'The Web sites post photos of their girls these days. Prostitution's come a long way.'
'She said, 'The monitor lizard knew nothing.' '
Sissi laughed. I knew why. The Thai word for monitor lizard is
'Male or female?'
'She said it in English so there was no gender. But somebody's really upset her. If it was the call-girl thing, it might be a friend or relative that got her involved. Could have been a boyfriend pimping her out. But I don't know. She doesn't seem the type. She's got the looks, but she's missing the tough edge. She seems so innocent.'
'They pay extra for that.'
'I know.'
I knocked on the door of the office that was formerly that of Lieutenant Chompu.
'Come in' came a gruff voice that clearly wasn't his.
I entered and found Lieutenant Egg sitting at Chompu's old desk, the one with the bullethole decals across the front. Chompu was at a sort of card table off to one side, working through a pile of files. The annoying short- wave radio was on, the volume too loud.
'I'm looking for Lieutenant Egg,' I said.
'That's me,' he said.
I've never understood how men with bad toupees can be unaware of exactly how ridiculous they look. I wonder if they gaze lovingly at themselves in the mirror and visu-alize their heads twenty years earlier before the bald bugs started gnawing at their roots. Lieutenant Egg really looked as if some flock of small birds had built a nest on top of him. But the rest of him was all brawn, so I doubted anyone dared make fun of him. He was a rough- looking man, not to be reckoned with.
'My name is Jim Juree,' I said. 'I'm a journalist doing a piece for
'Why come to me?' he asked.
'Major Mana said you were responsible for Burmese matters.'
'So?'
He looked pointedly at Chompu, who hadn't yet emerged from his paperwork burrow.
'So I'll be looking at officials at every level, from village headmen, through medical and emergency personnel. I need to know what the attitude of the police is.'
'I don't think-'
'The major believes it would be valuable for his station to have this story told. He said it might dispel some widely held myths that there's any anti-Burmese sentiment in the police force.'
'The major said that?'
He probably would have done if he'd been here and not off selling herbal hair conditioner out of the back of his Pajero.
'Yes.'
'All right. No names to be printed. I haven't got much time. Grab that chair and bring it-'
'I'd rather do this just the two of us.'
'That's all right. Loo-ten-ant Chompu can skip out and pick daisies somewhere. Isn't that right, Loo-loo? Got some embroidery to do?'
Chompu blushed.
'Ah, the major had me set up my recording device in your meeting room,' I said. 'There are refreshments there as well.'
Lieutenant Egg slapped his palms on the desk.
'This better not take long,' he grunted.
'Ten minutes. Fifteen at the most,' I said.
The lieutenant slammed shut the file he was working on, picked up his radio receiver, and stamped past me and out the door. I raised my eyebrows to Chom.
'Fifteen minutes at the most,' I mouthed and tossed him a pack of bobby pins before following the lieutenant along the corridor.
After taking a long time to settle down and test the recorder, which was being temperamental, I finally asked Egg what his role was when dealing with the Burmese community. I wanted to ask him to turn off his short wave, but I didn't want to antagonize him. He summed up his duties in about four sentences and leaned on the desk, ready to stand.
'Is that all?' he asked.
I couldn't think of any more questions, but I knew he'd walk if I didn't say something.
'Why you?' I asked.
'What?'
'Why did they make you the representative for the Burmese? There are a lot of officers of the same rank. Why you?'
'I'm an expert,' he said.
'On…?'
'Burmese issues. I'm fluent in their language. I know more about their history and culture than most of the uneducated peasants you meet over here. I'm a sort of ambassador, I suppose you might say.'
As opposed to a diplomat. He was distracted by movement in my rain cape, which hung from the door.
'What is that?' he asked.
'Dog,' I said.
I got the feeling he thought I was lying.
'So you were also liaising with the Burmese when you were stationed in Pattani?' I asked.
He glared at me.
'How do you-'
'Major Mana.'
'Yeah, I was organizing cross-cultural events. Awareness training for new arrivals. That kind of thing.'
'Well, that's just wonderful. I admire men who care about ethnic problems.'
'Right. Other officers-they don't care so much. But I'm very sensitive to the problems the Maung face.'
Ten minutes and counting.
'And fluent in Burmese. Wow. Where did you learn that? I've looked at the textbooks. It seems unfathomable. I reckon you have to be some kind of genius to pick it up.'
I got a brief gloat out of him.
'You know, here and there,' he said. 'Some people just have an ear. What can I say?'
'I hope you don't mind me saying that you seem to be a very special human being, Lieutenant. An officer of the law. A linguist. A social worker. I've a good mind to rewrite this just as a feature on you.'
Mistake.
I'd gone too far too soon. I could see him shut down. He stood and went to the door.
'None of that,' he said.
'I don't have to use your photo.'
'Nor name. Nor the story.'
'Why not?'
He was already halfway out the door.
'I like to keep my altruistic side private. Modest that way, I am.'
'Couldn't you…?'
But he was gone. I looked at the time on my phone. Twelve minutes. Depending on how long it had taken Chompu to open the cabinet, sprint downstairs, make copies of all the relevant files, sprint back up and replace them, then return the cabinet to its original state and rearrange his hair, I thought twelve minutes would be just about enough. That was if everything went according to plan.
I walked along the corridor to their office, where I found Egg standing with his hands on his hips, staring down at his filing cabinet where a nylon police-issue jacket, the type Chompu had been wearing to lunch, was hanging by one corner, wedged in the top drawer of the metal cabinet. Chompu sat at his desk wearing a smile that
