Lost Innocence: The Accused. Part One (15 page)

Bo took a few more
turns, drove a while longer and they eventually arrived at a small
restaurant.

“
Is this
it?”

“
Think so. What we
do?”

“
We go
in.”

Harvey and Bo were
sitting at a table drinking espressos in a smoky, downtown
restaurant. It was a small place, smelled of smoke and had
old-fashioned lighting and black leather booths.

A skinny man with
stubble shuffled over as if he couldn’t lift his legs. He stood
over Harvey, lit up a cigarette, took a drag, held in the smoke
then let it seep from his lips. “Mr Nawirat will see you
now.”

They followed
‘Smokey’ up some stairs, through a passageway and into a back
office. Harvey sniffed and recognized the smell of Japanese weed
then saw a short man smoking it from behind a desk. He had mottled
wrinkled skin and sat with eyelids drooped and shoulders stooped.
Power and confidence emanated from his face.

“
Thank you for seeing
us.”

“
Sit,” Nawirat
grunted. He was dressed in a white shirt and wore chunky gold
jewellery on both hands.

Harvey and Bo took a
seat while ‘Smokey’ stood at the door puffing away.

“
Speak,” Nawirat said
through thin, pursed lips.

Harvey explained
Puku’s predicament. Nawirat seemed to listen, yet appeared
distracted.

When Harvey finished,
Nawirat glanced up and squinted his eyes. “I’ve heard of you. You
are some sort of PI?”

“
Yes, I am Harvey
Gould, PI.”

“
It can be a
dangerous job, being a PI.”

“
Not
really—”

“
Not a question. Who
owes me money?”

Harvey took out his
phone and showed the picture of Puku. “This girl does.”

“
Yes, she owes me
seventy thousand baht.”

“
I was told
thirty.”

“
Are you calling me a
liar?”

Harvey shook his
head. “Of course not.”

“
Liar liar, your
pants are on fire.”

“
Excuse
me?”

“
That was Al Pacino.
You don’t know him.”

“
Yes of
course.”

“
What do you want,
PI?”

Harvey took out an
envelope and counted some money out on the desk. “I want to pay off
Puku’s debt. Here’s fifty. I’ll bring you the rest
shortly.”

Nawirat scooped up
the money, locked it in a desk then glanced up at Bo. “Is she with
you?”

Harvey
nodded.

“
She has a pretty
face and a fit body. I could sell her, make good money.”

Bo reached down for a
throwing knife - Harvey stopped her. “She’s not for
sale.”

“
Then we’re done
here.”

TWENTY-FOUR

NIGEL
WOKE
to the distinct smell of antiseptic.
He was lying in a hospital bed next to his son.

“
How are you
feeling?”

Nigel frowned. “Is
there only one damn hospital in Bangkok?”

“
Are you
okay?”

“
I’m still
alive.”

“
I was wrong to
involve you.”

“
It was my choice to
come here.”

“
I want you to go
home. I’ll fly out another guy.”

“
You won’t, and we
have a PI on the case now.”

“
I know. I saw his
name on your phone and called him. How much is he costing
me?”

Nigel started to sit
up.

“
Take it easy. Tell
me what’s going on.”

“
All right I will.
Harvey the PI is looking for a girl called Tee. She knows Mia, who
set Mike up.”

“
What about Puku? Who
is she?”

“
Puku is Mia’s
sister.”

“
So, we’ve got to
find Tee to find Puku to find Mia. Let’s hope we don’t have to find
anyone else.”

“
You’re surprisingly
sharp today, Stan.”

“
Just trying to keep
up. Why are you so tense?”

“
You’re the one who
was supposed to be doing all this running around, not
me.”

“
You can’t possibly
make me feel any guiltier than I already do. I came here to bring
Mike home. I speak to his mother every night and just want to give
her some good news. She lies awake every morning waiting for my
call. I’ve been here for over a week and I haven’t even seen Mike
yet.”

“
And whose fault is
that?”

They
were still bickering when Harvey walked in,
smiled then faced Nigel. “How are you feeling?”

“
I’ll be fine….Stan,
this is Harvey. Harvey, Stan.”

“
We spoke earlier,”
Stan smiled.

“
Where are we
on finding the girls?” Nigel asked.

Harvey pulled up a
chair. “I met with Tee and she’ll speak to Puku, who will speak to
Mia.”

“
Sounds complicated,”
added Stan.

“
Yes it is. According
to Tee, Puku owed some money to a Japanese man called Nawirat. Puku
went to Nincotte and they used Mia to set up Michael. As we know,
Michael was refusing to pay, which left Puku out of pocket and in
hiding. To cut a long story short, we’ve now paid off some of
Puku’s debt, so hopefully she’ll come forward.”

The veins in Nigel’s
forehead pulsed. “Did you say Mike was refusing to pay, meaning now
he
will pay
?
How would you know
that?”

“
I went to see
him.”

“
What possessed you
to do that?”

Nigel turned to Stan.
“Was that your idea?

Stan shook his head.
Nigel glared at Harvey. “We didn’t ask you to do that.”

“
Lighten up Dad. I’m
sure he only had Mike’s best interests at heart.”

Harvey nodded a thank
you, but still sat in front of Nigel, his demeanour that of a
scolded school boy.

“
How’s he doing?”
Stan asked.

“
Not so bad
considering the circumstances, but he was concerned about his
grandfather’s health.”

