“Just ordered a beer,” Leo said. “Wasn’t sure what the local one was, seems alright though.”
“Yeah right, the local ones have been good so far. Gurkha has been the best I’ve had.” Jack turned the bottle in his hands. “Ahh, Everest. This is decent too.” Turning in his seat, Jack extended a broad arm in the air to catch the attention of a waiter. “Four of these,” he shouted, holding up four fingers of one hand and Leo’s beer in the other. Leo noticed Jem smile towards him while Kaitlyn glanced sideways.
“Where had you been before Pokhara?” Leo asked, slipping easily into the generic conversation of travellers meeting. Where have you been? Where are you going?
“Two-week trip from Delhi,” Jack said. “All overland, a lot of buses and trains. But tonight, it ends,” he said, as the waiter slid the beers onto the table. “Tomorrow we go our separate ways. Well, these two do,” he said, picking up the bottle nearest him, “I’m around for a couple more days. What about you?”
Leo had feared the question from the moment they’d started talking. He didn’t really know how to explain the reason for his being there without sounding like a fraud. He wasn’t a private detective. He was just a guy who had got to know a little bit about finding people because of some bad luck.
“Well, it’s a bit of a long story…” Leo said, pausing, waiting for a distraction or change of topic. Jack gave him none, encouraging him with a flick of his bottle.
“I’m basically here to find a missing person.”
Jack’s eyes widened across the table. “That’s so cool,” he said. “Who?”
As Leo started to explain about Allissa, about Stockwell, about the website, he noticed the girls stop their conversation and listen, too. They gasped at Stockwell’s out-of-the-blue message, looked excited when Leo accepted it, and smiled when he described his efforts in Kathmandu so far.
“How did you start looking for missing people then?” asked Jem as Leo took a long, restorative sip of his beer.
Pausing for a moment, Leo looked around at the people he’d known for less than thirty minutes but was already opening up to. At home, he didn’t talk about Mya, the website or his hopes of finding her. People seemed to treat him differently once they found out. On the other side of the world though, in the warm company of strangers, there seemed to be none of that judgement.
In fact, in the expressions of the three around the table, Leo saw respect and encouragement. Drawing a deep breath, aware of his heart thumping in his ears, he began.
“It all started when my girlfriend went missing…”
Chapter 38
“I’ve got it all planned,” Mya says as Leo walks into the front room. The afternoon light pours through streaky windows, lying in angular patches of orange on the floor. The mournful shriek of seagulls still audible through the thin glass. “We need to go for two months though,” she says, looking towards him, judging his reaction.
“I thought we said one month?”
“We did at first, yeah,” Mya says. “But then I looked at this.” She indicates the map stretched out on the floor between the sofas next to a pile of tattered guidebooks. “And by the time we’ve paid for the flights, we might as well stay the extra month. Come here, I’ll show you,” she beckons.
Leo pauses for a moment; he’s had a long week at the newspaper and wants nothing more than to sit and close his eyes.
“It’s literally the trip I’ve always wanted,” Mya says, beaming across at him and beckoning again.
With a reluctant smile, Leo crosses the room and Mya begins to trace their proposed journey with a finger, squinting in concentration.
“We will go to Mumbai first,” she says, “that’s on the west coast of India. It’s the capital city, although not the largest, but it’ll be great to see. A real introduction into Asia. You can go and visit the real slums and everything, see the people who live there... ”
Leo sits on the sofa and watches her, thinking about how much he wants to please her. As Mya turns to look up at him, he nods.
How can he tell her that two months is impossible? Getting the editor to agree to one has been hard enough. The problem is, with the recent takeover of the paper, staff leaving, things changing, they can’t do without him. The only way he’s been able to get one month off is by promising to check in online every couple of days. Though he hasn’t told Mya that yet.
“But you deserve the time off,” is what she’ll say. “They don’t care about you, they’re wasting your time.”
