CHAPTER 26
Pascale and Mark Dobson were continuing their discussion over coffee when Jeffrey called.
“Ho Chiang, boss,” he said. “He left PJ Beauty Supplies and Eddie and I followed him. He’s just checked in for a flight to Bangkok. Thai Air Asia flight arriving at 15.45.”
“That’ll fly into Don Mueang, yes?” Mark replied, checking his watch.
“Yes. But something else. At around 8am after leaving PJ Beauty Supplies, he passed by the Sama Sama Hotel near the airport and met someone. I couldn’t get close but I’m sure it was Peter Lester. I’ve got a photo. It’s not good but I’m sending it now.”
When it arrived, Mark enlarged it and checked every feature.
It was undoubtedly the back of Ho Chiang’s head - the straggly black hair falling from the small, white bald patch, the grey crumpled trousers and the white tee shirt. He was standing, facing the hotel reception desk and partly concealing another man standing behind. Was it Lester? Mark Dobson wasn’t sure but if Jeffrey thought it was, then that was good enough.
But, according to Isobel, Lester had been at the Vital Board meeting in Oxford not much more than twenty-four hours before. If it was Lester, he must have gone straight to the airport from the Board meeting. Mark checked his watch again, worked things backwards and recalled flights from London to KL Yes, he concluded, he could have made it, just. So why the urgency? Was Lester panicking? He looked at Pascale. “It looks like our friend Ho Chiang is heading to Bangkok.”
He then phoned Jeffrey back to ask him to keep tabs on Lester.
“He’s gone,” Jeffrey said. “He checked in but when Eddie and I arrived back after following Ho to the airport he’d gone.”
For a moment, Mark Dobson had forgotten Eddie was there. Eddie knew Lester and vice versa. “Did Eddie see Lester?” he asked Jeffrey.
“No, I made him stay in the car.”
“Keep it that way, Jeffrey. Don’t let Eddie get anywhere near Lester.” He then phoned Sannan to meet the Thai Air Asia flight from KL and follow Ho Chiang. Then he turned back to Pascale
“We’ve got some action,” he said.
Eddie’s strange feelings of guilt and other emotions had gone.
They had evaporated like the morning mist mainly because he’d enjoyed his breakfast. He never bothered with breakfast at home in Oxford but today when Jeffrey phoned, he’d wanted to get away, forget the nightmare and eat roti cani with dal and curry sauce at one of the Indian roadside stalls. He wanted to mix with the teeming thousands enjoying one of life’s simple pleasures – eating. Their lives, like his, were too short for the depressing opinions of others to spoil fleeting pleasures of the flesh. What’s more, Isobel was on her way and Eddie was actually looking forward to seeing her.
After breakfast they’d driven to PJ Beauty Supplies on a hunch that Ho Chiang would be there. He was, or at least his white van was. They’d then followed him first to the Sama Sama hotel and then to the airport. They’d phoned Mark in Bangkok and were now back at the hotel, As Eddie waited in the car Jeffrey went to the reception desk.
“Mr Peter Lester,” he said. “I believe he’s staying here.”
“One moment sir, I’ll check. Yes sir, he checked in this morning but his key is here so I think he must be out right now.”
“No problem. Can I leave a message for when he returns?”
“Of course, sir, but weren’t you here earlier? And haven’t I seen you before?”
It was very likely. It wasn’t the first time Jeffrey had followed people and ended up at the Sama. Malaysians had become very security conscious and hotels were under strict instructions to report suspicious activity. Jeffrey needed to be careful but he was prepared. From his wallet, he pulled a glossy, plastic card with an impressive logo and held it up before the desk clerks’ eyes. The man peered at it over his glasses and nodded.
There was no name on the card but, being ex police, Jeffrey had joined the Malaysian Chapter of the Pan Asian Private Security Association. It was usually enough to stop further questions. “I see, sir. No problem. What is the message?”
“I’ve changed my mind. Please call me on this number as soon as Mr Lester returns. I’ll deal with it.” He scribbled a mobile number on the clerk’s pad and left.
“Who shall I ask for, sir?”
“Charlie,” said Jeffrey and left to join Eddie in the car.
“We’ll go to my office,” he told Eddie. His office was less than five minutes away - a room with a desk, a computer and a filing cabinet in a three-storey block that specialised in short term rentals for small businesses and start-ups. He parked, they went inside, took the lift and as soon as he unlocked the office door his phone rang.
“Mr Charlie?”
“Yes.”
“It’s Felix at the Sama Sama. Mr Lester has just returned, sir.”
“Is he in his room?”
“He’s checking out sir,”
“But he only just checked in.”
“Yes, Mr Charlie. He arrived early this morning but is already checking out. It seemed suspicious.”
“Thank you, Felix. We’re concerned about credit card fraud. If he pays by card be sure to check everything.”
“Yes, sir. Thank you for the security advice. I hope to see you again, Mr Charlie, sir.”
They quickly returned to the hotel in time to see Lester climbing into a taxi. Within a few minutes Jeffrey knew exactly where he was going. He was heading for Malacca. “Do we follow?” Jeffrey asked Eddie just as his phone rang again. It was Mark Dobson to say Isobel had phoned from Dubai and was due in KL that afternoon.
“Decision made,” Jeffrey said. “We’ll stay here and meet her at the airport.”