by Wiley Brooks
The view from the top, she admitted, was spectacular. To the west, the sun was sinking behind the last hill separating them from the sea. To the east, George Town was coming alive with lights. White lights, red lights, blue lights, yellow lights. Lights that blinked and moved and others that didn’t. It all happened in an eerie quiet that was completely devoid of the ever-present sounds of the city below.
Jessica leaned into Joey. “Thank you for bringing me here,” she said as she looked out at the city and a much more sedate Butterworth across the Strait.
They dined that night at a regular sit-down restaurant. The food was good and the surroundings mellow. As they stepped outside, she hooked her arm into his as they walked down the street.
“How old are you, Joey?” she asked him.
“Old enough,” he said.
“Seriously,” she said, “how old are you?”
He looked into her eyes. “A part of me wants to lie, but I won’t. I’m twenty-six. You?”
“Thirty-three.”
“Close enough,” he said.
“Close enough,” she repeated. A younger man, she thought. When was the last time that happened. Had it ever happened. She thought about it. No, it hadn’t. Have fun and go for it, she told herself.
He knew that he needed to keep things moving forward, but not too fast. The goal was not to get her into bed quickly, but to nurture trust. Back at the Holiday Inn, he gave her a hug and a gentle kiss on the cheek.
“Same time tomorrow?” she asked.
He smiled. “I’m looking forward to it.”
The Cessna carrying Mason back to Tioman landed a little after four o’clock. Mason gave the pilot money to have a nice dinner at the Merlin. He thought it would take him a couple hours, but if it took longer Mason would pay for a room for the night.
He set off for Suzanne’s bungalow, about a thirty-minute walk up the beach. She saw him approaching, stood and called him over. He waived back and approached.
“Hey honey, can we go someplace a little more private,” he asked her.
She eyed him with a smirk.
“You dog, you,” she said.
“No. Forgive me. It’s not that,” he said. “You’re a little too young for me. It’s somethin’ else and we need some privacy.”
She immediately looked more serious. “Sure,” she said. “Let’s go to my hut.”
A few moments later they were sitting in her hut. “So, what brought you back and why all the secrecy?”
First, he gave her the developed film she had given him. He decided not to mail it to her home, but to simply give it to her here. He told her that there was one image of Joey, but that that he was in the background and it was too blurry.
“I have another picture that I think is of him taken ten years ago. I wanna show it to you and you tell me if it is him.”
He removed the image that had been pulled from the school photo and showed it to her.
“That’s him,” she said instantly.
“You’re sure?”
“One hundred percent. That’s Joey. Where was that taken?”
“At a church school in Melaka.”
“He would have been living in North Carolina then. Are you sure?”
“Listen, Suzanne,” Mason said, looking for a moment out at the sea before looking back to her. “I didn’t tell you the truth when I was here a couple days ago. It’s not good.”
“Oh no,” she said. “Something happened to Amanda, didn’t it?”
Mason looked at her with a resigned expression.
“She didn’t meet you at the boat that mornin’ because,” he paused briefly to take a breath, “well, because she was dead.”
“Oh God,” Suzanne whimpered, as tears welled in her eyes. “God. Did Joey kill her?”
“It looks that way. They found her in her room that afternoon. She died of a knife wound.”
Suzanne grabbed a shirt laying nearby and used it to wipe the tears trickling down her face.
“There’s more,” he said.
“What? How could there be more. Amanda’s dead. That asshole killed her. I can’t believe it. He seemed so nice.”
“By more, I mean Amanda wasn’t his first victim. Over the past two and a half years, it looks like Joey has kilt a half dozen young American women travelin’ alone. Kilt ‘em all in their rooms the same way.”
“Wha…what?”
