Taufik sat in the cramped, hot interrogation cell.  There was no air-conditioning; he had sweated through his thin, cotton shirt and was thirsty.  He was scared.  He had done his civic duty and know he was being treated like a common criminal.  He had a business to run, but here he was waiting for someone to tell him why he was being held.  This is what one gets for trying to do the right thing.

The door swung open, bringing a small gust of air with it.  Not only was the room hot, it was stifling.  A man in uniform entered the room carrying a bottle of cola in one hand, a manila folder and a diary Taufik recognized in the other.  The man’s presence confused Taufik.  The man wore a military uniform, not a police uniform.  The captain set the cola and the paperwork on the table, while taking a seat across from Taufik.  Taufik could tell the cola was cold, droplets of condensation had already formed on the glass.  This increased the poor man’s thirst.  He glared at the diary.  This little book was the cause of the whole situation.  He wished he had never found the damned thing.

Once the captain was situated in his seat, he took a long drink from the cold cola and sighed in satisfaction.  He set the diary aside and opened the manila folder.  “Let’s get started, shall we?”

Taufik sat forward in his seat in anticipation.

“Is your name Taufik?”  He asked.

“Yes.”  Taufik answered.

The captain nodded his approval before continuing, “Is that a family name?”

“Yes.  I go by Tony.”  He answered.

The captain nodded again, “Good.  Good.  Are you Muslim?”

Taufik was thrown by the question, “Does it matter?”

The captain smiled, “Not at all.  How do you make a living?”

Taufik relaxed, “I rent my boat out to tourists for fishing, diving, snorkeling…”

The captain shuffled some papers, looking for a specific sheet, “That’s the Lucky Day?”

“Yes.  I own it free and clear.”  Taufik answered, pride in his voice.

The captain smiled, “There are worse ways to make a living.  Anyway, is that how you happened to be out there yesterday?”

Taufik sighed, “I have already told this to the police several times.”

The captain smiled, “If you would humor me and tell it one more time.  I like to form my own opinions and not rely on the notes of others.”

“Yes.  I was looking for a new place to bring my customers.  Too many of us are trying to make a living.  Many of the good places to bring tourists have become overrun.  I was scouting a promising looking new island.  I forget the exact coordinates now, but I gave them to the police.”

“I have them here, somewhere.”  The captain mumbled as he sorted the papers before him.  “Please, continue.”

Taufik sighed and continued with his story, “I saw no signs of anyone.  The beach looked beautiful with a little inlet, it looked perfect for snorkeling.  Crystal clear blue water, tons of fish and other marine life.  I went ashore to have a look around.  

“After a few moments exploring, I came to a makeshift shelter built in a group of trees, about ten feet off the ground.  It was clear someone had been stranded on the island.  The only trace I found of them was that diary you have with you.  I came right here with it as soon as I docked.”

“Did you search for the castaway?”  The captain asked.

“No.  The island was large, the interior was dense jungle.  I feared getting lost.  I yelled many times and walked along the beach searching for any signs of life.  You really should stop asking me questions and organize a search party to go back there.”  Taufik suggested.

“We have sent a plane.  Did you read the diary?”  He asked.

“I can’t read it.  I don’t know what the language is.”  Taufik answered.

“Hmmm…It’s English.  You can’t read?”  He asked, the skepticism showing on his face.

“I can read, but not English.  I can speak it, but cannot read it.”  Taufik admitted.

“It is the diary from a missing student named Jan Johansson.  He disappeared while sailing the Indian Ocean, solo.  There has been no sign of him for over two months.”

The captain took the diary and opened it to a page he had pre-marked with what appeared to be an American baseball card.  He took a drink of cola, cleared his throat and read aloud.

*

“This is day number five, adrift in this cursed sea.  No wind or current for five days!  The sun is relentless, but the cabin is too hot to be of any comfort.  Not a cloud in the sky; not a whiff of wind.  What am I to do?

“My water supply is holding out, and my food stocks are decent.  The sea is crystal clear.  I can see the fish and crabs go about their lives on the reef below.  I tried diving down to catch some crabs, but the clear water is deceptively deep.  I spend much of the day fishing.  The fish taunt me.  My baited hook goes in, yet returns empty.  They strip the bait in seconds without taking the hook.  It will not be starvation, but the heat that drives me mad.  The heat and the loneliness.

“No ships pass in the distance; no planes fly above.  It is as if I am the only person in the world. I suddenly feel movement!  I will be back with news.

