10th Day - It’s not about the Farm

Reading time: 5 min

Photo by Matteo Paganelli on Unsplash

1. David

David threw the money on the table, a substantial amount considering that he’d not worked since he landed in Thailand. Grace glanced warily at the waitress placing a half coconut in front of her and grabbed the cash in one motion, hiding it away.

David liked her nervousness. It meant she was new to the game; it meant she could be easily manoeuvred when the time would come.

“It’s a little short of what you asked,” David said, gulping his beer. “But it should be enough. Where’s your part?”

Ezra cleaned his glasses on his tie, and David thought he was a newbie as well. The club they were drinking in clearly didn’t have a dress code.

“Mr Golden,” Ezra started.

“Call me David.”

“Mr David, our share will be transferred directly from our bank account. It is not…” he paused, searching for the right word, “… common to purchase assets with cash, especially of that relevance.”

“I’m old school,” David said, shrugging. “I see cash as a more trustworthy means of exchange.”

“Very well,” Ezra said. “I suppose it is time to celebrate then.”

The three raised their glasses and drank to their joint venture.

Later that night, David called Mr Hitchin to confirm the deal was going through the following morning.

“Yes,” he lied, “I bought 100% of the Farm, land and everything planted on it, under the false name of Grace Moretti. Yes, it’s a girl’s name. It’s going to be legally under Hitchin Ltd’s name as soon as I see the two millions in my bank account. No, Mr Hitchin, the pleasure is all mine.”

2. Ezra

Ezra watched David throwing a pile of banknotes on the table in front of the waitress, and thought that he must’ve been either an idiot or a person with nothing to lose if he was that careless. Grace hid the money under the table, rapidly, but maybe not enough.

To prevent himself from screaming with rage, he cleaned his glasses on his tie. One single mistake and he could kiss his wife goodbye forever.

Ezra saw the predatory look in David’s eyes, fixed on Grace, and thought that this dumb American was stupid enough to screw the deal just to screw Grace. He said cash meant trust, and Ezra barely managed to avoid laughing in his face. Everybody knew David was a burglar: how could he think he could pass as a respectable businessman?

They cheered that evening, and drank, and parted ways with none of the criminals pointing a gun at their temples.

The following day, Grace was going to become the sole owner of the Farm, a friendly family business growing and selling a small amount of livestock, rice, fruit trees and the second largest marijuana plantation in Northern Thailand.

Around 2 am, still totally awake, he called Grace, who picked up after exactly five rings.

“What?” she said.

“Is it going as planned?”

“Of course, what do you think?”

“Do you trust David?”

“I don’t have to. I’ve got his money.”

“And mine,” Ezra highlighted.

“I do. What’s your point?”

“I’ve got no point. I’ve done my part, now I want my wife back. If he does something stupid, I don’t…”

“We’ve got insurance against stupidity. Go to sleep. Tomorrow’s a big day for you. And for Fiona.”

3. Grace

As David sat down in front of her, Grace was filled with disgust, but when he decided to throw a handful of stolen money on the table as if it was candy, fear took charge. She grabbed it in one motion, putting it out of sight while checking that the waitress didn’t have any gang tattoo on her arms.

She inhaled deeply, then noticed David was staring at her in that disgusting way, almost drooling, but before she could say anything, Ezra had already addressed the issue in his posh, diplomatic accent.

When she’d calmed a little, she decided she wasn’t going to say a word. There was a significant advantage in letting David believe he was the smartest in the group.

After she’d emptied the third alcoholic half coconut, she took the lift and went up to her room, where Fiona was lying on the bed, in her bathrobe, listening to static from a phone on speaker.

They kissed more rapidly than they did earlier that afternoon.

“Is it done?” Fiona asked.

“Yes.” Grace showed her the money. “Is the phone working?”

“Perfectly. I could hear the maids chatting.”

Grace caressed her on the cheek. “Did you, I mean, did he…”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

Fiona fell in Grace’s embrace and they stayed like that for a few moments, until they heard a door opening and closing on the other side of the phone call. They listened to David calling Mr Hitchin, and when the call ended, they hung up as well.

“Is he the one you thought?”

“Yes,” said Grace. “Let me speak with him.”

She went into the bathroom to call Mr Hitchin without the noise of the roads below the hotel. She told him that half of the money was already in his bank account; the other half, David had delivered it in cash, and she was going to mail it in a moment.

When she went back into the bedroom, Fiona jumped on her neck.

“Is it done?”

“Yes.”

“What if Hitchin comes after us once David and Ezra are out of the picture?”

“He won’t. He’ll have the money and the Farm, why would he?”

“What if he does?”

“Come.” Grace carried Fiona to the window and pointed at the horizon. “You see those hills? That’s Cambodia. Tomorrow, by the time Hitchin’s done, we will be invisible in another country.”

At that moment, her phone rang. It was 2 am. They both looked at the screen, where the name Ezra was flashing, then Grace spoke.

“Do you want me to leave?” she asked.

“No. I want to hear his voice for the last time.”