“He’s a thief. He targets girls travelin’ alone. He charms ‘em and gets ‘em back to their rooms. They have sex. Everythin’ is fine at that point. Then he kills ‘em with a knife across their throats. He might be charmin’ but he’s a heartless motherfucker. He watches ‘em die. Then he takes everythin’ they have of value. Cash. Credit cards. Traveler’s checks. Passport. Anything he thinks he can pawn. He takes it all. He kills these girls for a couple thousand bucks.”
“Oh my God.” She shuddered with the sudden realization that she had been hanging out with a serial killer. And then another thought struck her and she went rigid.
“My God. It could have been me,” she said barely above a whisper.
“Not likely,” Mason said. “All his victims have been blondes.”
They talked some more. This was a lot for her to process. She told him that she had been thinking about when she might wrap up her trip and go home. She hadn’t thought it would be now, but maybe it was time. She didn’t know.
“I only knew her for a day,” she said. “I probably shouldn’t be taking this so hard.”
“Cut yourself some slack, Suzanne. With these kinds of things, a day, a month. It doesn’t matter. The pain and the shock are the same.”
Mason told her that, if she wanted, she could fly back to Melaka with him. From there, it would be easy to head on to either Singapore or KL to fly back to the States. She stared away at the crowd starting to gather in the restaurant area for dinner. After a bit, she took a noticeable breath and said she wasn’t ready to decide on what to do. She had lots of new friends here, she told him. For the next several days, at least, she needed friends. That made her think of Crystal in the huts next door.
“I have to go tell Crystal,” she said, looking at Mason. “Thank you for finding me and offering to help. I’m going to find Crystal. Goodbye, Mason.”
They stood and hugged. No more words were said. Mason walked back to the Merlin, glad that she took the job of telling Crystal. He found the pilot in the dining room finishing off a big piece of chocolate cake.
“I’m ready to fly back,” Mason said. “Can we leave?”
“I don’t think so, Mr. Mason. Melaka airport closes at nine. Not enough time. We leave early tomorrow. Yes?”
“I’ll get us rooms.”
In his room at the Merlin, Mason called Fitz. The State Department lifer had arrived early to his office.
“You get them pictures I sent you?”
“Yes. I wasn’t sure if there were something you wanted me to do with them, though.”
“No sir. At least not yet. I just wanted you to have ‘em. I’m hopin’ you can track down Pastor Johnny and his wife, Helen. She might have passed. I don’t know if the picture will help, but you might be able to match it to a passport photo on file.”
“Last name?”
“Not a clue. Here’s what I know. The wife got sick. She left Melaka and returned to the States in November 1978. The prognosis must’ve been bad. Pastor Johnny packed up quickly, closed the church school, then left about a month later.”
Fitz asked if Mason knew what state they were from. Mason said no, but if Joey learned English from them that he’d bet on the Midwest somewhere. “He apparently has no accent. My guess is that the pastor and his wife didn’t either. Says Midwest to me.”
Fitz told Mason that he’d assign a couple assistants to start going through passport control records for November and December 1978.
“That’s a lot of records,” Fitz said. “It’s going to take a while. They started converting those records to computer fi
les a couple years ago, but I’m sure that 1978 will still be paper.”
Fitz said it would help if they could focus on one coast. Would they arrive in L.A. or San Francisco, or would it more likely be New York?
“I don’t think we can rule either coast out. If they’re from one side of the country, they’d fly through an Asian gateway city which would bring them into a California airport. If, on the other hand, if they’re from east of the Mississippi, they’d probably come through some place in Europe, like London. That would likely take them into New York.”
Mason asked if there was any more info on the victims’ stolen passports and credit cards. Fitz said they’d only just started gathering those records, but that it looked like the credit cards were being consistently used in Penang. The passports were a different story. Most appeared to be first used in Bangkok. Fitz said he was still waiting for a response for the traveler’s checks.
“Hey Mason,” Fitz said before the two ended the call. I recommended you to Anderson and all, but to tell you the truth, I really didn’t think that you’d ever be able to identify this guy. Nothing against you. I just thought it was a nearly impossible job. To have identified him and even have a photo is incredible. And in one week! Kudos to you, my friend. Great work.”
