“Yes, I tell you now.”
“Jesus!” laughed Danny. “Get on with it.”
“Well, Fon is own bar. She have bar before long time ago, but not good business. Then she have crocodile farm in Khanchanaburi, but not good business. Then she buy Captain Morgan’s Bar from farang (foreigner) called Jack Morgan. He Police from England. She want to buy cheap so she try to swap crocodile farm for bar. He go look, but not want. But she buy bar cheap anyway, because no good business and he need money quickly time.”
“Where is Jack Morgan now?”
“Fon not know. She say he have friend in Pattaya, also farang. He have good bar in Pattaya. Fon think they friend from Police and Jack Morgan say his friend is helping him to find new business. I cannot ask any more about this tonight, but I find more secrets tomorrow.”
“You did great Nok. I want to know everything you can find out about Fon and her crocodile farm. Has she still got it? Where is it? How did she know Jack Morgan? How did she come to know his bar was for sale? What’s the connection? What does she know about his friend in Pattaya? What’s his friend’s name? How long did she know Jack Morgan?......”
“Tee rak, (Darling) you ask too many question now. I cannot remember all questions. I am tired now, tee rak. You tell me again tomorrow and I find secrets. Now we sleep please.”
Nok pointed the remote at the TV and turned it off, then the bedside lamp and the room was in near darkness. Just the slightest chink of street lighting managed to squeeze through the gaps at each side of the heavy curtains, illuminated the room, but not enough to see properly. Danny felt Nok lay down beside him. He also slid down the bed to sleep and, as he lay next to her, he felt her arm and a leg wrap around him and her warm body snuggled into him. She kissed him on the shoulder.
“Goodnight, tee rak” she whispered, and within a few minutes Danny could tell by her heavy breathing that she was asleep.
Chapter 27: Pieces of a puzzle
Nok had showered and dressed before she woke Danny with a coffee in bed.
“Tee rak, coffee and you shower now.”
Danny grunted and stretched as he came to his senses. It occurred to him how lovely it was to wake up to Nok’s smiling face as she was handing him coffee in bed.
“Thanks, Nok” he sipped his coffee. “Jesus, that’s grand.”
“Tee rak, after shower we go breakfast eat downstair. You pay me in restaurant.”
“Nok, why do you keep calling me tee rak? That means Darling, right?”
“Yes. Better I call you this. Bar girl always call customer tee rak.”
“And why pay you in restaurant? I’ll pay you here if you want money.”
“Tee rak, I not want money. I just pretend for secret. Then everyone see you pay me, so just think same same bar girl with farang customer. I give you back later.”
“Nok, you are a good undercover detective.”
“Jing jing?” (Really?) Nok was beaming with the compliment.
Danny showered and dressed and they went down for breakfast. As the waitress brought their coffee Danny handed Nok 2,000 baht over the table. She took it and stuffed it into her handbag, faking her embarrassment for the sake of the waitress and anyone else that may have been looking at them. Nok was still dressed in her little gold shiny dress and could not be mistaken for anything else other than a bar girl.
After breakfast she took a tuk-tuk back to her room and arranged to meet Danny at 7:00pm at Captain Morgan’s Bar. She was going to start work at midday. She was hoping to find out more about Fon and her relationship with Jack Morgan during the quiet daytime in the bar. Danny went to the Family Mart shop and bought a pen and a note pad. He was getting a bad feeling about this case of the missing Jack Morgan and he decided it was time he started to make some notes. He also bought a bottle of Jack Daniels and some more cigarettes and went back to his room.
Danny pulled the bedside cabinet to a position in front of the window and pulled the chair from the corner of the room next to it. He opened the window wide and pulled back the curtains. He could hear the noise of traffic and people from below his window, but it did not bother him. He placed the ‘Do not disturb’ sign on the outside of the door and then poured himself a large JD and coke. He lit up a cigarette before sitting at the bedside cabinet to make some scribbled notes. He opened the note pad, but then took some time to smoke his cigarette and think before he started writing bullet points and reminders for himself. He started with the header ‘The case of the missing Jack Morgan’.
THE CASE OF THE MISSING JACK MORGAN
1, Girlfriend (NUI) lives in England and reports boyfriend Jack Morgan missing.
Pays £5,000 to find him and £1000 a month expenses!!!!
She states she gave Jack Morgan £10,000 because he was in trouble!!! Paid into his bank account at the Siam Commercial Bank?
Last spoke to him two weeks ago and states he was in UK last month, when it was his turn to visit her.
Why live apart?
Why pay so much money?
What kind of relationship have they got?
How did they meet?
How long have they known each other?
Why not inform Thai police of concerns?
What else has she done to find him?
Who else has she told?
She is worried something ‘bad’ has happened to Jack Morgan What and why?
2, Jack Morgan Retired Police Officer, West Midlands Police.
Moves to Thailand and buys bar (Capt. Morgan’s)…….Not Good business!!!!
Tells Nui that he needs money.
Why is bar no good?
Who does he owe money to?
Why is he in debt with a big Police pension?
Where is Jack Morgan now?
Who did what to him and why?
