Cockroaches(34)
“But I …” She cleared her throat, raised and lowered her shoulders, as though shaking off an evil thought. “The ambassador was married. And I—”
“You’re also married?”
“No, but …”
Harry took her arm lightly and led her away from the kitchen door. She turned to him, the anger in her eyes returning.
“Listen, Miss Ao, the ambassador was found in a motel. You know what that means. It means you weren’t the only one he was fucking.”
He watched her to see what effect the words would have.
“We’re investigating a murder here. You have no reason to feel any loyalty for this man, do you understand?”
She was whimpering and he became aware he was shaking her arm. He let go. She looked at him. Her pupils were big and black.
“Are you afraid? Is that what it is?”
Her chest rose and fell.
“Would it help if I promise that none of this needs to come out unless you were mixed up in the murder?”
“We were not lovers!”
Harry stared at her, but all he could see was two black pupils.
“OK. What’s a young girl like you doing in a married ambassador’s car? Apart from taking her asthma medication?”
Harry put the empty glass on the tray and left. It was an idiotic thing to say, but Harry was willing to do idiotic things to make something happen. Anything.
14
Sunday, January 12
Elizabeth Dorothea Crumley was in a bad mood.
“Shit! It’s been five days. A foreigner has been knifed in the back at a motel, and we have no fingerprints, no suspects, not one goddamn clue. Just receptionists, Tonya Harding, motel owners and now the mafia. Anything I’ve forgotten?”
“Loan sharks,” said Rangsan from behind the Bangkok Post.
“Loan sharks are the mafia,” the inspector said.
“Not the loan shark Molnes used,” Rangsan said.
“What do you mean?”
Rangsan put down the newspaper. “Harry, you said the chauffeur thought the ambassador owed money to some loan sharks. What does a loan shark do when the debtor is dead? He tries to collect the debts from the family, doesn’t he.”
Liz looked skeptical.
“Some people are still caught up with the notion of family honor, and loan sharks are businessmen. Of course they’ll try to get their money back wherever they can.”
“That sounds really far-fetched,” Liz said, wrinkling her nose.
Rangsan picked up the paper again. “Nonetheless, I found the Thai Indo Travelers number three times on the list of incoming calls to the Molnes family over the last three days.”
Liz whistled softly, and there were nods around the table.
“What?” said Harry, realizing there was something he hadn’t picked up.
“Thai Indo Travelers is a travel agency on the outside,” Liz explained. “But on the first floor they run their real business—lending money to people who can’t get loans anywhere else. Their interest rates are high and they have a very effective way of making people pay up. We’ve been keeping an eye on them for some time.”
“Ever make anything on them stick?”
“We could have if we’d tried hard enough. But we think their competitors are worse. Thai Indo Travelers has managed to operate alongside the mafia and as far as we know they don’t even pay protection. If they killed the ambassador it would be the first time they’ve killed anyone to our knowledge.”
“Perhaps it was time to set an example,” Nho said.
“Kill a man first and then ring the family to collect the money. Doesn’t that sound a bit back to front?” Harry said.
“Why? Those who need a warning about what happens to bad debtors have been warned,” Rangsan said, slowly turning a page. “If they get the money as well, that’s a bonus.”
“Fine,” Liz said. “Nho and Harry, you make a courtesy visit to the loan sharks. One more thing, I’ve just been talking to Forensics. They’re totally mystified by the grease we found around the knife wound on Molnes’s suit. They claim it’s organic and that it has to be from some animal. OK, I think that’s everything. Good luck.”
Rangsan caught up with Harry and Nho as they headed toward the lift.
“Be careful. These are rough guys. I’ve heard they use propellers on bad debtors.”
“Propellers?”
“They take them out in a boat, tie them to a pole in the river, put the engine in reverse and lift the propeller shaft out of the water as they slowly glide past. Can you visualize that?”
Harry visualized it.
“A couple of years ago we found a guy who’d died of a heart attack. His face had been pulled off, literally. The idea was that he would have to walk around town as a warning and deterrent to other debtors. But it must have been too much of a strain on his heart when he heard the engine starting up and saw the propeller coming.”