After a nice bottle of Chateau Latour 89, which Charles praised accordingly, Paul began to relax. He told them then how he had met Louis through his niece, Jade, and how he had invited him to stay with them, once his friend Jacques had gone back to France. He shared a few anecdotes and the sisters were moved by his seemingly kind appraisal of their brother’s character. Paul though insisted that unfortunately he had not had the opportunity to know Louis well, since he had been often traveling for business during his stay, but he had nonetheless deplored his accidental death, calling it a tragedy. Unexpectedly, and the girls thought later unnecessarily, he went on to describe the fatal incident which had taken place not far from his property. His description matched the police report, almost word per word, and it was clear that he was intimately familiar with the subsequent autopsy, data completely missing from the initial police report Paul was quoting from. When he suddenly realised how distressed the sisters had become listening to his recount, he apologised for his thoughtlessness and quickly changed the topic to lighter subjects.
As if on cue, Lily brazenly brought up the matter of the jade necklace, pointing to the one which hung around Jade’s neck, who, at the mention, did not quite manage to conceal it on time. She explained to her host how she had coveted it from the very first time she had seen it when the young woman had come to Paris; according to her, she had been trying to find one just like it ever since. To clarify her interest, she launched into a quasi-believable praise of the stone’s virtues and the alleged hold it always had on her. Paul and Jade exchanged a quick look and the latter silently left the room, only to return a minute or so later with a small velvet pouch which she handed him. Delicately, he pulled on the strings to reveal three identical necklaces.
“Please accept these,” said Paul obligingly. “As my gift. And as a souvenir. Even your brother had one.”
“Oh we couldn’t,” replied Sophie immediately embarrassed by her faux pas.
“I insist. There is one for each one of you. You can fight over the colour though as they all subtly differ from one another…”
“You’re too kind,” accepted Stephanie, taking one at random.
Lily, likewise, had lifted one from the opened pouch, checking all the while that it was indeed identical to the now hidden one on Jade’s neck, and the one she had seen on the Thai boy and Louis’s deceased photos; there was no mistake. They were all identical except for the hues of the stone.
“They are so unusual,” observed Lily, her face a blank, turning the exquisite piece of carving in her hands.
“Why couldn’t I find one anywhere?” she mused.
“You asked around?” questioned Paul amused.
“I’ve been everywhere! First I went everywhere in Paris where jade jewellery and carvings are sold, but without any luck. And then I made it my mission in Bangkok, but again to no avail. Since I arrived on the island, I don’t think there is a single jeweller who escaped my attention either!” she replied animatedly.
“The reason could be that they aren’t for sale. They are made exclusively for me. And I give them to my friends as a sign of friendship…”
“But why the infinity sign? Didn’t you mention earlier that your business was more in pharmaceuticals than accounting? It’s so clever and beautiful though,” she insisted.
“Perhaps they are the expression of my Buddhist beliefs,” replied Paul thoughtfully, “and relates to our ever-evolving souls. Isn’t the principle of re-incarnation anything other than the infinite reproduction of the same set of principles?”
Lily nodded, slipped the necklace around her neck and smiled sleepily at her host. She told him she was too tired to enter a philosophical debate this late in the day, but that she was grateful for the gesture nonetheless. She then thanked her host for the delicious meal, begged off, said good night and began walking back to her room. Her sisters and Charles soon followed her. They agreed that they would debrief in the morning over coffee.
Yet once Charles’s door closed behind him, Lily and Stephanie, after making sure no one watched them, followed Sophie to her room. Lily opened the coffin-shaped box, displaying its contents, and as she did earlier lifted a couple of rolled marijuana cigarettes motioning silently to the other two to follow her. They walked a few metres down the path where they sat on a carved bench. They smoked in silence.
“What a waste of time!” said Stephanie breaking the silence. “What are we really suspicious of? What else is there but a series of coincidences? What are we still looking for? Every time we baited Paul, the answers were completely believable. I didn’t hear any animosity towards Louis when he spoke of him. Why would he or Jade have him killed? I can’t find any motivation for any of it. We just have to accept that Louis is dead and that it was an accident. Accidents do happen. We have now walked in his footsteps. We have been where he has been. That dream we shared didn’t mean a thing. I think it’s time we lay the whole thing to rest…”
After a few minutes, she added wistfully, “It’s true though that the dream gave us a few clues, like wearing cloaks and one was lined in jade and the pursuit of a jade necklace is what got us here; that the clock stopped on 10 and the official death certificate was signed at 10 which none of us knew since our parents did not show it to us…”
Lily interrupted her train of thoughts.
“Since we dreamt of an empty coffin, it was easy to jump to the conclusion that Louis was still alive somewhere. We came to Thailand to see if that was the case. Nothing so far though has shown us that he could still be alive. We can’t possibly start going around accusing people. And what would we accuse them of? Killing him and covering up his murder? Stealing Louis’s body? Sending home an empty coffin so we’d go through hell and back?”
“Are you two forgetting the money?” asked Sophie calmly.
“Oh shit! We did forget to ask Paul if he knew how Louis would have come to such sums of money, especially when according to the time frame we have been able to draw up, he was obviously one of the last people who had seen him alive!” exclaimed Lily.
