Ling just smiled at her Mama. She could see the concern on her face. She reached out and held her Mama’s hand.
“Mama, it is OK. You can smile. I know you worry that Danny will not come back, but I know that he will. He came back to Thailand just to find me. He was guided here by the spirits Mama. You don’t have to worry about me. I had dreams about
Danny O’Brien before I had ever seen him, so I know we are meant to be together. Oh, and Mama, I know it is impossible to tell you are pregnant after a few days, but I just know. I can feel his love growing inside me.”
“OK Ling. Take rest now. We have another busy day tomorrow.”
“Mama, maybe we go to the temple in the morning. I want to say a prayer for Danny and the baby.”
“OK, my darling. We’ll all go to the temple in the morning.”
Chapter 31: Pattaya
Danny and Nok had left all their stuff in Patong and only took an overnight bag. They took a flight to Bangkok and then hired a car for the drive to Pattaya. Nok had found them a cheap hotel on Sukhumvit Road on the internet before they left the Lamai Hotel in Patong. It was already dark when Danny drove into the heart of Pattaya and his heart sank.
“Holy Jesus Mother of God ! There must be thousands of bars. Look, street after street of the feckers. Jesus!”
“Yes tee rak. Over two thousand.”
Danny did not know if Nok knew this as a fact, or if she was just guessing, but he did not doubt the number. He realised finding Jack Morgan’s friend was going to be a bigger job then he had anticipated. He had no idea that Pattaya was this big. They dropped the car off at the hotel on Sukhumvit and, after checking in, they walked down towards Beach Road and then along to Walking Street. Every street they passed was packed with beer bars, clubs and gogo bars. Here, every street was like Bangla Road in Patong, but bigger and busier.
Loud music and bright lights, beautiful girls wearing not much, all enticed the passing farang into their bars. Danny knew that it was going to be impossible to find Jack Morgan’s friend tonight. They needed a strategy. He told Nok that they would not look for the friend tonight. Instead they just wandered around and had a few drinks and got some food before heading back to Sukhumvit Road. They went into a Seven Eleven shop on the way to pick up some provisions for the room. Danny bought some more cigarettes and a bottle of brandy. The view from the room just overlooked the street below, but Danny didn’t mind street views and he liked to stand by the window to smoke.
“Tee rak, how are we going to find the friend?”
“We are going to conduct a proper search investigation to find him.”
“How we do?”
“Tomorrow, in the daytime, we will make a start. I’ll need a street map of Pattaya and we’ll have to mark out the main bar areas on the map. Then we go to every single bar if we have to, armed with the photo of your man. We eliminate them all bar by bar and street by street until we find him. It’s a lot of work and a lot of walking, but we’ll find him.”
“I believe you.”
Nok showered and got into the double bed wearing just her thong. She watched Thai soaps on the TV while Danny showered, before getting into bed next to her. He slipped down the bed and turned his back to her.
“Goodnight Nok.”
“Goodnight tee rak.”
He was not asleep when Nok turned off the TV and slid down the bed. He felt her warm body snuggle into him and her arm wrapped around him. They fell into a comfortable sleep.
Nok told Danny that there was no point in going around the bars before 10:00am, so they had a leisurely breakfast and several cups of coffee, while they marked out a block on the map given to them by the hotel. Danny decided to cover a square area covering Beach Road/Walking Street and along Pattaya Soi Song (Second Road) and all the little connecting sois (streets) in between.
“If we don’t find him amongst this lot, then we spread the net.”
Nok nodded, but she didn’t really know what ‘Net’ he was talking about.
They spent the next six hours walking the area they had mapped out, showing the photograph and asking the bar girls if they had seen the men in it. It was just after 4:00pm when one of the girls in a bar in Second Road seemed to recognise one of the men. She directed them to Charlie Brown’s Bar in Third Road. Danny always felt a surge in the pit of his stomach when he was onto something, and he felt it again now. They found Charlie Brown’s Bar, but it was closed. Danny checked his watch.
“Come on Nok, let’s go and get some food. I fancy a steak. We’ll come back here at seven. It should be open by then.”
When they approached Charlie Brown’s for the second time at 7:00pm, they could see a farang male and a Thai female behind the bar. Danny could see straight away that it was the man from the photograph. He stopped Nok in her tracks by pulling on her arm.
“Nok, that’s him. I don’t want you to come into the bar with me.”
“Why not, tee rak?”
“Because I might need you for something later on, so I want to keep my powder dry.”
Nok just nodded. Once again she didn’t know what Danny was talking about. She wondered what powder he meant, but she knew that Danny knew what he was doing.
“Where you want me to go, tee rak?”
“I’ll meet you back at the hotel. You must be as tired as me. It’s been a long day. Here, get some stuff for the room and go and relax, watch the TV or something.” He handed Nok 1000 baht. (£20)
Nok held it between her hands and wai’d to him. She beamed one of her huge wide smiles. She was not sorry to go back to the hotel and rest. She could not remember ever having walked so much in one day.
