Lost Innocence: The Accused. Part One (16 page)

“
But you do good
thing.”

“
I thought so and
Stan’s okay with it, but it was Nigel Walker who hired me, not
Stan.”

“
What we
do?”

“
We stick to the
plan. We pay the rest of the money to Nincotte and get Michael
out.”

“
Good
plan.”

“
Hopefully his
grandfather will be happy when he sees his grandson on the
outside.”

“
Of course he be
happy.”

“
It’s never that
simple Bo. The client decided which path to take but I didn’t
listen.”

“
You never listen.
You do what you want.”

“
I wasn’t thrilled at
the prospect of going after a police captain, but I didn’t say
no.”

“
Nincotte bad guy.
Have people disappear who stand up to him.”

“
How do you know all
this?”

“
Working on the
street, see and hear things.”

“
Why didn’t you tell
me before?”

“
You not
ask.”

“
Let’s get out of
this as soon as we can.”

“
I think
good.”

“
Did we hear back
from Puku yet?”

Bo shook her
head.

TWENTY-EIGHT

IT
WAS
later in the day. Nigel was sat
facing Pamon. The Thai lawyer gathered up some
paperwork and slid it into an envelope.

“
I have to admit, Mr
Walker, this digging you had me do could be quite dangerous. Even
though it is a part of public record, if Nincotte came to hear of
us looking through these files—”

“
Why is everybody so
afraid of this guy?” Nigel interrupted. Pamon didn’t
reply.

“
I’m glad this is
over. I’ll have your fee ready for tomorrow,” Nigel said, changing
the subject.

“
Thank you. I’m very
happy things worked out.”

Nigel reached over to
take the brown envelope but Pamon anchored it to the desk. “You
won’t be needing this after all.”

“
If it’s all the
same, I’ll still take a look.”

“
It’s in
Thai.”

“
I’ll have Pang
translate.”

“
It’s quite an
important set of documents.”

Nigel tugged at the
envelope. The lawyer kept a firm hold. Nigel shook his head. “You
don’t need to tell me about important documents. I’ve dealt with
them all my life.”

“
Very well Mr
Walker.”

Pamon released it.
Nigel scooped it up.

“
Please shred it
after you’re done.”

“
Of course and thanks
again.”

Nigel left the office
with the envelope in his hand.

TWENTY-NINE

STAN WAS
in bed reading a black and white copy of the
Daily Mail when Harvey and Bo walked in.

“
How did it
go?”

“
Well, but
regretfully we need to pay more.”

“
What happened to the
first hundred?”

“
He took it as a
down-payment.”

“
How much more does
he want?”

“
Another hundred
thousand.”

“
So one more stash of
cash and Mike’s out?”

“
He gave me his
word.”

“
I’m not sure if that
means much, but I’ll play along.”

“
I think it’s worth
the risk.”

“
Why don’t you go for
a coffee? It’ll take a short while to get it.”

“
We still need to pay
the rest of Puku’s debt.”

“
Do we still need to
do that? I mean now that we’re dealing directly with
Nincotte.”

“
I gave her my word
but if you’d prefer I can pay out of my fee.”

“…
No, never
mind.”

He reached under the
bed, pulled out a case, opened it and handed over what he had
left.

THIRTY

NIGEL WAS
in his suite, flicking through Nincotte’s file
but he couldn’t read a word. He was about to call Pang, when his
hotel phone rang.

“
Aren’t you taking my
calls now?” Stan asked, “I’ve been calling your mobile.”

“
I switched it
off.”

“
I need another
hundred thousand.”

“
Where’s the other
hundred thousand?”

“
He took it as a down
payment. He wants another hundred.”

“
Greedy bastard! You
see this is what I’m talking about. You know that he’s going to do
this again until someone has the balls to stop him.”

“
I know and I agree
with you and respect Mike for what he did, but his mum wants him
home.”

“
So if you pay a
hundred more, Michael’s out?”

“
He gave his
word.”

“…
.As if that means
anything.”

“
We have to try…Will
you bring the money?”

“
Of course I will.
You only had to ask.”

“
When? Harvey’s
waiting.”

“
I’ll go now.” Nigel
hung up.

He returned the
papers to their folder, picked up his wallet and key card and left
the suite.

He was walking to the
elevator when he noticed a maid he hadn’t seen before. Her uniform
looked tight and her hair seemed tatty. He smiled as he passed –
she didn’t smile back.

He took a taxi and
arrived at the hospital with a jiffy bag of cash. “So where’s
Harvey?”

“
He’ll be back
soon.”

Nigel pulled up a
chair and smiled.

“
You’re in a better
mood.”

“
I’ve had a little
time to think things over.”

“
And where did you
arrive with your thoughts?”

“
That perhaps you
were right.”

“
Thanks and don’t
worry about the money. I’ll settle everything when we get
home.”

“
Did I ever mention
the money?”

“
No but I know it all
adds up.”

Stan handed Nigel a
company credit card.

“
At least this can
cover the hotel and your driver with this. The pin is
1969.”

Nigel slid the card
into his wallet. “Well Stan, I have some papers to
shred.”

“
What
papers?”

