Guillaume stumbled out of bed early the next morning and headed to the kitchen. Why was it that he always felt worse after an early night and a good sleep? He made himself a coffee and picked up his guitar, strumming a few bars of a song he’d been fiddling with. It sounded terrible. His guitar playing was also worse after a good sleep, it seemed. He put the guitar in the corner and checked his phone. It was still hours before he needed to be at the hotel to play tour guide. Maybe he’d do a training session before he showered. He might even have time to do a quick tidy up, just in case Sienna wanted to see the apartment. She might want to see where Eddie lived.

Guillaume moved a pile of clothes from the sofa to a chair, took his muddy boots to the back door and cleared the plates from the top of the TV. Then he took out the rubbish. But after he’d put in five really intense minutes of effort, the apartment still looked like two guys lived there, which, up until a few weeks ago, was true. So he gave up. Who was he fooling? There was no way Sienna was going to set foot in the apartment. She’d take one look from the doorway and run for her life.

Eddie had once described Sienna as a bit clueless and stuck-up. A bit? Even if Guillaume hadn’t seen a picture of her, he would have been able to spot her at the airport just from Eddie’s remarks. It was almost painful watching her curse her mobile as every tout in Phnom Penh moved in on her. She was like a suckling pig on festival day – plenty of noise, but no idea about survival. He shook his head angrily, remembering how she’d sized him up even after he’d saved her from the mob, and said she needed a taxi when he had a perfectly good bike. It was lucky he was there at all! He didn’t normally check Eddie’s messages. He’d only looked at the texts because Sienna had sent five in a row.

But he’d also discovered some other things about Sienna. For a start, she looked incredibly hot in a wet silk shirt. And as much as Guillaume usually loathed stuck-up girls, and steered clear of clueless ones, there was something … determined, and passionate, under Sienna’s precious exterior. He also liked the feel of her body pressed against his back – even though he tried not to.

Yes, he would look after Sienna while she was in Cambodia because she was Eddie’s sister and Guillaume owed him. It was the right thing to do – for Eddie’s sake. It was just a shame she had a boyfriend – Eddie had never mentioned that.

Guillaume downed the dregs of his coffee and put the mug on the floor, then remembered he was trying to be neater. He collected his mug and shoved it under his bed, where he found his gloves.

He wandered outside, where his punching bag hung. He kicked it hard, and then again and again until the bag was swinging wildly. He steadied it with one hand and laid into it with his other fist. His mind drifted to Eddie – his usual sparring partner. He missed kickboxing with him, and the apartment seemed too quiet without him. Not that Eddie was noisy – just the opposite, actually – busy scribbling notes or working away on his novel. But he was good company, and a good friend. Well, had been a good friend. They were barely on speaking terms when he left. Eddie had let his right fist do the talking, leaving Guillaume with a broken rib. He had also nearly knocked Guillaume’s head off when he threw his mobile at him. Guillaume didn’t complain. He deserved it.

Eddie would still be here if Guillaume hadn’t screwed things up. But he’d gone over that enough, there was no point dwelling on what he should have done, what he could have done. All Guillaume could do now was to honour his promise to Eddie – to stay away and not go chasing him.

Guillaume gave his bag a final thwack with his right foot, then winced in pain. It felt like he’d broken it. He hobbled off towards the shower in pain, mad that he was going to have to let someone down again. He’d told Sienna that he was going to help her find Eddie. But how could he? He couldn’t go to the police or even the embassy – he and Eddie were in enough trouble already over their checkpoint screw up, without drawing attention to themselves. And even though Guillaume had a rough idea where Eddie might be headed, he wasn’t going to look for him. It would amount to another betrayal.

But that meant he had to disappoint Sienna. It shouldn’t have mattered, and it wouldn’t have if she was just another stuck-up, clueless tourist. She was only in the country for three days and she had a boyfriend. But it only took a second for Guillaume to recall the image of Sienna in the pool, and remember her determination to find her brother, to make him realise how much he wanted to take her face in his hands and kiss her perfect lips. It shouldn’t have mattered if he disappointed Sienna, but it did.

Guillaume was still fighting with the dilemma as he parked his borrowed heap of a car and walked towards the hotel. He wondered if Sienna had dried off since yesterday. It seemed like every time he saw her she was wet. It did nothing for his resolve to dislike her. He looked at the cloudless sky. So far, so good. But it was the wet season, so there’d probably be a thunderstorm by mid-afternoon. Knowing his luck, he and Sienna would get caught in it.

Guillaume strolled into the hotel, almost expecting to find Sienna fresh from the pool, still in her bikini. Instead he spotted her standing near reception. She was completely dry, her blonde hair smooth and straight, a long dress hanging loosely over her body and her hand being squeezed by her balding boyfriend.

‘Hey, Guillaume,’ Sienna called when she saw him.

She took a step towards him but the boyfriend held on to her hand. He clung to her like he was holding a child back from running onto the road, Guillaume noted with disgust.

‘Salut,’ Guillaume said, without looking at either of them. ‘Ready to go?’

Sienna’s boyfriend sighed. ‘Let’s hope this doesn’t take all day. I don’t want to be away from the hotel for too long.’

Guillaume frowned. ‘Really?’

‘Daniel’s not quite recovered,’ Sienna explained. ‘He doesn’t want to be too far from a clean toilet.’

Guillaume shrugged. ‘He doesn’t have to come.’