Danny wandered along the road and into Charlie Brown’s Bar. He was greeted by the pretty Thai girl.
“Hello, welcome.”
He sat on one of the bar stools and lit up a cigarette.
“I’ll have a Chang beer please.”
As the girl turned around to get a cold bottle from the fridge the male looked up from his newspaper and smiled at Danny.
There was absolutely no doubt that he was the man in the photo. He had some wispy tufts of hair at the sides of his head now. His big teeth were even more nicotine stained than they were on the photo, but this was definitely the man.
“What part of Ireland are you from?” he asked, as he grinned at Danny.
“Dublin. And I’m guessing that’s a Birmingham accent you’ve got.”
“Birmingham born and bred. The name’s Charlie. Welcome to my bar.” Charlie offered his hand and they shook.
“Danny O’Brien, I’m delighted to meet you Charlie.”
“Hiya Danny. Is it your first time in Pattaya?”
“Yes it is.”
“You’ll need a holiday when you get back home just to recover. I’ve got plenty of pretty girls working here. They’ll all be arriving soon. You can take a couple back to your hotel with you and party. I’ll do you a ‘buy one get one free’ deal” he laughed.
“No, you’re grand. I’m not here on holiday, but I’m hoping that you can help me.”
“Anything. What can I do for you?”
“I’m looking for Jack Morgan.”
Charlie froze for a moment and his reaction did not go unnoticed by Danny.
“I’ve never heard of Jack Morgan.”
“I’m not here to cause you any trouble, but I need to know what you know about Jack Morgan.”
“I don’t know who you are and I don’t know why you are looking for this Jack Morgan, but, like I say, I’ve never heard of him. You have come to the wrong man and the wrong bar. Your drink is on the house, but I want you to drink it and leave………Why the hell did you come to me anyway? Why do you think I know anything about Jack Morgan?”
Danny could see that he was r
attled, and was now very uncomfortable with Danny sitting in his bar. Danny saw him looking nervously over Danny’s shoulders and out into the street, scanning the street for something. He looked more than nervous. He looked scared. Danny stubbed out what was left of his cigarette and lit up another one. He downed his drink in one go.
“I’ll have a Jack Daniels and coke please.” Danny held the man’s gaze until Charlie looked away.
“No, I’m not serving you. Get out of my bar.” Charlie went to walk around the bar to Danny, but stopped again when Danny spoke.
“I’d stay that side of the bar if I was you Charlie. You’re not big enough or strong enough to tackle a bastard like me.”
Danny pulled the photograph from his pocket and placed it on the bar in front of Charlie.
“This is why I have come to this bar and why I want to talk to you. Now I’ll have a Jack Daniels and coke please. Charlie, you can either talk to me or talk to the police. It’s make your mind up time.”
Charlie turned to the Thai girl and held up two fingers.
“Two Jack Daniels with coke please, Ning.”
“Shall we start again?”
“Yes, sorry. But who sent you? Who is looking for Jack Morgan?”
“I’ll tell you what Charlie, let’s answer my questions first, and my first question is why the feck would you pretend you don’t know Jack Morgan?”
“I just don’t want any trouble and Jack Morgan is trouble.”
“Have you known him long?”
“I have known him on and off for over 30 years and, like I say, he is trouble.”
“I thought you were friends?”
“No, not really. Like I say, we knew each other a long time ago in Birmingham and we met again nearly a year ago on a flight from the UK to Bangkok. So we got chatting and, you know how it is, expats abroad sticking together and all that. So we swapped addresses and phone numbers and we visited each other’s bars a few times.”
“You look like good old friends in this photo.”
“We’d had some beers when that photo was taken. I suppose we are the same in a lot of ways. Neither of us has any family to speak of and we just found that we were more alike than we realised all those years ago in Birmingham.”
“So what happened?”
“Well, Jack being Jack, was up to no good and owed a lot of money. He was asking me to help him out.”
“How much did he want?”
“I don’t know exactly. I never gave him the chance to ask for a specific amount, but he talked in general terms of needing £100,000. I got the impression that he needed the cash quickly. I don‘t know how much of that he thought he could get from me.”
“Did you give him anything?”
“No. Jack Morgan wasn’t a person to invest your money in.”
“Wasn’t?”
“Isn’t.”
“He was a policeman, right?”
“Yes, back in the day. What we used to call a bad copper.”
“Were you in the police?”
“God no! I was on the opposite side of the law to Jack Morgan. Don’t get me wrong. I wasn’t that bad, but I was no angel either and we all have to make a living. Let’s just say that our paths crossed a few times over the years. He might have been the copper and I might have been the crook, but a lot of people trusted me a lot more than they ever trusted him.”
“So, who did he owe the money too?”
“I don’t know, but in Thailand it is bad for your health to owe money to anyone. I got the impression that his health was in serious danger, but I really can’t tell you anything more than that, because I just don’t know anything. I don’t want people coming here looking for him, so please go back and tell your people that he isn’t here and he is nothing to do with Charlie Brown.”
