So profuse was the rain that, in the darkness which had simultaneously descended upon the jungle, they could barely make out each other’s silhouette. Afraid to move, lest they fell, they remained still. A few feet away, they could see Charles yelling something in their direction, but they could not make out the words. Charles, worried for their safety, promptly returned to the car finally managing to turn on the motor; bright headlights suddenly pierced the darkness. Somewhat relieved, the three sisters inched back towards the relative safety of the vehicle. With a slippery terrain which had already turned to mud, the few metres which separated each girl from the car took remarkable strength. They were almost within arm’s reach, when they were met by the unexpected: flash flooding had dislodged the front wheels of the jeep and the car had begun sliding backwards, breaking branches and gaining speed on its tumble down the hill. Charles, who had climbed behind the wheel as soon as the deluge started upon them, attempted to pull on the hand break but the car had a mind of its own: on its way down, the headlights picked here and there the trunk of a tree, boulders and fallen branches through the quasi-impenetrable screen of hard falling rain. The girls’ screams were all but obliterated by the overwhelming sound of the tropical downpour. They never heard the car finally crash against a tree. They only saw the lights suddenly standing still, a hundred metres or so below where they were standing. Scared, wet to the bone, carefully they began to trek back down towards the lights, praying silently that Charles was still conscious. As suddenly as it came, the rain finally stopped; little by little they began to distinguish the shapes around them.
Sophie yelled at the top of her lungs, calling out Charles name.
“I’m here, I’m all right. Be careful,” yelled out Charles, to their greatest relief.
The jeep’s front wheels had caught a fallen branch, throwing Charles out of the car. The lawyer had catapulted through the air but had thankfully landed in a thick patch of decomposing banana leaves. He believed a broken arm was the only damage. Falling down an embankment, the jeep had crashed against a tree; driving it out of there was now out of the question. It would need to be lifted out. Looking worryingly at Charles dislocated arm, Sophie tore away the sleeves of her T-shirt and after finding two quasi-straight bamboo stalks, which she broke under her foot to the required length, began to construct a makeshift sling to support his arm.
“Can you walk?” she asked solicitously once she was finished.
“I can. Don’t worry about me,” answered Charles, grimacing with pain. “The most important thing now is to get out of here and somehow get back to the main road. I admit that the idea of spending the night in the jungle doesn’t sit well with me.”
Carefully, they began the ascent back to where they thought they had been standing a few minutes before. The slippery terrain and the noises of the jungle around them unsettled their already frayed nerves. Their hands were soon raw from pulling on branches and weeds to climb back up the hill, their progresses hindered by Charles’s slow movements. They were so concentrated on their own ragged breathing and so acutely aware that at any time they could be bitten or attacked by the wildlife their movements could have disturbed, that, at first, they failed to hear the voices calling out to them. When Lily saw torchlights sweeping the trees a few dozen metres to their right, she hushed the others. Charles yelled back in Thai explaining that they had an accident and that he was injured. They were then told to stay where they were and wait; help was on its way.
Half an hour later, guiding their rescuers by yelling instructions as to their whereabouts, Charles and the girls were hoisted to safety. A hard top jeep driven by a white man was parked on the opposite side of the road. The two burly Thai men who had come to their rescue gestured for them to get in the back. As they climbed, the rain started again, falling in impenetrable sheets, slicing through the dense vegetation. The driver started the car and drove out very slowly. The battering rain made conversation impossible, the atmosphere in the car remaining quite tense with everyone acutely aware of how dangerous the driving was. When the front beams finally illuminated what appeared to be an impressive double door security gate which slid open on their approach, Stephanie cheered, relieved to see the first signs of civilisation. Wherever they were, shelter was within their grasp.
When Paul pushed open the front door and Jade came running out her arms laden with warm dry towels, she stopped dead in her tracks, staring straight at Lily’s uncomprehending face. Likewise Stephanie and Sophie stared at her open mouthed. Impatiently Charles grabbed a towel and started rubbing himself dry. Speechless, Jade handed each of the girls a towel. Lily recovered first.
“Jade! I can’t believe it’s you! What an extraordinary coincidence! We never thought we’d ever see you again! You sort of disappeared; we didn’t know what to think! What in the world are you doing here?”
Paul pivoted on his heels as if he had been slapped. What was going on? He looked at his guests more closely while boring into Jade’s eyes.
“Jade?” he asked rather bemused.
“Sorry, Paul,” replied Jade quickly. “These are Louis’s sisters. I met them in Paris. You remember I spoke to you about them?” she added with a tremulous voice.
Had the girls paid more attention, they would have noticed how pale their host had suddenly become and how visibly rattled Jade was by this chance encounter. Turning to the three sisters, Jade bowed and quickly introduced him.
“This is Paul, my uncle. This is his house. Please come in and let’s give you dry clothes to change into and attend to your friend’s injury. Then we can share a drink and talk. It’s the last place I ever expected running into you!” she added truthfully.