3, Fon states that she purchased bar from Jack Morgan.
Why buy bad business?
She states that she wanted to swap a crocodile farm for bar….BOLLOCKS!!!
How does she know Jack Morgan?
What’s the connection between these two?
When did she meet him?
How well does she know him?
When was the last time she saw him?
Has she got any contact details/forwarding address?
4, ENGLISH FRIEND!!!!
Who is he? Where is his bar in Pattaya?
How do they know each other?
What can he tell me about his friend Jack Morgan?
When was the last time he saw him?
How much did he know about his friend Jack Morgan?
Friends from police?
Did he know about money trouble?
Was he asked for help?
5, JACK MORGAN…….Where are you????
Why would he disappear?
Why not contact girlfriend?
Why not contact police?
Why not contact friend?
Family?
Why not leave me a fecking clue yer eejit!!!
6, CHECK
Bank Accounts…….Use/Movements/ Transactions. Any CCTV of withdrawals?
Passport…….Use/ Movements, when last used?
Phone account………Use/Calls made and received?
Last known address…..Any witnesses or sightings at addresses….Time scale?
Family…..Any contact & when?
Contract of sale Re Captain Morgan’s bar…..is there one??
7, ESTABLISH
A time line of events…….
Trace last known movements.
Who was the last person to see Jack Morgan?
Is Jack Morgan alive or dead?
8, EXHIBITS
2 Photogra
phs and his bank account number
Danny put the pen down on top of the note pad. He lit up another cigarette and poured another large Jack Daniels. He felt satisfied that he could still think like a detective when he wanted to. He knew that other things would come to mind as he investigated this case, and his new note pad would be very useful. As usual there were more questions than answers at the beginning of any investigation. His thoughts drifted back to Ying, the beautiful Thai detective who helped him solve the Sarah Appleby case. He thought about Ying and her gentle ways, her spiritual awareness. In turn he then thought about Ling, so much like Ying in so many ways. He was convinced that Ying had brought him back to Thailand on this case to bring him together with Ling. He started thinking about Ling back in Udon Thani. He wondered how she would be getting on building their new house. He thought about her laying foundations for a new life with him. He asked himself the question,
‘Do I love her?’
“Jesus Christ Mother of God! I think I do” he said out loud.
He knew he was going to have to put thoughts about Ling out of his head and focus on the Jack Morgan case, but not now. Now he was drinking.
Nok took a tuk-tuk to Captain Morgan’s Bar and walked into the place at 12:00 midday exactly. The TV behind the bar was on, but silent, showing a re-run of last night’s English football match. A CD behind the bar was also playing music into the bar. Neung was lying along one of the benches at the back of the bar fast asleep. The rest of the bar was empty. Nok took one of the bar stools and carried it behind the bar. She stood on it and reached up and cleaned away the burnt incense sticks, the old fruits and opened can of cola from the Buddha and spirit shrines high above the bar. She then stepped down again and prepared fresh fruit, opened a can of Fanta Orange and placed two drinking straws in the top. She prayed to the spirits first and then climbed back on the bar stool to place the offerings in front of their shrine. She lit seven incense sticks and held them smoking between her fingers and prayed again before placing them in the glass of dry rice which held them upright. Once again she climbed down from the stool and took a fresh garland of jasmine petals from her bag and held it between her fingers along with three burning incense sticks and prayed to Buddha before she stood back on top of the stool and placed them in front of the Buddha shrine.
She turned the CD off and changed the football channel on the TV to a music channel and turned the sound up, not loud, but just loud enough so it could be heard. Then she started cleaning the bar. The noises of dragging chair legs awoke Neung. She smiled and wai’d to Nok. Nok stopped her work and returned the wai to Neung.
“Sorry I’m so tired today. We all worked very late last night and it was so busy. I had three short time customers last night. Now I have some money to send to my mama for my little boy. You bring good luck to this bar Khun Nok. Ka.”
“You are kind to say such things, but I think it is a nice bar and you have beautiful ladies working here. Can I make you coffee?”
“Just water please. Thank you, ka.”
Neung liked Nok. Already a new pecking order had emerged and Nok was now only second to Fon. She thought that Nok was very kind, had a good heart and a gentle way about her. Nok took a bottle of water out of the fridge behind the bar and took it over to where Neung was now sitting up and handed it to her. Neung wai’d once again before taking the bottle.
“Thank you very much. Ka.” She smiled warmly at her new friend.
“You can sleep some more. I will take care of the bar.”
“Oh no. I will help you now. I was just sleeping because I am so tired. We have never been that busy before.”
“Wow, never?”
“No. This bar no good. It is never busy. I am looking for a better bar, but now low season. Nobody want more girls.”
“How long have you worked here?”
“I get a phone call from a friend when Fon buy the bar and she asked me to come here to work. That was a few weeks ago. But the bar is not good business until last night.”
“Well, why did Fon buy it then?”
“I don’t know. She buy it from farang called Jack Morgan. She get it cheap because he needed money and he owed a lot of money to some people.”
“I still don’t understand why a Thai person would buy a bad business from a farang.”
