Jimm Juree 01; Killed at the Whim of a Hat

lot?”
    “Because nobody trusts the police,” said Granddad, matter-of-factly.
    “That’s the truth,” said Chompu, “but I wouldn’t be surprised, given the events of last night, if this note isn’t part of a…deeper story.”
    I noticed how Chompu liked to leave dramatic gaps, probably so they could edit in music bites later.
    “What happened last night?” I asked.
    “Of course, I’m not at liberty to divulge details of an ongoing case, but I can probably, at a pinch, tell you that they found your Tan Sugit handcuffed naked to a bench at the Lang Suan train station early this morning.”
    “Dead?”
    “Stop it. They can’t all be dead. We have a three-body-per-decade quota. No, he was bruised and woozy from some drug and he had the words sa som – ‘deserved’ – written on his belly in some animal blood. But he was very alive and thoroughly embarrassed. He told Lang Suan police it had been a terrorist attack. That they’d threatened to kill him but he’d been able to play on the sympathy of the kidnappers – a technique he’d learned, he said, from many years of dealing with southern insurgents – and they’d let him go unharmed.”
    “But chained naked to a train station,” I pointed out.
    “A symbolic gesture. A small victory.”
    “What did he say they were after?”
    “He hinted he might have been in possession of some sensitive documents on the new government policy for dealing with Muslim separatists.”
    “Bunch of cow dung,” said Granddad.
    “But you think it has something to do with my note?” I asked.
    “Coincidences such as this only happen on television.”
    We’d turned onto the highway and were heading north.
    “Do you know anything about Sugit having a daughter?” I asked.
    “Yes. I imagine you’d have seen her if you went to the house.”
    “The fat girl? He treated her more like a maid.”
    “She’s been living with him for several months, I heard. I think it’s important that we find out what she knows.”
    “So, if you think the daughter is a key factor in solving the case, why are we heading away from Lang Suan?”
    “All right, I’m not at liberty, et cetera, blah, blah, but I might have committed a slight error yesterday. Following our very pleasant lunch, I decided to follow up on your Sugit’s violent reaction to wicked Auntie Chainawat. I was curious to know why he disliked her so much. So I went over to Ranong.”
    “And you’re afraid your visit was the reason for Sugit’s kidnapping. You think you’ve sparked a Chinese mafia war between two of the south’s most dangerous clans and that soon the entire region will be a battleground of blood and revenge.”
    “I wouldn’t have put it quite as dramatically but yes, I may have hinted that Sugit had referred to the Chainawat family in less than glowing terms.”
    “So, we’re going there now, as a team, heavy back-up, to accuse them of kidnapping and torture.”
    “No, you’re going there as an innocent young lady and her elderly but very competent grandfather. I’ll be parking several blocks away. I can’t be seen there again, just in case I’m right about the feud. You just happened to be in the neighborhood and you had such a nice time when last you met them, you thought you’d stop in to say hello. You just need to get a sense of whether you think they had anything to do with last night.”
    “And why should we do that?”
    “Because you’re both as curious as I am.”
    “And what if we’re right and they throw us in a cellar and cut us up into little pieces?”
    “Then that’s proof that they’re up to no good. I’ll be able to wear my captain’s stripes to your funeral and shoot real bullets in the air. Can you believe I’ve never fired live rounds outside the shooting range? Such a shame. I’m a terribly good shot.”
    Granddad Jah was grinning like a crocodile in the front seat. He loved all this. It was as if his life had been recharged. Me? I was wondering whether we’d make it to lunchtime.
    ♦
    “My mother wants to know why she should answer any of your questions.”
    The son’s face had become even more enchanting since the last time I’d seen him but he was using his smile less generously. We were sitting at the same coffee table with probably the same uneaten rambutans and peanut snacks in front of us. The old lady’s fuse was shorter than ever without a uniformed policeman beside us. It had taken a very long time for her to grant us an