The Ambassador's wife

“Well,” DeSouza yawned again, “you know Thai cops. Can’t trust the little bastards to use a light touch, can you?”

“Did you find the surveillance equipment you were looking for? Any tapes or video? Any autographed photos of the killer?”

“Don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“That’s because there weren’t any cameras or bugs left. The CIA took their equipment out of that place over a year ago.”

“That’s what they told me.”

“Then what were you looking for?”

“Well, you can’t trust those bastards either, can you?”

DeSouza was smiling and looking at Cally as he talked, but he had a way of tilting his head and keeping her slightly off center that she found annoying. It was as if he was always just on the verge of dismissing her.

Cally stared at DeSouza in silence for a minute or more while the smile left his face very slowly, something like an eighth of an inch at a time.

“What’s going on here, Tony?”

“I’m investigating two crimes. Mrs. Munson’s murder and Ambassador Rooney’s murder. That’s what’s going on. I thought you’d heard.”

“You made any progress?”

“Yeah. I have.”

DeSouza’s head rotated back and forth a couple of times. It looked like an antenna seeking a signal.

“Yeah,” he repeated when Cally said nothing. “I think I know who did both of them.”

“Really. You’ve got a suspect?”

“Sure have.”

“Here in Bangkok?”

“Close by. We’re going to pick him up this afternoon.”

“We?”

“Me and those guys…” DeSouza stopped talking for a moment and unveiled a nasty grin, “who are supposed to be Thai cops.”

“Who’s your suspect?”

“The way I remember it, you didn’t think much of my terrorism theory. But I was right.”

DeSouza paused. Cally gathered he wanted it to appear a thoughtful pause, and then continued.

“An Indonesian named Dadi Suryadi killed both of them. We used to watch him on and off, but we thought his group had pretty much dissolved and we lost track of him a year or two ago.”

“His group?”

“The Brothers of the Sword. It’s a fundamentalist bunch that used to make all kinds of threats against Americans in the region. Up until now they’ve never done much of anything, but…” DeSouza spread his hands, palms up. “Welcome to the new world order, huh?”

Cally eyed DeSouza for a moment and then leaned back in her chair and folded her arms.

“What makes you think this is our man?” she asked “We got his prints from the apartment here, and since both crime scenes were identical, you’ve got to like him for both murders.”

“Bullshit, Tony. The Thais couldn’t have gotten Dumbo the elephant’s prints from that place and they probably couldn’t have done an ID on them even if they had. By the way, who were those guys you had dressed up like cops?”

DeSouza shrugged, but he didn’t say anything.

“This stinks,” Cally said, “and you’re not even trying to make it smell good, are you?”

“The ambassador wanted this cleaned up and I’ve cleaned it up.” DeSouza shrugged again. “You don’t like it, you can go fuck yourself.”

“I want to solve this case before more women end up dead, Tony, not just hang some poor bastard whose name you and your pals picked out of a telephone book.”

“Don’t you tell me how to do my job, little girl.” DeSouza’s expression hardened. “We’ve got the guy whether you like it or not.”

“You wouldn’t have a personal interest here by any chance, would you, Tony?”

Cally felt a shift in the air. It was slight, but noticeable.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” DeSouza asked.

Cally tilted her head back and studied the ceiling. “Both murders occurred in safe houses you have access to and you went back into one of them and trashed the place. Either you were looking for surveillance equipment or you were trying to destroy any forensic evidence that we might find later. Now, I got to ask myself, why would Tony do that if he weren’t trying to hide something? Were you trying to hide something, Tony?”

DeSouza said nothing.

“Cat got your tongue, Tony?”

“You’re full of shit, Parks.”

“You know, now that I think about it, maybe I ought to take a real close look at you here, pal. There’s something about all this that looks to me like it might be just your style.”

“You accusing me of something?”

“No, not yet. But I’m all over this, Tony. I want you to remember that. There’s nothing I’d love to do more than burn your ass.”

“Be careful how you talk to me, little girl.”

“Call me little girl one more time, you smarmy fuck, and I’ll make your life a living hell.”

DeSouza bounced to his feet and leaned toward Cally, both hands palms down on the desk.

“What are you going to do now, big man?” she asked. “Slug me?”

DeSouza looked away, and then abruptly he sat down again and folded his arms.

“Jesus Christ,” he murmured. “Listen to yourself.”

Composing his features, he unfolded his arms and flung out both hands. “How can you sit there and accuse me of murdering two women? How can you do that? I’ve been a Special Agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation for twenty-two years. You have absolutely no right-”

“Look,” Cally interrupted, “let’s both just cool down. We’re on the same side here.”

“Are we?”

“I want to solve these murders. I assume you do, too.”

“Whether you believe me or not, Cally, I’ve got a legitimate suspect I think may be good for both of them. I’m going out with some locals this afternoon and we’re going to pick this guy up. After that, we’ll talk to him and I’ll see what the story is.”

Cally snorted. “Ambassador Munson told me he wanted us to find a suspect for his wife’s murder and then feed him to the locals one finger at a time. Frankly, I got the impression he didn’t care much who it was. It looks to me like you’re just obliging him here. If you are, Tony, it’s still not too late to do the right thing.”

“Let me talk to my suspect and we’ll see how we go.”

“If I let you and your Thai pals talk to this guy alone, he’ll probably admit to shooting President Kennedy.”

“Hell, Cally, maybe he did shoot President Kennedy.”

A silence fell after that and the longer it lasted the more unpleasant it became. Eventually DeSouza broke it.

“So are we done here, Ms. Parks?”

“When are you taking this guy down?”

“This afternoon.”

“I want to go with you.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I want to go with you when you take down the suspect and talk to him. We wouldn’t want anything to happen to him now, would we?”

“That’s out of the question. It’s too late.”