“Perhaps I can help you,” said Jade’s singsong voice behind them.
Startled, the three sisters stood up and pivoted on their heels, peering into the darkness. Jade emerged from behind a wide palm. Sophie wondered immediately how long she had stood there in the shadows listening to their wild theories.
“I’m sorry for intruding,” apologised Jade. “I had been knocking on each of your doors to see if there was anything else you might need and when there was no answer, I thought you may have gone for a walk. Now that the rain has stopped, the night is lovely and when I heard your voices…”
In her hand was another joint, and Jade lit it. Lily laughed gaily.
“And I thought they may have been put in Sophie’s room as a way to entrap us!”
“What a strange idea!” retorted Jade, ignoring the jab. “I only caught the tail end of your discussion; you were wondering how Louis could have come into money, isn’t that right?”
The siblings looked at each other and nodded sheepishly. Jade continued, “It’s quite simple really. Louis, when he was here, helped Paul with his business. And Paul rewarded him for it.”
“Perhaps,” replied Sophie her tone heavy with doubt, “But I don’t think you have any idea about how much money we’re talking about!”
“Quite a lot, I imagine,” replied Jade unfazed. “Sayek Paul is always very generous. He can afford to be. To my recollection, it had something to do with his international business and the acquisition of overseas licenses for the distribution of his homemade products. Louis had to sign a confidentiality agreement so I can’t tell you much more than that and he didn’t discuss the particulars with me or anyone else,” she added passing the joint to Lily.
“It’s hard to imagine what kind of help Louis could have provided that would have been so well paid. I mean Louis didn’t have a plethora of university degrees nor a great deal of business experience,” added Lily, coughing a lit
tle after a long toke on the joint.
“But he was a polyglot,” countered Jade. “Something Paul is not. Outside of Thai and English he would be hard pressed to order a coffee anywhere in Europe.”
“True,” agreed Sophie. “However, he could have easily hired an interpreter or two. And forgive us for saying so, but, in our limited experience, the sort of money we are talking about is only earned by dabbling in illegal activities. Such as drugs.”
Without missing a beat, Jade concurred.
“Some of Paul’s most successful ventures, as he told you tonight over dinner, deal in pharmaceutical drugs, mostly based on plants and essences native to Thailand. The mark-ups on such products though are enormous. I believe Louis helped him obtain the distribution licenses for Europe. They are worth millions. Don’t tell him I told you. He would kill me. Women are not supposed to know about men’s business.”
“How very old fashioned,” smirked Stephanie sarcastically.
“Shut up,” interrupted Lily, frowning at her sister. “Actually, it would make kind of sense.”
“You can go check Paul’s company online. There is nothing sinister about it. It trades under Jade Inc.”
“After your name?” smiled Sophie.
Jade nodded, almost bashful.
“I still can’t see what skills Louis could have brought to the table…” murmured Stephanie remaining unconvinced.
“I’m sorry but I’d disagree: your brother certainly seemed to know all the right people and to my knowledge was able to reach anyone Paul targeted. They spent hours in his office discussing strategies and business plans,” replied Jade.
“Well, knowing everyone and anyone sounds like Louis. He certainly knew the most unusual people in all walks of life. Out of all of us he had the most unexpected, widest circle of friends. Look, remember his funeral?” said Sophie turning to her sisters. “Do you really think the church was packed to the rafters just because of our parents? Half the pews were filled with people we had never seen before and they seemed to come from all walks of life. Remember how the three-piece suits elbowed the studded leather jackets? Louis had a life that had nothing to do with us. This is just another example of it. Why see spooks when there aren’t any?” she added thoughtfully. “That’s Louis to a T and we all know it.”
“Except for the alleged ability to discuss business strategies and marketing,” countered Stephanie doggedly.
Her sisters gave her a playful push, asking her to let bygones be bygones.
“Time to go to bed,” declared Lily. “I’m knackered. Thank you, Jade. Don’t worry, your secret is safe with us. Thank you for enlightening us as to Louis’s gainful activities; the origin of money he gifted us had indeed left us puzzled,” and in saying so she pressed with gratitude the young woman’s hands into her own. Jade looked up at the three of them and asked shyly.
“May I ask why you came here to Koh Samui? Thailand is a big and often impenetrable country. Logically nothing should have brought you here.”
The siblings looked at each other: Jade sounded genuine and as desperate for answers as they had been hours before. Sophie decided to answer.
“We shared a silly dream. In our dream the coffin was empty…”
In the darkness they did not notice Jade pale visibly. Sophie continued, “…and we decided to put our mind at rest and try and retrace his last few weeks.”
“And?” asked Jade, her voice a mere whisper.
