to me on this. Understand?’
‘Perfectly, Sir.’
Ratratarn terminated the call. His key chain was by the phone and he picked it up, weighing it in the palm of his hand. He walked across the room and unlocked a large filing cupboard.
The door opened on the material he’d taken from the dead foreigner’s house: computer, disks, files, folders full of documents and a bundle of personal effects, including letters. Ratratarn had checked all of the computer stuff and while he’d found plenty relating to the foreigner’s work on AIDS and prostitution, there was nothing that fingered him or Kelly in any way. Either Kelly got it wrong, in which case there’d been no point getting the Canadian out of the way, or the guy had seen them coming and passed on the evidence to someone else. Ratratarn was confident the foreigner’s Thai colleagues weren’t in on it, which suggested that
‘Who is this woman?’ Kelly continued. ‘Is she Australian?’
‘That’s what we’re trying to find out,’ Ratratarn said. ‘In the meantime, keep your eyes open. We can’t let anything slip at this point.’
‘For sure,’ Kelly said. ‘You’ll keep me posted?’
‘Excuse me?’ Sometimes Kelly’s vernacular was beyond him.
‘You’ll let me know, right?’
‘Of course.’ He paused for a moment. ‘You do realise this latest development affects our agreement.’
‘Oh, come on—’
‘I have to dedicate additional manpower to finding the farang woman. Such services cost time and money.’
Ratratarn wanted him to understand how the system worked: everybody served somebody. Ratratarn served the local mafia boss, while the jao por’s underlings served him. Pornsak, Tanin and Komet served Ratratarn, too, as did Kelly, although the Australian failed to appreciate this. Kelly laboured under the delusion that if he paid enough money he could buy himself out of the hierarchy. He thought the issue was price when, in fact, it was all about order and respect.
‘Listen, mate,’ Kelly said. ‘Can we meet in the next day or so? I agree, this changes things.’
Ratratarn smiled. ‘I’ll come tomorrow at midnight.’
He hung up and returned to the files on his desk. When Pornsak interviewed the owner of Man Date, he’d mentioned meeting a farang woman on the night of the murder. He said she’d accompanied the Canadian to the bar, witnessed the argument between him and Khun Sanga and left soon after. He couldn’t recall her name but said she spoke Thai.
One of the kids there also mentioned a farang woman. But Officer Tanin, who conducted that interview, hadn’t thought it warranted further questioning; he hadn’t even bothered taking down a physical description.
He read over the particulars in Pornsak’s report:
Name: Unknown
Height: approx. 1.6 metres
Race: European (white skin)
Appearance: Black-brown, curly, shoulder-length hair
Nationality: Unknown
Address in Thailand: Unknown
Other: Can speak Thai
He pressed the intercom button on his desk. ‘Send Sergeant Pornsak to me.’
‘He’s on patrol, Sir,’ the receptionist said.
‘Then put through a call to his meu teu , will you?’
The department did not distribute mobile phones to officers of Pornsak’s rank but he’d bought his own. Ratratarn picked up the receiver after the first ring and heard Pornsak’s voice through the static.
‘You wanted to speak to me, Sir?’
‘Yes. Pornsak, I want you to go back to the bar behind the Night Bazaar and question the owner again. See if he remembers anything else about the farang woman who was there on the night of the murder.’
‘Sir?’
‘Any details at all, especially where she might be staying in Chiang Mai. I want you to track down the kid whose statement Tanin took, too…’ he leafed through the file, ‘Khun Mana Traisophon. Lives at 4/17 Soi Wat Chiang Yeun. Ask him for the same information. I need a name.’
‘Yes, Sir.’
‘And Pornsak, you are to report back directly to me on this. Understand?’
‘Perfectly, Sir.’
Ratratarn terminated the call. His key chain was by the phone and he picked it up, weighing it in the palm of his hand. He walked across the room and unlocked a large filing cupboard.
The door opened on the material he’d taken from the dead foreigner’s house: computer, disks, files, folders full of documents and a bundle of personal effects, including letters. Ratratarn had checked all of the computer stuff and while he’d found plenty relating to the foreigner’s work on AIDS and prostitution, there was nothing that fingered him or Kelly in any way. Either Kelly got it wrong, in which case there’d been no point getting the Canadian out of the way, or the guy had seen them coming and passed on the evidence to someone else. Ratratarn was confident the foreigner’s Thai colleagues weren’t in on it, which suggested that
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