He was treading cautiously but Pin’s face was a giveaway. She looked darkly at him as the bus took them on to the Golden Triangle. An engaging Korean–American woman of about fifty sat next to Cavalier and struck up a conversation. Pin folded her arms and looked out the window. Cavalier tried to bring her into the conversation. Pin became hostile. When the bus arrived at the Triangle, Pin said she wanted to go back to Chiang Mai, putting on a show in front of the tourists from both buses. The last thing Cavalier wanted was to become the centre of attention so he tried to placate her. They wandered away from the group. Cavalier noticed Farquar and his men speeding off in a truck.

‘You wouldn’t buy a house,’ Pin said, reviving a long-buried dispute. ‘We had a rented apartment that was not big enough for five. The girls and Serena should have had their own room.’

‘A room for the doll?’

Cavalier could see her ire rising fast.

‘I told you many times,’ he said in a conciliatory tone, ‘I didn’t have the money. I paid for the kids’ private school. We agreed that this took precedence over buying land.’ He paused. ‘It’s all so long ago, Pin. Can’t we be friends? Let the past stay there.’

Pin’s tirade continued. Many of the tour group rubber-necked. Other passers-by stopped to watch the rant. Cavalier sat on a bench in silence. Finally he said, ‘You can leave the tour if you wish.’

Geoffreys walked past in deep conversation with Farquar, who had returned from his truck ride. Cavalier looked around at the truck, parked next to the buses. He noticed that it was now laden with an unknown cargo.

‘You can’t berate me in front of my employees like that,’ Farquar said, waving a finger at the New Zealander. ‘I have to leave tomorrow. But if I hear you have mishandled my team, I’ll fire you.’

Geoffreys stood his ground. ‘Just remember I run the boat,’ he said.

‘No, I do.’

‘But you’re pissing off, as usual.’

‘Hollos is my deputy and you’ll do what he wants.’

They walked on in heated discussion. There were two dramas on the sidewalk now. Pin tried to retrieve her bags from the van but couldn’t find the driver. She had calmed down half an hour later and was silent on the drive to the immigration border town of Chiang Khong and the Riverside Hotel. Pin seemed intent on leaving but changed her mind at the very last moment when the minibus drivers were about to return to Chiang Mai.