“
You told him about
that!” Nigel bellowed. “Don’t you think he’s under enough stress
already?”

“
I’m sorry. He asked
why you weren’t there and it slipped out.”

“
Dad. You’re
forgetting that Mike has agreed to let us pay. I think Harvey’s
done a bloody good job.”

“
It’s not what Mike
would have wanted, you know that,” said Nigel doggedly.

“
What about his
family?” Stan added. “What about his mum? She’s talking about
coming here.”

“
What do you want,
Stan?” Nigel asked.

“
I want Mike out,
now, today. I don’t care how.” Stan turned to Harvey. “Do whatever
you need to do to finish this and get him out.”

Harvey nodded. Nigel
turned away.

“
So what’s next?”
Stan asked the PI.

“
I have a meeting
with Nincotte later today, but I can’t be sure how far along this
has gone, or how he’ll react. I have no experience dealing with
such people, but my contact at the station has confirmed that
Nincotte could still make this
all
go away.”

Stan was hopeful.
“That’s great, right Dad?”

“
This could still
work out for us,” Harvey added, “but I must warn you, the payment
could be higher.”

“…
Whatever it takes.
In my briefcase under the bed is a hundred thousand in a jiffy bag.
Take it all and settle this.”

Harvey slid out the
case, opened it and took out the jiffy bag. He nodded his thanks to
Stan then glanced over at Nigel for forgiveness. He didn’t get
it.

“
Well done, Harvey,”
Stan smiled.

“
Thank you. I’ll keep
you both informed.”

TWENTY-FIVE

HARVEY AND BO
arrived
at an old police
building off
Makasan
. “Not like it here - not like police.”

“
I know you don’t. We
won’t be here long.”

Arriving at
Nincotte’s office, Harvey was shown in by an older lady as Bo hung
around in the hall. He produced the jiffy bag of cash, opened it,
pulled out a neat pile of thousands and laid it on the desk.
“That’s a hundred thousand as we discussed.”

“
I’m afraid it’s now
a little bit more. A lot of paperwork has already been processed.
We have substantial evidence against Michael Walker. It will be
difficult to brush it all under the carpet.”

“
How much will it
take?”

“
Two hundred thousand
should cover it.”

“
I get the money, you
can guarantee his release?”

“
You have my
word.”

“
When?”

“
Soon. Give me your
card and I’ll call you.”

Harvey handed him his
card, then pointed at the cash. “You’ll take that as a down
payment?”

“
Alright, but please
hurry with the rest.”

Nincotte stood,
indicating that the meeting was over then saw Harvey out into the
hall. His eyes met with Bo’s. She didn’t smile, neither did he and
Harvey didn’t offer introductions. He took Bo by the arm and
marched her out. She skipped alongside him to keep up. “Everything
okay, boss?”

“
We just made a
payment on Michael’s freedom.”

“
We did?”

“
Yes. Keep
walking.”

TWENTY-SIX

SOMEBODY
WAS
howling like a
hungry hound in the room two doors down and it wasn’t helping with
the tension between them. Nigel lifted up his blanket slightly and
Stan’s nostrils started to twinge.

“
That’s a bit
fruity,” smelled Stan. He sat up, “Is this how it’s going to be
now?”

“
You were always for
taking the easy way out.”

“
No, Dad. Listen to
me, this is Michael. I won’t take a chance on his life.”

“
So Nincotte will
continue to scam innocent guys coming into this
country?”

“
This is not our
fight dad. It’s not our country.”

“
You’re making
decisions again without my say-so, Stan. And Harvey….don’t get me
started on him.”

“
He was only doing
what he thought was right. You should have done the same when you
arrived. Why did you give him a choice?”

“
At least I made it
to see him. I wasn’t blind drunk, then hit by a Tic
Tac.”

Nigel struggled out
of bed and began to dress.

“
Where are you
going?”

“
I have an
appointment with Pamon.”

“
Who’s
Pamon?”

“
The lawyer, Stan.
Try to keep up.”

“
You can’t
leave.”

Nigel gave Stan a
sideways look as he strapped on his watch. “The case is over, isn’t
it?”

“
You can’t just walk
out, not like this. What are you so mad about?”

“
Mike stood by his
principles and is doing time to prove a point - yet you just pay
his way out.”

“
This is not about
what is right and wrong. This is family, and I have failed him by
being stuck in here.”

“
You’ve failed him,
not me.”

“
Thank you for
reminding me.”

“
Have you done
anything remotely useful Stan, since you’ve been here?”

“
I’ve been keeping
our ladies informed.”

“
That’s something.”
Nigel frowned.

“
I want to make this
right, whatever the cost.”

“
You do, do
you?”

“
I thought you of all
people would understand.”

“
You do whatever you
have to Stan, you always did and you always will.”

Nigel was on the
point of storming out when Stan blocked his path with a
crutch.

“
Wait a minute, will
you? At least have a doctor give you the all clear.”

“
I’m
fine.”

Stan’s phone
vibrated. He took it out and read a text. “Harvey’s on his way. He
said it all went to plan. Don’t you want to speak to
him?”

Nigel shook his head,
kicked away the crutch and strolled out of the door.

TWENTY-SEVEN

HARVEY WAS
quiet as he drove back with Bo.

“
You look sad. What
wrong?”

“
I was just thinking
about Nigel Walker.

“
Think
what?”

“
He’s upset with me
because I went to see Michael without his permission.”