A Heavy Price – Part 1 of 2, By Mike Holt

He’s dead now. There’s really not much I can do about it anymore. Why did he have to spoil everything? If he hadn’t lost his nerve we never would have taken the hike up the mountain.

Sorry, I guess you are wondering what I am talking about. Let me start at the beginning.

Malcolm and I have been friends ever since we met at school. We met and the chemistry was there. He was in a fight with another boy when I first saw him. He was taking a beating, so I went over to help him. Even at age eight I had this inner confidence that has stood me in good stead all my life. I stepped between them and hit the other boy between the eyes.

He was stunned at first that I had actually hit him. Then he ran away as fast as he could.

Malcolm and I became firm friends from then on.

I’m Jack Lawless. I break just over six foot with dark wavy hair, blue eyes and a pragmatic approach to life. I learned early on that worrying achieves nothing, so I have always tried to make the best of whatever fate hands me. I have fought hard to get where I am today. I don't give a shit. I live up to my name. I left my wife when I caught her in bed with another bloke I thought was my best friend. I was so angry I wanted to move right away from my past. I applied for a job with this arms trading company because it offered me a place in Bangkok. I couldn’t get much further much further away from the pain of my betrayal than that. I needed to go somewhere I could build a new life.

I have managed to make a lot of money in the last three years I've been in Thailand; enough to start achieving my dream of buying a few buildings and doing them up for resale. I had already been looking at some old godowns on the Chao Phraya river bank that looked promising. I had enough to put down a good deposit, but I still needed more money to pay the full purchase price. If I didn’t get the money soon I would miss the opportunity. I was determined to be rich enough to retire within ten years. These buildings would be the start of my quest.

Malcolm was quite a contrast. He was only about five foot five in wet socks. His eyes were light amber, which really attracted the women. But he lacked the confidence to be really successful with them. He had a few girlfriends but they rarely stayed long. It didn't seem to bother him. He was too self-absorbed to care.

Malcolm was always broke. He never was any good with money. He loved to gamble and he would often borrow small sums off me when he lost.

Whenever he won I was the first person he paid off. He was a sucker for any gambling opportunity that came his way. I can't count the times he blew all his money on a bet or some harebrained get rich scheme. I tried giving him some financial advice but he never took it seriously. He liked living on the edge.

Despite this he managed to scrape up the money to come to Bangkok with me about six months ago. He’d written to an engineering firm and managed to get a job.

We were having a ball. That is, until the day he came over to my place looking really pale and frightened.

“I’ve done something terribly stupid Jack. I’m in debt to a loan shark for over a hundred grand. What am I going to do?”

“Dollars or Baht?”

“Dollars.” He said looking scared.

“A loan shark? How did that happen? I didn’t even know there were any here.”

“Oh they are here alright. I started gambling at a Muay Thai fight about two months ago. Vichai, that Thai bloke from my office took me one night and I was hooked. You met him I think?” He looked at me quizzically and I nodded.

“Well, he saw I was getting a bit low on funds so he asked if I would like a stake. Like a fool I thought he meant he was going to lend me the money. But he introduced me to this mean looking bastard everyone called Loong Paw or something. Vichai spoke to him for a minute in Thai and then this Loong Paw pulled out a wad of money and just handed it to me. He shook my hand and he walked away.

I tried to make it back at cards, but I kept on losing. It’s the worst losing streak I’ve ever had. Loong Paw kept on lending me more. Now he has come looking for his money and I don’t have it. I need something to give him, even ten or twenty thousand would hold him off. If I don’t come up with something quickly he’ll do some serious damage to me Jack. He might even kill me”

We might be best mates but there is a line I draw, and Malcolm had just stepped over it. I didn’t mind lending him small amounts, sometimes even a few thousand dollars at a time. But this time he’d gone way beyond anything I could help him with. Besides, I needed all the money I had for the investment building.

So there we were. The two of us desperate for money; me to buy those properties, and Malcolm so that he could stay alive.

Suddenly, I had an idea. My cousin Stanton had just come to Bangkok for a visit.

Cousin Stanton was the father I never had. My dad died in an industrial accident at the factory where he worked soon after I was born. My mother was devastated. Stanton was there for her. He made sure the house payments were made, that we always had enough money for food, clothing and my education. He was my hero. I would have done anything for him.

Cousin Stanton is a very successful advertising company owner with offices all over the world. He’s always travelling to ensure that his operations run smoothly, so I don’t get to see him as much as I would like. But he has always stopped by to see me whenever he could. He’d called me late the night before to tell me he was in Bangkok to negotiate some business. He couldn’t have come at a better, or a worse time, depending on how you looked at it.

