The Collected (A Jonathan Quinn Novel) by Brett Battles Read Free Book Online

grunt.
    “Come on. I need you.”
    “Who is this?” Yai asked, his voice a slur.
    “Who do you think it is?”
    There was a rustle on the other end. “Daeng? Sorry. It’s kind of early, you know?”
    “Yeah, and I’m already up and dressed.”
    “Oh…um…what’s going on?”
    “When was the last time you talked to Ton?”
    “Ton?” Yai seemed confused for a moment. “Little Ton? Or Big Ton?”
    “Little.”
    “Uh, I don’t know.” Yai paused for a moment. “Well, he did tell me he was going away.”
    “When was this?
    “If you hold on, I can check the time on his text.”
    “Wait, he told you by text? Not on the phone or in person?”
    “Yeah.”
    “When was the last time you actually talked to him?”
    Another few seconds of silence. “Maybe a week ago. It was a Friday, I think.”
    “Did he say anything about visiting his family then?”
    “No. Not that I remember. Why?”
    “Have you tried calling him since?”
    Daeng could almost hear Yai shake his head. “I didn’t have any reason to.”
    “What about a number for his family in Issan? Do you have one?”
    “He should have his mobile. Just call that.”
    “I have called his mobile. He’s not answering. But I need to talk to him now.”
    “Okay, okay. Um, let me think.” Yai fell silent for several seconds. “Dom might know. She’s been hanging out with him on and off for a while now.”
    “Get ahold of her. Tell her to call me.”
    “Sure, of course.” A pause. “You want me to do that now ?”
    “Yes,” Daeng said. “Now.”
    While he waited for the girl to call him, he cut up a mango, and started to eat it. Two slices in, his phone rang, only it wasn’t Dom. It was Yai again.
    “She’s not answering,” Yai said.
    “You tried more than once?”
    “Yeah. Three times. Maybe she sleeps deeper than I do.”
    Maybe , Daeng thought. Then again …
    “You know where Ton lives, right?” he asked.
    “Sure,” Yai said.
    “Meet me there in twenty minutes.”
    “It’s going to take me a little more than—”
    Daeng hung up.
    __________
     
    T ON LIVED IN the rooftop apartment of a building near Silom. Yai was waiting out front when Daeng’s taxi pulled to the curb.
    “You go up yet?” Daeng asked.
    Yai shook his head. “Just got here.”
    “Come on, then.”
    They went inside and took the scuffed-up elevator to the seventh floor. From there, they had to climb the stairs one more flight to Ton’s place—a four-room structure built right in the middle of the roof. It had a wide wooden patio at the front, and a jumbled storage area behind.
    A plank pathway led from the stairwell door along the edge of the roof to the home’s side entrance. Daeng knocked when they reached it, but, as he expected, no one answered.
    He tried the knob and was surprised to find the door was unlocked. He glanced back at Yai, who also looked confused.
    “You armed?” Daeng whispered.
    Yai reached around to the small of his back, and pulled a gun out from under his shirt.
    Daeng’s intention had been merely to find a way inside, where he was sure they’d find some way of contacting Ton’s family in Issan, but as he opened the door, he instantly knew a call to the countryside would be unnecessary.
    The smell of death rushed through the opening as if it had been waiting for someone to let it loose.
    “Shit!” Yai said, blinking his eyes and twisting his head away.
    Daeng looked around, and spotted several old rags by the back corner of the house. They were dirty, but better than nothing. He retrieved them, gave a couple to Yai, bundled together the two he’d kept, and pressed them tightly over his nose and mouth.
    Yai looked surprised. “We’re going in?”
    Daeng answered by doing just that.
    They found Ton and Dom in the living room, sitting side by side on the couch, their throats slit. A swarm of flies hovered around their bloated corpses like auras. Their eyeballs and tongues seemed to be trying to jump out of their head.
    Yai