“Thank you kindly, Fitz, but like we said last night, I was incredibly lucky. Can’t count on stayin’ lucky. It’s going to get hard.”
“Still, my friend, incredible work.”
Mason then called Bob on the special line Bob had set up just for the two of them. It rang several times, then went to an answering machine.
“Hi Mason,” the recording of Bob’s voice said. “I’m not around this phone right now, so I couldn’t answer it. I have one of those new cellular phones for when I’m out and about. You can try me on it. That number is (813) 988-3081. But also leave me a message here in case I’ve just stepped away briefly. Tell me where I can call you back.”
Mason left a message saying that he was able to confirm that the ten-year-old photo was definitely Joey.
“I have my contact at the Penang police trackin’ down people who go by the name Yusof Zaina. Maybe our luck’ll hold. I went back to Tioman to get a positive ID on the photo from one of the girls. One-hundred percent certain it’s him. Flyin’ back to Melaka in the mornin’ to pick up my rental car. The plan is to check out the area around the mission, then drive back to Penang. Should be there around dinner time tomorrow.”
Mason told Bob the number for the Merlin but told him that he didn’t need to call back unless there was something pressing. He was going to grab dinner in the hotel restaurant and try to get a good night’s sleep.
Finally, Mason called Bo, who picked up on the second ring.
“Detective Jun.”
“Bo, this is Mason.”
“A picture and a name! Goddamn! How did you pull that off?”
“Long story, but the short answer is I was one lucky motherfucker. I’ll tell you later. Anythin’ on the name?”
Maybe, the detective said.
“There are twelve people named Yusof Zaina according to our people in KL. No real details yet, but I should have more tomorrow. I’m checking on passports because they’ll have a photo on file. I’m also checking on driver’s licenses for the same reason. Finally, I have a buddy checking records at the Army. I figured this guy is the right age that he might have served. Nothing yet though.”
“I’m on Tioman right now, but I have a plane flyin’ me back to Melaka in the mornin’. My rental car is there. My plan is to be back in Penang by dinner time tomorrow. Can we meet?”
“Yes.”
“I’m gonna have Boonsri book me a room at the Straits Hotel. Why don’t we meet in the lobby at eight. We can go to that little bar I like down the street.”
“Sounds good.”
“I have a lot more to tell you, Bo. Not over the phone, though.”
“Don’t tease me like that!”
“I’ll give you the details tomorrow night. But listen, buddy, you gotta keep this to yourself for now. Okay?
“Jesus Mason. Yeah. Sure. My lips are sealed.
“Amanda wasn’t his first victim.”
“Fuck me.”
“You got that right.”
His last call was to Boonsri. She had gone for the day, but he left her a message on the office answering machine with what he needed.
Day 13
Joey got up early and took the cash that he kept in a hidden safe in his apartment to Big Willie.
“Jessica’s the one,” he told the fat Thai. “She quit a high-paying job and told me that she insists on paying her share because she can afford it.”
“That doesn’t mean she has fifty-thousand dollars,” Big Willie said. “It means she has pride.”
“No. She has the money. And she’s starting to trust me.”
“Have you fucked her yet?”
“That’ll come. I’d like to. Believe me. But it’s the long play. I have to be patient.”
“Don’t be so patient that she starts to think you’re not interested in her that way.”
“You know, Big Willie,” Joey said with a grin. “This is a big difference between you and me. I know women. And you’re celibate.”
“I’m not fucking celibate.”
“Okay. You’re not celibate. You just aren’t getting any.”
“Fuck you, Joey.”
Joey handed Big Willie an envelope with fifteen-hundred dollars in it.
“Here you go. As promised.”
