Hidden Moon

2

After the old man finished, we sat side by side and didn’t feel the need to say anything. A breeze blew against me, and I wondered if it was goodness, or love, or just the wind. Finally I stood up. I had a job to do, and I might as well get it done. “This temple, it’s brand-new, isn’t it? All reconstructed. You have a good reason you didn’t tell me? I trusted you to tell me the truth.”

“I told you what I could.” The old man’s fingers lightly touched the blood on his shirt. “I didn’t want to say much with the foreigner hanging around. I told you it was rebuilt several times.”

“You also told me you stumbled on the body, but how could you do that if it was floating in one of those pools?”

“I needed you to come back. The only way to be sure you would was to make up something that you knew couldn’t be right. The truth waits, sometimes.”

“When was the temple rebuilt?”

“Three months ago. It was in the dead of winter. They moved me out of here, told me to shut up, that it was some special decision and that if I said anything they’d send me off to a camp in the mountains. They said they’d send the dog to Pyongyang for foreigners to eat.”

“When did they let you move back?”

“Two, three weeks ago. They said they’d put everything back and nobody would ever know the difference.”

“Who’s been here since then?”

The old man rubbed his chin. “They’ll kill me if I tell you.”

“If I can get to them, they won’t be back. It’s up to you.”

“Just a minute.” The old man stood up and went into his hut. When he came out, he was wearing a different shirt. “I’ll have to burn the other one. Otherwise that dog’s ghost will come back, looking for its blood. You ever heard a ghost howl in the dark, Inspector?”

“I can’t say that I have. The living cause me enough trouble.”

The old man laughed, bitterly. “Are you going to take notes? Or can you just remember?”