By evening, Jacinta realised that Cavalier was not going to make an appearance. She met with Azelaporn once more in his office. She did not have any suspects to present except for the Swede, but even then, she had only his photo, not him in person.
‘That is so bad!’ the chief said. He was not angry, though. He had slept off the whisky in the afternoon, and was now riding high on several cups of black coffee and a dose of yaba.
‘We can still say he is a suspect,’ she said. ‘We have his photo. He is missing. There is a second Swede who has gone missing from the hotel, but for two days before Mendez’s assassination. We have his photo too.’
‘This is getting better! And that Australian?’
‘We can’t find him either. He has left his Bangkok hotel and disappeared. But we have a few leads.’
‘Photo?’
‘Yes. There is a wiki entry on him as a crime reporter.’
‘Excellent! Then we have three suspects to present. Not so bad inside twenty-four hours! A good thing you have a boss like me who can bring the best out in you!’
Jacinta knew this was the yaba talking. For as long as it lasted, he would be optimistic and buoyant, and would take all the credit for everything that was worth taking credit for.
‘I think we should have a prime suspect, don’t you?’ he said.
‘But we don’t have any evidence. There was not one useful fingerprint in room fifty-eight.’
‘Uh . . . uh . . . uh! We find it, my dear; we discover it.’ This had always been the chief ’s word for planting evidence. ‘I think we should discover material on the Australian,’ he said, as if a bright idea had struck him. ‘This is what you do. You take fingerprint evidence from his hotel and you plant it in room fifty-eight at Majestic Suites.’
Jacinta was furious, but hid this to see how far he would go.
‘Did he ever say anything about the king, or any of the royals?’ he asked.
‘What are you getting at?’
‘Lèse-majesté is what I’m getting at. Has your Aussie friend ever talked about the royal family?’
‘Not to me.’
‘We shall find something. Half the lèse-majesté cases have been helped along by unusual evidence, where people dared say scandalous things, crazy things, such as that our beloved king shot his own brother to take the throne in 1946. Such a scandalous lie! Or that his dear, dear son has AIDS. How could anyone start such a shocking rumour! So untrue!’
‘He never, ever referred to the royals in my presence.’
‘Perhaps you should refresh your memory.’
Jacinta stared at him. At such moments, she hated being dependent for her livelihood on such an unscrupulous individual.
‘Your coffin’s here,’ David Rafferty said in a text to Cavalier from Bangkok, ‘but you aren’t. Or have I missed something? Are you in the coffin?!’
Cavalier allowed himself his first laugh in days. He texted back: ‘Sorry, David. Won’t be playing. Will explain later.’
Jacinta entered Azelaporn’s office again at 8 p.m. Two burly armed cops were in the room, and the chief asked them to wait outside. He turned his computer around to show her a screen with three passport photographs of Cavalier, James Bolt and Lars Nystrom.
‘I’ve had our facial recog people do some analysis,’ he said, eyeing her for a reaction. ‘They say there is a more than thirty per cent chance that these three people are one and the same.’
Jacinta scowled but said nothing. She had seen her boss pursue other suspects this way and knew there was no stopping him.
‘I have a plan,’ he said slowly, now without making eye contact, ‘and you will be part of it. I want you to contact Cavalier. The odds are that he is somewhere in Cambodia. You will tell him you have an escape route for him.’
Jacinta didn’t react.
Azelaporn added: ‘We’ve been in contact with Ya t’ing at his monastery in Phnom Penh. We have told him that all “kiddy fiddling” charges will be dropped and he can return to Thailand as a free man. That’s if he cooperates. If he doesn’t, we’ll round him up, bring him back here and charge him with multiple acts of paedophilia. Which means he will be publicly humiliated.’
Jacinta shook her head in disgust. ‘But he’s not a paedophile!’ she said.
‘That’s irrelevant. If he is charged, he will be stigmatised for life. The temples will never indulge him again.’
She said nothing.
Azelaporn continued: ‘There is something in it for you too. The Mexicans are willing to pay you a hundred thousand dollars if you cooperate in this. They like you, Jacinta, they really do. They loved the way you fought. They want Mendez’s killer as much as I do.’
‘I don’t do anything until you pay me six hundred thousand baht for the fight.’
‘Hasn’t it been transferred to your bank?’
She shook her head.
‘I’ll make sure it is there by tomorrow morning,’ he said.
‘And the two hundred thousand dollars from the Mexicans too.’
‘A hundred thousand dollars!’
‘No; two hundred thousand. I want a hundred thousand each for the families of my two murdered friends. That money is to be paid to me, regardless of what happens with Cavalier.’ Azelaporn took a deep breath. ‘Oh, Jacinta, Jacinta!’ he said. ‘I’ll see what I can do.’
‘What’s your plan?’ she asked.
‘We’re not going to kill anyone,’ he said. ‘We need a day to set this up. We’ll fly a contingent to the border of Cambodia and Vietnam, probably by chopper. Your monk friend is to make contact and take him down the Mekong in his boat. We’ll arrest Cavalier at the river border between Cambodia and Vietnam.’
‘Who is in the contingent?’
‘The Mexicans will send their own squad of three, with you as the arresting officer.’
Jacinta didn’t react.
Azelaporn added: ‘We need you to be there to make sure your brother monk and Australian friend don’t get harmed. I want to parade someone in front of TV cameras. It will be good for our department.’
‘Have that money couriered to my flat by midnight,’ she said, ‘and I’ll let you know my decision in the morning.’
Just after 9 p.m., Cavalier received a text from Rafferty:
‘Showed Big Betty to the guys. Can you explain why she’s so light now? Very baffling. Has your fat bat been on a diet? Plize expline. Coffin will be sent to Aus tomorrow. Cheers Chips R.’
*
Just before 11 p.m., Jacinta received a parcel at her home. It was the two hundred thousand dollars, made up of hundred-dollar bills. A half-hour later, she sent Cavalier a text: ‘Meet Ya t’ing at the Mekong jetty number 4 in 24 hours from now. He will take you by boat to Vietnam.’
Cavalier rang Jacinta. ‘What’s going on?’ he said, without saying who it was. ‘Why are you telling me this?’
‘That ride means freedom.’
Cavalier mulled this over. He knew that she would probably be sympathetic to his plight. Yet, it was also unlikely that she would risk helping him escape.
‘Will I have a greeting party?’ he asked.
‘It is your only chance,’ Jacinta said. ‘Take it.’
Then she rang off.