Adroitly, Jade ushered them into a large bedroom with its en-suite bathroom, inviting them to take a hot shower. Too stunned to react, the girls obeyed and removed their soaked through clothing. Jade had indicated that additional towels and fresh clothes could be found in the large teak armoire facing the bed. There they found soft cotton shirts and traditional Thai pants. Sophie showed her sisters how to tie them up and once ready, they stepped cautiously out of the room.
A young boy, sitting cross-legged on the other side of their door, jumped up when they appeared. He smiled and indicated that they should follow him. He led them to a vast room opening unto a covered veranda, which seemed to flank three sides of the house. Through the open windows, they could make out fairy lights, illuminating here and there clusters of small dwellings and the wet pathways between them. Their host rose as they came in, whistling approvingly at their identical outfits, as did Charles, who looked however slightly uncomfortable in the traditional Thai outfit he also donned. His arm though appeared to have been expertly bandaged. Inviting them to sit and take a refreshment, Paul proposed assorted juices and soft drinks. Sophie, though, asked cheekily whether he had anything stronger; some Dutch courage, was in her opinion de rigueur after what they had been through. Her sisters warmly concurred and within minutes warmed cognac snifters were placed in front of them. After a couple of sips, they all began to talk at once, thanking him profusely for his hospitality and his timely rescue: they did not know if they could have made it out alive on their own and they were grateful and sorry to impose in such a way. Paul, however, quickly announced that taking them back to Chaweng that very night was out of the question: the unexpectedly violent downpour had basically washed away most of the roads downhill. He would be honoured if they would be his guests for dinner, mentioning that providing overnight accommodation would not constitute a problem either.
A broad smile had now replaced Paul’s earlier alarmed look. After a few minutes of discussion with Charles, once the latter had had his arm attended to by one of his nurses, had allayed his fears that the girls may have come all this way in order to find Jade. According to Charles’s story, their original trip had been solely prompted by natural curiosity and a desire for closure; the three sisters had indeed longed to visit the country on whose soil their brother had died and s
pend some time with each other by the same token. The lawyer though had remained careful not to mention either his last name or his relationship to the girls, implying he had only met them recently, when they had bumped into each other at the hotel bar and struck up a conversation. His intuition told him that Paul may not be pleased to learn that he was the same man Louis had instructed a few weeks before. He would indeed be viewed then as the link which would connect the girls to Koh Samui and the only reason as to why they were now all availing themselves of his hospitality. Introducing himself as another countryman, in Thailand for a few weeks’ holidays, as a respite from his civil servant job, was a much better cover story.
Sophie had breathed a sigh of relief at the cordial invitation, smiling inwardly at the irony of their situation. By ending up in Paul’s house and thereby chancing upon Jade, they had accomplished exactly what they had set out to do. Moreover, they had done so in far a stealthier manner than anything they had dreamed of. They readily accepted the invite, of course, and only Stephanie noticed that Jade had once again disappeared. They chatted animatedly with their host, recounting the accident and telling amusing tales of their holidays besides. Paul took the opportunity to present them with his condolences over Louis’s passing: he told them how he had met their brother once or twice, and at first sight had found him very charming. He was indeed sorry for their recent loss. When another boy showed up at the door, keys dangling in his hand, Paul announced that he would show them to their rooms. They could reconvene again around 10:00 pm for dinner. Dying for a smoke, Lily then asked timidly whether Paul had any cigarettes she could borrow since the entire contents of their bum bags was soaked beyond repair. Paul confirmed that they would find all sorts of amenities in the rooms prepared for them and to ask him over dinner if there was anything else they might need for their comfort. He also suggested a lay down may do wonders to help them recover from their recent ordeal.
The four of them were led down pathways sleek with rain. It was now easy to distinguish small individual bungalows scattered through the landscaped gardens, in a way not too dissimilar from the layout of their hotel. Stephanie wondered briefly if they had perhaps shared the same architect, but her thoughts were interrupted as soon as she was handed the key to her own pavilion and stepped inside. Charles’s room stood almost directly across from hers, a few metres away, hiding behind tall palms and Lily was twenty-five metres to their left. When she turned the key to her own bungalow, located further down the path, Sophie felt an inexplicable chill run up her spine as if a ghost had just walked across her grave; in Louis’s former room, her sense of unease was unmistakable. Curiously, she looked at everything and, like her brother before her, marvelled at the furnishings, the well-stocked mini-bar, the sunken bath, the plush towels, and the silken sheets on the giant bed. On the glass coffee table she noticed a familiar small coffin-shaped box. She tried to jog her memory as to when she had last seen one and then she remembered Louis’s unusual gifts the preceding Christmas. There was no doubt left in her mind that they were on the right track. She opened it somewhat cautiously and saw stacks of cigarettes of different makes lying side by side, with what were unmistakably neatly rolled marijuana cigarettes. Not knowing whether to laugh or be alarmed, she ran back up the path to Lily’s room. Lily was still checking out the gadgets in her own room when Sophie barged in, enlightening her as to her puzzling discovery.
