He left the room. Siri gave Dtui a knowing look that she pretended not to see.
Siri was napping again when his second visitor arrived. He opened his eyes slowly and focused on the saffron smudge at the end of his bed. Gradually he recognised the monk from two evenings before.
“Yeh Ming, are you awake?” When the blur had just about cleared from Siri’s eyes, he noticed the bodyguard standing behind the monk with his pistol drawn. Siri sat up.
“It’s okay. I know him.” The guard nodded and left. “Why do you call me that? Who are you?” The monk smiled but didn’t answer. “Why are you here?”
“Your bomb made a mess of our temple grounds. I had to clear it all up. Cleaning up is my burden.”
“Well, I’m sorry.”
“These things are sent to test us. Life on earth’s just the entrance examination.”
“I’m sure you’ll pass.”
“Thank you. While I was sweeping, I found something that belongs to you. You’re going to need it.”
From a yellow shoulder bag, he pulled out the white talisman. He walked to the bed and hung it over the knob that topped the headboard.
“How did you know it was mine?”
“I’m afraid the pouch was burned.” While still holding the amulet, the monk closed his eyes and chanted a short mantra. He used the same language Siri had heard in Khamuan, at the exorcism. The doctor put his palms together and bowed his head.
Dtui walked in on this scene and immediately felt embarrassed at her intrusion. She, too, put her palms together and closed her eyes. When the monk was finished, he let go of the talisman and turned to leave. Dtui took a respectful step back. At the door, he looked at her. He stared with a quizzical expression that made her feel uncomfortable.
“Your mother will have a better year next year.” He opened the door and walked out. Dtui glared at Siri.
“Why did you tell him about my mother?”
“Dtui…I didn’t.”
At 2 pm, three young men from the telephone company arrived with the short end of a cable and an old phone. So far he’d seen soldiers, monks, politicians and technicians, but not a sign of a doctor. The hospital was understaffed, so they probably hoped he could take care of himself.
By the time the phone technicians had left, Siri had an extension line from the clerk’s office in administration. He lay staring at it. After ten very quiet minutes, it rang like a fire engine. He was alone in the room.
“Dtui…Dtui?” She didn’t come, so he had no choice but to pick it up himself. He put his ear to it and listened…and listened.
“Dr Siri?”
“Yes?”
“There’s a call for you.”
“Where?”
“Right here. Hang on.”
There was a rude electrical burp before Civilai’s voice came through the receiver.
“Siri? You there?”
“Ai?”
“How’s your new phone?”
“Frightening. How did you know?”
“I know everything. How you feeling?”
“Like I don’t have enough air in my lungs. I keep coughing up pieces of my house.”
“Good, that should keep you out of trouble for a few days. Listen, I’ve given all the numbers you need to the clerk. I want to know right away when your Vietnamese friend calls back. There are some angry words being exchanged back and forth across the border. I don’t have to tell you how important this has all become.”
“Important enough to blow a fellow up.”
“See? I knew I didn’t have to tell you.”
A short while later, the bodyguard came in with a large envelope. He put it on the top sheet and turned to walk away.
Siri chuckled. “Aren’t you planning to tell me where this came from?”
“Can’t, Comrade. Someone left it at the reception desk. A nurse brought it up. It’s all right. I checked it for explosives.”
It was from his friend at the air base, a list of reports of unauthorised flights over the Greater Vientiane District for October and November. He was astounded at how many of them there were. Laos boasted seven planes of its own, but if only half the reports could be believed, the country was a veritable aviary of unlawful air traffic.
The period he was most interested in was the end of October, and the date that caught his attention was the 27th. The Department of Aviation had received two reports of the sound of a helicopter in the vicinity of Nam Ngum Reservoir. Given the type of customers availing themselves of its services, the correctional facility on the islands there was very sensitive to such sounds.
It was overcast at 11 pm, and there had been no actual sighting. By the time the anti-aircraft unit at the dam had dusted off its weaponry, the sound had stopped. Radar at Wattay picked up a blip, but before they could send out anything to investigate, it had disappeared from the screen.
“I bet that was you, Black Boar,” Siri whispered as he reread the reports. He underlined the date.
The amulet suspended from the bedpost clinked. Siri looked up at the window to see whether there was a breeze, but the curtains hung flat. The fan wasn’t switched on. But the talisman continued to flip back and forth, rattling noisily against the hollow metal bedpost. He leaned over and put his hand on it to keep it still, but as soon as he made contact with the cool stone, an image filled his mind and a feeling of dread flowed through his body.
? The Coroner’s Lunch ?
19
Talking To Dead People
“I hope you don’t mind this intrusion.” The lad from the Security Section stood in the doorway behind his superior, an older, serious-looking man. He hadn’t bothered to knock. He walked over to the guest chairs, sat on one, and crossed his legs. “I’m Major Ngakum Vong. I’m in charge of…are you all right? You look white as boiled rice.”
Siri reached for the oxygen and took several deep breaths. The major obviously wasn’t the type of man who liked to be kept waiting.
“Look, I’ll come back when you’re in a fit state to answer questions.” He stood and watched as Siri removed the mask and coughed.
“No, Major. I’m all right.”
“You certainly don’t look it.”
The talisman twitched like a living thing in Siri’s hand. Once the major had regained his seat, he noticed the white plaited hair curling out from the doctor’s fist. “What the hell’s that?”
“This? Just a lucky charm someone gave me.”
“Really? I thought you were a doctor. I hope you don’t believe in such rot.”
At almost the same time, the stool at the end of the bed decided three legs weren’t enough to stand on. It toppled sideways and clattered onto the concrete floor. The sound echoed around the room. The lad bent to pick it up, and Dtui came running in to see what had happened. The major turned to her.
“You. You can wait outside.”
“Me?” She gave him her ironic eye.
“Major Ngakum, this is my morgue assistant,” Siri told him. “She was a witness to the autopsies. She could be useful for filling in the gaps in my memory.”
“All right. Stand over there, girl.” She hurried to the wall and stood to attention beside the lad. He pursed his
