The Next Best Thing

by Wiley Brooks

  Joey waited until he was certain that Mason was gone, then dragged his body well off the trail. He pulled it through the jungle vegetation before dumping it next to a tree. Before he left, though, he went through Mason’s pockets to remove his wallet. That way, even if his body were found one day, identifying him would be hard. He’d throw the wallet away in a different part of the jungle. He also took the man’s watch. Once a thief, always a thief.

  Joey headed back toward the trail. There was a good chance, he thought, that the wild animals that call the jungle home would pick Mason’s bones clean. But even if not, the odds were small that Mason would be found soon.

  Back on the trail, Joey worked to cover the blood with leaves and other jungle debris. But there was a lot of blood. “Good enough,” he said, finally. He figured that a rainstorm would wash away the residual blood in the next day or so anyway.

  Bob Anderson wanted to be there when Mason captured Joey. He wanted to watch as Mason ended the man’s life, perhaps the same way Joey had ended Amanda’s. That would be justice.

  When Mason had called him from the mainland, it was clear that he’d find Joey in the next day or two. It took Bob less than thirty minutes of thinking about it after the phone call to book the next flight to Kuala Lumpur. From KL, he took a local carrier to Kota Bahru, then hired a taxi to take him to the jetty in Kota Besut. He was exhausted, yet excited. He had missed the last ferry to the islands, so he found a room in the one fleabag hotel he saw.

  The next morning Bob was on Perhentian Besar, not knowing that he was literally retracing Mason’s steps from the day before. He spent until mid-afternoon looking for them on the big island. He had the faxes of Joey and Jessica’s photos, but decided it would look too official to show them. Instead, he noticed that nearly everyone was in their twenties with few of those he met being Americans.

  He didn’t even ask about Joey. Instead, he said he was looking for his niece, a red-haired American woman in her early thirties. One couple eyed him suspiciously and said that another American had been asking a red-headed girl the day before. He soon exhausted the few places to stay on Besar. He took a boat to Kecil.

  It didn’t take long. A backpacker he asked at the jetty had seen her on Long Beach. “Don’t see many gingers here, mate,” the young man said in an English accent. “Especially on such a pretty bird.” The fellow said Bob could either take the trail or go by boat. “I think she’s at the Majestic Turtle. There are only two places. If she’s not there, she’ll be at the other.”

  Bob headed back down to the water and hired a young man with a boat to take him to the Majestic Turtle. Bob was walking up from the beach in front of the Majestic Turtle a few minutes later.

  As he approached, he stopped in his tracks and turned around to keep from staring. Jessica was sitting at a table in the dining area of the little complex. No sign of Mason or Joey. He composed himself, turned back around and continued. A Malaysian man was working in the kitchen, saw him and came over and greeted him with a smile.

  “Welcome, my friend. Would you like a bungalow?” Umar asked.

  “Yes. Hi,” he said. “I’m Bob Anderson. I’m looking for a friend who would have gotten here in the last day or two. Maybe you’ve seen him. His name is Mason. He’s an American. About forty years old.”

  “Yes,” Umar said. “Mason here. He in bungalow 4, but he’s not there now. I saw him walk up the beach a little while ago. You want to wait? Want food? Drink?”

  “Sure. Do you have a bungalow I can take?”

  “Yes. Number 5 is next to Mason. Ten ringgit.”

  Bob pulled out some cash and gave the man twenty ringgits for two nights. “I might stay longer. It’s up to my friend.”

  He ordered a Coca Cola and a chicken and vegetables stir-fry, then headed over to bungalow 5, a basic one-room wooden cabin with a platform bed and built-in nightstand. There was a small toilet area behind a wall with a hose that could be used to fill the toilet tank or be used as a shower. He threw his pack on the bed, then headed back to the dining area. Jessica was no longer there.

  “I’m Umar,” the Malaysian man said as he brought Bob his food and Coke. “I’m the manager.”

  “Nice to meet you, Umar.”

