a living but he knew that if it became a lifestyle he would get lost. He understood the fine line between light and darkness because he walked it every day. He liked the light but was drawn to the dark side so he knew that he needed to be careful. Once he let the devil out, the party went on for days. The trouble was Carl liked it.
Chapter 5
Carl sent an SMS to the client to remind him he needed the photograph of the grandfather that the target was said to resemble. He also asked for the target’s full real name and date of birth. He told the client he could arrange for the picture to be collected from the client’s hotel whenever it was convenient.
Carl chose not to mention the morning’s findings. He believed that delivering information in bits diluted the magic and invited interference from the client. The purpose of the message was to let the client know that Carl was already on the case and to put his mind at ease.
The client messaged back almost immediately; the picture was being couriered from the US and was expected in a couple of days. The full name of his brother was Anthony Andrew Inman, born 12 March 1943. Carl used his Blackberry to send an email to a contact he had in Las Vegas requesting a full background check on an Anthony Andrew Inman.
The address Carl had got from the Dutchman’s records was, by Carl’s calculations, somewhere around the middle of Phetchburi Road, which was not far from Sukhumvit, almost as long, running parallel to it. Carl had driven there in the unusually light Bangkok traffic without seeing any evidence of floods or coup. Thailand made him doubt his sanity and memory at times. If these major events really happened why couldn’t he see them? Because the veneer was back and the woodworms were asleep.
House numbers in Bangkok were based on a very fuzzy logic and were typically all over the place. Carl fortunately understood the history of how the numbering had been allotted. The confusion had been created when large plots of land had been broken up into smaller pieces and sold. House number one hundred could be a long way from number ninety-nine and there could be dozens of buildings between them, each individually provided with a complex number at different times during Bangkok’s rapid growth. Carl functioned well in chaos so he found what he was looking for without too much trouble.
It was a stand-alone building with four floors and a flat roof. The place was deserted and had seen better days. There were unwashed floor to ceiling windows on the front of the building. Carl saw that it was facing the main road but all signs had been removed. Carl concluded that it would have been an office or showroom and not a retail shop. The building was empty and by the look of it had been for some time.
There were eight parking spaces belonging to the building and Carl parked the Porsche in the first one. Beyond the building’s private parking area there was a quadrant made up of shop houses operating various businesses and an open area where customers parked. As usual everybody looked. Yes Carl, how do you do it in a bright red Porsche?
There was a rundown noodle shop a few meters inside the quadrant off the main road that had obviously been in business for a long time. One of the few left in central Bangkok. It had become mostly plastic convenience food service in Bangkok but Carl was pleased to see that on Phetchburi Road that was not the case.
Carl went and sat at an old wooden table with a plastic tablecloth displaying its array of condiments, cutlery and toilet tissue. Toilet tissue to wipe your mouth had taken some getting used to until Carl realized that he only considered such tissues to have one purpose because an advertising company in Europe had told him so. In Thailand it was just tissue in a roll which was a far more practical attitude to such things.
Carl ordered an iced tea. He was fond of the Thai black tea,
Chapter 5
Carl sent an SMS to the client to remind him he needed the photograph of the grandfather that the target was said to resemble. He also asked for the target’s full real name and date of birth. He told the client he could arrange for the picture to be collected from the client’s hotel whenever it was convenient.
Carl chose not to mention the morning’s findings. He believed that delivering information in bits diluted the magic and invited interference from the client. The purpose of the message was to let the client know that Carl was already on the case and to put his mind at ease.
The client messaged back almost immediately; the picture was being couriered from the US and was expected in a couple of days. The full name of his brother was Anthony Andrew Inman, born 12 March 1943. Carl used his Blackberry to send an email to a contact he had in Las Vegas requesting a full background check on an Anthony Andrew Inman.
The address Carl had got from the Dutchman’s records was, by Carl’s calculations, somewhere around the middle of Phetchburi Road, which was not far from Sukhumvit, almost as long, running parallel to it. Carl had driven there in the unusually light Bangkok traffic without seeing any evidence of floods or coup. Thailand made him doubt his sanity and memory at times. If these major events really happened why couldn’t he see them? Because the veneer was back and the woodworms were asleep.
House numbers in Bangkok were based on a very fuzzy logic and were typically all over the place. Carl fortunately understood the history of how the numbering had been allotted. The confusion had been created when large plots of land had been broken up into smaller pieces and sold. House number one hundred could be a long way from number ninety-nine and there could be dozens of buildings between them, each individually provided with a complex number at different times during Bangkok’s rapid growth. Carl functioned well in chaos so he found what he was looking for without too much trouble.
It was a stand-alone building with four floors and a flat roof. The place was deserted and had seen better days. There were unwashed floor to ceiling windows on the front of the building. Carl saw that it was facing the main road but all signs had been removed. Carl concluded that it would have been an office or showroom and not a retail shop. The building was empty and by the look of it had been for some time.
There were eight parking spaces belonging to the building and Carl parked the Porsche in the first one. Beyond the building’s private parking area there was a quadrant made up of shop houses operating various businesses and an open area where customers parked. As usual everybody looked. Yes Carl, how do you do it in a bright red Porsche?
There was a rundown noodle shop a few meters inside the quadrant off the main road that had obviously been in business for a long time. One of the few left in central Bangkok. It had become mostly plastic convenience food service in Bangkok but Carl was pleased to see that on Phetchburi Road that was not the case.
Carl went and sat at an old wooden table with a plastic tablecloth displaying its array of condiments, cutlery and toilet tissue. Toilet tissue to wipe your mouth had taken some getting used to until Carl realized that he only considered such tissues to have one purpose because an advertising company in Europe had told him so. In Thailand it was just tissue in a roll which was a far more practical attitude to such things.
Carl ordered an iced tea. He was fond of the Thai black tea,
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