Cocktails & Dreams

by Lilburne, Guy

  “And every person who Mr. P starts a relationship with gets murdered by Detective Bee” said Suzie, finishing off Nok’s story.

  “Yes, you right” said Nok, clapping her hands together in her excitement.

  “Are we going to tell Colonel Wattana?” asked Suzie.

  “No, not yet” said Danny. “I trust the Colonel, but a lot of what Nok has just told you is guess work.”

  “Not all guess work, tee rak” said Nok.

  “So how can we prove she is the killer?” asked Meiwa.

  “We need to make plan. That’s why we call meeting tonight” smiled Nok.

  “I have a plan” announced Suzie, and after a pause that was long enough to become dramatic she continued. “Bee fell in love with Mr. P and she lost control of her own life when he left her. She became obsessed with him and the only thing that mattered to her was destroying his life; hurting him by hurting everyone he loved.”

  “Yes, go on” said Danny.

  “She didn’t want to kill Mr. P, but she had to, because we were getting too close to him and he would be able to tell us about his history with Detective Bee.”

  “And you have a plan?” asked Danny.

  “Yes. We trap her with her own emotions. The same strong emotions that made her kill all these people.”

  “Jesus! Suzie, you are driving me fecking crazy. Have you got a plan or not?”

  “Shhhh! Tee rak! Suzie is thinking plan.”

  “What if Detective Bee found out that Mr. P had one more love in his life? Not just another love, but the greatest love that he had ever had in his life. A love that he told everything to. And what if she found out that this great love was coming to Phuket to speak to the police with some information that might be important to the case?”

  “She would want to kill the great love, to punish Mr. P in the afterlife and to stop she speak to police” said Nok.

  “Brilliant Suzie! Fecking brilliant!” said Danny.

  Suzie sat back in her chair and grinned back at the smiling faces of the others around the table.

  “Suzie, you realise that we need to bait the trap with a real person?” asked Danny.

  “Yes I know. We need a katoey who Detective Bee has never seen and is brave enough to be bait and might even get killed.” Suzie looked into the faces around the table. Nobody wanted to ask her, and then she burst out laughing.

  “I already know that I am the bait. Don’t worry” she smiled.

  Nok and Meiwa both got up and went to hug Suzie. All three were laughing and crying at the same time. It stopped as suddenly as it started when two waiters approached their table carrying plates of delicious steak.

  Chapter 37 Kathu Police District HQ.

  Danny had slept alone at The Holiday Inn Resort. The heavy-lined curtains kept the room in total darkness, but Danny was awake and knew that it was already morning. Without alcohol, his mind, like the rest of his senses, was sharper.

  “Jesus!” He sat up in bed in the darkness, rubbed his eyes and then his head, messing his already messy hair even more. His hand searched along the wall behind his head in the blackness for one of the room switches that would light up the room. When he found it he had to close his eyes again for a moment against the light. He checked his watch on the bedside cabinet. It was nearly 7:00am.

  Danny swung his legs out of bed. The floor tiles were cold under his feet because he had left the air conditioning on full blast at 16 degrees all night. He opened the curtains and watched the tropical rain bouncing 9” high off every surface that it lashed down on. He forgot about the rain as he took a long hot shower and pre-planned the day ahead. It was going to be a big day and he was thinking through all the possible options and possibilities. He wasn’t sure exactly how he was going to do it yet, but he was sure that he was going to go to the police HQ and bait the trap for Detective Bee. He didn’t want to over play his hand, but it had to be enough for her to take the bait. Danny knew that he was only going to get one shot at it.

  He ordered breakfast to his room. The rain was still lashing down and the fronds on the palm trees outside his balcony thrashed around in the tropical storm. It was a dark and dramatic start to the day. He turned his phone on and checked for messages and missed calls before his breakfast arrived. There were a lot of calls and messages from Ling. He didn’t want to think about Ling. He couldn’t bring himself to think about her. Not yet.

  He took a taxi to the police HQ. The Beach road looked like a river now and all the shops and stalls had pulled down the heavy plastic sheeting to protect their goods from the downpour. Danny rang Suzie on his mobile.

  “Hi Suzie.”

