Hidden Moon

5:00 A.M.”

“What?”

“You an expert on hotel occupancy? Let’s make a deal. I’ll stick to my business, you stick to yours. I happen to know there was never a reservation, nothing was misplaced. But we’ll let that pass, alright? How long does your big friend intend to stay?”

I lowered my voice. “The man is a guest of our government, and he happens to speak Korean.”

The clerk didn’t seem to care. “I asked how long he intends to stay.”

“What difference does it make? The room will be paid for.”

“You bet it will be paid for. We have a big group arriving tomorrow, two big groups, actually, who will be here all week. I’m not about to give away rooms to strays who wander in and then discover we need the space for people with reservations.”

I looked around for Boswell, but he was walking down the steps into the hotel store. There was no sense indicating to the clerk that I didn’t know how long he was staying. “He’ll be here until Saturday. Stop wasting my time.”

“Passport.”

“I just showed you my ID.”

“Yeah, but I need the tall man’s passport. He can’t check in without it, even the police know that, Inspector.”

“Give me a room key, would you? The man is tired and he needs to rest. I’ll get you his passport before we leave.”

“Not possible. You want me to read you the regulations?”

When I told Boswell that he would have to give his passport to the clerk, he shrugged. “As long as I have it back in order to leave this happy land,” he said. In the elevator going up to the room, I worried he would say something stupid, but he was quiet. When we stepped into his room, he suddenly found his voice. In big, booming English, he said, “I assume, Inspector, that all unnecessary devices have been disconnected or removed. I hope so. If not, I’ll do it myself.”

I stayed in the open doorway and replied with as much crispness as I could muster, in simple Korean so no one could miss my words, “I don’t understand what you are talking about, Superintendent.”

“Of course you wouldn’t.” He laughed loudly, went over to the phone, and held it up. “If there is anything in, on, or around this damned thing that doesn’t belong, I’ll throw it in the toilet. Dewww I make myself understood?” He walked into the bathroom, turned on the bathwater, and let it run a minute. “I’ll have a bath when there’s some hot water. Let’s go for our city tour now. What we don’t get done today, we can do tomorrow. I want to see some of the route in the morning sun, check the shadows.”

“Tomorrow isn’t possible. It’s a holiday, the anniversary of the army, lots of people dancing in the streets. I don’t dance, so I won’t be there.”

“You’re kidding.”

“No. If you want, maybe we can arrange for you to take part in the dancing. It’s very chaste, but people have a good time.”

“Is there a parade?”

“You mean a military parade? No, not this year.”

“Speeches? I don’t want to go and listen to speeches. Maybe I’ll just stay in my room and sleep tomorrow. Let’s cover as much ground as we can today.”