The Half-Child (28 page)

‘The buses leave earlier, starting from four in the morning, and it's a shorter journey than the train.' His voice remained infuriatingly calm. ‘There's still time to change our itinerary if you want.'

‘What do you mean
our
itinerary?' At last, a chance to punish him. ‘Who said anything about you coming to Kanchanaburi?'

Rajiv sighed. ‘My mistake.'

‘If you want to make yourself useful, get me on a fast bus around six tomorrow morning,' she said. ‘Make it a return ticket, same day. I don't have time for scenic fucking rail journeys.'

She heard the click of a cigarette lighter, a sharp inhalation, followed by another sigh.

‘I will be dropping off your ticket later, Jayne. I'll slip it under the door. Call if you need to, but only when you are no longer angry with me.'

He hung up before he could hear her burst into tears.

Rajiv waited until four o'clock before setting out. He estimated Jayne would be heading across town by then to find the Kings and he wouldn't be tempted to check in on her.

The ferry from Banglampu carved a scalloped path along the Chao Phraya, cruising along the west bank before returning to the east bank at Tha Maharat, the jumping off point for the herbal medicine stalls and amulet market where his aunties shopped for potions and charms to heal their ailments, physical and spiritual. He wondered if the shamans' skills extended to mending wounded pride.

He was hurt but not surprised by Jayne's behaviour. She'd become distant and withdrawn since that night. It was almost a relief to feel her anger over the phone.

The trauma counsellor had warned him about this. She buttonholed Rajiv on his way out one evening to ask how he was doing. Rajiv said he was fine. She regaled him with statistics on the risk of marital breakdown amongst couples where one has survived trauma. Rajiv thanked her, explained that he wasn't married and tried to excuse himself.

‘She'll probably hate you for a while,' Candy said. ‘Don't take it personally.'

He stopped and looked at her.

‘It's not rational. Grief and trauma never are. Hang in there. She'll get over it.'

Along the riverbank, houses were squashed together, overhanging the water as if pushed to the edge by buildings bigger and stronger than they were.

So far Candy had been right: Jayne hated him. Rajiv hope she would be right about Jayne getting over it, too. He would
hang in there
a little longer.

He alighted from the ferry and hailed a motorcycle taxi to take him to Jayne's apartment. Being her whipping boy was not a role that Rajiv relished, any more than being her assistant. But he was prepared to tolerate it if it got him what he wanted: to be Jayne's partner.

35

J
ayne found the Kings in the hotel's rooftop café. They were sitting side by side, Alicia holding Kob in her lap. Jayne took a seat at a table close enough to watch them and hear their conversation without attracting attention.

The couple was older than she expected, Leroy's cropped
hair speckled with grey. They looked exhausted and elated in equal measure, just like any new parents she supposed. There was a half-empty bottle of Budweiser on the table in front of Leroy, and an untouched glass of orange juice in front of Alicia. Strewn in between were a set of multicoloured stacking cups, a dummy, clumps of tissue and a teddy bear. Kob was playing with a string of beads around Alicia's neck.

‘I think he likes us,' she said, planting a kiss on his forehead. ‘I think he's decided his Momma and Daddy are okay.'

‘Praise Jesus,' Leroy said. ‘I don't know if I could've handled another day like yesterday. I'm not sure how much more singin' I had left in me, know what I'm sayin'?'

Alicia laughed and patted her husband on the knee. ‘I just knew all that choir practice would come in handy some day.'

‘It sure helps that he's a Bob Marley fan.' Leroy leaned towards Kob and sang the chorus of ‘Three little birds'. Kob beamed, reached out to stroke the man's face.

Jayne was shocked. She assumed Kob would be fretting for his mother. He was happy. This would be harder than she thought.

‘The counsellor was right,' Alicia said. ‘She said the first couple of days would be tough. We were total strangers to him. Jesse needed time to get to know us.'

‘And we're still getting to know him,' Leroy said. ‘Like, how come he slept like a log that first night an' ain't never done that again?'

‘He's just keeping his Momma and Daddy on their toes,' Alicia said, touching her forehead to Kob's. ‘Right honey?'

