stomach. He takes it out and looks at it for a second, then very slowly lays it down beside the bags. There’s no way he’s going to shoot a policeman.
The two cops climb the final steps to the third floor. Nothing remains between them and Arthit but a corner and a short flight of stairs. The door to the apartment hallway closes, and Arthit waits, his arms hanging down and slightly apart from his sides, his hands open and empty, with the palms facing outward.
Shoes scuff concrete. The younger cop comes around to the bottom of the stairs, his gun extended, and looks up.
Arthit stands there, waiting. He knows the young cop’s face, although he can’t put a name to it. They worked together on something, sometime.
For five or six very long seconds, the young patrolman stands perfectly still, staring up at Arthit. His eyes drop to the automatic on the floor and come up again to meet Arthit’s. Then, slowly, he transfers his gun from his left hand to his right. He works the free right hand into his trouser pocket, and Arthit follows the movement, expecting a throwdown gun or maybe a taser, but when the young cop’s hand comes out, it holds a fold of currency. He puts the gun barrel to his lips like a hushing finger and tosses the money underhand. The money transcribes a graceful arc and lands at Arthit’s feet. The young cop holds out his free hand, palm out-Wait there-then climbs three steps and turns his back to Arthit, listening.
After a couple of minutes, the door to the third floor opens, and the young cop makes a point of scraping his shoes against the concrete as he goes down the stairs and disappears around the corner. “Nothing up there except the door to the roof,” he says. “It’s padlocked from inside.”
“Okay,” says the older cop. “Maybe they’ve already got him down below.”
Arthit hears them descending. The moment he hears the street door swing shut, his legs fold beneath him and he finds himself sitting among the bags of clothes.
38
When the door opens, Miaow pushes around Rose and stops as though she’s walked into a window. Her eyes almost double in size as she sees Boo, and then-immediately-they jump to Da, and from Da to the baby in Boo’s lap. She says, “Ahhh, ahhhh.”
“Why are you down-” Rose starts to ask Poke, and then she sees Boo, too, and her smile fills her face. “Oh,” she says. “You’re here.”
“I-” Miaow says, and stops, her eyes moving back and forth. “I mean,
“This is Da,” Boo says. “And the baby is named Peep.”
“Baby,” Miaow says, as though the word were in a brand-new language.
“Not mine,” Boo says. “Not really Da’s either.”
Rose says, “We should get upstairs, Poke. They were behind us when we came back. They’re going to expect to hear something.”
“Fine,” Rafferty says, heading for the door. “Coming, Miaow?”
Miaow gives him a look that could turn him to ash.
“Guess not,” Rafferty says. “We’ll pretend you’re pouting. For a change. Open the door quietly when you come in.” To Superman he says, “See you tomorrow.” The boy nods, but he’s looking at Miaow.
Rose says, “What’s all that stuff on your hand?”
“Tell you in the elevator,” he says. He closes the door behind them. In the hall he says, “And I have to tell you something else. About Noi.”
“What happened to your hair?” Boo says.
“I fixed it,” Miaow says. Her eyes go to Da again.
“I liked it better the other way.”
“Who cares?” Miaow says. Her fists are brown knots at her sides. “Who cares what you like? Where did you go? Where have you been? And who’s she?”
“I told you. She’s Da.”
“Who’s Da?”
Boo says, “Why don’t you ask Da?”
“I’m asking you.”
“He’s my friend,” Da says. “He got me away from some bad people.”
Miaow chews on the inside of her cheek for a moment. “How long have you known him?”
Da’s eyebrows contract. “How long?” she asks Boo.
“Couple of days.”
Da says, “It feels like a week.”
“What does he mean, it’s not your baby?” Miaow says. “What kind of bad people?” She abandons that line of questioning and turns her eyes to Boo. “Why did you go away?”
“I made a mistake. About Poke. I thought he was-you know, a bad guy.”
Miaow says, “
“I was wrong. But I didn’t really go away, not at first. For a few months, I kept an eye on you. To make sure you were okay.”
“Did not,” Miaow says.
“I did.”
She gives him hard eyes. “I never saw you.”
“I was careful. And I had some other kids watch you from time to time.”
“If he wants to disappear,” Da says, “he just disappears.”
“I know that,” Miaow says. “I was with him for a long time. Not just two or three days, like
“Miaow,” Boo says.
“He took care of me,” Miaow says, and suddenly she’s swiping at her cheeks with her forearm. “I was almost a baby, and he…he-” She breaks off, grabs air, and dives in again. “I thought…I thought you started again. Started the
“No,” Boo says. “I don’t use that now. Remember Hank Morrison?”
“Sure.” She scrubs her arm over her eyes as though she’s punishing them. Then she sniffles. “He helped Poke adopt me.”
“He got me into a monastery up north. The monks got me through it.”
She looks at him over the top of her arm. “A monastery?”
The corners of his mouth lift. “I meditated. I even ate vegetables.”
“But you’re back,” Miaow says. “You’re here. Why did you come back?”
“I belong here. Where else would I go?”
“It’s his forest,” Da says.
Miaow looks at Da as though she doesn’t understand, but then she nods. “It is,” she says. “But why are you here now? I mean
“I came to ask Poke for help,” Boo says. “But it turns out I’m going to help him.”
“How?”
Boo lifts Peep to his shoulder and begins to pat the baby’s back. “I’m going to get you out of here.”
“A fire,” Ton says.
“That’s what he looked for,” says Ren. “They checked the search history on the computer he used in the morgue at the Sun. He was looking for fires. He printed out stuff on four or five of them, a factory and some houses and a couple of slums.”
