After reviewing the three sheets of paper, the detectives Dami and Ling came up with a plan. Dami stayed behind and questioned the players he suspected were involved in the Medthanet Statue incidents as well as other sculptors in the area. Ling traveled first to see a young man by the name of Dime.
He had earned that nickname for several reasons. His mother would send him out with dime bags since he was about 5 and have him sell for her they said. Other stories told of a guy who knew how to hustle. After some digging, Ling found himself facing a well dressed young man who had managed to brush with the upper echelons of society and had made himself into someone important.
"I'm not here to arrest you or ask you what your part was in that incident. It happened over 3 years ago. In my mind that's way too much time gone." And there were way bigger fish to fry.
"Then why do you want to know?"
"Because, I want to know if the scenes are actually real. I mean look at this. It actually looks a bit like you. That makes you famous if you want to go that route. If not, well it doesn't matter."
The young man looked at the picture and smirked. "That looks nothing like me." He snorted out but his tone was heavy with self-satisfaction.
Ling snorted right back. "I think it does." He said like there was an actual bet riding on it and if the guy didn't admit it he would lose some cash.
"Whatever." He stared at the picture a little longer. "It wasn't just weed I planted on him thought. There was a small bag of coke as well but they never found that for some reason. I think he either found it and threw it or, and I believe this is what really happened, someone saw me plant it and lifted it from him. The guy wasn't very self aware, you know. He looked and acted like a virgin. It was obvious to the rest of us that he had never been to one of these parties before."
"I heard the cops found him hiding in the closet."
"Hummm. I heard that too. I wasn't there thought. Once I planted on him, I stuck around for another five then broke out and called the Coppers. That's what I got paid for."
"Wait you got paid? Oh don't worry. I'm still not taking this seriously. Can you give me a ballpark range? Just curious."
"Over 20K euros."
"But under 40?" He paused for a moment then nodded because what did it matter now? The money had long since been spent.
"Huh. Thanks."
Ling left the kid and went to visit another man. If the kid was a pea, this guy was the entire tree. Still he wasn't here to see him for the drugs. No. This was a case of money laundering and Hemic was already in jail. He was here to feed him some ideas.
"What the fuck do you want?"
"Some quid pro quo."
"Huh?"
"Is this place making you dumber or something? Contact your fancy lawyer later once you think about this. I'm going to give you a name. Tul Medthanet. Code name Landing."
Everything about Hemic shut down and he squinted at Ling with cold eyes. "I ain't got nothing more to say to you."
"Then I guess you'll rot in here til you die. I hear your ex, Satima, remarried. Afril? Something like that?"
"It's Avril you cunt."
"Whatever. Wait. You know more than I do? What's the point of jail then? I thought it was supposed to lock you up tight?"
"Fuck. Off."
Ling stared at him for a long minute then chuckled and got up. Finally he revealed his punchline even thought the other party wasn't in on the joke.
"I'll just talk to Heron then. He'll want the time shaved off so he could go see his kids." And Ling walked away to the sounds of Hemic screaming in rage as he bashed against the glass.
He went directly to Heron and planted the seed. He wanted Heron to choose a side. His father and life in prison, or his still loyal wife and their 2 kids.
Hemic would push Heron to shut up and and if he pushed hard enough, he would push Heron right into the hands of Dami and Ling.
From the prison, he went to Sakhon, to Ban Phaeo. An old man lived there with his widowed daughter and her 2 children. They had made a life for themselves there but according to the second page of information he was swindled out of his land in Chiang Mai. Ling also understood that there was some payoffs that occured and an investigation about it was poorly done.
To get the case files wouldn't be easy. If the men had been paid off, then chances were, they would contact Tul and inform him there was someone looking into the case. It was important to avoid alerting Tul at all cost. As it was, Ling had already lost his pursuers more than once.
The question was, why did Tul feel the need to have him followed?
"Good day Mr. Anupat. My name is Detective Tom Ling. I am currently secretly investigating Tul Medthanet."
"I see. Have a seat. We need to speak quickly and carefully. My grand boy just did an internship at Medthanet Port. He met Tul for one hour and came back raving like the man was Buddha reborn."
"Does he know the circumstances of why you now live here?"
"No and I don't want to tell him. Some parents are ok with letting their children inherit their bitterness. I don't want that. It can make you narrow minded and prejudiced. I'm proud of both my grandbabies and I want them to accomplish whatever they set their mind to."
Ling was shocked to say the least and very impressed. He informed the old man of the information they received due to investigating the issue with the statues.
"Hum. Interesting. In my office there is a key that fits into a space underneath one of the paperweights. Once you find it, open the file cabinet, the third draw. The entire thing contains information about the case."
Ling nodded then followed instructions. He whipped out a rolled up backpack from his briefcase and carefully placed the files in it. Once done. He came out, wrote up and handed the gentleman a receipt for the files.
"Don't worry about it kid. Everything in there are just copies. I have the original file safely put away."
"I'll still need to do this sir. For the record."
"Fine." He took the receipt, never once getting out of his chair. Once Ling left, his daughter came out and looked at her father.
"How come you gave him the good copies?"
"I like him," Was all he said.
The last person Ling was about to visit would be a serious problem.
