"Have a nice nap?" Guy asked pleasantly.

"Not bad."

Guy graciously gestured for Puapong to vacate the back seat. "Look, I hate to be a pest, but do you mind? I've offered this lady a ride."

Puapong crawled out, stumbled around sleepily to the driver's seat and sank behind the wheel. He shook his head a few times, then fished around on the floor for the car keys.

The woman was looking more and more dubious. "Are you sure he can drive?" she muttered under her breath.

"This man," said Guy, "has the reflexes of a cat. When he's sober."

"She sober?"

"Puapong! Are you sober?"

With injured pride, the driver asked, "Don't I look sober?"

"There's your answer,'' said Guy.

The woman sighed. "That makes me feel so much better." She glanced back longingly at the house. The Thai servant had appeared on the steps and was waving goodbye.

Guy motioned for the woman to climb in. "It's a long drive back to town."

She was silent as they drove down the winding mountain road. Though they both sat in the back seat, two feet apart at the most, she seemed a million miles away. She kept her gaze focused on the scenery.

"You were in with the general quite a while," he noted.

She nodded. "I had a lot of questions."

"You a reporter?"

"What?" She looked at him. "Oh, no. It was just… some old family business."

He waited for her to elaborate, but she turned back to the window.

"Must've been some pretty important family business," he said.

"Why do you say that?"

"Right after you left, he canceled all his appointments. Mine included."

"You didn't get in to see him?"

"Never got past the secretary. And Kistner's the one who asked to see me. "

She frowned for a moment, obviously puzzled. Then she shrugged. "I'm sure I had nothing to do with it."

And I'm just as sure you did, he thought in sudden irritation.