Roachville

Twilight was upon me as I looked up from the long letter. A spider had woven her web behind me; her intricate net hung from the bench on one side and a tree on the other side. The bottom of the net, balanced by a long thread, wrapped around a small stone. The engineer arachnid was nowhere to be seen.

A shiver ran down my spine – or maybe it was the spider. I folded the letter more neatly than necessary and looking down on the Estuary making its muddy way to the sea, I pictured Mei’s father on the Me Kong. He had killed an old man to protect the naga and his family. But what had happened to him? Tann must know and I wanted to find out.

I walked back to the car, casting glances around me. Just before I turned the ignition key, a faint tremor reached my ear and I froze. Very slowly I turned sideways. Somebody was sitting in my car. My body slammed against the door and I banged my head against the window.

‘Oh, sorry, did I give you a fright?’ said a black guy with messy dreadlocks and a lilting Australian accent. He gave me a serious look, noisily adjusted the seat backwards and stretched his long slim legs in front of him.

‘I didn’t expect you to have such a nervous reaction.’

I breathed out, did a full rotation towards him and stared, while the wild horses inside my ribcage slowed. The sharp pain on the side of my head receded and, although I felt resentful at his entrance, I was glad that Mei had kept her word.

‘So you must be one of the twins. Mei’s bodyguard.’ My voice quivered. ‘You know I got really scared just then. Why would you do that and how did you get into my car without me noticing anything?’

He shuffled into a more comfortable position. ‘Look, I don’t know why but I love to make an impression when I meet somebody new and I have, let’s say, a natural aptitude for camouflage. People don’t see me unless they’re paying attention or I want them to. I often sneak around and make myself invisible. I know I shouldn’t have come into your car uninvited, but I just couldn’t help surprising you. It was just a bit of fun, don’t you think?’

‘No. It wasn’t fun at all. I think this is the closest I’ve ever come to having a heart attack.’ I rubbed my temple. I looked into his dark eyes and saw no specific emotion there.

‘Let me introduce myself properly,’ he said. ‘My name is Mulalloo and I understand you want to know about our mutual friend, Kenneth Tann?’

‘Yes, I do. You’ve been following me around?’

Mulalloo, who was wearing some boring clothes in boring colours (but I guessed that helped if you didn’t want to be seen), nodded once, got out some bubble gum, offered me some, which I declined, popped a couple of pieces in his mouth and began chewing. A strong strawberry smell filled the space between us. He proceeded to blow bubbles and I burst the second one with the tip of my finger.

‘You don’t know how badly you’re fuelling my paranoia,’ I said.

‘Why would you be paranoid? Did something happen to you when you were little?’ he asked, tilting his head like a bored psychiatrist.

‘Well, I think it’s part of my psychological make-up.’ I tilted my head too. ‘I have a natural distrust of people.’ I shrugged. ‘Anyway, this is ridiculous, are you trying to analyse me or something?’

‘Sorry, I’m really into psychology at the moment, I’m even considering taking a course at some point. So I couldn’t help asking you where your paranoia comes from.’

‘Terrific,’ I said.

‘I realize this is not really the time and place to talk about your paranoia, but Kenneth Tann is vicious and he’ll have your neck before you know what’s hit you, so it’s not so bad that you’re paranoid.’ He removed some of the pink chewing-gum sticking to his chin.

‘I’m all ears.’

‘Okay, but start driving. I’ll tell you on the way back, it’s safer.’

Heading south, with the sun’s rays painting the sky soft hues of orange and pink, I stole a quick glance at his calm face and concentrated on the road.

‘As Phuong told you, Kenneth Tann is from Malaysia. Ever been there?’

‘I spent two weeks there a few years ago. I was travelling from Singapore to Thailand during a year out.’

‘So you’re aware that the country is populated by three main ethnic groups?’

‘Yes, the Malay, the Chinese and the Indians.’

‘Exactly. Obviously, Kenneth Tann belongs to the Chinese minority.’

I nodded.

‘During your travels, did you ever stop in Tioman Island?’

Searching through my memory, I mapped the itinerary Mac and I had followed. ‘No, I didn’t. But if I recall it’s situated off the east coast of mainland Malaysia in the South China Sea.’

‘You’re right again – and what a pity you didn’t get a chance to stop there. It’s a jewel among tropical islands.’ He sounded like an enthusiastic travel agent. ‘But anyway, I’m not here to chit-chat, am I?’

‘No.’ I tightened my grip on the wheel. ‘You’re here to make me understand why the naga is so important to Tann.’

‘I’ll be honest, I’m not entirely sure of his exact motivations. The obvious one is to gain wealth, which would make him powerful and influential once again. But there’s also a personal element to Tann’s quest. His search for the naga has become a dark obsession that defines him and we’re certain that he has evil intent, although this is mostly speculation.’

‘Please, do tell me everything you know.’

