A Corpse in the Koryo

9

The Irishman took a notebook from his pocket. He flipped through a few pages, stopped, flipped through several more. He found the page he wanted and bent its corner. "Finally, we're getting somewhere. Elena was in Manpo. At the Manpo Inn."

"I thought you wanted to know about Kang."

"Do you mind if I steer this car?" He looked at his watch and made a note.

"You going somewhere?"

"Some coincidence, you meeting Elena."

"She a friend of yours?"

"Never met the lady. Not partial to her type."

"Meaning what?"

He looked closely at me. "Steady on, Inspector. I didn't ask before, but you don't mind if I call you that, do you?"

"You want another word out of me, try to keep to the subject-Kang."

He whistled softly, "fumpy fim, you need pills or something to calm you down. Alright, alright, leave Elena be for the moment. Let's talk about Kang. You said he has a daughter. She speaks French. Unusual?"

"Why should it be unusual? Lots of people speak French. Most of France does, so I'm told."

He turned off the recorder, "fesus. Why don't you just point out for me the one or two subjects that you're not touchy about, and we'll stick to those. You have contradicted everything I've said tonight. Everything. Your people always like that?"

"My people? No, we mostly laugh from morning to night, joking around, you know, like life is a Caribbean island and we're waiting for the big white ship to come into port. Life's a lot of fun, that's what we always say to each other. That's what the old lady must have been telling that girl in the field."

The Irishman stared at the wall behind me. Finally, he broke the silence.

"Kang's daughter. Why was she on the border? Trouble with her behavior, so they booted her out of Pyongyang? Family difficulties?"

I shook my head. "I was just beginning to think you knew something about Kang. Maybe I was too quick."

"Finally, a sign of self-doubt. This is good."

"I thought he was sailing alongside you, not working for your organization, exactly, but moving on a parallel course, just out of reach. Now I discover, when you suddenly lost track of him, you got worried. I'm wondering why."

"Kang is an interesting character."

"I thought so. Very complicated man. The sun bounced off him in a thousand directions. Like a diamond. Built up quite a list of enemies, as far as I could tell."

"Nice image, Kang as a diamond. How many karats, would you say?" "A diamond in a garbage pile, who cares what it might have fetched on the world market."

The Irishman clicked his pen.