“Listen, Malcolm, I may have a solution for the both of us. But let me do this my way, ok?”

He looked at me and nodded mutely.

I took him with me to the Oriental hotel where Cousin Stanton was staying. We were both dressed in our best business suits. Stanton had a suite at the top of the new building overlooking the river. It was breathtaking. The room was furnished in Thai silk, with expensive porcelain and ancient Buddha statues scattered everywhere, as well as paintings by some of the Kingdom’s top artists on the walls. I didn’t even want to think how much Stanton was paying for all that luxury.

We sat near the large picture windows overlooking the River of Kings and watched the passing rice barges while the room waiter poured us coffee. Stanton gave him a large tip with his most charming smile and told him he would ring if we needed anything else. The waiter left quietly, closing the doors on his way out. We were alone.

“It’s good to see you again Jack, but you don’t look too good old boy. What’s the problem?”

I smiled and said that I had a couple of big favors to ask him and I was nervous. God bless his big heart he just gave a chuckle and said that he would be happy to help if he could. “You rarely ever ask for anything. I wish you would, but it’s good you are so independent.”

I thanked him and explained why Malcolm and I needed to borrow some serious money quickly. Cousin Stanton sat there looking solemn as he listened to us pitch our needs to him.

When I finished he came and sat next to me, put his arm around my shoulder and said, “Jack, you are the son I never had. I’ve never regretted having to stay single for my work because I’ve always had you and your mother to care for.”

I nodded. I felt he was leading up to telling me we couldn’t have the money. I could almost feel it in my bones. He’d never let me down before, but this was just too much to ask for, surely?

But then he surprised me.

“I’ll be happy to give you the money if you will do something very important for me. What I am about to ask is not something I would normally ask. It’s a huge favor and I will understand if you say no. I hope you don’t, though, because it could have dire consequences for me.”

I looked at him, the coffee cup in my hand shaking with surprise.

He went on. “As you know, I have been very successful over the years. But you don’t get to my position without cutting corners now and again. Usually, I have managed to get around any problems, but this is one that just won’t go away without taking drastic action.”

I waited for him to go on, wondering what he was leading up to.

“About two weeks ago while we were in Japan to fix some problems there my chief accountant, Gordon Baker, came and accused me of some serious financial irregularities. No need to go into detail here. I didn't cause the problems, but as I own the company the responsibility rests on my shoulders. I could be in big trouble if he goes to the authorities, as he has threatened to do. He has been angling for a while to take over the company from me, and I won’t allow that. I just don’t like the man. With these accusations he is making the fact is I could end up in jail for the rest of my life. I’m too old to live through a long sentence. I have a lot more good work to do, but until I solve this problem with Baker I am in great danger.”

“What do you want me to do cousin?”

“Not you alone Jack. Your friend Malcolm here will also have to help if he wants the money to repay his debts.”

Malcolm looked at me and nodded eagerly. He still hadn’t twigged what my cousin was leading up to, but I knew it must be something very serious. I waited while he worked out how to put it to us.

Finally he put down his coffee cup, stood up and started pacing about agitatedly. “Son, I wouldn’t ask you to do this if I didn’t absolutely have to. But if I don’t get rid of Baker soon I will lose my liberty and probably my life. I can’t allow that to happen.”

“When you say Baker must be got rid of, just what do you mean, cousin?” I needed him to spell it out clearly for Malcolm.

“I mean exactly what I say. He must be put out of the way…permanently.” He said in a heated voice. I’d never seen him this worked up before. “You two boys are the only people in the world I trust enough to talk to about this. I need you to kill Baker for me.”

Malcolm’s face drained of blood. I thought he was going to faint right there. I leaned over and put a hand on his knee.

“Steady on mate. Don’t lose it now.”

He groaned and shut his eyes tight.

“Cousin, I think we need some time before we give you an answer.”

Turning to Malcolm I gestured for him to follow me out of the room. We walked in silence down the hallway to the lift and got in. I pressed the button for the ground floor.

Malcolm was looking green. “Are you alright mate?”

He nodded. He was pale and trembling. “I can’t. I can’t do it, Jack. How can your cousin even ask?”

“Don’t talk now. Wait until we get outside, ok?”

He nodded. The lift stopped and we walked out of the building into the thick tropical garden. It looked so serene in the night with small lights under the bushes lighting them up throwing intriguing shadows into the night.