And the hardest thing is, Leo partly agrees. Maybe he is wasting his time. But right now, he doesn’t know what else to do. It’s his job, the career he’s chosen, and until something else comes along, it’s what he has to do.
“Then for the second month,” Mya continues, turning to look at him, her smile warming, thawing, melting his reverie, “we’ll fly over to Bangkok…”
Then there’s the decision he’s made. The biggest decision ever, he thinks. One, for which he’ll totally need a job. Weddings are expensive. But a decision that he thinks, looking at Mya as she talks of mountains and beaches and islands, adventures for them to share, will be the best one of his life.
Chapter 39
In the restaurant with the Chinese lanterns, Jack, Jem and Kaitlyn listened in silence as Leo told of Mya’s disappearance.
“I almost wasn’t going to come,” Leo said. “I don’t know anything about finding people in the real world, but I thought, what would Mya want me to do? So, I came out to look for this girl. Sounds pretty unbelievable, right?”
There were three silent stares from the others around the table. It felt strange for Leo to be this honest with people he hardly knew, but he was enjoying it.
“Wow, man, that’s awesome,” Jack said. “Some old millionaire has basically paid you to come on holiday to try and find his daughter?”
“Yeah, although it’s not really been a holiday so far,” Leo said, straightening with pride.
“That’s so sad about your girlfriend though,” said Jem. “That must have been awful.”
“Yeah it was,” nodded Leo. “I’ve had no luck finding her, she’s not been seen anywhere in two years.”
“Man, that’s so hard,” said Kaitlyn shaking her head. “I wouldn’t even know where to start looking, or what to do.”
“Well, that’s the thing,” said Leo, “most people don’t. There’s no clear way to even start, particularly when it’s in a different country and they’re adults. That’s why I set the site up.”
The other three nodded.
“You’re like some kind of detective now,” said Jack.
“How are you going to find her?” Jem asked.
“Well I’ve done a fair bit of research before arriving and started to trace her today. I know where she’s been. Now I just need to work out where she is.”
“What do you need to do next?” pushed Jem.
“Bit of an obvious one. Find a local who speaks good English. Even finding a hotel around here is hard enough,” Leo said.
“Yeah I can imagine… you’ll definitely need that…” Jem said.
“Hold on a minute,” said Kaitlyn. “What about Tau?”
The three looked at each other as though Kaitlyn’s idea had entranced them all.
“Who’s Tau?” asked Leo.
Chapter 40
Two miles away across Kathmandu, Allissa, Chimini and Fuli rushed in and out of the guesthouse’s seven rooms. Together they made beds, folded towels, swept floors and busied themselves with the finishing touches.
By the time the work was complete and the three sat together around the small kitchen table, the night had long since fallen.
To Allissa and Chimini, the guesthouse represented months of hard work. Months of calculating finances, finding the place, agreeing a deal with the owner, and now setting up the rooms for guests. To Fuli, it represented a future, a new start, one she could build for herself.
“I bought something for us, for this night
,” Allissa said, standing and crossing to the fridge. The girls followed her with their eyes as she removed a bottle.
“What is it?” Chimini asked
“Champagne,” Allissa said, continuing when the girls looked blankly at her. “It’s a fizzy wine we have in England when we’re celebrating something. You don’t want to know how much it cost.”
“Fizzy wine?” Chimini repeated.
“You wait until you try some,” Allissa said. “You’ll love it.”
Placing the bottle in the middle of the table, Allissa rummaged in a cupboard and pulled out three mugs of different colours and sizes.
“These will do,” Allissa said, remembering the crystal flutes which had adorned the tables of her teenage years.
Chimini translated for Fuli as Allissa rinsed the cups.
“This might make a bit of a noise,” Allissa said, removing the wire cage which kept the cork in place. Chimini warned Fuli, whose grin hadn’t dropped all evening.
