The Dying Beach by Angela Savage Read Free Book Online Page B

of my sight.’
    Othong didn’t wait to be asked a second time. He fled to the yard and fired up his motorbike, already planning the hunt for Miss Pla’s farang friend.

9
    â€˜S omething like this happened to me once before,’ Jayne said, stirring her coffee.
    They were sitting in an open-sided café with a view of the beach. Michael Jackson’s Dangerous album was playing in the background, an upbeat soundtrack ill-suited to Rajiv’s mood. He leaned closer to hear Jayne above the music.
    â€˜In Chiang Mai, about a year ago,’ she said. ‘I had several Thai cops on my tail, at least one of whom wanted to kill me.’
    Rajiv raised his eyebrows in alarm, but Jayne was too distracted by her coffee to notice.
    â€˜To shake them off, I changed hotels, registered under a false ID and changed my appearance.’
    â€˜Did it work?’
    â€˜Well, clearly I didn’t get killed,’ she said drily. ‘And it bought me time to work on the case.’
    â€˜But we are not working on a case.’ Rajiv felt his anxiety levels rising. ‘Indeed, if we are somehow unfortunate enough to be implicated in what we have just witnessed’—he waved his hand in the vague direction of Khlong Haeng village—‘we may never work on another case again.’
    Jayne held her teaspoon over her cup, her hand steady. ‘I admit there are risks in hanging around.’
    â€˜Hanging around?’ Rajiv gasped. ‘Why on earth would you even contemplate doing that?’
    She placed the spoon on her saucer and looked him in the eye. ‘I don’t believe Pla’s death was an accident any more than Suthita’s death was a suicide.’
    â€˜But what has that got to do with you?’
    â€˜Because the cops have already ruled Pla’s death as accidental, and I guarantee they will rule Suthita’s as suicide. No one will stand up for these two young women and whoever killed them will get away with murder. And that offends my sense of justice.’
    Rajiv hesitated, torn between his sympathy for Jayne’s principled stance and his instinct to get the hell out of town as quickly as possible.
    â€˜It’s too dangerous,’ he said. ‘What if whoever did that to Suthita comes after us?’
    â€˜Highly unlikely,’ Jayne countered. ‘Suthita wouldn’t let you in her room, remember? If she let in the man who killed her—and I’m assuming it was a man—chances are she knew him. The vast majority of murder victims in Australia are killed by someone they know. I imagine it’s the same in Thailand.’
    â€˜But why would anyone want to kill Miss Pla and Miss Suthita?’ He regretted the question as soon as he spoke, knowing it would only encourage her.
    â€˜That’s what we need to figure out,’ Jayne said. ‘I’ll need to take a closer look at Pla’s notes and you—’
    Rajiv shook his head. ‘I am not believing it. You are seriously suggesting we investigate.’
    â€˜Why not?’
    â€˜What about the police?’
    â€˜I’m telling you, they’ll rule Suthita’s death as a suicide. They won’t be looking for us. But if you want, we could always take precautions like I did in Chiang Mai just to be on the safe side.’ She lit a cigarette, blew smoke into the air above their heads.
    â€˜We can’t afford it,’ Rajiv said, changing tack. ‘We are already having three clients lined up on our return to Bangkok, and there may be more inquiries awaiting our attention once I get the chance to check the email.’
    Jayne pointed at him with her cigarette. ‘I knew formalising the business would cause problems. Are you saying I can’t help Pla, or anyone else for that matter, unless they’re a paying customer?’
    â€˜Actually, I am in favour of directing some of our profits into pro bono casework. That is what you are proposing in