At close to eleven in the morning Doi went to get him. She was supposed to stay in touch with me by phone and had her sister Lieng and her brother-in-law Oot along to help. It wouldn’t be easy, given that none of us had seen the guy, but I had an idea of what they should look for. Meanwhile, I was in the food court at Pantip, which was filling up fast. I was sitting with a glass of iced tea at a table for four and was constantly waving away people who wanted to know if the seats were taken.
Colin arrived first, carrying over a bowl of noodles. “I’m quite getting into the food here. And it’s like, sixty p. for lunch. So what’s the score with our Anthony?”
“Looks like he wandered into some sort of trouble. Or was led into it.”
“Yeah?” He looked mildly interested. “Poor bugger.” I like to think I’m good at spotting when people conceal things, mainly because I get so much practice. My clients hardly ever tell me the whole truth, and never in the divorce cases. Who can face the whole truth about a failed marriage? But it had to be said, Colin was very good at putting up a front. Or was completely innocent. “Someone convinced him to try and get rich.”
Atiya came over. She hadn’t bought any food and was again in her tight purple skirt and purple blouse. “Vijay, I have to go back this afternoon. If I miss a whole day I need a doctor’s note.” Colin was looking at her with interest and obviously wondering what she’d said. I introduced the two of them and explained why she was looking for Anthony. He leaned over the table. “I’m a calculator as well, y’know. Tell me any five digit number.”
She gave him a tight smile. “It’s okay, I believe you.”
I said, “So about Anthony. I think he was card counting in a casino.” I added for Colin’s benefit, “This is a gambling-mad country where gambling is illegal, other than the state lottery. So basically, you get underground casinos everywhere. I think he won big in one and they put the frighteners on him. And I think one of you already knows this.” Colin and Atiya looked at each other. Colin put up his thumb. “Nice one.”
My mobile went. Oot said, “Vijay, I think I saw him. A guy with binoculars. But then I lost him.”
Atiya said, “What nice one?”
“Oot, tell Doi and Lieng, maybe he’s heading their way.”
“Figuring out about the card counting.”
“I don’t know what’s card counting.” She looked genuinely puzzled. I said to Colin, “How’s it go, zero point zero zero one percentile but still no Porsche?”
“So?” He looked genuinely puzzled as well. There’s usually a point where I figure people out, but it didn’t seem to be happening. I went back to Atiya and said in Thai, “It’s good of you to pay me to find Anthony. I just wonder what you get out of it.”
“I get to know he’s safe. What’s wrong with you?” Colin’s phone rang and he answered it. While he spoke into the phone she said, “I don’t know about counting.”
Colin looked up from his phone and said, “Eh, mate, Anthony’s just called me. He says there’s someone following him.”
“Tell him not to worry.”
“Ant, don’t—” Colin put the phone down. “He’s rung off. What was that about?”
“Why was he phoning you, I wonder?”
“Remembers my number, doesn’t he? He’s a calculator.” He grinned at Atiya. “Like I am.” Then he said to me, “But he doesn’t have a mobile, if that’s what you mean. Must have been phoning from a call box.”
I dialed Oot, bent under the table, cupped my hand over the phone and whispered in Thai, “Find the public phones. That’s where he is.”
Atiya said in English, “What are you doing? Why you being so strange?”
“I’m being strange?” I asked, straightening up.
“You are a bit actually, mate,” said Colin.
My mobile rang. Oot asked, “Where are the public phones?”
“I don’t know. That’s why I asked you to find them. Try Doi.”
Atiya said, “Doi from your office?”
“I think you should both know, my life has contained many people who’ve tried to deceive me.”
“See, this is a bit weird as well,” said Colin.
I said to Atiya in English, “He went to a casino in Tungkru. Phutta Bucha.” She looked blank. “You fell out with your previous source of funds.” She was looking at me as though I was mad. “Then a guy in a McDonald’s tells you he’s a human calculator and the baht signs go up in front of your eyes. Why else would you come to me?”
“I came because my friend tell me. She live in Chinatown. She said you work hard and don’t charge much.” She crossed her legs and gave me a haughty, triumphant look. “And you know what else? She said if I wore this skirt you’d give me a discount.” This is what you get for being a good Samaritan.
Colin leaned across the table and said, “I can vouch for her.”
“You’ve only just met her.”
“Yeah, but I know about people. DHSS, innit? We get all the scams.”
Atiya smiled at him. “Thank you.”
I decided to raise the stakes. “The reason I called you both here is that I already know which one of you set up Anthony.” They both turned to me, then Colin looked over my shoulder, waved his hand, and frowned. I turned back. “What is it?”
“Heinrich. I thought he’d seen us. Never mind.”
“What would Heinrich be doing here? He’s competing tomorrow.”
“I told him what you said, about finding Anthony. I thought he’d want to know.” Damn.
“So, Vijay,” Atiya put her chin on her palm. “Which of us is it?”
“Neither, now that I come to think of it. It’s Heinrich.”
My phone rang. Oot was panting. “Vijay... I found the phones... no one there.”
“Okay, keep looking.” I stood up. “Come on, we’re going to get Anthony.”
“But we don’t know where he is.”
“Of course we do. He’s here, where else would he be? He doesn’t know this city and besides, he couldn’t keep away. He’s up on one of the higher floors with a pair of binoculars, watching the whiteboard for the next set of numbers.” I said to Colin, “You and I will try and find Heinrich. I think he’s figured that out.” To Atiya I said, “You try and get to Anthony, you’re probably the one person he trusts.”
“So I pay you to find Ann-tony and now I’m finding him.” She stalked off. Colin watched her hips sway down the food court and said, “I’d have given her a discount as well.” Then his phone rang. He answered and said to me, “Anthony. Says there’s still someone after him.”
“Tell him not to worry. It’s a friend of mine.”
“Ant, relax, it’s a mate.”
“Big guy, sloping shoulders?”
Colin repeated the description and said to me, “No, slim guy, polo shirt, aviator sunglasses.”
“In that case tell him to run like hell.”
Colin waved the mobile. “Gone already.”
We started pushing our way to the escalator. It wasn’t easy. I’d chosen this time because I wanted to be sure the Championship had started, but the problem was the place was now packed out. As we jostled our way up the steps I phoned Oot. “Where do they put the public phones here?”
“They fix them in the wall.”