Chapter 33
The tiny Buddha shrine was shrouded in semi-darkness. The room couldn’t have been larger than a newsagent’s booth, but its colour and clutter were dazzling. Opposite the door, the floor was covered in a red and gold-patterned cloth, on which sat a gold, life-sized, smiling, chubby-cheeked Buddha statue. Wilted purple flowers in vases surround the statute, and the flames of thick red candles reflected off the Buddha’s fat belly. The air was thick with the dense smoke of smouldering incense sticks, mixed with the scent of white and red flower petals floating in glass bowls.
Ben and Maya poked around inquisitively, while the captain, ignoring the Buddha and the over-decorated table, tapped and knocked on the walls and floor. An expression of disappointment clouded over her face,
