Vanished in a CLOUD of...

This is a murder mystery set in beautiful Thailand.

This was a story for the 2014 Air New Zealand writing competition. I have removed the requirements for the competition and re-written the story.

Morning mist lay like fresh snow, fluffy and untouched above the crystal blue waters of a tranquil lake as the sun rose slowly, revealing piece by piece paradise. Flowing over a cliff face high overhead, on the far side of the lake, was a stream creating a powerful waterfall. In the distance, all that was visible were mountains and an overgrown rainforest. 

The reflection shown in the broken window of the wooden sleeper carriage was a middle-aged man’s handsome but still boyish face. Inspector Klahan Tau’s white cotton shirt was drenched in sweat. His soaked shirt had become a window to his past. Glistening through the puddles over his torso, we’re the marks of a warrior. Healed scars and tattoos adorned his defined physique, telling the story of a punishing kickboxing career that took more of Klahan’s soul than it returned fame or fortune. 

Probably the most beautiful crime scene I have ever visited, he thought while sucking on a lollipop. 

Klahan was on his knees examining a large blood splatter on the carriage floor when he was interrupted by banging on the door. Using only his eyes with an exaggerated gesture, he signalled to a young constable to answer the door. Afterwards, he stood up as Mr Boon, the head steward, was shown into the room by his subordinate. Klahan put the lollipop into an ashtray attached to the broken window. His back turned to both men, and he waited for the young policeman to become self-aware and exit the crime scene.

No one could tell if it was from being raised in fighting circles from a very young age or something unrelated that had made him such a showman. Klahan dramatically turned around as the door closed, and the constable left the sleeper compartment. 

Mr Boon and Klahan were alone in the private compartment of the train. In the middle of the carriage on top of two of the largest blood splatters he had ever seen. Klahan had placed two very cheap fold-up chairs facing each other. Inspector Tau sat in front of the steward. A lot of broken glass was scattered sporadically behind his chair from the damaged window and the emergency stop panel that the assailant may have engaged. 

“A famous Bangkok Inspector on my train.” Mr Boon nervously spoke without channelling his thinking

“Now, now, don’t believe everything you hear. I am no greater than you.” Klahan winked and smiled at Mr Boon to ease his tension as he noticed the steward’s hands were shaking.

Mr Boon explained that after someone had pulled the emergency stop lever. His staff had checked each room, and there was no sign of the passenger assigned to this carriage, Mr Wolf. Pointing to Klahan’s right, he explained that the bed was unused. There were signs of a struggle. A smashed window, holes in the walls and furniture overturned. Finally, he looked at the ground below them.

“Excessive blood loss, without a body or an injured party. Either Mr Wolf jumped from the train or was thrown through the large broken window would be my assumption, Mr Boon.”

“Okay, all this would have happened in the early hours of last night. Here is the passenger and staff manifest that you requested.” The head steward handed Klahan a piece of paper.

Straight away, he read the page, slowly moving down name by name with his right index finger.

“Who are you looking for, Inspector Tau?” Mr Boon asked nervously, hands still shaking a little.

“Cloud Wan… Can you not see that?” Raising his eyebrows, Klahan pointed at the smudged name someone had written with their finger or fingers in the middle of the bloodstain.

“Yes, Inspector, I see the name on the floor, but I do not recognise it, and you will not find Cloud Wan on that list.” Mr Boon said confidently, and his hands were no longer shaking.

Klahan looked up, taking the steward at his word. “Thank you, and I will need access to all areas of the train. Also, I would like to interview everyone on this list?” 

“This skeleton key opens every door on the train, and I will arrange to have an area set aside for interviews.” Mr Boon handed Klahan a key and started to walk towards the carriage door.

“Wait, I will interview them here. I always find that the smell and the sight of blood tend to get the best results from interviews.”

Inspector Tau wanted to clear through the crime scene and find all the clues before interviewing the twelve people on the list. Outside, after climbing through the broken window, he had found oil drips and what looked like two sets of boots and skid marks from a motorcycle. 

Inside there was broken glass, blood stains, and the smudged name. The bed was a three-seater deluxe window seat that could flip around to access the mattress hidden below. Of which the window was now non-existent, as this was the smashed window. Another victim of the potential fight was the globe-shaped drinks cabinet. It was lying on the ground, with the smashed crystal whisky and wine glasses. 

Lying on the floor in pieces was a dining table that folded down from the wall. Half the wall was missing from where it was mounted. Klahan had moved the plastic chairs that belonged to the dining table to make his interview area. Twelve uneventful interviews later, the clues led nowhere. The trail had gone dead. Would this be the only crime Inspector Tau would never solve? 

*

**

A decade passed, and Klahan was having a long bath in his home in Bangkok. He stared down at his tattoos. A powerful green and red dragon ran the length of his upper torso, from his pelvis to his chest and across, ending at his right shoulder. It was fighting an angry snake, a royal cobra. Its fangs were showing, and his tongue was out. The cobra’s hood was open, and it was stripey blue and yellow. It was huge and ran up his left side opposite the dragon. Suddenly, it jumped out of his flesh into the water and slithered out of the bath. Then, as big as a man, it rose and spoke.

“Inspector Klahan, why are you resting and not working on your failed case?” The snake transformed into a naked man, and then orange robes appeared on his skin. The monk turned around. He had a shaved head and reptile eyes.”

Klahan squirmed in the bath, and a lot of water flew out onto the floor. “Nagas, why are you here?” he nervously asked.

“Did you ever find Cloud Wan?” The mythical God bellowed.

*

**

Klahan woke up in the bath, hearing footsteps. The bathroom door opened, and a mysterious man entered the room.

“I understand you have been looking for me globally for the last ten years?” The man asked. He was wearing a high-brimmed hat, a scarf, and a raincoat with the collar pulled up, covering his face. 

“Who are you, and how did you get into my house?” Klahan asked again, nervously spraying water as he panicked in the bath.

“Your cleaning lady let me in, and I am Cloud Wan, the man you hunt in your retirement,” Cloud said as he removed his hat and scarf and drew a pistol. Klahan could not understand why the man looked identical to himself as he emptied the six rounds from the revolver into the bath, and the water became browny red as his blood diluted the cold water. 

*

**

“I don’t have a cleaning lady!” Klahan shouted as he returned from his false awakening. 

His fancy marble floor was like a swimming pool. During his nightmares, Klahan had nearly emptied all of the cold water from the bath onto the floor. On top of a small wicker table was a whisky glass and a half-drank bottle of SangSom. He poured another drink and picked up the soggy newspaper. The headline read, “Inspector Tau is offering a reward for information on the whereabouts of Cloud Wan.” Only a week had passed since the suspected murder of Mr Wolf, and Klahan needed a lead on this week-old cold case. He smiled, now realising his highly potent, destructive sugar cane beverage had caused him to time travel in a very lucid dream. Klahan was now even more determined to solve this case and find his mysterious stranger.