The Tsunami File Read Online Free PDF Page B

once.”
    He pretended to get up to go, and then sat down again.
    â€œJanko, there’s a problem, I’m afraid,” Smith said.
    â€œNo, Smith, no,” Brajkovic said.
    â€œYes,” Smith said. “A file has gone missing. At least one. Perhaps more. But one I know of. A German victim, I think.”
    â€œSmith, don’t joke, please. A file missing. Who gives a damn? Please. We are in Thailand. It is like this out here. We are lucky there are any files out here at all. Go back to your desk, go back.”
    â€œI was working on this one myself. I had the file on my desk and now it’s gone.”
    â€œTalk to the fucking Germans then,” Brajkovic said. “They have taken it. The bastards only want to identify their own people anyway. Talk to them, not to me.”
    â€œI’m sure it wasn’t the Germans,” Smith said.
    â€œThey wouldn’t have known it was on my desk. And, Janko, also, the AFIS file search I created has been deleted from the system.”
    â€œBullshit,” Janko said. “You fucked something up. You hit the wrong key, your hand shakes too much with lust for little Spanish tarts, who cares? Create another AFIS search and don’t bother me with such things. I’m going for a piss.”
    Brajkovic stood up. His deeply pockmarked skin glistened with sweat. He did not look well at all.
    â€œI think I am going to be sick,” he said. “This goddamn Thai food every night, every night, every night, is going to kill me. You will have to ship me back to Zagreb in a box.”
    Stefan Zalm was by his desk in the dental forensics section. He was fiddling with an aging turquoise portable dental X-ray apparatus on squeaky wheels. It looked vaguely Soviet in design and vintage.
    â€œThey send me this stuff to fix, Jonah,” Zalm said, looking up. “What do I know about this sort of thing? They send it all the way over from the mortuary site and think I can fix it.”
    â€œPathologists can’t fix these machines, so you’ll have to,” Smith said. “They think you’ve probably got one just like it in your surgery back in The Hague. You’re the expert.”
    â€œNot in this. I am not a technician. And this is junk. They need to just get new equipment. Why do they bother sending this over to me?”
    Zalm sat down behind his desk. It was covered with X-rays and files, in no apparent order. A plaster mould of someone’s lower dentures served as a paperweight.
    â€œSit, Jonah,” he said. “Why do you visit me during the day anyway? There’s no beer here.”
    â€œI spoke to Brajkovic about the missing file,”
    Smith said.
    â€œOh, Jonah, please, not this file business again,” Zalm said.
    â€œIt’s important,” Smith said.
    â€œOne file among hundreds. There are still about sixteen hundred unidentified bodies in those containers by the airport. You think one file has gone missing. Be sensible, Jonah.” “It was on my desk.”
    â€œAmong how many others? How can you be sure? Look at my desk. Look at this. Look. Look at everyone’s desk around here. It is not like Europe here, Jonah. We are working like the Thais work much of the time.”
    â€œNo, Stefan. We have a system in place now.”
    â€œA system, Jonah, please. Don’t be foolish.”
    â€œI’ve decided to go to the operation commanders.” Smith said.
    â€œFool, fool,” Zalm said. “They will throw you out of the office. They have too much to worry about already. Do you think they care about a fingerprint man from Interpol who has lost a file?”
    â€œI didn’t lose that file,” Smith said gravely.
    â€œOK, OK,” Zalm said. “So it has been mislaid. Someone borrowed it from your desk and didn’t give it back. They brought it to the Whale Bar by mistake and got drunk and now it’s in a rubbish bin somewhere. Some Belgian policeman