‘I’m coming,’ Daniel snapped. ‘I’m fine. I’m fine. Some fresh diesel pollution will do me the world of good, no doubt. Let’s start with the embassy.’

Guillaume took a deep breath, steeling himself for the start of a new web of lies. He looked at Daniel, so at least he wasn’t lying directly to Sienna. ‘I’ve already been there, and to the police. No luck, I’m afraid.’

‘Doesn’t surprise me,’ Daniel said. ‘People probably go missing in this country all the time.’

Sienna frowned. ‘Did they say anything helpful at all? Do they have any idea where Eddie might be?’

Guillaume shook his head. ‘They said they’ll let me know if they come up with anything.’

‘That’s all they said?’ Sienna asked. ‘They don’t need to interview me or anything?’

Guillaume shook his head. ‘I told you they wouldn’t be much use.’

‘So what are we going to do now?’ Sienna asked.

‘We can check a few places,’ Guillaume replied, leading Sienna and Daniel outside.

Sienna’s face brightened. ‘You think we might be able to find him ourselves?’

‘I’ve got a couple of ideas about where we can start looking.’

‘Great!’ Sienna said. ‘Let’s get a taxi.’

‘No need,’ Guillaume replied. ‘I’ve got the Mercedes in valet parking.’

‘Excellent!’ Daniel said, looking cheery for the first time since he’d arrived.

Guillaume laughed. ‘I don’t drive a Merc, sorry. I’ve got an old Camry that I borrowed from a friend.’

Daniel groaned. ‘This should be entertaining.’

‘You don’t have to come,’ Guillaume reminded him.

Daniel ignored him and they walked in silence to the car. Guillaume unlocked the doors and Daniel opened the passenger side. He leant in and looked around the interior of the car.

‘The front is marginally less revolting than the back,’ he announced to Sienna, stepping out of the way to allow her to sit in the passenger seat. He got into the back.

Guillaume rolled his eyes. The car was a bit dirty, but he’d seen much worse. On the other hand, having Daniel in the back seat was better than having him in the front, so Guillaume kept his mouth shut and started the engine.

He had no idea where he was going to pretend to start looking for Eddie, until he glanced over his shoulder and saw that Daniel was glued to his mobile. He decided their first stop would be somewhere without mobile coverage. He knew just the spot. There’d be no chance of finding Eddie there, but it would piss Daniel off, and Sienna might even find it moving. He knew he shouldn’t be thinking about Sienna when her boyfriend was in the car, but he couldn’t help himself – he wanted to impress her.

Sienna was every bit as nervous in the car as she’d been on the bike. ‘Watch out!’ she squealed every time someone cut them off or swerved into their lane – which was often. At least he didn’t have to worry about her arms around his middle, crushing his broken rib. He tried not to think about how her thighs had felt wrapped around his hips. Luckily, just at that moment, Daniel interrupted his increasingly X-rated thoughts.

‘Look, it’s the Royal Palace,’ said Daniel. ‘Built by King Noro-dom, in 1886, when the capital was first moved to Phnom Penh.’

‘It’s beautiful,’ Sienna said, taking her eyes off the traffic for a moment. She relaxed her hands from the dashboard.

‘The French colonial administrators helped to build it and there was quite a lot of Thai involvement in the design as well. The gardens are meant to be quite stunning.’

Guillaume glanced back at Daniel to see if he was reading the information from his phone. But he didn’t seem to be reading anything. He was looking at the palace.

‘I didn’t know you’d been here before,’ Guillaume frowned.

‘I haven’t,’ Daniel said, returning his attention to his phone. ‘I just remember reading about it a few years back.’

‘Really?’ Guillaume said. He felt a grudging respect for Daniel for the first time since meeting him.

Daniel didn’t answer. He was engrossed in his phone again.

‘Photographic memory,’ Sienna said. ‘He knows everything.’

For the next half an hour Daniel alternated between playing with his phone and offering his insights into the current challenges facing Cambodia.

‘I blame corruption and an over-reliance on aid for the countrys problems,’ he announced from the back seat, as they left the city and passed a slum. ‘It’s ridiculous – a quarter of the population lives on less than $1.25 a day. It’s one of the poorest countries in the world and also one of the most corrupt – number three in the world, according to one ranking I read. A dubious accolade, you’d have to agree.’

‘Right,’ Guillaume fumed. Daniel knew more about the country than he did. Guillaume was meant to be impressing Sienna with his local knowledge, but Daniel had it over him without even trying. He was bound to know all about Choeung Ek then, where Guillaume was taking them. But there was a big difference between reading about it on Wikipedia and seeing it for real.

‘Where are we?’ Sienna asked as they pulled up at the grassy memorial. ‘You think Eddie might be in a park?’

Guillaume shrugged. ‘Maybe. He gets contemplative sometimes He likes to come here to think.’

‘Here?’ Daniel scoffed. ‘What was he thinking about – murder?’

Sienna turned to Daniel and frowned. She got out of the car and slammed the door behind her. Daniel didn’t move. He sat back like he had no immediate plans to leave.

‘Are you getting out?’ Sienna asked through the open window.

‘I can see enough from the car,’ he said. ‘Eddie’s not going to be here.’

Sienna huffed and stormed off.

‘Wait!’ Guillaume called after her, suddenly having second thoughts about bringing Sienna to the Killing Fields – a mass grave. It was confronting, evocative – and it was bound to give Sienna completely the wrong idea about Eddie. She was going to freak out completely.

Guillaume called again, but she started running.