  “Hello darling, this is a nice surprise.”

  “I’m on my way to police HQ. When I send you a text message make sure you ring me straight back and just play along. OK?”

  “Have you got a plan to lay the trap?”

  “Jesus, I wish I had, but no I haven’t. I’m just going to wing it and hope that an opportunity presents itself to make it believable. I have got a few ideas and one of them is a phone call from you, so make sure you keep your mobile with you.”

  “Good luck Danny. I know that now is not the time to talk about it, but Ling keeps ringing me. You know that she loves you very much Danny?”

  “You’re right. Now is not the time. Keep your phone with you.” Danny ended the call and then typed in the text message to Suzie, ‘Ring now,’ but he didn’t press the send button and locked the phone instead. The huge umbrella that the hotel had given him, advertising the Holiday Inn Resort, gave him little protection from the weather as he ran from the taxi to the front of the police HQ, and the rain dripped off him as he walked along the corridors to the detectives’ office. He was greeted by applause and hugs from most of the detectives, who were all happy that Danny had come to say goodbye. Individually there were handshakes and wais between Danny and the detectives. Bee sat quietly at her desk typing on her computer keyboard. Pon picked up the phone and rang the Chief to tell him that Danny O’Brien had come in to say goodbye. The Chief told him he was on his way and to make sure Danny didn’t leave before he had seen him. Danny made his way over to the desks where Pon and Bee sat. Danny and Pon shook hands. Bee didn’t look at him.

  “Bee, how are you?” asked Danny.

  “I’m fine. I take it that you have been up to Bangkok to investigate the ladyboy murder that your friend in the American Embassy told you about?” said Bee, still avoiding any eye contact with Danny.

  “Yes I did, and up to Chiang Mai for the other murder.”

  “And did you find out anything interesting?”

  “I found out what I expected really. It was just like Sharron Haines from the American Embassy had said. There is no doubt that Peter Lawford is linked to both of those murders. He was in a relationship with both victims before they were murdered.”

  “He was a bad man” said Pon shaking his head.

  “Yeah, but we got him in the end” said Danny.

  “Will you be going back to Udon Thani now then?” asked Bee.

  “I don’t know where I’m going, but I won’t be staying here. I just came in today to say goodbye to everyone.”

  “The Chief is coming down to see you before you go Danny.”

  “Thanks Pon. I have grown to like old Colonel Wattana.”

  “Haha! I think he likes you too.”

  “Pon, I have taken the liberty of leaving your name and the office phone number on a few messages that I have been leaving for one last witness, who I have been trying to track down.”

  “Oh, who is that?”

  “Another katoey called Suzie. It seems that Suzie was his secret great love. His love affair started with her in Bangkok and she was with him again in Chiang Mai, and, at least for a time, it looks like she was with him i
n the United States. But she came back to Thailand without him. I actually think that Mr. P came back to Thailand nine months ago to find his one true love.”

  “Wow!” said Pon. “She doesn’t know how lucky she is to be alive. Why didn’t he kill her?”

  “I don’t know. I was hoping to speak to her. There was a lot I wanted to ask her. She is his only lover who is still alive, but I don’t know where she is and she never returned any calls from the messages I have left. I doubt that I have left the messages in the right places. Either that or she just doesn’t want to talk to us. Anyway, I’m leaving tomorrow. Tonight I am going to take Nok and Meiwa out for a meal and have one last night in Patong.”

  Colonel Wattana walked into the office and went straight over to Danny. The two men hugged each other like long lost friends, and, after some back patting, both men sat down around the desks of Bee and Pon. The Chief spoke in Thai to Bee and she got up and went to fetch glasses of cold water. Danny unlocked his mobile as he chatted to Pon and the Chief and, as Bee approached them with a tray full of glasses of cold water, he sent the text message to Suzie and slipped the mobile back into his pocket. Bee offered the tray around and then sat down between Danny and the Chief. The mobile in Danny’s pocket rang. He put it to his ear.

  “Hello.”

  “Danny, it’s Suzie. I’m guessing that you have come up with a plan, so good luck and I will just keep the phone open until you end the call.”