Mulalloo closed his eyes and seemed to be collecting his thoughts.

’Kenneth Tann was born in 1957. Shortly after his birth, his family moved to Tioman Island. His parents were the only Chinese Malaysians and this fact had a profound effect on his childhood.’

‘How so?’

‘He was an only child, and isolated because of his ethnic background.’

‘From what I gather,’ I said, ‘each community tends to stick to its own.’

‘That’s it,’ Mulalloo acquiesced. ‘It’s nothing new under the sun, but people can be intolerant all over the world and in Tann’s case, it probably wasn’t that much fun growing up on an island being the only Chinese. We are certain that something happened there when he was a child, something bad that shaped his mindset. That’s what Phuong thinks. We don’t know what it is, but we are certain it is what now pushes him to seek revenge.’

‘Something really bad, so bad, that he wants revenge,’ I repeated.

‘Yes. Anyhow, he may have been lonely and burning up with a desire for revenge, but he did well at school. His parents encouraged him to study and he ended up training as a dermatologist on the mainland.’

‘Random, but okay,’ I remarked.

‘I’m not kidding, you know,’ he declared, with eyes as deep as two hypnotising whirlpools.

‘Sure,’ I shrugged, ‘please carry on.’

‘He began working in the mid-seventies, in Kuala Lumpur, the capital, but he soon got involved with the local Chinese mafia, and dermatology just became a front. Tann found himself in his natural element with the Chinese underworld and there are rumours that he used his dermatologist skills on uncooperative people to extract guarded information. By the end of the eighties, we know that he was already interested in the naga, although how he came to hear about it is something we haven’t managed to establish. Through his contacts, Tann got out of Malaysia and he carried on performing difficult jobs where his deceiving good looks helped him to succeed in activities such as information-gathering and disposal.’

‘Is that a euphemism for torture and assassination?’ I grabbed the wheel a bit tighter.

‘I’m afraid it is,’ Mulalloo said in a very matter-of-fact way. ‘At the same time, he launched into a more intense search that led him to Laos, where he established the link between Mei’s family and the naga. For a long time, he lost track of them, but when he caught up with Mei’s father things turned ugly and Mei and Phuong had to go on the run again – but this time with me and my brother.’ Mulalloo paused as I took a right turn into an even smaller lane. Tall dark hedges framed the road and I had to stop to make way for a tractor coming the other way. As its headlights illuminated the inside of the car, I glimpsed a brief expression of discouragement on Mulalloo’s face.

‘I’m not sure,’ he whispered, ‘but I don’t think he will stop ever… at least not until…’

‘Not until someone dies?’ I finished his sentence for him, as our surroundings were plunged into darkness again.

‘Well, maybe.’

‘An old man called Gaspard already has.’

‘I know.’

I shifted through the gears as Mulalloo went into brooding silence.

‘Tell me how you got to know Mei and Phuong and why you’re following them all over the place?’

My eyes stayed on the darkening road, but I could sense him shaking his head.

‘I met them in Australia.’

‘And?’

‘I don’t want to talk about it.’

‘Why not?’

‘I don’t see why you need to know that,’ he said.

‘Look, by the sounds of things, I could end up being tortured by a sadistic dermatologist, so if you want me to help you I need to understand how everybody is involved and how this story fits together.’ I stopped the car in the middle of the quiet lane and crossed my arms in front of my chest.

‘Fine, but keep driving.’ Mulalloo said.

I started the engine again.

‘I know Mei and her family, because that’s where they emigrated after Thailand. And you want to know why I’m following Mei and her mother, well, it doesn’t really have anything to do with the naga… For me, it’s all about Mei. I would do anything for her.’

‘So are you a couple?’

‘I don’t think that’s any of your business,’ he snapped backed.

‘Don’t be offended. I’m just trying to figure out if you’re the good guys.’

He let out the longest sigh in the galaxy. ‘We are the good guys, haven’t you figured it out yet?’

I stared at the road. Sure, I’d already made up my mind, even before reading the letter in the cemetery, but I had to fit all the pieces of the puzzle together.

‘What about your brother? What’s in it for him?’

‘Maybe he’s in love too,’ he muttered

‘Sounds complicated.’ I pictured Mulalloo and Mei together, and maybe Mulalloo’s twin too.

‘Listen…’ He changed the subject. ‘My brother and I will make sure that nothing happens to you; it’s not your fault that you’re in the middle of this. Phuong told you there is a connection and she’s never wrong. Something good could happen to you, because of your involvement. You just have to make sure to contact me as Mei has instructed you, as soon as you get the naga.’

We drove in silence for the rest of the way. And as I parked and turned off the engine, my thoughts turned to Ely.

‘So that’s what in it for me? Something good, some sort of connection…’ My words trailed off and I turned towards Mulalloo, wondering if he had heard me. But it was no use wondering, because all that was left where he had been sitting was an empty space.