idea.”
“Is the library open now?”
“No. The building doesn’t open till eight tomorrow.”
“Okay, I’ll come by then. Now, in the meantime, how are we going to keep you alive?”
Siri pulled a crumpled shell from his pocket and put it on the table. Phosy whistled.
“You know anything about bullets?” Siri asked.
“I know it’s from a rifle, but I’m no expert. There’s someone at the office I can show it to. Where’s the other one?”
“The other one?”
“You said there were two shots, didn’t you?”
“Oh. That’s gone to the Security Section. I mean, the army should have ballistics experts.”
“Good plan. I’ll take this anyway and see what I can find.”
They drank for a couple of hours and talked about things outside of crime and politics. Phosy insisted on taking Siri home. When they pulled up in front of the house, the policeman kept his light on. It lit the lane ahead, making all the dips in the dirt look like black pits. The eyes of cats blinked under bushes. But they spotted no assassins.
“Want me to go inside and see if anyone’s lurking in the hallway?”
“No. I think I’ve shared this with so many people, there’s no longer a point in killing me. If they did, they’d have to wipe out half the Security Section as well. I think my chances of making newspaper headlines are over. Besides,” he lowered his voice, “if any man were foolish enough to lurk in our hallway, I wouldn’t give him a chance against
The downstairs curtain shimmied.
“All right. I’ll see you in the morning then.” They shook hands.
“Thanks. Good night.”
¦
The bike growled away, leaving Siri in the lane in the dark. Despite his brave words, it was still an eerie spot. Around him there were a few yellow lamps, some candles in neighbours’ windows. There didn’t seem to be insect noises any more at night. People wondered whether the bugs had all escaped across the river, too. The sound of Saloop panting was an oddly comforting one. The animal loped along the lane towards Siri, stopped several metres away, and turned back.
Siri knelt to greet him, but he didn’t approach. The dog again ran towards the doctor, then turned back. Siri recalled some black-and-white movies he and Boua had watched together in Paris. There was a dog, a collie or some such type, that used to save children from burning houses and catch criminals. He’d seen this act before, albeit from a more handsome dog, in better shape: Saloop wanted him to follow.
“I’m tired. I’m not in the mood to play tonight.”
But the dog continued to run round in circles, egging him on to follow. When he started to bark, Siri set off after him. He’d ruined enough silent nights for the neighbours over the past year. “All right. But this better be good.”
Saloop immediately came to heel and walked proudly alongside Siri. They crossed the intersection and headed down to the river.
“So, tell me, dog. Does this mean I’m not possessed any more, or did you just get over your fear of ghosts? Is there something else I should know about?” The dog didn’t answer.
When they arrived at the river, instead of turning left or right, Saloop crossed the road and sat on the riverbank. Siri stood opposite, and the dog looked back over its shoulder at him.
“I don’t believe it.
Doctor and dog sat watching the Thai lights shimmer on the river. They looked at the small bats that flapped back and forth across the indigo sky. It wasn’t exactly romantic, but it was very pleasant. It was the last real peace Siri would know for a while.
The explosion rattled the silence, and the ground trembled under him. He got to his feet and looked back the way they had come. An almost invisible cloud of dark grey smoke rose into the night sky about a block and a half away. He didn’t have to wonder where it had come from. He knew.
He hurried back along the small lane that led from the river and over the wide cross-street. The area was already filling with people in their nightwear who’d been jolted from their sleep by the blast. They seemed disoriented, as if they weren’t sure whether they’d dreamed of an explosion.
Siri continued along his own lane until he came to the house. It seemed impossible. It stood there still dark and silent, ostensibly untroubled by any disaster. But he knew that could only be an illusion. He knew something horrible lay beyond the front wall. He ran along the path and pushed open the heavy door. It opened more easily than ever because the rest of the house had shifted, so it now sat evenly in its frame. The damage done to the back of the house was unbelievable. Although pictures and ornaments had been shaken from the walls, the front two rooms up and down had only been rattled by the chaos. But when he looked up the staircase, he could see the sky. His room, and the roof above it, were gone. The room beneath his seemed warped somehow. Miss Vong was at its door trying to push it open. She was calling out to the children and to Mrs Som. The woman’s husband was away training in Europe, so she was there alone with her three girls.
Siri hurried over and helped Vong to open the door. The young couple from the upstairs front room could only look down at them helpless, as there was now no way for them to descend. Half the staircase, and the balcony, were gone. The door shifted enough to squeeze through, but it was dark as a grave inside. They could hear the whimpering of the youngest child, and coughing. Siri told Vong to go for a flashlight, and she ran back to her apartment.
He put his head into the room and called out:
“Mrs Som? Manoly? Are you in here? Can you hear me?”
Manoly’s voice came back to him. “Mummy’s still asleep. I can’t wake her up.”
“How are your sisters?”
“They’re frightened.”
“It’s all right. There’s nothing to be frightened about. That was the last big bang. I’ll tell you what to do. I want all three of you to follow my voice and walk carefully this way. Hold hands now. Manoly, you lead.”
“What about Mummy?”
“I’ll go and wake her up after you three are out.” He sang a song to comfort them and give them a destination. All three were coughing by the time they reached the door. They had their pillows against their faces. The room was cloudy with dust.
“Good girls.”
Vong arrived with the flashlight just as the girls emerged. “Oh, goodness. Thank heaven you’re all okay.” She shined the light towards the room, but Siri stood in front of it.
“Put that out for now.” She did as she was told. “Take the girls into the street. I think they’ve swallowed a lot of dust. Find them plenty of clean water to drink. Then get them down to the hospital as quickly as you can.”
By now there was a small group of people gathered around the front door. They collected the girls and asked what they should do. Siri told them the building wasn’t safe and said they should stay back. If anyone had a ladder, they could run it up the front of the house and bring down the couple upstairs through the window. But other than that, they should stay out.
Once he was alone, he turned the flashlight back on. He hadn’t wanted to shine it into the room while the children were there to see, just in case. Before going inside, he unbuttoned his shirt and pulled up his undershirt to cover his mouth and nose.
The room was devastated. Large chunks of masonry had fallen. Although much of the ceiling was still in place, it had dropped towards one end of the room, and might cave in at any second. The dust was blinding.
At the point where the back wall had once stood, the ceiling was no more than a metre from the ground, and he had to get on his hands and knees to reach the place where the family had slept. The flashlight reflected from the dust like headlights on a fog bank. He could feel his lungs getting heavy.
“Dr Siri?”