  “Oh! Hello Suzie. Thank you so much for getting back to me. I was hoping to speak to you about Peter Lawford………yes, that’s right, Mr. P…………….Yes I know you did and from what I have heard he loved you very much too…………..Suzie, I’m afraid that I have some bad news for you…………Oh! You know already. Sorry, I didn’t realise that it was national news……………..Yes. That’s why I was trying to contact you, but I’m back in Phuket now……….Are you? That’s fantastic. Suzie I was going to go home tomorrow, but if you are going to arrive here tonight then maybe I could see you tomorrow before I go………‘The Chang Residence’……No, I don’t know it. Yes, I know Nanai Road……Well give me your mobile number Suzie and I’ll ring you tomorrow morning and we can arrange a meeting.”

  Danny grabbed a pen off the desk and wrote the number down on a ‘post-it’ note pad. He deliberately pressed heavily on the pen so that the numbers would be indented on the pages below when he took off the top sheet and put it in his pocket.

  “That’s grand Suzie……Yes. I will be very interested to hear everything you have to say. I’ll see you tomorrow and thanks again. Bye.”

  “That sounds interesting Danny” said Colonel Wattana.

  “I think it might be. That was Suzie. I think she was the biggest love in Mr. P’s life, and she says that there is something we need to know. I’m going to meet her tomorrow, so we’ll know soon enough.”

  “What are your plans for today my friend?”

  “I’m going to relax and tonight I’m taking Nok and Meiwa out for dinner.”

  “OK” smiled Colonel Wattana. “Ring me tomorrow if this Suzie person has anything interesting to say that you think I should know about.”

  The two men shook hands again and the Chief left the office. Danny said his goodbyes and left. As soon as Bee was satisfied that nobody was paying her any attention she pulled the top sheet off the post-it note pad. She could already see most of the numbers that Danny had scribbled on the previous sheet. She took a pencil from the cup of pens and pencils that sat on the desk between her and Pon. She gently shaded over the indented numbers with the side of the tip of the pencil and, just like magic, the hidden numbers appeared as yellow in the grey shading of the pencil. She copied the phone number into her own pad and slipped the post-it note paper into her pocket.

  Danny spent the next three hours with Nok, Meiwa and Suzie waiting in Nok’s office. Waiting to see if Bee had taken the bait. Suzie’s mobile rang and the four of them looked at each other in total silence. Danny nodded at Suzie. She composed herself and pressed the record button on the phone. She answered it, putting it on loudspeaker so the rest of them could listen.

  “Hello?”

  “Hi. Is this Suzie?”

  “Yes.”

  “Hi Suzie. My name is Detective Bee. I work with Danny O’Brien.”

  “Oh!”

  “Danny has asked me to ring you. He said that he had arranged to meet with you tomorrow and he was wondering if it would be OK for you to meet with the police tonight?”

  “Will Khun Danny be coming?”

  “No, I’m afraid something came up and he won’t be able to meet with you today or tomorrow. He had to leave unexpectedly. That’s why he asked me to make the meeting with you. I am fully briefed on the case and Danny said it was very important that we speak to you.”

  “Yes, I think I might have some very useful information for you, but I was hoping to speak to Danny O’Brien, because the information is sensitive.”

  “Well, I’m afraid it won’t be possible to see Khun Danny now. Why do you think that the information may be sensitive?”

  “Well, I don’t think that Mr. P killed anyone and the information that I have may involve a police officer, or ex-police officer.”

  “Don’t worry Suzie. We will treat your information with the utmost sensitivity and it makes no difference to my squad who it is about. Danny told me that he thinks you might be a very important witness and I am looking forward to meeting you. I was hoping to meet you tonight.”

  “Yes, of course, that will be fine. I am going to stay at the Chang Residence on Nanai Road. I’m hoping to arrive there in the next couple of hours. You would be able to come to my room, if you want, at about 7:00pm.”

  “No. It is better if you come to the police station, but I will collect you from the front of your hotel. I will be there at 7:00pm. Thank you, Suzie. Bye.” Bee closed the phone.

  “We were hoping that she was going to come to your room. Now we have to plan for a car trip” said Meiwa.

  “And plan for the unexpected” added Nok. “Are you sure you want to do this Suzie?”