Kob smiled when she pulled back and tilted his head forward to do it again.

‘His appetite's improving,' Leroy said, watching them play.

He glanced at his watch. ‘Actually honey, he's about due for a feed. You wanna take him downstairs or should I bring the bottle up?'

‘Bring it up,' Alicia said. ‘I don't want to spend a moment more than we have to cooped up inside that room. I can't believe no one told us about the national holiday. We could've come a week later and got outta here so much faster. But that would've meant one less week with our beautiful boy—' she kissed Kob's cheeks ‘—so it's worth it, isn't it my darling?'

Leroy took a swig of beer and rose to his feet. He and Cousin Tommy shared a similar build. If anything, Leroy was even broader across the shoulders. Not a man to mess with.

‘Back in a minute.'

He bent down and kissed the boy on the top of his head, a gesture that seemed all the more tender coming from such a big man.

As Alicia watched him leave, Jayne caught her eye and smiled.

‘He's a lovely baby,' she said, nodding at Kob.

‘Thank you,' Alicia smiled.

‘Mind if I sit with you for a moment?'

Alicia gestured at the chair Leroy had vacated.

‘I'm Jayne Keeney.'

‘Where you from?'

‘Australia.'

‘I'm Alicia,' she smiled, ‘and this beautiful boy is my son Jesse.'

Jayne offered the boy a finger and he toyed with her silver ring.

‘Actually, that's why I wanted to talk to you. It's about the boy.'

Alicia felt a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.

‘What do you mean?'

‘I'm a private investigator,' Jayne said. ‘As painful as it must be for you to hear this, that little boy should never have been adopted. His name is Kamolsert, or Kob, and he was stolen from his Thai mother.'

‘How dare you.'

She snatched Jesse away from Jayne's grasp. He startled and began to cry.

‘See what you've done,' she hissed. ‘Shh, there, there, my darling.'

Alicia held Kob over her shoulder and patted his back. Her mind raced with possibilities. Could there really be a problem with Jesse's adoption? They were led to believe the system was beyond reproach—another reason they'd chosen to adopt from Thailand and not Africa or South America where baby trafficking was rife.

No, nothing could go wrong. Not now. Not after all they'd been through. God wouldn't do that to them. God wanted them to have Jesse.

It had to be a shakedown. The Thais, infamous for their scams, were getting more sophisticated, even involving Australians.

Alicia faced the woman squarely and narrowed her eyes.

‘I don't know who you think you are or what you think you're doing, but you should know my husband is an ex-Marine and he don't take kindly to blackmail.'

‘Blackmail?' Jayne sat back in her seat. ‘No, it's nothing like that—'

‘We got papers,' Alicia cut her off. ‘We got papers to show Jesse's mom is dead. We got proof he's ours.'

Jesse continued to cry. Alicia scooped up the pacifier from the table and put it in his mouth.

‘Shh, it's okay my boy.'

‘The mother's death certificate is a fake,' Jayne said, speaking quickly and quietly. ‘The people at the New Life Children's Centre, Frank Harding and the Thai doctor, have got a racket going. They take babies placed in the centre's temporary care and turn them into orphans. They told Kob's mother he was dead. Faked his death certificate, too.'

‘How come nobody at the US Embassy said anything?'

‘They haven't been briefed yet. I'm helping the police put together the evidence to take to the embassy and—'

‘No, no,' Alicia shook her head. ‘This is all part of a trick. You can't fool me. I've been in Thailand before. Let me guess, the momma wants money and then she'll call off the cops, right?'

‘The mother just wants her son back.'

Alicia sprang to her feet, drew herself up to her full height of five feet eleven inches and thrust out her chest.

‘He's
my
son now,' she said. ‘A good mother would never allow anyone to take her baby. I'm not about to lose mine.'

Jayne looked up at her.

‘Look I know this must be hard for you. But, please, meet with the mother. Hear her side of the story. She'll be in Bangkok in the next day or two.' Jayne reached into her bag and placed her business card on the table. ‘Here are my contact details. Call me anytime.'

Alicia watched her leave, picked up the card and shoved it in her back pocket as Leroy reappeared. He handed her a bottle of infant formula and clapped his hands to take hold of Jesse.

