Don't Eat Me by Colin Cotterill

Author:Colin Cotterill
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Crime Fiction
Publisher: Soho Press
Published: 2018-06-29T15:05:52+00:00

Chapter Twelve

All about Yves

“You can sit at your desk,” said Phosy.

“I don’t understand,” said Judge Haeng.

“We’re putting you back in the game for a while,” said Phosy.

The two men were in the judge’s office. Despite all the drama Haeng had only been absent for forty-eight hours. In Laos that wasn’t even cause for a search party for a public official. They disappeared all the time. Haeng sat and rested his hands on his desktop as if he’d never expected to be sitting there again. He seemed meek and confused.

“Why?” he asked.

“This is your chance to apologize,” said Phosy.

“How?”

“By solving the case for us.”

“What . . . what do I have to do?”

“Just be your normal, obnoxious self,” said Phosy. “You pretend you got away with the Zil thing and you ordered me out of the city. You work through your in-tray as if nothing had happened.”

“What do I do if Maysuk gets in touch?”

“That would be perfect. That’s what we’re hoping will happen. We want to know why he set you up and who the girl is.”

“You expect me to act as if nothing’s happened?”

“Is that a problem?”

“Of course it is,” said Haeng. “Everything’s different. I’m nothing now, nobody. A little play acting for you and your team isn’t going to change my future. No matter the result this isn’t going to get me out of the gutter.”

“No, but you can make it your starting point. As long as you’re aware you’re in the gutter you only have one direction to go. This way you can start your new life by doing something selfless, something positive. The alternative is that you stay in the cell I just pulled you out of and you start to rot there. This is a second chance.”

Haeng looked at his hands and sighed. “What’s to stop me from leaving?” he said.

“Your conscience, if you have one.” Phosy shrugged and headed for the door.

“Chief Inspector,” said Haeng.

“What?”

“I understand I’m not in a position to ask a favor.”

“Then don’t ask,” said Phosy.

Haeng stood and walked to the front of his desk. “And I would completely understand if you said no, but this isn’t for me. It’s for my family.”

“Well?”

“My career’s over, probably my life is in the balance. The shame is already eating me. I deserve everything I’ll get for abusing my position. But, there’s my father.”

“What about him?” said Phosy.

“He loves this country. He sent me to study in the USSR, and I promised to return and dedicate my life to Laos. It will be hard enough for him to learn of my stupidity over the skeleton affair. But if he ever thought I’d betrayed my country it would kill him.”

Phosy turned to face him. “Are you talking about the letter?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“You offered to hand over state secrets to the Americans in return for a green card. That’s treason, boy.”

“I know,” said Haeng staring at the ground like a schoolboy in front of his headmaster, “and not a day goes by that I don’t wish I could unwrite that letter.

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