  Suzie gulped and she was looking scared.

  “Yes, I can do it. Just don’t let her kill me. OK?”

  “OK” smiled Nok.

  “I’m scared” said Meiwa. Suzie pulled her towards her and gave her a hug.

  “I’m scared too.”

  “You don’t have to be Suzie” said Danny. “You won’t be getting in the car with her. We are not going to get any more evidence then we have got already, well, not without risking your life. And that’s too much of a risk. I think it’s time we spoke to Colonel Wattana.”

  Danny rang the Chief and they arranged to meet in a bar in Kamala Beach. They ordered food and Danny told Colonel Wattana the whole story over a plate of pad Thai. Colonel Wattana nodded and listened with interest. The two men finalised the plan for Detective Bee’s arrest.

  “Colonel Wattana, I am very sorry that I didn’t tell you everything sooner, but sometimes it is best to keep some things secret. I hope that there are no hard feelings?”

  “Khun Danny, I understand that sometimes there is a need to keep secrets and I have no hard feelings” smiled the Colonel and the two men shook hands.

  It was dark by the time Bee drove into the cul-de-sac that ran in front of the hotel. The police woman dressed as a receptionist sat behind the reception counter and watched Bee’s car complete a three point turn at the bottom of the cul-de-sac and then pull up in front of the open fronted hotel. The rain lashed down and the windscreen wipers on Bee’s car, even set at high speed, could hardly cope with the downpour. The headlights illuminated the heavy rain with a yellowish light. Bee opened her Prada handbag. The handgun inside was not service issue. She had stolen it earlier in the day from the police store and she intended to return it t
o the store after tonight. She took the mobile phone from her bag and rang Suzie.

  “Hi, it’s Detective Bee. I’m parked outside the front of your hotel.”

  “I’ll be down in a minute” said Suzie, sitting in one of three marked police cars with Danny O’Brien, Nok and Colonel Wattana. The Chief called the strike on a secured radio channel and the four man team, dressed in black, was already moving in on foot from the rear of Bee’s car. They had been hiding in the bushes and behind the bins just where Bee had completed her three point turn. Now they moved towards their target, silently in the shadows and the rain, their guns already drawn and pointed at the lone figure that sat in the driver’s seat watching the hotel reception, herself waiting for her own target to appear.

  The rear screen of the car smashed at the same moment that the car doors were wrenched open and the men dressed in black roared out aggressive instructions in Thai to ‘freeze’. The smashed window distraction, the shouting men in black, the sight of guns pushed towards her face caused Bee to scream. The shock and panic caused her body to shake and she was disoriented. The three marked police cars came screeching into the cul-de-sac with sirens wailing and red flashing lights bouncing light off everything in the cul-de-sac. Bee was dragged from the car and forced face down into the muddy puddles that dotted the road. Her legs were forced open and her arms were forced up behind her back. She didn’t even realise that she had been handcuffed. She could feel hands pressing over her body, searching for a hidden weapon. She suddenly became aware of the muzzle of a gun pressed against her temple. She only became aware of it because it was pressed so hard against her head and, as she re oriented herself, she started to feel pain as the adrenalin seeped away. Now she just had fear. Her head felt as if it was spinning as she desperately tried to think of an excuse, a reason for being where she was with a stolen gun in her bag. She didn’t know how much they knew. The only hope she could find in her panicked thoughts was that the police had made a mistake and were waiting for someone else. She was just in the wrong place and they had no idea that she was planning to murder Suzie, or that she had already killed so many. She was still trying to work out what was happening and how much they knew, or if this was all a mistake, when she was dragged up to her feet. An officer standing each side of her locked her arms, holding her up. The rain lashed down into her face and through squinting eyes she saw Colonel Wattana and Danny O’Brien standing in front of her. There were other uniformed officers there too. Some of the faces she recognised and, for the first time ever, she tried to smile. She wanted friends, but the faces just stared back at her without emotion. One of the officers dressed in black appeared from her left hand side holding her handbag. He opened it and took out the gun. He held it up for the Chief to see. Colonel Wattana nodded. He looked at Bee. She saw the hatred and disgust in his eyes, the shame.