“Oh! One of the people the farang owe money to was Sak Wannadee. He is business man and nephew of Fon. I think he told Fon that bar can be purchased very cheap, so she came down from Si Sawat in Khanchanaburi and had a look and bought the place.”
“Yes. Fon told me that she had a crocodile farm that she wanted to swap or sell to the farang, but he not want. So where did the farang go after he sold the bar?”
“I don’t know. He still owes Fon’s nephew money. Fon has spoken to other people on the phone who want money from Jack Morgan, but she tell them he has gone back to England.”
“When did he go back to England?”
“I don’t know if he did. I think it is just something Fon say to people because she doesn’t want Thai people coming to her bar looking for farang to get their money.”
“Wow! Very exciting story. Who are the people he owes money to?”
Neung flicked her eyes to the skies and sighed before she answered.
“I think not good people, but I don’t know who they are or why the farang has their money. I am happy I don’t owe them money.”
“So, if he didn’t go back to England, where would he go?” Nok was enjoying her detective role and was gaining in confidence with every question.
“I think he had friend from Pattaya. Fon said that he tried to get money from his friend before he had to sell the bar. The farang was a policeman in England and I think his friend from Pattaya was friend from England. Fon showed me a photo. I’ll
show you.” Neung jumped up off the bench and searched behind the bottles and optics on the self behind the bar.
“Oh!” she said. “It is not here.” She shrugged her shoulders and turned again to Nok.
“There was a photo of Jack Morgan and his friend from Pattaya behind the bar, but I think somebody throw away now.”
Nok had got excited about the photo and was very disappointed now it had gone, but she had learned a lot from Neung. She committed it to memory so that she could tell Danny later.
Chapter 28: Now we have leads
Danny arrived at Captain Morgan’s Bar by tuk-tuk at 7:05 pm. The place was packed again and Fon had called in an extra three girls for tonight. Nok was genuinely thrilled to see Danny and called out.
“Tee rak, you come back” and waved to him before he had even paid the tuk-tuk driver. Nok’s happiness in seeing Danny was counter balanced by the disappointment in the faces of the old guys who were in the bar last night. When Danny arrived their chances of taking the enchanting Nok back to their hotel room departed. They could all see that she liked the rough looking Irishman and he spent a lot of money.
There was not anyone there who wanted to try to compete. Besides, he had the sort of face, battered and scared by a lifetime of tough fights, which nobody wanted to argue with. It was only the twinkle in his piercing blue eyes and his Irish charm that made him remotely approachable.
Nok skipped to him from behind the bar and threw her arms around his neck. She kissed him several times and guided him to a bar stool seat. Fon and the other girls all wai’d to him.
“You want Chang beer? And lady drink for me?” Nok smiled.
“Jesus, what the hell.” Danny nodded and reached up and rang the bar bell to the usual round of cheers and whoops. Once again a tray of shot glasses was quickly filled with shots and passed around. Nok counted down from three and rang the bell again and everyone put their shot down in one, to more claps and cheers. It was going to be another busy night in Captain Morgan’s Bar. Nok winked at Danny
after he downed his shot. She had a lot to tell him tonight and had no intention of dragging the night out at the bar any longer then she had too. Besides, she was hungry. Danny had noticed as soon as he had arrived that Nok looked a lot more elegant tonight. Her dress was longer, not nearly as revealing as the little gold dress that she had on last night. She looked lovely and her makeup was a lot more subtle. Tonight she did not look like a bar girl, she just looked like a beautiful woman. She leaned in towards him over the bar and whispered in his ear.
“Tee rak, I not want to stay here late tonight. I want to go to same same restaurant on Beach Road, where we go first night we meet. I dress nice for you to take me there and not be shame.”
“I noticed, Jesus! You’re looking grand, so you are. OK. What time can we leave here?”
“Now, tee rak. Just have one more drink and pay bar fine for me. Maybe ring bar bell again and then we go. I have a lot to tell you tonight. I think you be very happy with me, I hope.”
They ended up staying for an hour before they finally walked out of Captain Morgan’s Bar and had a slow walk along Beach Road, past hundreds of little red tuk-tuks parked nose to tail the entire length of the road. Nearly every driver was either lounging inside his vehicle or huddled with other drivers on the pavement in groups of four or five. They all asked the question as they walked past. “Tuk-tuk?”
They found their restaurant before they reached the junction with Bangla Road. Nok ordered a selection of food for both of them, with a bottle of white wine and a brandy each. Fine mists of ice cold water were sprayed in front of the overhead fans from fine black hoses and it made the air cool and comfortable. It had been an enjoyable night so far and they both felt relaxed and happy in each other company.
Danny could see that Nok was very pleased with herself and, every time he looked at her, she beamed back a huge wide smile. Danny thought to himself that maybe he should have come back to Nok a long time ago. Even now, if he had not met Ling, then he would have been happy to be with Nok. She was a good person and great fun to be with. He liked her a lot, but he did not love her. Well, at least, not in the same way that he loved Ling. But he was so happy that she was here with him tonight and helping him on the case. He raised his brandy glass towards her.
The Kiss of the Dragon Page 11