“When was the last time you saw him?”
“Oh, months ago. In fact, the day that photo was taken was the last time I saw him. He kept ringing me more times than I would have wanted since then, asking for money, but I told him that I just couldn’t help him.”
“When was the last time you spoke to him then?”
“I don’t know exactly, a few weeks ago.”
“What’s your phone number?”
“What?”
“What’s your phone number?”
“Why do you want that?”
“In case I want to talk to you again.”
Danny turned the photograph over.
“Here write it on this.”
Charlie scribbled down the number. His hand was shaking.
“Is that it now?” he asked.
“Nearly, Charlie. What do you know about his bar?”
“Captain Morgan’s. I don’t know much, only what Jack told me. It wasn’t doing any business and he wanted to get rid of it. He was trying to sell it the last time I spoke to him, but I don’t know if he managed to sell it or not.”
“Oh, he sold it.”
“Well, he could be anywhere by now. He probably isn’t even in Thailand if he thinks you people are still after him.”
“Where do you think he is?”
“I don’t know, but I do know one thing. If Jack Morgan has disappeared, then he is either dead, or he just doesn’t want to be found.”
“Who do you think ‘we people’ are?”
“I don’t know. Who are you working for?”
Danny drank his drink back in one go.
“It doesn’t matter who. The outcome will be the same.”
“What is the outcome?”
“I’ll find Jack Morgan. Thanks for the drink, Charlie. I’ll see you again.” He smiled at Charlie, but it wasn’t a friendly smile. Charlie was happy to see him leave the bar. He realised how much he was sweating and picked up a bar towel to wipe his face. Danny stepped out of the bar and through gritted teeth he hissed “Charlie Brown, you’re a fecking lying eejit.”
Chapter 32: Back to the Lamai Hotel
By mid-afternoon the next day Danny and Nok were back in the Lamai Hotel in Patong. Nok undressed to have another shower. Danny had noticed that Thai girls seem to eat eight times a day and shower four times a day, but, in this oppressive heat, it made a lot of sense to him. When Nok came back into the room, with the white hotel towel wrapped around her, she was still dripping wet and she finished towelling herself off in front of the mirror over the dressing table.
“Tee rak, how you know Charlie Brown tell lie?”
“Because I just know. He was a scared little man. It ruined his day with me turning up. He was lying alright. He knows a lot more about Jack Morgan then he was prepared to tell me.”
“So, what we do now?”
“We carry on looking, but we are going to need some help.”
“Who help us, tee rak?”
“I think I am going to need some work to be done by the police.”
“No. Cannot, tee rak.”
“Why?”
“You have to pay and, if it involves Sak Wannadee, and he a big business man, then two things wrong.”
“What two things wrong?”
“One thing. The police will go to him and tell him you investigate him and he pay them more money than you. Two thing. If he do something wrong he can just pay and have somebody kill you and nobody know. Better not go to police, and anyway, police already try to shoot you.”
“Jesus! You’re right Nok. OK. I have a contact in England who might be able to do some investigation for me.”
“What contact, tee rak?”
“Nails Lovatt. I trained him up as a detective at Scotland Yard years ago. He was a grand fella, but then he met some woman and had to transfer up north into the West Midlands Police. If I can get hold of him he might be very useful, especially as o
ne of his own fellow officers is now missing.”
“Good you think this, tee rak.”
“Yes Nok. You did good. You were right to tell me about the police here. I’ll see what they can do back in the UK for me, but there is somebody else who I know here who can help us.”
“Help us do what, tee rak?”
“I want some work doing with the phone numbers I have for Jack Morgan and Charlie Brown. When I was here last year there was a little old Chinese fella, Mr. Ching, or something like that. He had a bike shop, but also did all sorts of repair work and high tech stuff. He seemed to have contacts. I think I can find his shop. I’m hoping he will be able to turn something up for me with the mobile phone work.”
“We go see him today?”
“We go as soon as you are dressed, and then we need an internet café. I have to get hold of Nails Lovatt. They are six or seven hours behind us in England, so I should be able to catch him at work, if he still works that is.”
“OK. I ready quickly time, no problem. This is exciting, tee rak.”
“It will be even more exciting tomorrow.”
“Why, Tee rak?”
“Because tomorrow we are going to Kanchanaburi to find a crocodile farm.”
“Wow! Jing jing?” (really?)
They called into the first internet café they came to along Rat-u-Thit Road and Danny searched the West Midlands Police on Google and then phoned the number on Skype. After various press number now options, he spoke to a telephone operator.
“Good morning. West Midlands Police. How can I help you?”
“Hello there. Can I speak to Nails Lovatt please?”
“Pardon?”
“Nails Lovatt. He used to work in New Scotland Yard with me, but I think he transferred to you lot about ten years ago now. Nails is a nickname. Sorry, I can’t remember his real name.”
“I’m just looking for you now, sir. Just a moment please…….Hello?”
The Kiss of the Dragon Page 13