Joey told him that it might be awhile before he’s back. He said he planned to suggest to Jessica that afternoon that they take a small trip to Langkawi. If she agreed, they’d leave tonight or tomorrow. Depending on how that goes, Joey said he was going to say he should show her around Malaysia.
Joey was back at the Holiday Inn and waiting for Jessica at noon. Another day of sightseeing. She came down wearing a sexy sundress.
“You look. . .” he wanted to find the right not-to-suggestive word and then it came to him, “great!”
She smiled. “I hoped you’d like it.”
“I do.”
“What’s the plan for today?”
“Temples and monkeys.”
“Odd combo. So, there are temples with monkeys?”
“No. We’re going to visit some temples, then take in the Botanical Gardens. That’s where the monkeys are.”
“I vote for fewer temples and more monkeys. I’m getting kind of templed-out.”
“Okay. Then we’ll focus on the monkeys first, then see if we want to take in a temple or two.”
Jessica smiled. He took her hand as they walked out of the lobby to hail a taxi.
Jessica loved walking the Botanical Gardens, though she was a little intimidated by the monkeys. There are two kinds of monkeys at the Gardens. When people arrive, they often are set upon by long tail macaques. The novelty wore off quickly and there was little cute about the buggers. The creatures long ago lost any fear of people. They want treats. They’d snatch them right out of your pocket, if you let them.
The dusky leaf monkeys were a different story. They’re black but with white circles around their eyes. Jessica said they should be called panda monkeys. They’re smaller than the macaques and more reserved.
The Botanical Gardens is more popular with locals than with tourists. The air is so fresh and it feels cooler. There are also waterfalls that add to the beauty of the surroundings, but it is a grueling hike. At one of many stands at a small food court near the main entrance, Joey and Jessica picked up some things for a picnic. They found a shady, private space. Joey removed a small, thin blanket from his pack, spread it on the ground and they enjoyed lunch.
“I want to propose something to you,” Joey said as they reclined on the blanket, breathing in the lush scent of the abundant jasmine and other flowering plants.
“What might that be?”
“It’s okay if this idea is too out there. I won’t be hu
rt if you say no.”
“Come on, Joey, spill it out.”
“There’s a small group of islands just north of Penang called Langkawi. They’re beautiful and still, well, undiscovered. I know a guy who runs a place on one of the islands with a few huts. It’s nothing like Penang. Just endless white sand beach and jungle. I’d like to show it to you.”
“Hmmm. How long does it take to get there?”
“A few hours.”
“How long did you think we’d stay?”
“Two or three days.”
Jessica starred at two birds in a tree nearby. Their wings, back and tail were a bright turquoise blue. Their heads, chests and legs were a chestnut brown with a long reddish beak. While she was watching they swooped down out of sight, then returned to the limb. One had what appeared to be a small mouse in its beak.
“Is there anything dangerous about it?” she asked him.
“I’d never take you anywhere truly dangerous.”
“When would we go?”
“I was thinking tomorrow.”
She thought some more. When she left Seattle she hoped for adventure. Surely adventure could include South Seas sex with a good-looking younger man. Hell yeah, she thought to herself! Besides, Joey seemed harmless enough. Sweet actually.
Still, she wouldn’t abandon all caution. She’d not check out of the Holiday Inn. She would tell the manager where she was going and that she would only be gone a few days. She’d also write a letter to a friend back in Seattle. She’d catch her up on her journey, especially her past few days in Penang with Joey, then slip in the trip details about Langkawi. She had a flash that she was being paranoid, but it was what she needed to do to convince herself to go.
“Okay,” she said, looking back at him with a huge smile. “Let’s do it!”
Joey explained that they had a choice of two ferry routes. He said he’d always ridden his motorcycle up to Kuala Perlis for the two-hour crossing. There also was a ferry directly from Penang. It departed every night at 11 p.m. and arrived at Kuah on the main island at seven the next morning. He told her the Penang ferry was more costly and not especially comfortable for an eight-hour trip.
