The Snow Thief by C.J. Carver

Author:C.J. Carver [Carver, C.J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Right Nuisance Publishing Ltd
Published: 2020-03-11T16:00:00+00:00

26

‘LOOK, I’M SORRY I didn’t tell you I was with the police.’ Lia decided to play the nice cop role. ‘I didn’t want to spook you.’

Pete grimaced. ‘Was the boy really murdered?’

‘Yes.’

‘You said he wasn’t the first.’

‘Sadly, that is true.’

He licked his lips. ‘How many?’

‘I can’t tell you that. But let’s just say too many.’ She rested her head against the window and watched her breath steam the glass. ‘The villagers have information, don’t they?’

Pete remained silent.

‘I want to interview the monks that visited the village. They might know something that could help.’

More silence.

‘Will you help me?’

He swallowed. ‘I’m sorry.’

She let it go for the moment and turned her attention to study the map, trying to work out where the monks would be if they were travelling as she thought, in a roughly clockwise direction. She made two calculations. One should they be walking, the second in case they had a car. Eventually, she asked Pete to head for Tali, a town which appeared roughly situated between her two estimates.

Lia spent the journey alternately dreaming of returning to Shenzhen and her old job and chatting to Pete. Initially it had been to try and put him at ease but as they talked, she realised she’d fallen on not just a good driver, but a fountain of knowledge on Tibet and its culture. Knowledge was power, and never more than when hunting a killer, so she started narrowing down her questions. Pete had a degree in foreign languages – he spoke French and German as well as English – but more importantly two of his brothers were monks.

‘It used to be good to be a monk,’ Pete told her. ‘It meant you were looked after, educated, and always had something to eat.’

‘And now?’

‘They’re barely tolerated…’ He trailed off, his expression turning anxious.

‘Please speak freely with me,’ Lia said. ‘I swear anything you say will remain between us, OK? I’m not on a religious witch hunt. I’m after a murderer and without your help, we may never catch him.’

Pete swallowed. ‘OK.’

‘You were saying?’ Lia prompted.

He gave her a potted history of Tibetan Buddhism, the Dalai Lama’s escape to India, the Chinese government’s intolerance of him. Nothing she didn’t already know. It was only when he began to appear uncomfortable with the conversation that she came alert.

‘Er…well, the Chinese…I mean, your government…’ He coughed uncomfortably.

‘Go on,’ she encouraged him.

‘Um…they don’t care for Tibetan Buddhism.’ He paused and she glanced at him. He was holding his breath.

‘I’m aware of that,’ she said neutrally. ‘And?’

‘They, er…would like to see it gone. I mean really gone. Destroyed.’

‘I see.’

He exhaled in a rush. ‘You’ve heard about the Panchen Lama?’

She had, but shook her head, wanting to hear what Pete would say.

‘He’s the second-highest-ranking lama after the Dalai Lama and the only person who can proclaim the next Dalai Lama…’

‘Proclaim?’

‘When the Dalai Lama dies,’ Pete explained, ‘he is reincarnated. The Panchen Lama is the only person who knows who he has been reincarnated as.’

Lia turned her head to look at a chorten, hanging with colourful prayer flags.

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