“It was just a joke.”

“A joke about what?”

No answer.

Milo said, “What club was Teddy a member of?”

The hair fell away. “Not a real club, just a joke. The Three F Club. She said it was the only way to a man’s heart. Three F’s—feed ’em, flatter ’em, fuck ’em. Don’t write that down, I don’t want my parents to see it.”

“You see paper and pencil anywhere, Ati?”

“I’m just saying.”

“So Dahlia never complained about Teddy being aggressive or violent with her?”

“Never.”

“Just grumpy with a temper.”

“Nothing whack, like any guy.”

“But you told Detective Reed he hurt her.”

“Because I believe he did.”

“You believe?”

“I can’t prove it, but …”

“You suspect.”

Nod.

“Why, Ati? This is important.”

“Did he?”

“We don’t know, Ati. Help us.”

She breathed in. Exhaled slowly. “The last time I heard from her she was going traveling with him, she said she’d be back in a few days, we’d hang out. But she never called and I never heard from her again and when I called her phone, it was disconnected and when I went to her house, no one was there.”

“Where’d she say she was traveling with Teddy?”

“Back home,” she said. “His home.”

“Sranil.”

She frowned. “My parents told me about it. It’s a weird place, full of like old-fashioned peasants. Indonesia’s modern. Sranil’s just an island that never became part of Indonesia. Teddy didn’t like it himself, was going over there to get a bunch of his money and come back here and live with Dahlia. He was already building a house. He wanted to be modern and be with any woman he wanted even if she was white, not be under his brother’s thumb.”

“Dahlia told you all that.”

“Yes.”

“Maybe she went there with Teddy and decided to stay.”

“No way,” said Ati Meneng. “That’s why I know something happened to her. She totally planned to come back. Promised me we’d hang out when she got back. But she never got back.”

“Did you report her missing?”

“She wasn’t missing, she was with him.”

“You suspected he’d hurt her.”

“I didn’t think so at the beginning. I just … I don’t know, maybe it was his brother but I was too afraid to say that. His being a sultan, who’d believe me?” Looking at Reed. “I didn’t think you’d believe any of it, period. Mostly I forgot about it, then you showed up and it was like something clicked inside my head, you know?”

Milo said, “You told Detective Reed about a Swedish girl but you didn’t use Dahlia’s name.”