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looked as if it could be back in Indianapolis. Clean, lots of wood, a wide-screen TV over the bar. Shanahan ordered a beer and got something in a green bottle with an elephant logo. Channarong drank water. Shanahan was perspiring, even after that short walk. Channarong wasn’t.
    â€˜Mr Kowalski speaks highly of you.’
    â€˜He is a very interesting man,’ Channarong said. ‘Very good to people. Getting someone out of a jail here is not so easy unless you know how to talk to people. Your friend picked up on local customs very quickly.’
    â€˜I take it you know the city.’
    â€˜All my life.’
    â€˜The rest of the country?’
    â€˜Some places better than others.’
    â€˜What is your relationship with the police?’ Shanahan asked.
    â€˜I was an officer at one time.’
    â€˜No longer.’
    â€˜No.’
    â€˜Why?’ Shanahan asked.
    â€˜Political.’
    â€˜They don’t like you?’
    â€˜I have many friends as well as enemies. If I may ask, what are you doing here that you are worried about the police?’
    Shanahan shook his head. ‘Probably no worries. Missing person.’
    â€˜Daughter, son?’
    â€˜Brother.’
    Channarong nodded. ‘He did something bad to you?’
    â€˜No. Just trying to find him.’
    â€˜Pardon me, but does he owe you money?’
    â€˜You have good questions. No.’
    â€˜You have a picture?’
    â€˜No. Haven’t seen him in sixty years. I have no idea what he looks like. Probably a little like me – maybe heavier, maybe not, maybe taller, maybe shorter.’
    The guide smiled a mischievous smile.
    â€˜I know. We all look alike anyway.’
    â€˜I wouldn’t have said that,’ Channarong said.
    â€˜No, I suspect you wouldn’t have said it out loud.’ Shanahan took a sip of his beer. The lighter Thai beer was perfect for the hot weather. ‘One more thing, would you consider looking into something before tomorrow. Begin today, is what I’m saying. Can you?’
    Channarong nodded.
    Shanahan reached into his pants pocket, pulled out a folded piece of paper. He unfolded it, handed it to the guide. As he read it, Shanahan continued.
    â€˜I need to know what my brother was accused of smuggling and any other details you can find out about the case. Who did he hit? Who arrested him? Has he been brought up on charges since then? Is there a home address in there anywhere?’
    Channarong nodded again, looked at his watch. ‘Yes, I can probably find that out. I need to get started right away.’ He took another sip of water and bowed slightly to Maureen who had arrived as he prepared to leave.
    â€˜I hope I didn’t frighten him away,’ Maureen smiled.
    â€˜He couldn’t withstand the power of your beauty.’
    â€˜That must be it. I can barely stand it myself.’

FOUR
    Howie Cross was a problem for the police. That was how James Fenimore Kowalski explained it to Cross as they headed for breakfast at Dufour’s in Irvington. There wasn’t enough to hold Cross, the attorney told him, but it was ‘plenty bad enough.’ Not only were there bodies in the trunk of a car he was driving, it appeared he and his dead accomplice were trying to hide the victims in a garage at the back of a used car lot in the middle of the night. What the police really needed was to have a wall of evidence or a witness to the shooting or at least a clear motive to hold him because if he were found not guilty then Slurpy’s sloppy death would be a dark cloud.
    â€˜So,’ Kowalksi said, ‘you are under suspicion, deep suspicion, but are free to go.’
    â€˜At the moment.’
    â€˜Very much at the moment. Did you know you’re eating at an historic spot?’ Kowalski said, reading the menu. ‘Used to be a drugstore and it was robbed by John Dillinger in 1933 says here. Cross and Dillinger. This place is a real magnet