The Paper Bark Tree Mystery by Ovidia Yu

Author:Ovidia Yu [Yu, Ovidia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mystery & Detective - Singapore
ISBN: 9781472125255
Google: OEF0DwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group
Published: 2019-06-27T04:00:00+00:00

The Finding of Prakesh

There were no lamps and no windows looking into the alley, so it was a popular spot for courting couples. The old karang guni, with his gunny sack, thought of it as his territory. He often found old newspapers, half-smoked cigarettes and even items of clothing there, things that could be sold or put to good use.

There was a sound, a scuffle. A muttered curse.

‘Hey! None of that around here,’ he called. He was going to back away but heard the sound of feet fleeing. He got the impression it was a woman’s feet, though later he couldn’t say why. The sound of the footsteps, he said. But, again, he could not say why.

He headed towards the makeshift altar someone had set up next to a collapsed wall. Some people avoided such altars, fearing the spirits of the dead they were set up to appease. But the old karang guni saw no reason to fear the dead over the living. No ghosts had ever objected to him helping himself to the sweets and rice cakes people left to propitiate them.

As he moved further from the last streetlamps on the main road, his eyes gradually adapted. He squinted. It seemed as though tonight a figure was sitting there in the dark. A man.

‘Hey, you. What are you doing here?’

The old karang guni man moved closer. It was a disappointed lover, he thought, sitting and moping after a fight with his lady-love. Talking him into visiting the bar-brothel on the next street might be worth a tip. More, if the man turned out to be a big spender.

‘Hey, why you all alone?’

There was no response from the man.

The karang guni man went up to the figure leaning against the wall and tapped him on the shoulder. It was an Indian man, he saw. His face was twisted in pain, and his eyes were wide open and staring.

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