The Coroner's Lunch

The Disappearing Room

Phosy bought a full bottle of Saeng Thip rum from the delighted bar mama, and commissioned a whole bucket of her magic ice. They sat at a table, away from anyone else.

“Did you win the lottery?”

“What’s the point of earning this huge policeman’s salary if you can’t go out and spend it every now and then?”

“No. That doesn’t work. Our salaries are posted by our departments. Everyone knows how much you earn.”

“Darn. Well, in that case, I did a bit of shady business up north.”

“That’s more like it.”

Mama fixed them generous drinks, and they told her they could take care of themselves from then on. She left them to their secrets. A fisherman in a huge hat was knee-deep in the water casting and re-casting his weighted net. They watched him untangle the small fish from the mesh and put them in a plastic bag tied around his neck.

“So, what’s the big news you have to tell me?”

Those were the last words Phosy spoke for half an hour. He could only sit in silence, sipping his drink as he listened to Siri’s tales. First was the account of the assassination attempt, then the whole trail that uncovered the truth about Mai’s murder. At the end of it, Siri reached into his bag and handed the policeman his autopsy report and recommendations.

He sat back on his rickety chair and took his second sip of a drink whose ice had melted long before. Phosy looked down at the file and up at the smiling doctor.

“How’d I do?” Siri asked.

“That really was astounding.”

“Thank you.”

“I really had no idea you were…”

“…a brilliant detective?”

“Exactly. I raise my hat to you.” He lifted his imaginary hat. “Really. I’m very impressed.”

“You don’t look very happy.”

“I don’t? Perhaps that has something to do with the fact that I’d hoped this whole thing was over with, not just beginning. Were you able to estimate a time of death?”

“No. Impossible. I didn’t see her until three days after she died.”

“All right.” He finished his drink and poured another. “The game’s back on. Have you given Judge Haeng the original?”

“No. I’ve been waiting for you to get back and tell me what to do.”

“Good. Don’t do anything. I’ll ask at the girl’s apartment building and see who’s been hanging around there.”

“Do you suppose Comrade Kham got someone to set it all up for him and left Vientiane to establish an alibi?”

“It’s possible. But what do you say you leave a little bit of policing for me? Don’t forget, we still don’t have an iota of evidence that he’s in any way connected to either murder. The only way we could possibly implicate him would be by finding Mai’s killer and getting him to talk. Who else knows about this?”

“My staff, me, and you so far.”

“You haven’t told anyone else?”

“No. Well, the sister. She’s taking the body back to Sam Neua. But she’s just glad Mai didn’t kill herself. She isn’t going to say anything to anyone.”

“We can’t be sure. If she mentions it to anyone up there, it could get back to Kham. His people are all from Sam Neua. To tell the truth, we can’t be sure of anything. We’re back to the beginning. First thing we have to do is put the original report and the photos of the autopsy somewhere safe. Are they at your office?”

“No, they’re in the hospital library.”

“Where?”

“Nobody ever goes there. Since they burned all the foreign books, there’s only crap up there. It was Dtui’s idea.”

“Is the library open now?”

“No. The building doesn’t open till eight tomorrow.”

“Okay, I’ll come by then. Now, in the meantime, how are we going to keep you alive?”

Siri pulled a crumpled shell from his pocket and put it on the table. Phosy whistled.

“You know anything about bullets?” Siri asked.

“I know it’s from a rifle, but I’m no expert. There’s someone at the office I can show it to. Where’s the other one?”

“The other one?”

“You said there were two shots, didn’t you?”

“Oh. That’s gone to the Security Section. I mean, the army should have ballistics experts.”

“Good plan. I’ll take this anyway and see what I can find.”

They drank for a couple of hours and talked about things outside of crime and politics. Phosy insisted on taking Siri home. When they pulled up in front of the house, the policeman kept his light on. It lit the lane ahead, making all the dips in the dirt look like black pits. The eyes of cats blinked under bushes. But they spotted no assassins.

“Want me to go inside and see if anyone’s lurking in the hallway?”

“No. I think I’ve shared this with so many people, there’s no longer a point in killing me. If they did, they’d have to wipe out half the Security Section as well. I think my chances of making newspaper headlines are over. Besides”-he lowered his voice-“if any man were foolish enough to lurk in our hallway, Iwouldn’t give him a chance against her.”

The downstairs curtain shimmied.

“All right. I’ll see you in the morning then.” They shook hands.

“Thanks. Good night.”

The bike growled away, leaving Siri in the lane in the dark. Despite his brave words, it was still an eerie spot. Around him there were a few yellow lamps, some candles in neighbors’ windows. There didn’t seem to be insect noises any more at night. People wondered whether the bugs had all escaped across the river, too. The sound of Saloop panting was an oddly comforting one. The animal loped along the lane toward Siri, stopped several meters away, and turned back.

Siri knelt to greet him, but he didn’t approach. The dog again ran toward the doctor, then turned back. Siri recalled some black-and-white movies he and Boua had watched together in Paris. There was a dog, a collie or some such type, that used to save children from burning houses and catch criminals. He’d seen this act before, albeit from a more handsome dog, in better shape: Saloop wanted him to follow.

“I’m tired. I’m not in the mood to play tonight.”

But the dog continued to run round in circles, egging him on to follow. When he started to bark, Siri set off after him. He’d ruined enough silent nights for the neighbors over the past year. “All right. But this better be good.”

Saloop immediately came to heel and walked proudly alongside Siri. They crossed the intersection and headed down to the river.

