Hidden Moon

6

Boswell didn’t appear back at the office, so I sat at my desk and sketched a bookcase with three shelves. I put a door on it. I put on brass fittings. It didn’t matter what I did. The thought was stuck in my mind, and it wouldn’t shake loose. Boswell should have canceled the visit; as soon as I gave him my crazy theory, he should have demanded to be driven to the British embassy to have the whole thing shut down. He didn’t do that. Yesterday, he’d been adamant that he was going to call off the trip. Today, he didn’t even mention it. But why would he want it to happen? I must be wrong about the assassination attempt. Nothing fit. Or everything did. In that case, I’d cancel the visit myself. I’d just call the Ministry and say the bank robbery had raised enough questions to make it a bad time for us to entertain a foreign guest. If there were complaints, I’d say the visit would interfere with the investigation. I’d call the Ministry directly; I wouldn’t even tell Min.

There was a knock on the door. It was Min.

“We have to talk.”

“Shall we go to your office?”

“No, here.”

I stood up. Min gestured. “Sit, Inspector.”

“Something I did wrong?”

“What did you discover about the site where the Club Blue manager was found?”

“Funny place. Whoever did it must have scouted it beforehand.”

“The club manager was a former special service officer. I just found out.”

“What? Well, that explains the shoulders.” It explained the long gap between when he disappeared and when he showed up dead. They had to take their time squeezing as much information out of him as they could and, when they thought they had it all, go back and squeeze some more, every drop. Make him reveal who was under surveillance, who had been turned around, which plans had been compromised.

“He was called back and put on assignment.”

“Oh.” Threads began tightening. Even before we had been given the robbery case, someone had been on the inside.

“Something happened to his cover. It cracked.”

“He had me fooled.” Me, but not everyone.

“You really didn’t know?”

“No one tells me anything; sometimes I think it’s better that way.”

“Well, like I said, I just found out. They were thinking you might have done something to finger him.”

“Tell them to go somewhere else, will you? My shoulder won’t ever be the same.”

“What do you know about Boswell?”

“Meaning what?”

“A question, Inspector, nothing more. Question-answer, a good sequence, wouldn’t you agree? Otherwise, a conversation would have no end.” He sounded like the man in the brown suit. My hip flared up. I gaped in pain and grabbed the desk. I should stop complaining just about my shoulder.

“You alright?”

“Fine,” I said. “Boswell says he is here to check security for a British dignitary. He has an inordinate interest in shadows.”

“You believe him?”

I was silent.

“I take it you don’t believe him.”

“What has prompted this, Min? If it’s a big secret, don’t tell me. Just let me drift in the normal fog of ignorance that covers my days.”

“I realize, Inspector, to you it sometimes seems that I am not paying attention. I know you don’t think I measure up to all of your expectations. And perhaps sometimes I don’t. Other things crowd in on me. My mind becomes occupied, overoccupied you might say. But this case, this robbery, has captured my attention as nothing else has for a long time. You don’t think it’s just a robbery. I agree. I think about it day and night. Nothing like it has troubled me to this extent. It is taking us someplace very bad; I feel it, and you do, too.”

“You think the robbery and the appearance of a tall, broad Scotsman is not a coincidence. Well, neither do I. I think he’s here for something else. If I had to guess, I’d guess he’s not here to cooperate. I’d say he’s up to no good. Worse than no good.”

“Thank you, Inspector, for that.” Min reached down and unplugged my phone from the wall. “A Ministry team was here last night to sweep the building. I’m led to believe that all is well, but I’m also reliably informed that they left these in place.” He twirled the phone line in the air and then let it drop to the floor.

I looked at the wire for a moment. “I’m going to recommend that the visit by the British VIP not take place. As soon as we’re done, I’m going over to the Ministry and personally putting in the recommendation.”

“Too late. Too late. Too ever fucking late, Inspector.”

“Why?”

“He’s already here. Special aircraft. Arrived yesterday evening.”

“That can’t be. Why would they allow him in early?”

“How should I know? Do I look like an airline reservation clerk? He’s here. Though exactly where he is right now I couldn’t say.” He held up his hand. “No, I’m not keeping it from you, Inspector. No one has told me. I’m in charge of security for this delegation, but I have no idea where the visitor is at the moment. And if something happens to him in the meantime, you know who gets blamed, don’t you?”

I jumped out of my chair. “Where’s Boswell?”

“He’s your responsibility, not mine. You’re supposed to be babysitting.”

“Where are the Germans?”

“Probably at their hotel.”

“They’re supposed to be on the east coast. It was arranged.”

“Countermanded. Little Li complained all morning long that he thought he was finally going to get a vacation, trailing after them.”

“This is a disaster. It’s a setup. Boswell and those Germans are in this together, but they’re not leading the parade. We’re being led to slaughter, Min. But by whom? Who is going to cut our throats?”

“Let me tell you what I think, Inspector. I think that I am being carried in the jaws of death. Lightly, gently, like a lioness carries her cub. But she will not drop me this time.”

“Lovely imagery.”

“Coming from you, Inspector, that could be funny. We both know what is going on. From the moment they assigned us that bank robbery, something wasn’t right.”

“That’s what I said weeks ago.”

“Then you disappeared.”

“Twice.”

“Twice.” Min spoke the word carefully, as if he were stepping over a hole in time. He pulled on his ear and looked at nothing. “Fate, I suppose. The whole road, leading to this.”

“Well, you may be ready to bow your head and accept what comes. I am not, not yet, anyway. We didn’t do anything wrong, and we’re not going to be anyone’s excuse. That’s for sure.”

“Better to go limp, Inspector. It might not hurt as much when the blow comes.”

“Don’t talk to me about blows, I know all about blows. Want to see my bruises?”

“Some other time.”

“Give me the keys to your car. I’m going up to that old man’s hut again. There’s something there. Why would they set so many dogs to watch my behind if someone wasn’t worried I’d find something?”

“You just figured that out?” Min tossed me the keys. “There’s enough gas in the tank of the duty car for you to go and get back. If the gauge is to be trusted. Are you going to take the Scots bear?”

“You want me to?”

Min smiled, so that I knew fate had slipped a tiny bit in his calculations.

“Okay, then.” I fished in my pockets for some wood and came up with a piece of walnut. I held it up with what must have been a look of surprise on my face.

“Something wrong, Inspector?”

“This is walnut.”

“If you say so.”

“I don’t know why I’m even carrying it around. There’s a certain smugness to walnut that you can feel.”

“I hadn’t realized.”

“My grandfather used to look at a piece of walnut and say, ‘Ugly.’ He claimed walnut needed discipline. Too many people say, ‘Oh, how beautiful,’ every time they see walnut burl, and they ended up spoiling the wood, that’s what he thought.” It was clear Min didn’t know what to say, so I put the wood in my pocket and stepped out the door. “If Boswell calls looking for me”-I turned back to Min-“you heard me say I was going toward Sinuiju to collect on a bet.”

“I did hear you say that.” The phone rang. Min let it ring twice, then waved for me to get going. As I went down the stairs, I heard him say in convincing tones, “Superintendent, I don’t put bells on my people. How should I know where he is at this moment?”