  He sat there, devouring his lunch. The stir-fry came with a small bowl of chili flakes to sprinkle on his food if he wished it to be spicier. Damn, it had been too long since breakfast, he was hungry, and it was good.

  Bob looked up from his lunch and saw Joey approaching from a trail down the beach.

  Every inch of him wanted to jump up and beat the living daylights out of the man. He so wanted to hurt him. Hell, he wanted to beat him to death. But he talked himself down while forcing himself not to stare at the man. Mason would have a plan. Besides, Mason was the hired killer. He should let Mason do what Mason does. He would just like to watch it happen. When he heard himself say that in his mind, that he wanted to watch, he told himself it was a sick thought. Then, just as quickly, said he didn’t care.

  Joey passed within four feet of him as he strode through the dining area to bungalow 6. Not only was Joey here. He was in the very next hut.

  He had half-expected to see Mason tracking behind Joey. But thirty minutes passed and no Mason.

  After throwing leaves on the bloody path, Joey had continued on the trail. He descended the mountain to the other side of the island. He stopped to wash the blood off his hands in the surf. Then he headed south to a different trail head that would connect him back to the island’s east shore just below the Majestic Turtle. As he approached the bungalow village, he saw Jessica standing on the front porch of their cabin.

  “I needed that,” he said with a smile as he approached her. “Let’s talk. There’s something I need to tell you. Then I think I should talk to Mason. Clear the air. I’m sure he’ll see that he has the wrong guy.”

  They went back inside their cabin.

  “I think I figured out what’s going on,” he said as they sat on the bed. “There is a sliver of truth to what Mason told you. I should have told you myself back in the Highlands.”

  “What about that awful story could be true?”

  “When I got the idea for Bungalow Paradise, I decided I needed to look the part of a businessman. I would need a potential investor to take me seriously. All I had was backpacker stuff. I found a tailor in George Town to make me some professional-looking clothes. You know, a suit, dress slacks, a few shirts. The guy asked me why I was doing it?

  “I told him all about my idea and how I needed another fifty thousand dollars and that meant finding an investor.”

  “Was his name Big Willie?”

  “Yeah. That’s him. When I went back for my first fitting, this Big Willie guy says that with my looks I should be able to get the money out of a woman traveling alone. He said women in their thirties and forties – your age – traveling alone usually have money in the bank back home. I should have cut him off, right then, but I kept listening.”

  Joey told her how his tailor walked him through a scheme to romance a woman, get her to trust him enough to put the fifty thousand in his business, then let her catch him in bed with another woman. He said she’d want out, but that he had associates in Singapore who could set up the transaction to make it virtually impossible for her to get her money back.

  “I’m ashamed of all this, Jess.” He took a deep breath and looked directly in her eyes. “I didn’t meet you by accident. I targeted you. . .”

  “What?! Fuck, Joey!”

  “It wasn’t like me, Jess. Then something happened that I just didn’t see coming. You took my heart and made it your own. I love you, Jess, with every shred of my being.”

  She let the love comment pass.

  “So, the difference between your story and Mason’s is that you weren’t going to kill me, but cheat on me so I’d leave you.”

  “Yeah.”

  They sat in silence for a bit.

  “There came a point when we were in the Highlands
,” Joey continued, “that I realized I could never cheat on you. I struggled with whether I should tell you. I made the wrong decision. I decided that there was no reason why I had to tell you because, apart from choosing you on purpose, I never did anything else that I regretted. I’ve been honest with you since.”

  “Christ, Joey. I don’t know what to make of this.”

  She stared at him and he kept her locked in his gaze. Finally, she asked him about the seven murdered girls.

  “Why did this Big Willie guy tell Mason you killed them?” she asked.

  “I can only guess,” he said. “I think Big Willie is covering for someone. I mean I only knew the guy a short time, but it was clear to me that he wasn’t just a tailor. He even connected me to the people in Singapore to draw up my business papers and come up with the way to shield the money. The guy was clearly in some kind of underworld crime ring or something.