Both his partner and his Captain knew the relationship between himself and this man. He owed his name, his life, his very existence to this man. He even loved him thought he would never outright tell the man himself.
"I'm here to see Kino."
The day had been long and when he returned to Bangkok, his pissed off pursuers had stuck to him like glue. He went home, had a shower and changed, secured his haul, then left again for Bang Saen.
"Name?" He asked in a bored voice.
"Tom Ling."
The guy suddenly looked at him. His face turned into pissed lines even as he opened the door and let Tom in before shutting it again. Kino only had one rule for Tom. He must come alone.
He walked through the back corridor into the offices and directly to Kino's office door.
"Hey Maskal." The huge man looked down and gave Tom a gold plated smile. He was Kino's right hand man and if given a choice, Tom would have died a long time ago.
"Thomas." Hence the reason why he called him by his hated first name. What a pretentious name Kino had given him. "He's busy."
"I'll wait." And he stood to the side of Maskal. The big man didn't flinch or move away, even making small talk.
"So how's the cop business?"
"Copish. Same shit really."
"What are you investigating?"
"Some statues."
"The ones in front of the Medthanet building? What's that about?" Unknowingly, Maskal just outed that they were paying attention to the Medthanet situation. That would mean whatever happened with the family was important to them.
"Tul picked on his brother one to many times."
"So it's a family situation?"
"Not just that. There are some very well connected people involved with this."
"Yeah? How we_" The door opened and Maskal turned, effectively blocking Tom with his huge bulk. Even as the person moved, Tom kept behind Maskal. It was all done very smoothly and the person didn't have a clue. Tom only had a voice to go on but he had a feeling the person was Ryan Cho, rich, famous actor, and druggie. If he was here to see Kino then something else was afoot.
Maskat led Ryan out and Tom slipped into the room. Kino was waiting for him.
"How was your day? Hum?" He immediately pulled Tom into his arms and held him close. They let each other have this moment before pulling apart.
"As if you don't know how my day was? Really?"
"I want to hear it from you. Talk to me my little Tommy."
Tom grimaced but he talked, and Kino simply listened.
"So you want to know our connection with the Medthanets?"
"Yes. The rules apply as always."
"We're only connected to Tul. We launder money for him. After he pulled all his documents from Hemic, he had them turned in, did you know that? Before the arrest, everything about Tul was erased. Well almost everything."
"What do you mean?"
"Tul reached out to us before he did the bad on Hemic. The guy was smooth but he didn't know we already knew everything. And I do mean everything. Do you want it?"
"Whats the condition this time?"
"Come to the house and see Nana sometimes. She's been asking for you. Everyone's been asking for you."
"I thought they were mad at me?"
"Annoyed, definitely. Mad, nah. They were never mad. I mean it was so obvious what you wanted from the start. We were disappointed that you choose it in the end, even after everything and knowing what you know, but we still love you Thomas."
Tom ignored the name again. "Ok. I'll come by next weekend. I have a day off."
"Good. I'll tell her. She'll be happy. Now, when are you going to make me happy?"
"When you turn yourself in." Kino winced even thought he saw that coming a mile away. Some things were just comforting in their consistency.
"Here's the file. I don't like the guy so it's nothing to me. And business is just business. Be careful with him thought. Right now I'm protecting someone from him and the things I've learned... He'll kill you without hesitation if you make him second guess you even for a second. He thinks he's that powerful."
"You'll avenge me right?" The words were out before Tom truly thought about them.
"I'll destroy the world for you." Kino whispered before he stole a soft kiss.
Tom stood up quickly and backed away but Kino only smiled. He didn't mind shaking the guy to his core. He would actually go legitimate for Tom. In fact he already had in some areas. It was just harder than he thought to choose a successor. One he could safely hand the business to while he moved into the quiet life and to Thomas. Someone Maskal and Pioter would be willing to trust...
"I have to go."
"Hum. Don't forget next weekend."
"Will you be there?" Do I have to avoid you?
"No. I have some things to take care of."
Tom nodded and walked out. Now Pioter was at the door. He talked even less than Maskal and only flashed his silver grill. Tom walked out into the club and got a drink at the bar. He spent another 15 minutes before walking out the front and going home.
Half an hour after he left, Maskal answered his private line.
"Why is a detective I am following walking through your back door?"
"Because he belongs to the boss. He was raised by the family."
"Really." He tried to cover the shock but it was still clear to Maskal.
"This kid doesn't care about the business and if you want to live, you wouldn't care about the kid. He comes by to fulfill his familial obligations. If your not calling to tell me what I want to hear at this point, then stop fucking calling."
There was a cold chuckle on the other end. Then suddenly he cleared his throat. "Sure, why not. I'll help you topple Kino. It's nothing to me really."
"Oh? We'll talk about this later." Then Maskal put down and sat back. He linked eyes with his boss and flashed his golden grill. "He said yes."
Back in his office, Tul put down the phone and turned off the recorder. He pulled out the disk in his hand and replaced it with the correct one. Then he stored the information before destroying the disk. He let his computer running while he walked into the room in his back office. There a young girl was waiting for him, tied up and blind folded.
While he enjoyed himself, the virus that had downloaded with the email sent by Koda, silently did it's work...