Read Online The Dying Beach by Angela Savage - Free Book Online

once the waiter left them. ‘We need to figure out our strategy for looking into the deaths of these two women.’
    â€˜Are you thinking the two deaths are related?’
    â€˜We can’t know for sure. But I’ve been mulling over the state of Suthita’s room.’ She suppressed a shudder, hoped Rajiv didn’t notice. ‘It was neat as a pin when we visited this morning, and a complete mess this afternoon. Every cupboard door opened, every drawer emptied, including those on Pla’s side of the room. Even if Suthita wanted to trash her room before killing herself, why would she go through drawers and cupboards she knew to be empty?’
    â€˜A good point,’ Rajiv said. ‘But we don’t believe she killed herself, isn’t it?’
    â€˜Correct. I think whoever killed Suthita was looking for something belonging to Pla.’
    â€˜But we have all of Miss Pla’s possessions and there’s nothing—’ Rajiv hesitated. ‘The notebook?’
    Jayne took it from her bag and put it on the table. ‘It’s the only thing I can think of.’
    She leafed through the pages. ‘The notes are in Thai but Pla frequently uses an English acronym, EIA.’
    â€˜EIA? It stands for Environmental Impact Assessment. I learned about them in business studies.’
    â€˜I might’ve known you’d know.’ Jayne patted the orange and yellow hearts on the cover. ‘I’d like to have a go at a detailed translation to see what’s in these notes.’
    â€˜How long will that take?’
    â€˜I won’t really know until I get going. A few hours, maybe.’ She took a drag on her cigarette. ‘I’ll also contact my mate Gavan at the Bangkok Post and ask him about environmental issues in this part of the country.’
    â€˜It’s a shame you couldn’t get more information out of the police this morning,’ Rajiv said. ‘We could try interviewing officers on a different shift, but I am thinking we should avoid them for now. Just in case.’
    â€˜I agree,’ Jayne said, butting out her cigarette. ‘We could try tracking down the farang from Princess Beach. She might be able to tell us something about the state Pla’s body was found in.’
    â€˜Really? You are not thinking she was too shocked by the discovery of a dead body to notice much in the way of detail?’
    Jayne shrugged. ‘No harm in asking.’
    â€˜In that case, I will conduct a search of the hotels while you translate Pla’s notes,’ Rajiv said.
    â€˜I found a mobile phone among Pla’s things. Could you take a look at it?’
    He nodded. ‘I should also be going into Krabi town to check for email messages. We need to keep our paying customers happy if we are to fund our pro bono work.’
    â€˜Speaking of funding, before I start on Pla’s notes, I’d like to head out early tomorrow to the temple to see about making a donation for the funeral.’
    â€˜Of course.’
    They sipped their beers in silence, watching as the Andaman Sea dissolved into the darkness.

12
    Jayne knew of two foundations in Bangkok that provided free coffins and funeral services for people who died destitute or whose bodies were unclaimed by loved ones. A third foundation operated in the provinces, but didn’t reach as far south as Krabi. It was left to local temples to arrange cremation and either scatter the deceased’s ashes or inter them in a chedi on temple grounds. At the monks’ discretion, the normal three days of funeral rites might be reduced to one. With this in mind, Jayne and Rajiv set out early on a rented motorbike to shop for gifts for the monks.
    The Ao Nang market reeked of live fish dying slowly in the sun, apart from the aisle selling temple offerings, which smelled of dying fish and sandalwood. Jayne and Rajiv bought three orange plastic buckets containing washing powder, soap,