  “Here’s what I think. The real killer is someone he’s protecting for some reason. It was easy to give me up and make me look guilty.”

  Jess look at him softened. It seemed to make sense. At least it was plausible.

  “I need to talk with Mason,” Joey said. “I’m sure if I spell it all out to him, he’ll see that what I’m saying is true. The only thing I’m guilty of is deceiving you. While I’m ashamed of doing that, it’s not illegal. I never actually did it. He’ll see I’m not his man.”

  They sat quietly for a minute. Then Jessica broke the silence.

  “What now?” she asked.

  “We have to talk with Mason. Is he around?”

  “I haven’t seen him since he and I spoke earlier today.”

  They walked together to Mason’s bungalow and knocked. Of course, Joey knew there would be no answer.

  “We’ll catch him at dinner,” Joey told her.

  “Unless he’s in Kuala Besut calling the detective.”

  “That wouldn’t be good,” Joey answered. “The law here isn’t like it is in the US. Once you’re arrested, it can be a fast track to being convicted. If what Mason told you is what they think, I could be convicted and hung before you could blink an eye.”

  Bob was about to head to his bungalow when he heard Joey and Jessica coming out of their cabin. They walked to Mason’s cabin and knocked on the door. There was no answer, so they headed toward the restaurant.

  Umar approached them, but Joey dismissed him. “We’re just going to grab a couple of our beers, Umar. Okay?”

  “Yes. Okay,” Umar said and retreated to the kitchen. Joey followed him there and returned moments later with two frosty cold Tiger beers.

  Jessica was indeed striking. It wasn’t just her red hair. Yes, the hair was the first thing anyone would notice about her. What drew him in was her shimmering green eyes. The color would be at home in the jungle that engulfed them. They say that eyes are the windows to the soul and looking, even briefly, at Jessica’s eyes he felt he knew the truth behind the cliché.

  In her eyes Bob caught a glimpse not of a successful, self-assured woman. He saw a young girl torn between two bad choices. He remembered seeing that same vulnerable look in his Amanda. She was maybe twelve at the time. She was holding a secret about her best friend, Cari.

  Cari had sworn her to not tell a soul that her cousin, an older boy of fifteen, was sneaking into her room every night and molesting her. Amanda had known it was wrong, that Cari needed to get help. But she found it agonizingly painful to even think about betraying a sacred trust. Bob knew his little girl well enough to know that something was seriously wrong.

  He began a slow, loving chat with her. Amanda opened up. Together, Bob and Amanda chose to speak first to the school counselor. It felt easier to do that to go straight to the police. The counselor knew exactly what to do.

  Cari didn’t speak to Amanda for months. Eventually, though, the two found the special bond between them again. Cari remains to this day…well, remained to the end, one of Amanda’s dearest friends.

  That look wasn’t anything he expected to see in Jessica. She was struggling with something. What, he wondered? Had Mason told her about who Joey really is?

  Shit. He was staring. He had to remind himself to try not to look directly at her. Still, he felt a fatherly need to protect her.

  Her skin was pale, a common trait for a redhead. And the sun had brought out her freckles that danced lightly on her cheeks. She was a beautiful young woman. He realized that she wasn’t that much younger than him. He acknowledged to himself that if it were a different time, he’d be attracted to her.

  She glanced over at him and caught him staring again. He made a face and mouthed, “I’m sorry,” then dropped his eyes to his plate. He took another bite and glanced back at her. She was listening to Joey talk but caught his eye and offered a faint smile.

  There was no way he was going to let Joey harm her. No. Fucking. Way.

  Bob strained to hear their conversation but could only grab bits and pieces. He thought he heard Joey say, “a couple more days.” Jessica didn’t say much, but it was easier to understand her when she did because she was facing more in his direction. He did pick up, “I wonder where he is.” Then, Joey said something, but he couldn’t tell what. He did hear her response. “The sooner the better. You need to convince him he’s wrong about you.”

  They finished their beers and rose to return to their cabin. Jessica stopped at Bob’s table.