‘He been cryin'?'

‘He's just hungry,' she said, handing him over.

‘Good thing Daddy's brought a bottle for his baby boy,' Leroy chirped.

Alicia realised her knees were shaking and sank back down on the couch, fighting panic. Leroy, focused on Jesse, was oblivious to her distress. She made a spur of the moment decision not to tell her husband what had happened.

She shook the bottle, removed the cap and handed it back to Leroy. Jesse reached for the milk and settled into his father's arms to drink.

Alicia gazed at her husband and son, forced herself to breathe, willed her heartbeat to slow down. Jesse sucked away at the milk, one hand on his bottle, the other reaching for the silvery hair poking out from the top of Leroy's shirt.

Alicia felt a wave of love and, hot on its heels, a surge of anger.

How dare anyone seek to discredit their family. It was disgraceful. Alicia would not stand for it.

‘Honey, I know you said we need to watch what we spend,' she said, placing her arm around Leroy's shoulders. ‘But do you think we could move to the Hilton for the last couple of nights as a treat? I mean, nothin's too good for our beautiful boy, right?'

She would stay one step ahead of the extortionists and by the time they cottoned on, she'd have her son far away, safe and sound.

36

J
ayne slept fitfully, woke before her alarm, made her way in the dark to the Southern Bus Terminal. She arrived with twenty minutes to spare, the bus already idling in the departure dock. Despite the chill of the air-conditioning and the rousing smell of diesel, she fell asleep on the bus before it pulled out and didn't wake until they arrived in Kanchanaburi.

As she descended, she was swamped by a horde of dark, scrawny men offering tours to the Bridge on the River Kwai. She waved them aside and found a place that made fresh coffee, rural style, filtered through a calico bag and brewed in a stainless steel jug until it was thick and strong, served in a glass over two fingers of sweetened condensed milk. She chased it down with a bowl of rice noodle soup, as salty as the coffee was sweet.

Over her second coffee and first cigarette, Jayne reflected on her encounter with Alicia King. While the first to admit she knew nothing about being a parent, let alone an adoptive one, Jayne was surprised by Alicia's proprietary air, given Kob had been in her custody less than a week. Jayne had expected shock, denial, defensiveness in reaction to the revelations of fraud. She hadn't expected Alicia to accuse her of extortion. Did the American woman even care whether the adoption was legitimate?

Alicia was preparing to fight; Jayne could only hope that Mayuree was up to it.

She left the café and hailed a
samlor
—literally ‘three wheels'—a kind of bicycle-rickshaw obsolete in Bangkok. Jayne directed the driver to Mayuree's address and climbed behind him. The bench seat was upholstered in blue and yellow vinyl with a cover that looked like the hood of a pram.

The gentle pace of the
samlor
gave her a feel for Kanchanaburi town, which after Bangkok and Pattaya belonged to another era. Gigantic trees dominated the skyline, the street signs were in the shape of fish, and no building in the town appeared taller than three storeys.

Rajiv had included information on the area with her bus ticket. She found a map and figured they were headed northwest, tracing the path of the Kwae Yai—the River Kwai. Mayuree's family home was located close to the town's most famous tourist attraction. The
samlor
driver pulled over in front of a freestanding shop-house on the main road. Mayuree must have been waiting for her. By the time Jayne paid the fare, the Thai woman was at her elbow, ushering her down the side of the house to a shaded garden at the back.

‘The cleaner comes today,' she said by way of explanation.

‘It's easier if we stay out of her way.'

Jayne nodded, though she neither saw nor heard any movement inside the house.

‘My parents are not home,' Mayuree added. ‘My mother thinks my father is visiting relatives, but he is really attending cockfights at a Mon village near the Burma border.' She allowed a tiny smile. ‘My mother has gone to the temple.

She's been going twice every day since Kob…since he was taken from me. I think she's trying to build up merit to pacify the
phi am
of the grandson she rejected.'

‘
Phi am
?'

‘She's been having trouble breathing. She thinks Kob's ghost is haunting her, sitting on her chest as she sleeps.'