The Beach

It was past eight thirty when a plump silhouette appeared in the longhouse door-frame. 'You're being missed,' Sal said, walking through the shadows until she was caught in the light from my candle. 'Greg's asked if you can work on his detail today. Keaty wants to swap notes on Ko Pha-Ngan.' She smiled. 'And Francoise, I know you'll be glad to hear, has asked me to make certain you join them as soon as you wake up.'

'What about Jed?' I asked quickly.

'Jed?' Sal frowned as she settled into a lotus position beside my bed. 'I haven't seen him yet. But I'm sure he'd like to see you too.'

'…I'll go to see him later.'

'Fine.' She nodded. 'Actually, just a thought, but maybe leave it for a while. There's quite a few people near the tent at the moment, and I have a feeling that things are getting extremely delicate with Christo. Jed might prefer not to be disturbed, and I think we should respect that.'

'But he might prefer me to…'

'I'll check on him myself in a little while if it's worrying you. And anyway…' The barest suggestion of apprehension appeared on Sal's face. So slight that if I'd looked away as it happened, I'd never have noticed a change. 'There was something else I was hoping you might do.'

I tried to keep my expression as steady as hers.

'You see, Richard, I know it may feel as if with our rafters gone, our troubles are as good as over. But I'm afraid that isn't quite the case. We still have the problem of the Swedes, and having got this far, I'm extremely reluctant to risk anything else going wrong. Now…' She paused to tuck a stray curl of hair back over her ears. '… If Christo dies during Tet, no one has to know. People aren't exactly begging for news, so I can hold it back until the time feels right. No, our real problem, to my mind, is…'

'Karl…'

'…Karl. That's right. And I'm afraid the responsibility for him must lie with you.'

Unconsciously I squeezed the sheets with my fists. 'With me?'

'Yes, you're quite right to look so guilty.'

'Guilty?'

'If you hadn't disturbed him, he'd have stayed in his hole all through today and tonight, and through the next week as well, I'd have thought. Of course, we'd have had to deal with him at some point, but I was planning to leave that matter until after Tet… Thanks to you, a luxury that has gone.' She gestured vaguely in the direction of the longhouse door. 'Take a look out there. You can see how important Tet is to everyone here. It's vital we make sure it goes smoothly. I can't really stress that enough…'

With a jolt, I realized the direction she was taking. She might have been a long way off delivering the bottom line, but I suddenly understood what it would be.

'So,' she said, and now I could clearly hear the controlled tension in her voice. 'Let me spell the problem out. With Karl running around like a headless chicken, who's to say he won't suddenly appear during…'

'Sal,' I interrupted. 'I won't do it.'

There was a short silence.

Although her composure remained fixed, I could sense the level of calculation at which Sal's mind was working. With a chess player's vacant gaze she was running through lists of responses, possible responses to the responses, and beyond. Four or five moves in advance, the variables becoming more complex at each step.

Eventually she crossed her arms. 'You won't do what, Richard?'

'I won't, Sal. I won't do it.'

'Do what?'

'Don't ask me, please…'

'Don't ask you to…'

I looked at her carefully, wondering if it was possible I'd read the signals wrong. But as my eyes moved to her face, hers dipped, and I knew for certain I was right.

And Sal saw this too. Immediately the pretence dropped, and with a slight shrug she said, 'I'm afraid I am asking you, Richard.'

I shook my head.' Sal, please…'

'I'm going to leave the longhouse now. In half an hour I'll come back and you will be gone. By tonight, all of our troubles will be behind us. The last month will be concluded. We'll never have to even think about it ever again.'

She stood up to go, drawing in a deep breath as she rose.

'The beach is my life, Richard, but it's yours too. Don't forget that. You can't afford to let me down.'

I nodded miserably.

'Good.' She returned the nod, turned around, and walked away.

Outside, everyone apart from the fishing details was busy in the clearing. Most were outside the kitchen hut, helping to peel an enormous mound of vegetables, at least four times our usual ration. Unhygienix had stuck some of the chicken feathers in his hair. The carpenters were in the middle, marking out the dimension of the seating area. Bugs and Cassie had started to lay down palm leaves, loosely meshed together as a carpet.

All engrossed in their work and laughter. I easily ducked around the jungle side of the longhouse without being seen.

Is It Safe?

I thought of the caves after I'd checked around the waterfall and the far end of the Khyber Pass. If I'd been thinking more clearly, I would have checked the caves first. Not that it would have made much difference. The boat had probably been gone since sun-up.

These days I can find comfort in the idea that, weirdly, my deranged assault had cured Karl after all. I often picture him, trying to guess what he's doing at this moment or that. All the images revolve around him having a normal life, and a loose impression of what a normal life might be in Sweden. Skiing, eating, working in an office, drinking with friends in a bar. An oak-panelled bar with moose heads and hunting trophies on the walls, for some reason. The more mundane the picture, the more comfort it gives me.

But at the time my reaction wasn't so straightforward. Part of me was relieved that killing Karl was now an impossibility. I doubt I'd have killed him if he had been in the caves, despite the inflexibility of Sal's order, but I'm glad I never had the chance to find out. Most of me, however, was numb with shock. For the first few minutes after seeing the empty cove, I didn't even have the will to climb out of the water. All I could manage was to hang on to the rocks, and let myself be scraped up and down by the swell. I couldn't begin to imagine how Sal would react to this development. Karl turning up during Tet was of almost zero consequence compared to losing the boat, let alone the possible consequences of his arrival on Ko Pha-Ngan.

Eventually one of the larger swells as good as threw me on to the shelf where the gasoline can was usually tied down. Once there, I dragged myself a little further in and didn't move again until, a short while later, I saw someone surface near the underwater passage.

Instinctively I ducked down, not recognizing the dark bobbing head at first. An instant paranoid scenario had formed: as someone who knew too much, Sal had sent Bugs after me in the same way that I'd been sent after Karl. Maybe this was what she'd meant by saying I couldn't afford to let her down.

'Richard?' the head called over the sound of the waves. It was Etienne. He was treading water, looking around, apparently having spotted neither me nor the missing boat. 'Are you here, Richard?'

Of all the people I might fear on the beach, Etienne was the least likely candidate. Warily I stood up and waved him over.

I only noticed how cold I was when he'd swum over to the shelf and hauled himself up. I could hear his teeth chattering. The sun was still too low in the sky to reach inside the cave entrance, and the sea wind chilled the spray. 'I followed you,' he said, rubbing goose-bumps off his arms. 'I wanted to talk.'

I paused, wondering why he hadn't noticed that the boat was gone. Then it dawned on me that there was a good chance he'd never been on this side of the caves. In which case he'd also never been through the underwater passage before. Very brave, I commented to myself. Or just as crazy as everyone else.