“
It doesn’t matter.
You were right, this isn’t our place.”

Stan looked
affectionately at his father.

“
Thanks for
everything you’ve done, Dad.”

“
You can thank me down the
pub.”

THIRTY-ONE

HARVEY AND
Bo were on their way back to Stan, when the
mission impossible theme tune rang out. Harvey hung his phone on
the ‘hands free’ unit.

“
Hello? Mr Harvey?
This is Tee.”

Harvey was surprised,
“Hi Tee.”

“
Puku call me. She
happy you pay her debt.”

“
She’s welcome,” but
she should know that it was Michael’s family that paid, not
me.”

“
She want to meet
you.”

“
That’s sweet, but
really not necessary.”

“
She has information
about Mia.”

“
I don’t think we
need her anymore.”

“
She said she wait
you on fourth floor of car park, Waterford Diamond, Sukhumvit 30,
one hour. She want to see you. She feel bad about what she
did.”

Harvey glanced at Bo.
She was signalling that they should go.

“
Alright then, Tee.
I’ll see her.”

“
Thank you, I tell
her you come.”

Harvey hung up. “Why
are we going?”

“
Good thing to do.
You feel better later.”

“
Well, I’ll certainly
look forward to that.”

“
You make funny of
me?”

“…
Just a
little.”

About thirty minutes
later, Harvey and Bo arrived at the Waterford Diamond car park and
stopped at the security gate. Harvey smiled and was waved in with a
military-style salute from a short Thai man with a friendly grin.
They drove up to the fourth floor and waited.

Bo looked around.
“…Car park quiet.”

“
It’s the middle of
the day.”

“…
.Strange place to
meet someone.”

“
What time is it? Are
we late?”

“
Not late, she say
one hour.”

“
Yes, not the most
punctual people, Thais.”

“
Have much
traffic.”

“
We drove. Is this
the fourth floor?”

Bo opened the car
door. “I go check?”

“…
If you
want.”

“
You not come with
me? Have romantic walk?”

“…
A romantic walk in
a car park?”

“
I go by myself
then.”

Harvey watched her
slide out and admired her pert bottom. She caught him looking. “You
still like?”

“
Of course I still
like.”

Once she was out of
sight, his phone rang.

“
Hello?” Harvey
laughed then put his phone on speaker.

“
You still love
me?”

“
You went around the
corner to ask me that?”

“
Can’t
do?”

“
Sure you can, it’s
just, hold on, I’m getting another call.”

THIRTY-TWO

NIGEL RETURNED
to his suite, flopped down on the sofa and picked
up the phone. He dialled 9 and called home. “Sorry I didn’t call
sooner. I woke up this morning in hospital next to
Stan.”

“
How’s
Michael?”

“
He’s hanging
in.”

“
How are
you?”

“
I feel fine. It was
just an anxiety attack.”

“
When are you coming
home?”

“
When Mike is out. I
knew I couldn’t rely on Stan.”

“
What was Michael
doing sketching prostitutes?”

“
It’s his art. I’ve
never seen him sketch so well.”

“
I really hope it’s
all worth it.”

Nigel glanced around
the suite. “Hang on hon.”

“
You
okay?”

“
Something is
missing. I’ll call you back.”

Nigel hung up, rose,
checked the safe then looked around the room. He rushed out of the
suite, found a maid and started questioning her. She didn’t
understand a word. He gave up, took the lift to the lobby and
rushed over to the receptionist.

“
I need to see all
the maids from my floor.”

A senior-looking
staff member stepped over. “Can I help you?”

“
An important
document has been taken from my room. I left it on my
desk.”

“
Your room number,
please?”

“
Suite
1918.”

“
One moment,
sah.”

Nigel took out his
phone and speed-dialled Pang.

THIRTY-THREE

HARVEY WAS
nodding his head and singing along to the chorus
of Survivor by Destiny’s Child
.
It was blasting out from the car stereo, when the
whole car park level shook, then filled with the sound of a roaring
motorbike. Harvey looked over his shoulder and saw a huge 500CC
heading in his direction. He turned down the radio and watched as
the motorcyclist rode up to his car and fired a round from his
Beretta automatic pistol. The bullets pounded like hailstones into
the body of Harvey’s BMW. Harvey dove to the back-seat, ducked down
and prayed.

The gunman stopped
shooting, stepped off the bike and removed his helmet. He walked
over to the car, glanced down at his target and could see the blood
gushing out from his mid-riff. He took a revolver from the inside
of his jacket, aimed at Harvey’s head and held his finger on the
trigger. He was about to shoot when something sliced deep into the
side of his neck. Blood began to spurt out and excruciating pain
caused him to fall to his knees.

Though some distance
away, Bo had heard the shots, sprinted into range and thrown a
knife at the assassin. She stepped over to the Thai who was
kneeling before her, nursing his wound. She picked up his helmet
from the floor and swung it at his head like a bowling ball -
strike! He went down. He dropped the gun and lay on his back. Bo
retrieved the revolver, stepped over to him and stamped down hard
on his left leg. He began to scream. Bo leaned over him and placed
the revolver into his mouth, muffling his screams.