“So, tell me, dog. Does this mean I’m not possessed any more, or did you just get over your fear of ghosts? Is there something else I should know about?” The dog didn’t answer.

When they arrived at the river, instead of turning left or right, Saloop crossed the road and sat on the riverbank. Siri stood opposite, and the dog looked back over its shoulder at him.

“I don’t believe it. This was the fuss? You wanted us to come down and watch the river together?” Saloop panted and Siri shook his head. With a chuckle, he crossed the empty road and selected a flat spot near his new friend. “Well, at least you make more sense than my usual river date.”

Doctor and dog sat watching the Thai lights shimmer on the river. They looked at the small bats that flapped back and forth across the indigo sky. It wasn’t exactly romantic, but it was very pleasant. It was the last real peace Siri would know for a while.

The explosion rattled the silence, and the ground trembled under him. He got to his feet and looked back the way they had come. An almost invisible cloud of dark gray smoke rose into the night sky about a block and a half away. He didn’t have to wonder where it had come from. He knew.

He hurried back along the small lane that led from the river and over the wide cross-street. The area was already filling with householders in their nightwear who’d been jolted from their sleep by the blast. They seemed disoriented, as if they weren’t sure whether they’d dreamed of an explosion.

Siri continued back along his own lane until he came to the house. It seemed impossible. It stood there still dark and silent, ostensibly untroubled by any disaster. But he knew that could only be an illusion. He knew something horrible lay beyond the front wall. He ran along the path and pushed open the heavy door. It opened more easily than ever because the rest of the house had shifted, so it now sat evenly in its frame. The damage done to the back of the house was unbelievable. Although pictures and ornaments had been shaken from the walls, the front two rooms up and down had only been rattled by the chaos. But when he looked up the staircase, he could see the sky. His room, and the roof above it, were gone. The room beneath his seemed warped somehow. Miss Vong was at its door trying to push it open. She was calling out to the children and to Mrs. Som. The woman’s husband was away training in Europe, so she was there alone with her three girls.

Siri hurried over and helped Vong to open the door. The young couple from the upstairs front room could only look down at them helpless, as there was now no way for them to descend. Half the staircase, and the balcony, were gone. The door shifted enough to squeeze through, but it was dark as a grave inside. They could hear the whimpering of the youngest child, and coughing. Siri told Vong to go for a flashlight, and she ran back to her apartment.

He put his head into the room and called out:

“Mrs. Som? Manoly? Are you in here? Can you hear me?”

Manoly’s voice came back to him. “Mommy’s still asleep. I can’t wake her up.”

“How are your sisters?”

“They’re frightened.”

“It’s all right. There’s nothing to be frightened about. That was the last big bang. I’ll tell you what to do. I want all three of you to follow my voice and walk carefully this way. Hold hands now. Manoly, you lead.”

“What about Mommy?”

“I’ll go and wake her up after you three are out.” He sang a song to comfort them and give them a destination. All three were coughing by the time they reached the door. They had their pillows against their faces. The room was cloudy with dust.

“Good girls.”

Vong arrived with the flashlight just as the girls emerged. “Oh, goodness. Thank heaven you’re all okay.” She shined the light toward the room, but Siri stood in front of it.

“Put that out for now.” She did as she was told. “Take the girls into the street. I think they’ve swallowed a lot of dust. Find them plenty of clean water to drink. Then get them down to the hospital as quickly as you can.”

By now there was a small group of people gathered around the front door. They collected the girls and asked what they should do. Siri told them the building wasn’t safe and said they should stay back. If anyone had a ladder, they could run it up the front of the house and bring down the couple upstairs through the window. But other than that, they should stay out.

Once he was alone, he turned the flashlight back on. He hadn’t wanted to shine it into the room while the children were there to see, just in case. Before going inside, he unbuttoned his shirt and pulled up his undershirt to cover his mouth and nose.

The room was devastated. Large chunks of masonry had fallen. Although much of the ceiling was still in place, it had dropped toward one end of the room, and might cave in at any second. The dust was blinding.

At the point where the back wall had once stood, the ceiling was no more than a meter from the ground, and he had to get on his hands and knees to reach the place where the family had slept. The flashlight reflected from the dust like headlights on a fog bank. He could feel his lungs getting heavy.

“Dr. Siri?”

His heart leaped, and he swung the flashlight beam to his left from where the voice had come. “Mrs. Som?” He crawled across the debris until he could make out the shape of the girls’ mother kneeling, facing the bedrolls where the children had slept below the open window. Despite the dust, she seemed very neat. She was dressed in her best phasin and her hair was pulled tightly back from her face into a bun. She turned her head to him and smiled. He smiled back to show his relief.

“You’ve been lucky. Come. We have to get out of here before this ceiling comes down completely.” She didn’t move.

“Dr. Siri. I’m worried about my girls.”

“No. They’re fine. Come now.” He reached out a hand for her.

“I’m afraid they’ll be lonely.”

His hand dropped. He knew right away what she meant. He understood, and his stomach turned.

“Oh, no, Mrs.-”

“I was often cross with them. I shouted at them a lot. Perhaps they won’t understand that was a mother’s way to show how she feels. Can you be sure to tell them I love them?”

He lowered his head. “I’m so sorry.”

The large crowd gathered at the front of the house gasped and muttered when Siri appeared at the front door. He’d carried Mrs. Som’s crushed body as far as Vong’s room and left it there. He didn’t want the girls to see it or to raise their hopes she might be alive. He wheezed a few orders here and there to the neighbors, made sure the couple upstairs had been brought down, then collapsed inelegantly in the vegetable patch.