“And, nothing,” replied Sophie. “Our brother is dead. We never said goodbye; we never kissed his cheeks one last time. We never had the chance to tell him how much we loved him and how much he will be missed. We knew the documentary took place in the countryside outside Bangkok and that the death certificate had been issued in the capital but from there our inquiries turned cold immediately and we realised quickly there was no point in staying there. When we met Charles, as he explained earlier, he invited us here as he knows the island well. I think he felt sorry for us when we met him and told him of our loss. He has been widowed a few months and could empathise. Finding you again was a rather extraordinary coincidence, and meeting your uncle confirmed that Louis had been well taken care of and happy in the last few weeks prior to the unfortunate accident. Hadn’t we had a similar one ourselves tonight, we would have never believed the roads could be so treacherous. A car accident followed by attacking wildlife, no longer seems so surreal. That’s all we needed to know to have closure,” she lied seamlessly. “The dream was just nonsense but we bonded over it and that was also important.”
Jade shook her head in understanding.
“I hope you find solace soon,” she added smiling sadly. “I’m glad I had the chance to see you all again. You share the same smile all of you and a zest for life that is rare indeed. I miss him so much, every day, but I want to think that he is now safe and happy, wherever that is. Have a safe trip home tomorrow,” and with that she disappeared into the night, leaving the three sisters behind.
When a few minutes later, Sophie kissed each of her younger sisters good night, she told them how much she had enjoyed these few days with them, how precious their time together had been, how happy she was to have finally understood what had brought them here, all together that very night under the star-filled sky. Before she finally fell asleep, she prayed for the ability to forget the recent past and forgive her brother for leaving them too soon. She agreed with Jade though; there had to be a life after death, one void of strife and wants, one where the soul wandered happily and for eternity. Despite all the affirmations, a little voice though still kept nagging, begging her to beware of smoke and mirrors and keep in mind that often in the Orient, nothing was as it seemed.
Chapter XIV
Life Thereafter
Their parting at the Bangkok airport was full of tender tears. There were so many things still left to say but none of them could summon the strength to say the right words, sad as they were to part once again. They did not know when they would see each other next or what they would or should say to their parents. In the end, Lily and Sophie appointed Stephanie as the official storyteller knowing she would do a superb and thoughtful editing of their adventures. When their respective flights were announced, they hugged each other one last time. Charles, with his arm in a cast, had accompanied them and was sorry to see them go: they had been the most charming of companions and he had wondered more than once what their brother would have been like. Judging by the three women he had left behind, he gathered the young man would have been very much his own individual and sung to his own tune, just like them. And just like them he would have been full of life, very charming and quite endearing. The lawyer could not actually remember the last time he had so much fun.
On their last night together, the sisters had agreed that it was time for them to move on; whatever inconsistencies still tore at the corner of their mind were, in their opinion, best left unresolved, lest it drove them crazy. They were certain that further digging into their brother’s past would only end up sullying his memory. Moreover, carrying a covert investigation on home ground was one thing, on foreign land, however, it was a completely different ball game: they could have been seriously injured. Jade had hinted at the origin of their newfound wealth and it had made sense. Something also told them that trying to further deconstruct the facts which had been presented to them would likely be a waste of time. In a way it was easier to believe what they had been told than continue questioning it. It had been Louis’s life and ultimately his choices and nothing they could do would change the outcome. Louis had died in a beautiful country. By all accounts he had died happy, not wanting for anything: Paul’s property had been spectacular and if that is where he had spent his last days, they were pleased for him. It was so much better than the alternative, than the phone call in the middle of the night, or the police at their door after the discovery of his mangled body in a back alley. They had often shuddered at the probability and, all things considered, dying from a snakebite which h
ad been painless and quick, had been much better than dying from an overdose, without anyone ever knowing whether it had been truly accidental. In their minds, only one question possibly remained: did they fully appease their conscience once and for all? Did they give the dream the answers it called for?
Once away from each other, and upon their return home, each in their own country, their shared and recent experiences impacted each of the sisters in a very different way. In a matter of months, and thanks to her unexpected windfall, Lily, as a tribute to her brother, turned her professional life on its head. For her part, Stephanie began to question everything around her, from her relationships to her abilities, unable at first to ward off the void left by the death she still could not quite accept. On the other hand, Sophie, also left bereft and alone, kept on wondering what stones she should have still turned over, her imagination refusing to leave her a moment’s peace, since she believed that some scattered pieces of the former puzzle still refused to fit together.
Lily thought the return trip to her home in New York would never end. After a layover in Los Angeles, she had arrived at JFK, in a city blanketed with snow. Once she cleared customs and had retrieved her bag, she dug through it until she located the cashmere sweater she had taken with her on the way in. In the cab though, her teeth shattered from the cold and the nosy driver, observing her through his rear view mirror, muttered more than once that she should have dressed for the weather. Lily had not bothered to explain she was returning from overseas, from a country where the weather was warm year round, and was relieved when she was finally dropped off in front of her brownstone. Confronted with a message bank full to the brim, she decided to postpone the return calls to later. Nonetheless she took the time to inform her secretary that she could expect her at the normal time the following morning. Her tabby pranced and prowled, refusing to be picked up, as a sign of silent protest over her prolonged absence. She ignored him and unpacked her bags, looking forward to a hot bath to strip fatigue and cold off her weary bones. She felt both tired and emotionally drained. All of a sudden her life appeared meaningless and without purpose.
The Samui Conspiracy Page 28