  “Hi. You’re new. I’m Jessica and this,” she motioned for Joey to come back and introduce himself, “is Joey.”

  “I’m Bob.”

  The name sparked a reaction from both. Could this be Mason’s partner? Bob picked up two distinctively different yet subtle reactions. Joey tensed. Jessica looked relieved.

  “Are you Mason’s friend?” she asked.

  “Guilty as charged,” he answered. “Have you seen him?”

  “Not since lunch. He’s probably off exploring,” she said. “Do you live in Bangkok, too?”

  “Nope. Tampa.”

  At the mention of Tampa, Joey’s stomach knotted. He remembered that Amanda was from Tampa and her father was the one who hired Mason.

  “So how do you know Mason?” Jessica asked.

  “My company hired him to do some work for us. He and I clicked.”

  “He should be back soon,” Jessica said. “If you see him, tell him we’re looking for him.”

  “Sure,” Bob said.

  Jessica and Joey returned to their cabin. Joey had a new worry. Mason must have told Bob everything he knew. Why else would he have come all the way to Malaysia and show up now?

  Mason was not around for dinner. That troubled Jess. The only thing that made sense was that he’d changed his mind and headed to the mainland.

  “He’s probably just out somewhere,” Joey told her. “Let’s just hang close. I really want to talk with him.”

  They stayed at the table for the rest of the evening. Bob sat nearby. Joey knew that Mason wouldn’t be returning but played his role. He asked other guests if they had seen him. None had since lunchtime.

  At about ten o’clock, Umar told everyone in the restaurant that he was getting ready to turn off the power for the night. The guests all rose and headed back to the bungalows.

  It wasn’t a night for making love, though Jess did snuggle up to Joey. She eventually fell asleep. But not Joey. He always had a plan and now he knew that he needed a new one.

  He loved this girl and he had no reason to doubt her loyalty to him. He was sure that she would see the danger in his waiting to be charged with murder. Innocent people are executed in America all the time. She would realize, he knew, that Malaysian justice is far swifter. Charged, tried and executed in months, not years. He was confident he could convince her to run away with him.

  He also knew that she had money. Wallace had left her an insurance benefit, at least. They might could live off her money for the rest of their lives, if she were willing. And, of course, if they could get at it.

  Depending
on how much the homicide detective in Penang knew, though, simply getting rid of Mason might not have been enough. The detective knew her name or he wouldn’t have been able to track her credit cards. They needed to move swiftly to get to her money.

  A new plan started to form in his mind. They should give the appearance of waiting for Mason another day. Every day that they stuck around after he went missing would make them less obviously connected to his disappearance. But then they had to bolt.

  Joey was convinced that they needed to head back to the mainland to focus on two things. First, put some distance between them and Perhentian Kecil. But just as importantly, Joey felt, was to move Jess’ money into accounts with a new identity. God how he wished he could turn to Big Willie. But that was off the board.

  Then the next best thing became obvious to him. Big Willie’s Singapore family was probably even better at these kinds of financial issues. And they already knew who he was.

  When he and Jess got to the mainland, they’d need to head south. Mason was a private detective with no legal authority. Their passports – her real one and his fake one – would not be flagged entering Singapore.

  They’d go there and meet with the Chirathivats. Joey thought again about how much money Jess might have. Again, he told himself that it was likely to be a million dollars. That would be enough, he was sure, to interest the Chirathivats.

  They’d take a healthy cut, but it would be worth it. They could put him and Jess in a safe house, create new identities for them and create a scheme for moving and hiding her money.

  With new identities, they could relocate almost anywhere. The more he thought about it, the more he liked it. He just had to convince Jess. He was sure he could do it. In fact, he was sure she already was with him. He didn’t doubt that she loved him even if she hadn’t actually said it.

  He decided that first thing in the morning, he’d convince her that they needed to leave before Mason returned with the police. In reality, he just wanted to put distance between them and Bob and head to Singapore.

  Day 24