The 38 Million Dollar Smile - Stevenson Richard - Страница 29
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day molder of the Thai economy Anant na Ayudhaya on his
back, heels to Jesus, while a senior vice president of the
Commercial Bank of Siam, say, proceeds to make a strenuous
deposit in his excellency’s person, again I would guess no, he’s not gay. The connections between Griswold and the soothsayer
and the financier appear to be other than sexual or purely social.
The confluence of Khunathip, Anant, and a mentally uncertain
farang with thirty-eight mil in his pocket strongly suggests a
financial occasion. And a major one, at that. That is why, Mr.
Don, knowing what I know about money and power in
Thailand and the lengths people will travel in order to get and
keep money and power, I am truly shakin’ in my boots.” As he
climbed out of the car and headed for the breakfast buffet,
Pugh smiled tightly and added, “And how’s it shakin’ with you,
Mr. Don?”
After I cleaned up and Pugh had his bacon, we drove over
to Griswold’s condo and again threatened Mr. Thomsatai with a
telephone book. I wouldn’t actually have hit him, and I guessed
that neither would Pugh. Ek was stationed nearby, within sight
of Thomsatai, and with his Buick Roadmaster chest and
enormous upper arms adorned with inky images of hissing
serpents, Ek made an impression. So the condo manager was
forthcoming, bordering on chatty.
“Ah, Mr. Don, Khun Rufus. Have you been able to find Mr.
Gary? I am so worried about him.”
“We thought you might know where he is, actually,” I said.
“Or at least how to reach him by telephone. Or wasn’t it you
who tipped Griswold off that I was in Bangkok searching for
him? You’re the most likely candidate, what with hardly
anybody else even knowing I was in town.”
Thomsatai got on his might-have-a-stroke look and began to
gush sweat. It was unclear, though, whether this was because he
was about to tell a huge lie or because he thought we thought
130 Richard Stevenson
he knew something he didn’t actually know and somebody
might go after him again with a phone book.
He looked at us and said evenly, “The kidnappers offered
me ten thousand baht if I told them how to find Mr. Gary.”
Pugh said, “And you’ll tell us for eight? Khun Thomsatai,
keep this up and I may have to ask my assistant Ek to bring in
the telephone company.”
“No, no, that is not necessary. What I am saying is this: I
was unable to sell them this information because I do not have
it. I have no way of contacting Mr. Gary, and I have no idea
where he is. What I am telling you is too, too true, of course.”
I said, “How did the moto-bike man know that Timmy and
Kawee were up in Griswold’s apartment yesterday? That
apartment is nearly always empty except when Kawee waters
the plants and leaves offerings. But yesterday the kidnappers
knew exactly when to arrive with Timothy Callahan and Kawee
in the apartment but not Khun Rufus or me. Can you explain
how they knew that?”
Now he started eyeing the doorway again, but Ek was
standing in it. Thomsatai avoided looking at me, but he looked
at Pugh, suddenly shook his head violently, and cried out, “I am sorry!” He began to weep quietly. Snuffling, he said, “My
mother’s water buffalo died. I needed money to send to my
mother in Chiang Rai for a new buffalo. You understand this,
Khun Rufus. I know you do.” He snuffled some more.
Pugh gazed at him for a moment. Then he said to me,
“That’s a bar girl’s story. When she has spent the rent money on clothes or she feels like she needs a flat-screen television, a bar girl whose imagination is limited tells her john that her mother’s water buffalo has died and the poor old lady is going to starve
without one.”
I said, “Don’t water buffalos actually die? It does sound like
a serious matter in Thailand.”
Now Thomsatai looked eagerly at me for the first time,
apparently under the mistaken impression that I might rescue
him.
THE 38 MILLION DOLLAR SMILE 131
Pugh said, “Being a farang, you wouldn’t be expected to
know this. But Thai water buffalo are immortal. And when they
start breeding like maniacs after water buffalo rutting season,
soon we have way too many of them and they begin to crowd
us out of our villages. So we send the buffalo overflow to Laos.
In Luang Prabang, they are trained to perform dressage for the
tourists. Check out UNESCO’s Web site. People come from all
over the world for Luang Prabang’s famous water buffalo
dressage shows. It is plain, Mr. Don, that this man with his
water buffalo sob story is lying.”
Thomsatai got on a doomed look. He knew he was in the
hands of madmen, and what was he going to do, call the police?
He took a deep breath and said, “They phoned and asked me if
anybody was in Mr. Gary’s apartment. They said if I didn’t tell
them, they would drive a motorcycle over my face.”
We waited for more, but that was it. After a moment, Pugh
said, “Who phoned you?”
“The moto-bike man.” Thomsatai was trembling lightly
now.
“How did he know to phone you yesterday evening?”
“I don’t know. He did not tell me.”
“And you told him what?”
“That two men were in Mr. Gary’s apartment. Kawee and
Mr. Don’s friend.”
I said, “Why didn’t you tell this to the police when they
came here after the abduction?”
He looked at me stonily. “Because the man who called did
not want me to tell the police, I think. He would hurt me if I
told them.”
“How would the moto-bike man know it was you who told
the police what you had told them?”
Thomsatai looked over at Pugh as if to say, this farang is an
awfully naive fellow. Pugh caught Thomsatai’s meaning and
looked at me and shrugged.
Pugh said to me, “We’ll work this out ourselves. Mai pen rai. ”
132 Richard Stevenson
“What’s mai pen rai?”
“Literally, it means ‘It is not a problem.’ The larger meaning
in Thai thinking and culture is — if I may employ a
New Jerseyism you will readily comprehend —
whatthefuckyagonnadoaboutit. It’s what is is. Don’t sweat what
you cannot control. In this case, what is, is we cannot trust the police. Mr. Thomsatai doesn’t trust them, and neither should
we.”
“Even for seventy-five thousand bahts?”
“Oh, that’s another story. Clearly we have outbid the
opposition with that one. But that’s for the performance of one
particular service, a double sweep of fourteenth floors. Beyond
that, we’re not only on our own but moving into uncharted
territory, what with a certain personage — the gentleman in the
photo on the balcony — now very much in the picture. He also
is a man who undoubtedly goes around singing ‘The policeman
is my friend.’”
Thomsatai jumped when Pugh’s cell phone rang, and Pugh
glanced at the phone to see who was calling. He said to me,
“Speak of the devil.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
The second sweep of fourteenth floors had been completed
and no trace of Timmy or Kawee had been found.
Pugh said, “Sorry, Mr. Don. It was worth a try. Truly.”
“Yeah, it seemed to make sense. I guess there are going to
be just too many holes in a dragnet of this amorphous type.”
“General Yodying is himself disappointed. He wants to take
you to dinner at the Oriental Hotel when you have the time.
Perhaps you view this as a mordant touch, bordering on the
macabre. But the general’s intentions are good.”
“I’ve never been to the Oriental. Timmy wants to go there.
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