“Hello, Dr. Siri,” he read. “Let’s face it; you wouldn’t be afraid of me if I didn’t give you a demonstration of my power. Threats without bodies to back them up are meaningless. Don’t forget the theme of this maniacal obsession is ‘loved ones’ although there may be one or two collateral victims who fall outside those parameters. Since I arrived, I’ve been watching you. Clearly, the love of your life is Daeng. Then there’s Civilai. We all know how close you are to him. So I’ve decided the order of departure of those remaining will be your best friend first and then your wife. I doubt you’ll consider life to have any meaning once you’ve lost those two, but don’t worry. Your own death will be so slow you’ll have plenty of time to contemplate your loneliness.

“The cogs in the clock have started to turn and they are unstoppable. I look forward to watching your futile attempts to undo that which cannot be undone.”

Bruce stared at her but her expression gave nothing away.

“Thank you,” she said. “I think that was quite convincing, don’t you?”

“Madam Daeng, we have to talk ab—” said Bruce.

“Oh look, Comrade Civilai,” she said.

Civilai’s lemon Citroën pulled up half on, half off the pavement in front of the restaurant. Siri broke away from his word processor trance and came to the doorway to see what was happening. He stood beside Bruce and Daeng. Civilai fought his way out of the driver’s door and walked slowly around to the passenger side, using the car to prop him up. He opened the door and out stepped a classical blonde beauty in a sensible blouse and an ankle-length skirt.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” said Civilai, “allow me to present Cindy, the new star of our movie.”

Things were uncomfortable for a while. Cindy said “hello, how are you?” to everyone in impressive Lao and they all replied politely. Daeng invited their guest in for a cup of coffee. Cindy thanked her and said water would be fine. Coffee gave her migraines. Civilai leaned back against his car looking admiringly at his Brigitte Bardot. He had obviously not heeded the decision of the production committee that finding even a minor role for pretty Cindy would be a push. A starring role would be a feat of superhuman effort. Daeng decided it would be better to break the news to her sooner rather than later. It would probably shatter the girl’s dreams but sometimes you had to shoot the pony rather than watch it hobble its way to a slow death. She took Cindy up to the phasin skirt room and got straight to the point.

“You’re very pretty,” she said.

“Thank you,” said Cindy. “It has its drawbacks.”

Daeng didn’t bother to ask what they were.