The law in Thailand was clear: anyone caught possessing drugs or distributing them could face the death penalty. Deterring foreigners by enforcing the law had become a favourite pastime. Thus, were they being set up or was Paul an exceptionally liberal host? Lily reasoned that if they were set up, their host lacked in apparent motive to do so: Paul would be as guilty of possession as they would be of consumption. Against all caution, she decided that the evening’s emotional events gave them a right to be a little naughty and they plucked a cigarette from the box put at their disposal. Paul, eager to learn more about his unexpected guests, had never turned off the hidden camera he had so skilfully turned on Louis. However, watching the monitor back in his office, he had not banked on the girls leaving the room and disappearing into the darkness either.
For dinner, the girls changed into the colourful silk chut thai hanging in their closet for their convenience. The traditional garment, consisting of a shawl like breast cloth worn over a pant-like skirt, had proved challenging at first, until Sophie showed her sisters how to properly tuck the piece of fabric at the back. Charles, on the other hand, sported a clean western style shirt over his own trousers, which had obviously been cleaned and pressed for the occasion. In the living room, Jade, who had joined them, appeared unusually pale, while she poured them champagne from a vintage bottle. Lily raised her glass to their host, thanking him for accommodations beyond par.
“Did you manage a rest?” asked Paul innocently, knowing full well the girls had gone exploring the grounds with a joint in hand.
“Slept like an angel,” replied Lily without batting an eye.
Paul, taken aback by her ability to lie so smoothly, gave her a piercing look and vowed to be more careful in the future. Obviously, the girls were not as innocent as first thought.
Jade had sat down on the arm of the plush leather sofa next to him. It did not take long before the conversation turned to Louis.
Gently Stephanie addressed her first, speaking softly.
“Why did you leave so quickly after the funeral? We went back to the hotel to ask for you but you had checked out and you had left no forwarding address…” she trailed, her tone slightly accusatory.
Desperately looking for the right answer, Jade replied a touch defensively, “Why were you looking for me? I was devastated. I just wanted to leave. Is that so difficult to understand?”
Taken back by her tone, Stephanie replied quickly, “Oh, of course! It’s completely understandable. We had only ever wished to thank you. We had wanted to thank you for making the effort to accompany the coffin all the way back to us. For talking to us about Louis and bringing back the album our Dad now cherishes. For obviously making the last weeks of his life deliriously happy. You didn’t’ have to come. I think most women would have stayed put.”
Jade flinched. Mistaking her reaction, Sophie jumped in, thinking they had unwittingly offended the beautiful young woman.
“What my sister is trying to say is that we were all very grateful for what you did. You made the arrival of Louis’s remains bearable. Thanks to your presence, we never felt it was just box of unwanted junk which had been sent back by some faceless bureaucrat.”
Paul, who had been unaware that he had been holding his breath during the short exchange, smiled broadly, and interrupted.
“My niece,” he said bringing her closer to him under his arm, “is by nature quite reserved. Accepting displays of gratitude is not in her character. She had done what she had set out to do, which was to deliver Louis back to his family, and it was I who asked her to come back home as soon as possible to grieve amongst the people who care for her.”
Sophie shrugged. There was nothing else to say. This was symptomatic of obvious cultural differences, as personally she doubted she would have reacted this way. But then again, how would she have acted had she been in her shoes? How long would she have stayed with her “lover’s estranged family” and bore their grief and their curiosity? In all truthfulness, she could not really answer, and thus left the matter alone. Dinner was announced, breaking the awkward silence. The table laid before them was artfully presented and made their mouth water.
As they come to sit around the dinner table, Charles, eager to change the subject, took centre stage, questioning Paul on his business ventures and about his life in general, but in a way that showed his familiarity with Thai customs, the questions never quite direct, his tone always earnest and admiring, and his eyes void of guile. The girls admitted to themselves that he was quite skilled in his interrogation and by fear of betraying themselves, remaining on the fringe of th
e discussion. While Charles appreciated their unusually subdued demeanour, Paul, oblivious to what he could not guess was over-polite behaviour on their part, and pleased by his guest’s interest, explained how he had, a few years back, seized the opportunity to acquire a large chain of pharmacies all across Thailand. His acquisition had soon been followed by a desire to manufacture his own products to cut down on overheads: it was, in his opinion, the best decision he had ever made. With a non-existing health-care system in Thailand, pharmacies were always everyone’s first port of call, well ahead of hospitals.
Whenever the conversation volleyed their way, the young women skilfully answered so as not to reply at all. They enjoyed the game of hide and seek but Jade was not duped. The women incongruously sitting here at Paul’s table were nothing like the ones she had met in Paris. Something was off but she could not quite put her finger on it, nor quite believe in the coincidence that would see them shipwrecked a couple of kilometres away from Paul’s house. The afternoon monitoring of their room though had revealed nothing untoward and whatever was caught of their verbal exchange had been nothing but mundane.
The Samui Conspiracy Page 27