As the cork popped in Allissa’s steady hands and a tiny stream of bubbles ran down the stem of the bottle, the girls looked excitedly from one to another.
“Now we have to do this,” Allissa said, pouring champagne into each of the cups and pushing them across to the others. “Hold them up like this.”
Fuli and Chimini did the same, touching mugs across the table.
Pausing, Allissa looked at the two young women. It was a moment she knew she wanted to remember.
“To the future,” Allissa said, watching their beaming smiles as she took her first sip.
Chapter 41
Tau, as it turned out, wasn’t local at all, but was from Varanasi in northern India. He had travelled with Jack, Jem and Kaitlyn and now was staying on in Kathmandu to see friends. They had heard him use a number of languages with local people, never failing to get what they wanted. As the three described him, Leo saw an excitement come over them, like they were involved in the hunt themselves.
“Yeah, if anyone can sort something, it’s Tau,” Jack said.
“He knows all the parties,” said Jem, grinning at a memory. The others lit up in return. “It was the end of the night, we thought things were winding down, until he piled us all into the back of a tuk tuk and sent us off to this bar. We were smashing it through the streets, no idea where we were going, but he found it for us. He knows all sorts.”
“He sounds like a good person to know,” said Leo.
“He would know exactly what to do,” said Jack. “He’s been to Kathmandu loads of times, so he should be able to help you with everything.”
Leo dared for a moment to let a feeling of positivity rise inside him. This could be exactly what he needed, an outgoing guy who knew the local area and could speak the language.
“Where do we find this guy?” Leo asked.
“We’re meeting him later tonight,” Jack said. “He told us about a bar here, his favourite place in Kathmandu. These two are off tomorrow, so it’s really our final night together. We’re definitely going to celebrate that.”
Jem was travelling on, down towards South-East Asia. Leo didn’t ask more, not wanting to think about the place where he’d last seen Mya. Kaitlyn was going home, back to Cambridge in England. She glowed at the conversation about her boyfriend picking her up from the airport. She made it sound like the trip had been a challenge for her.
Above them, the Chinese lanterns shuddered beneath the raw, orange sky.
Jack took a packet of cigarettes from his jeans and offered them around the table. Leo and Kaitlyn shook their heads, Jem took one. As Jack struck the lighter and breathed deeply on the cigarette, the end flared pink. A thread of smoke trickled to nothing, before he handed the lighter to Jem.
“Let’s get some food then,” Jack said, “then head over to this bar. It’s the place to be in Kathmandu, apparently. Come, we’ll introduce you to Tau.”
Leo didn’t feel like going. He didn’t feel like going at all. He’d planned to go back to his hotel and get some rest for a productive day tomorrow. But he knew meeting Tau could be helpful.
“Yeah, you totally should,” Jem said. “You’d enjoy meeting him, plus you never know what you might find. Imagine if we found her for you tonight. Like she was just there in the bar or something!” She laughed upwards, exhaling smoke.
“I’m not going to be out late though guys. I’ve got a long flight tomorrow…” said Kaitlyn, looking over her shoulder as the waiter passed. Jem and Jack exchanged glances. Eyes rolled.
More beers arrived, followed by the food. Bowl upon bowl of creamy, luscious, fresh curries, rice and breads.
“Most of the food here, apparently, is vegetables,” Jack said. “Tau said there’s loads of vegetarians because of their religions, but also because meat here is really hard to get.”
He pushed a rolled-up flatbread into one of the bowls of curries on the table for the second time and scooped it into his mouth. Kaitlyn looked at him disapprovingly. Leo was getting the impression that the other two didn’t mind if she left early for the evening.
“I don’t eat meat anyway,” Kaitlyn said, carefully scooping some of the creamiest-looking curry onto the rice she’d arranged on her plate.
“Ahh, you’re missing out,” Jack said, catching the eyes of the other two with a grin.
“The meat’s been a bit shit on this holiday anyway,” Jack continued. “You see the scraggy little chickens kept in cages on the street, there’s nothing to them. Not like the corn-fed fat ones we get at home.”
