A Corpse in the Koryo

5

"What do you know about Kang's operations in Finland?" The Irishman turned off the tape recorder. He asked it quietly, but he didn't pretend he wasn't interested. I had been expecting the question.

"Nothing. He never said anything. And I never asked."

"Pak didn't talk about it?"

"How would Pak know about overseas operations?"

"Pak was a smart man. He knew Kang pretty well. People talk to each other, even in your country."

"How would you know whether people talk to each other in my country, Richie? Do us a favor, it's getting late. Stick to what you know."

"You haven't a clue what I know, Inspector. Could be I already have the whole story and I'm just using you to check a few facts. Could also be I don't care about the story and I'm just playing a game with you. For someone who isn't holding anything and is sitting at my table, you are one hell of a card player."

"Here's a card I'm holding. Finland. There's where you first got interested in Kang, isn't it? He must have been using it as some sort of base.

Quiet, out-of-the-way place, where people mind their own business. I'll bet you can go for long walks with no one else around. What did he do to catch your attention? Or did the Finns alert you?"

The Irishman stared at me. "You ask questions you don't want to ask, Inspector."

"You mean you don't know?"

"Good, that will do. I don't know. You satisfied?".

"The man's dead. You've got a file ready for the trash. But you're asking me to give you more details for it, and I don't do that unless I know why."

"I'm not going to tell you anything." He turned off the tape recorder.

"And this is nothing. Kang was what we considered our reality check. Fabulous code name."

"He had a code name?"

"fustfor us, internally, a convenience. We called him Goldilocks." He paused. "You with me?" I nodded, so he continued. "There's a lot of garbage circulating about your country, but you know that already. Crazy stories. Dinosaur sightings. Of course, we deserve some of the credit-our people set loose a few rumors that bounce around until they get picked up in slightly different form by the Italians or the Germans. They repackage them and eventually pass them to us. Then there's the stuff put out by your people to keep us chasing shadows, a little of it very good, a little of it hilarious.

Most of the rest is just someone trying to make money on the side, and someone else reporting it in order to get credit for turning in more paper.

Hard to keep track of it all. Eventually, we figured there had to be something to keep us on solid ground. Someone we could trust."

"Kang wouldn't work for you."

Richie shrugged. "You don't work for me, Inspector. But you're here, and I have a tape recorder running." He let that idea float across the room, then he went on. "I never met him, but from what I heard, your Mr. Kang had a good head and a perfect sense of reality. Not too hot, not too cold. fust right."

"So what do you do, now that he's gone?"

"He can't have been the only smart person in your country." i smiled.

The Irishman waited. He closed his eyes and lifted his chin again, like a tourist pretending not to notice the clouds had covered the sun. "Alright," he said finally. "We can let that go for now, Inspector. Let's take your advice and stick to what we know. Pikkusaari, for instance. What would we say, friendly sort? Dour? Someone who knew his way around?"

"I'd love to tell you, Richie, but I can't. I never met the man."