Read Inspector Zhang Gets His Wish for Free Online Page B

grand scheme of things, it wasn’t.
    Mr Clare was nodding. “He applied to the Thai Consulate in Chicago. He had a visa.”
    I made a note. “And which airline did he use?”
    “Delta,” said Mr Clare. “He flew through Seattle.”
    I made another note, then looked up, smiling reassuringly. They seemed less worried now that I was asking for specific information. “The letters that Jon Junior sent, do you have them?”
    Mr Clare nodded and looked across at his wife. She clicked open a small black handbag and handed me half a dozen airmail envelopes. I put them down next to the photograph.
    “And since the phone call, you haven’t heard from him?”
    The Clares shook their heads. “Not a word,” said the father. “And we’ve spoken to our bank in Salt Lake City and he hasn’t used his credit card since he spoke to us.”
    “What sort of phone did he have? Did he use a local Sim card? With a Thai number?”
    Mr Clare nodded. “He bought it soon after he arrived. We’ve called it several times. The first time it was answered by a Thai man but since then It ’s been switched off.”
    I pushed a notepad towards him and asked him to write down the number.
    “What about emails?” I asked. “Did he email you?”
    “We’re not big fans of emails,” said Mrs Clare. “I also say that if It ’s important enough to write, then It’s important enough to put down on paper.”
    “He did have an email account, but that was just for friends,” said Mr Clare. “With his mother and I, he wrote or phoned.”
    I asked him to write down the email address.   “He came here as a tourist, right?   He was just here on vacation?”
    “He was a tourist, but he said he was going to get a job teaching English,” said Mr Clare.
    I sat back in my chair. “I thought you said he was just taking a break before joining you in the family firm.”
    “He changed his mind. He said he’d fallen in love with the place.”
    “With the place? Or with someone?”
    Mr Clare frowned. “What are getting at?”
    “He might have met a girl. Or a boy.”
    “Our son is not gay, Mr Turtledove,” said Mrs Clare, icily.
    “I bet he could have teamed up with a guy he’d met. Maybe gone up country, trekking with the hilltribes. It’s easy to lose track of time when You ’re in the jungle.   Or maybe he met a girl. Thailand is full of beautiful women.”
    “Our son is a virgin,” Mrs Clare said.   “He is a virgin and will be on his wedding day. He has promised us that.”
    I tried not to smile but I figured that any red blooded twenty-one-year-old male would have a hard time clinging on to his virginity in Thailand.
    “I am serious, Mr Turtledove,” said Mrs Clare.   “Our son believes in the Bible as the word of our Lord. Besides, if he had met a girl, he would have told us. Our son tells us everything.”
    “How many children do you have?” I asked.
    “Six,” said Mr Clare. “Three girls. Three boys. Jon Junior is the oldest.”
    “And has he been in touch with any of his siblings?”
    Mr Clare’s brow furrowed.   “I told you, he hasn’t been in touch since the last phone call.”
    “You said you hadn’t heard from him. That doesn’t mean he hasn’t been in contact with his brothers and sisters.”
    “They would have told us,” said Mr Clare. He folded his arms and sat back in his chair and glared at me as if daring me to contradict him.
    I doodled on the notepad.   “How was your last conversation with Jon Junior?” I asked.
    His glare darkened. “Now what are you suggesting?”
    I kept looking at the pad. The doodle was turning into an angel with spreading wings. “Jon Junior came out here on a holiday, then he calls you to say he wants to work here. He’s your eldest boy and you were expecting him to work in the family firm, so it must have come as a shock.”
    “A surprise, yes.”
    “So did you argue with him?”
    “We had an exchange of views.”
    “And you weren’t happy about his career