“This is pretty good though,” Jem said, finishing off one of the bowls. “Feels like I’ve not eaten in ages.”
“You haven’t, it’s been like two hours,” said Jack. “Mate, Leo, this girl can eat!” He flicked her a smile and she kicked him under the table. Leo noticed Jem’s eyes linger on Jack with the kick she’d given him.
As the four ate, the bar swirled around them. A group of young Nepalese men at the table behind them finished their colourful shakes and made off laughing into the night. The couple by the door slowly ate, deep in conversation. A large, plainly-dressed man sat in the far corner, away from the group. He drank a beer and looked frequently at his phone. He was at odds with the upbeat mood of the restaurant. More people pushed through the door, each bringing with them a lungful of dust from the gloomy street.
As Leo watched the others demolish the food, he felt an unwelcome stampede of jealousy, as though they had a freedom he’d lost. Jem and Jack, it turned out, didn’t know each other before this trip, but in the last two weeks had become very close. Seeing the looks they gave each other across the cramped table, Leo knew how they’d feel when Jem had to leave in the morning.
When travelling with Mya, Leo stayed up late, got up early and did everything they could squeeze in to a day. Leo couldn’t help but think, in the months following her disappearance, that if they had been more careful then maybe things would have ended differently. The thought still haunted him when he remembered her desire to see and do everything.
That was the attitude he would need to find Allissa, though. He would need to do everything he could, and meeting this guy, Tau, tonight may well get him one step closer.
Jack finished scraping the final flavours of the multiple bowls with bread, cleaned his fingers with a napkin and dropped it to the table.
“Right, let’s go,” he said, making to get up.
“I’m going back to the hotel,” Kaitlyn said, stopping his lift from the chair. Jack and Jem made a convincing attempt to dissuade, and Leo chipped in with some friendly encouragement.
“It’s been a long day and that bus has pretty much done me in,” Kaitlyn said, stopping their efforts to change her mind.
“Let us walk you back…” Jem said.
“No, honestly, I’ll be fine. The hotel is only there. Thank you, though.”
Kaitlyn stood, gave some money to Jem for the food and walked away across the restaurant.
Jack and Jem had seen Kaitlyn every day for the last two wee
ks. They’d gotten to know each other better than some friends do in years, and she just wandered off into the night without them even turning to see her leave the restaurant. Travelling friends can be savage sometimes, Leo thought.
Chapter 42
Outside the restaurant with the Chinese lanterns, the restless Kathmandu night pushed on. The traffic had subsided to the occasional taxi, storming past in a hail of dust.
Even in the day, Kathmandu was not easy to navigate. At night, when the only light seeped from windows and passing cars, it was virtually impossible. Each street organically wound from the next, as though it had grown that way over centuries. Jack, Jem and Leo groped their way through the puddles of light and darkness using the small beam from Jack’s phone. Leo reminded himself to make sure he left with the others.
After fifteen minutes, Leo noticed on the corner in front of them, a solitary man stood in the street. He was the first person they’d come across on the whole journey.
“That must be it,” Jack said. “Just like Tau told us. Can’t wait for a beer now.”
Jem agreed, walking closely behind him. Leo followed, looking up at the glowing shapes of windows which hovered against the sky.
“This is the sort of place you’d never find without Tau,” Jack said. “He always knows where to go.”
As they approached, the man in the shadows nodded and pulled open a door between the locked shutters of two shops, bringing the faint thud of music out into the street.
“Tau says this place has been going for years,” Jack said, his voice getting louder with the music. “Torro is the guy who owns it.”
Pushing open a second door, Jack stepped inside. Leo followed, wincing at the smell of beer and cigarettes and the loud thud of rock music. Around the small room people stood drinking, some in the middle, others leaning on a bar which ran along the far wall.
Kathmandu Page 9