We walked to a dark spot near the wall next to the river and leaned over looking into the turgid water as it flowed slowly towards the sea. After a few moments, I turned and looked at my old friend. His hands were shaking.

“Calm down mate. We don’t have to do this if you don’t want to. But let’s discuss it first and weigh up the pros and cons, ok?”

Ten minutes later we had both agreed to do it. I could see Malcolm still wasn’t happy but what could we do? He could lose his life too if he didn’t come up with the money to pay off Loong Paw.

We went upstairs and told cousin Stanton that we would do it. The relief on his face was palpable.

“I will never forget this, boys. You won’t ever regret this decision, I promise. Come back here tomorrow for lunch at The
Veranda Restaurant. I am having lunch with Baker then in a last ditch attempt to convince him not to go to the authorities. I have asked him several times already but the man won’t budge. But I am pretty sure his answer will be the same tomorrow.”

Here's what I want you to do. Come down to the restaurant a few minutes after I go in.

He went on, "Find a table where you can both see us, but don't stare. Just take a look at him and remember what he looks like. Eat your lunch normally. Don't leave the restaurant until we do. Then go home. If Baker still insists on filing his false allegations I will tell you what needs to be done in the morning."

We both nodded.

He stood and ushered us out. We left the hotel a very quiet pair.

After a short taxi ride we arrived at my condo building. “Come up for a drink mate. We need to talk.”

The lift whisked us up to the 28th floor and I let us in. Pouring two stiff whiskeys I led Malcolm to the balcony where we sat in the two comfortable rattan chairs we’d often shared. We took a deep drink and stared out over the Bangkok skyline for several minutes in silence. I refilled our glasses and looked at him. He was visibly shaking.

“Calm down mate. We can do this.”

“No, I don’t want to do this. I just can’t.”

“Think about it Malcolm. What choice do we have? You, especially.”

He sat there for a while and then at last he nodded his head. “I don’t have much choice do I? Either I do this or I die. Not much of a choice, is it?”

I could see he was psyching himself up. Good. At last he’d come to terms with what we had to do. Time to make plans. We both knew it was almost a certainty Baker would have to be killed.

“How are we going to kill him?”

He looked at me, eyes wide. Suddenly, he had to think about the reality of what we were planning.

“I don’t know. I’ve never killed anyone before. Have you?”

I looked at him and we both started laughing. The tension was broken.

We spent the next hour or so thinking of ways to murder someone. Finally, we decided to wait until after we saw our intended victim and then decide. Malcolm went home soon after midnight. I went to bed.

I tossed and turned for what seemed hours before I managed to nod off for a little while. Despite my cool demeanor in front of Malcolm I was just as nervous as he was.

It was no use. I woke up around two in the morning and lay there staring at the ceiling. There was no way I was going to go back to sleep, so I got up and sat the rest of the night out on the balcony. Despite drinking most of a bottle of whiskey I wasn’t the least bit drunk when the sun came up.

Malcolm knocked on my door just before ten. He looked as bad as I felt, but at least he had spruced himself up for lunch at the hotel.

By the time we got to the Oriental I had calmed down, but I could see that Malcolm was still nervous.

“Take it easy mate. This is just us having a quiet lunch so that we can see what this Baker looks like. We're just going there to take the measure of the man. If you still have reservations after that you can still pull out.”

Malcolm nodded, looking relieved. By the time we were shown to our table he looked relaxed, just another tourist enjoying lunch at one of the best hotels in the world.

Cousin Stanton was already sitting with his guest, Baker, at a table across the other side of the restaurant. We could see them without being conspicuous.

I looked at Baker. He was your typical bean counter. Pale faced, myopic with gold, wire-rimmed glasses. A nondescript suit and tie. He looked harmless. But he held the key to all our futures in his grubby little hands. If he got the chance to get back home and tell the authorities about my cousin we would all be finished.

Watching them as they talked over lunch it was clear that Baker was digging his heels in. He kept shaking his head. I could see Cousin Stanton was obviously angry and agitated.

“Take a good look at him Malcolm. Make sure you know what he looks like so we don’t make any mistakes.”

Malcolm sat staring at Baker for long minutes. He didn’t touch the food on his plate. I sat there and ate calmly. I needed to be Malcolm’s anchor; the one who could keep him focused and on the job.

We finished our meal just as cousin Stanton and Baker stood up from their table.