“I am saved!  A wind has kicked up and my sails are full…joyous day!  Fearsome clouds gather in the distance.  I have never seen such a darkness in clouds.  What I thought had been my savior may be my undoing.”  The captain glared at Taufik and skipped ahead several pages in the journal.

He found the entry he wanted and began reading again, “I am alive.  The storm was worse than my imagination could have dreamed.  It was a harrowing experience.  My little boat could not withstand the wrath of the wind and the rain.  She took on too much water, going down with me still below deck.  I gathered as much food and water as I could; throwing it in a dry bag with my journal and survival kit.  She went down in shallow water, and I managed to get clear at the last moment.  The waves tossed and threw me about knocking me senseless.

“I woke on this beach, to a beautiful sunny morning, my dry-bag still lashed to my body.  I was alive and had food and water.  I counted myself lucky.  My first goal was to make a shelter.  The island seems massive with a dense jungle interior.  I know not what lurks in the jungle.  I built a sturdy platform shelter high enough in the trees to avoid any nasty thing that may be on the prowl.  

“My next task was to see if I was alone on this island.  I hoped to find civilization, somewhere.  I chose to walk along the coast, keeping my eyes open for any signs of man.  What I found terrified me.  After thirty minutes of walking, I came to a set of tracks in the sand.  They appeared to lead from the sea into the jungle.  Whatever it was walked on two legs.  The tracks were much too large to be a man, but the loose sand made any identification impossible.  I decided to return to the safety of my shelter.

“The night passed without event.  The bugs were vicious and the calls of the jungle creatures wracked my nerves, but I live.  I spent the day much as I had spent the previous day.  I walked the coast line, in the opposite direction, this time.  I saw no signs of civilization and after several hours, I turned back.  I would need to devise a long-term plan.  Do I remain at my shelter and hope for rescue?  Do I pack my meager belongings and follow the coast of this island, hoping it is not deserted after all?  If I am to go, I must go as soon as possible, while I have ample supplies.

“The night was fearsome.  I was awakened by a large creature moving through the forest.  I could hear trees cracking and breaking under its strength as it moved through the jungle.  I was frozen with fear.  I could hear a monstrous sniffing below my platform, as if I was discovered and being sought out by the beast.  I prayed for my safety and thanked the lord I had built my shelter high in the trees.  The creature, whatever it was has found my shelter, but I believe I am safe from it.  It gave up on its search for me and wandered off into the jungle.  From some distance away, I heard the creature’s unearthly bellow in the dark night.  

“I am spending the day preparing for my journey away from this place.  I will collect all the fruit and fresh water I can carry for my journey.  I cannot stay here and wait for rescue.  The creature knows where I am and I feel it will be back.  I cannot rush out of fear, either.  I will collect and prepare today and leave at first light.  I will keep to the coast and travel away from the tracks I encountered on the beach earlier.  I pray my shelter can protect me one more night.”  The captain closed the diary and looked at Taufik.

“What happened?”  Taufik asked.

“That is the last entry.  The diary ends there.  You saw no signs of Johansson or this creature?”  The captain asked.

“No.  I found that diary and some water containers and rotted fruit on a platform in the trees and nothing else.  I swear.”  Taufik said.

“It’s quite the story, is it not?”  The captain asked.

“Unbelievable,” Taufik muttered.  “Do you think he had gone mad?”

“That was my first thought.  But the whole thing gets weirder.  Are you positive you remembered the coordinates of the island correctly?”  The captain asked.

“Positive.  Did the search party not find the shelter?”  Taufik asked.

The captain shook his head, “They didn’t even find the island.”  

“What do you mean?”  Taufik asked.

The captain pulled some photographs from the manila folder and spread them before Taufik. “We found no island.  We did find Johansson’s ship anchored in shallow water at those exact coordinates.  What we found inside…”  The captain let his sentence drift off as he shook his head.

Taufik looked at the photos in front of him.  They were of the cabin of Johansson’s boat.  Blood was everywhere.  Taufik had never seen so much blood.  He was in shock.  He failed to realize the captain was speaking again.

“I know we’ll never find the body, but with this much blood we’ll have no trouble convincing the magistrate the poor man was murdered.  An officer will be in shortly to read you the charges.”  The captain said as he gathered up the photos, paperwork and diary.  He drank down the last of the cola and walked out the door of the interrogation room.

Taufik stared at the table where the photographs had been.  He was still in shock and the realization he was being arrested for murder had yet to sink in.