Beautiful Ghosts by Eliot Pattison

Author:Eliot Pattison [Pattison, Eliot]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, International Mystery & Crime, Mystery & Detective, Police Procedural
ISBN: 9780312335090
Google: 6aQTAAAAQBAJ
Amazon: 0312335091
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Published: 2005-03-10T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TEN

“He made it sound like some sort of monster coming out of the hills,” Yao said as he drove toward town in the half light of dawn. “Mountain Buddha. What is it?”

“I don’t know,” Shan admitted. “I’ve never heard of it.” Surely he had not heard correctly, he kept telling himself, or surely Tashi for once had it wrong. No one could possibly think they could liberate the prisoners.

“Ming beats Tashi to find out about it, and when Tashi, Tan’s top informant, refuses to speak for the first time in his life,” Yao pointed out, “Ming decides he urgently needs to be back in the mountains.” He had been silent for most of the drive, withdrawn into the same brooding silence that had seized him the night before, after Tashi’s escape.

The inspector had led Shan into the room assigned to him as sleeping quarters, and silently written in his pad for half an hour before throwing a blanket and pillow onto the floor for Shan. The dilemma that troubled Yao, Shan knew, wasn’t how to make sense of his investigation but how to make sense of the politics. Yao had arrived in Lhadrung at the head of a criminal investigation in alliance with Ming. Now Ming had commandeered his resources, opened communication directly with senior authorities about the investigation, even obtained new authority on his own in Lhasa. Ming had seized the political initiative in the strange game they were playing.

Shan had tried to slip away in the middle of the night but Yao’s hand had closed around his arm as he had opened the door to the corridor, pulling him back inside.

“It isn’t going to end like this,” the inspector said. “Just because Ming may not be after the same thing anymore doesn’t mean anything. I will get what I came for.” He seemed to be arguing with himself.

“I have a teacher,” Shan said. “He says strong spirits have to be careful about the truth they seek, for that truth may come back to seek them.”

“What do you mean?”

Shan looked down the corridor of shadows. “When the stakes grow high enough, even the most senior investigators become expendable.”

Yao glared at him. “You think I’m scared?”

“I am frightened for you.”

The inspector’s eyes narrowed. “Sometimes I think you are nothing but a political officer. For the Tibetans.”

Shan stared into the shadows.

Yao released his arm. “I still need a guide.”

“I refuse.”

“Then I need a helper,” Yao countered.

“For what?”

“To catch an art thief.”

“Then you’re a fool. You’ll destroy yourself if you still think it’s only about art theft.”

Yao gazed down the darkened hallway. “To stop Ming,” he muttered.

Shan met Yao’s gaze and nodded. “I need a helper,” Shan said.

Yao’s eyes hardened. He gestured Shan inside the room and switched on the light. “A helper for what?” he asked, closing the door behind him. “To regain your son?”

The question silenced Shan for a moment. Yao and the others seemed to wield his son like some weapon, attacking when he least expected. “I will tell you exactly what I want when you tell me the same,” he said at last.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.