After paying our bill we jumped in a taxi for the slow drive home in the usual Bangkok traffic. I dropped Malcolm off at his place and continued on home after stopping off at Soi Cowboy for a quick nightcap.

The next morning Malcolm came up to my condo early. We sat down and discussed how we were going to do the deed if
we had to. It all hinged on a call from Cousin Stanton.

My mobile phone rang. It was Cousin Stanton.

“Baker still insists on going to the authorities. He's booked a plane back home for tomorrow, so we have to move fast. He’s staying in room 5121 in the new wing here at the Oriental. That’s all I can help you with. I will leave the rest up to you. Just let me know when it’s done.”

He hung up without saying goodbye.

We went back to our discussion. An hour later we had come up with a pretty good plan. It wasn't perfect, but we had the advantage. Baker wasn't expecting any danger to himself. And we had the element of surprise. We were good to go.

We walked out of my condo and got into a taxi to head for the Oriental again.

There were no accusing stares from the tourists in the lobby. I doubt anyone even noticed us among the swirling crowds of tourists. None of the staff tried to stop us as we got into the new wing lift and pushed the button for the fifth floor.

Malcolm and I looked at each other as the lift sped upwards. Neither of us looked happy.

We walked down the corridor until we saw where room 5121 was. Then we walked back towards the lift again. I left Malcolm there while I went downstairs to use the house phone. He already knew what to do.

Just as I got to the bank of phones one of them rang. I picked it up. "He's in his room. He answered the door for the maid."

I hung up and called Baker's number.

"Mr Baker, my name is Todd. I'm an associate of Mr Stanton. I wonder if you could spare me a few minutes of your time. I have some information I think you will find most interesting."

Baker seemed a little hesitant at first. "What's this about then?" he asked. I told him it was highly confidential and it had something to do with some accounting irregularities I had stumbled on.

That got his attention. He agreed to meet me. "Come up to room 5121. But make it quick. I am on my way out."

I got back in the lift and pushed the button to the fifth floor .

As I walked out of the lift I spotted Baker opening the door to his room. Malcolm was further down the hall. Baker didn't see him. We had him bracketed. I walked quickly towards Baker, as Malcolm walked slowly behind him.

“Mr Baker?” I said.

“Yes. Are you the gentleman who called me on the house phone a minute ago?”

“That’s right. Please get back into your room.” I said producing a wicked looking knife from my pocket.

He looked frightened. I could see he was calculating if he could run around me. But Malcolm was right behind him with another knife pointed at his ribs. Baker saw there was no escape. His shoulders slumped. I shoved him back into his room.

As Malcolm followed I grabbed Baker and quick-marched him to the bed and shoved him in the back so that he fell face first.

He squirmed around to face us both staring down at him menacingly.

“What is this? What are you going to do with me? Are you going to kill me?” he quavered in fear.

I menaced him with the knife.

“Lie face down on the bed and put your hands behind you.” I ordered.

He obeyed.

I took out some plastic ties and wrapped them around Baker’s wrists, while Malcolm held the sharp point of his knife against Baker’s neck. Next, I bound his ankles. Then I climbed on the bed, straddled him with my knees either side of his waist, and plunged the knife hard into the back of his neck. He was dead before he even realized what was happening.

There was very little blood. Malcolm was behind me, so he couldn't tell if Baker was dead or not.

I left the knife in Baker and looking at Malcolm said, “Your turn. Make sure he's dead.”

Malcolm looked pale. He hesitated.

I said sharply, “Do it!”

I needed to make sure he was just as guilty as I was.

Shocked into action, Malcolm stepped forward and stood beside the bed. He looked down at Baker's body, raised his knife high, and plunged it into Baker's back. The force of the blow caused Baker to grunt, a bonus I hadn't expected. Malcolm would definitely think his was the killing blow. Again, there was surprisingly little blood. It had already stopped flowing when Baker died from my knife thrust.

Malcolm whimpered. But the deed was done exactly as we had planned it.

I walked to the door and cracked it open. The hallway was clear. We stepped out quickly and I put a Do Not Disturb sign on the door before we walked to the lifts. No one had seen us entering or leaving the room.

Once we reached the ground floor we walked out and into the street to blend in with all the other westerners wandering around. We separated as soon as we were outside. I walked up the road and found a taxi around the corner. Malcolm passed me in a samlor, a three-wheeled motor taxi, as I was getting into my taxi.

We were long gone by the time a maid found Baker the next morning.

The papers told the sparse story of his death. No one had seen or heard anything. The police had no clues. We were in the clear. Or were we?