Behind the Night Bazaar by Angela Savage Read Free Book Online Page A

the man to stop as he was under arrest. When that failed to have an impact—by which point, the suspect had reached the top of the stairs— the lieutenant colonel fired a warning shot into the air. The suspect failed to stop and, as a last resort, Lieutenant Colonel Ratratarn fired his pistol again, aiming to wound him in the leg. The foreigner stumbled on the stairs, however, and the shot caught him in the back. He was dead by the time Officer Komet, on hearing gunfire, rushed from the garden to the front of the house.
    Komet dutifully recorded this account of the events. His commander checked the draft and added a paragraph at the end.
    ‘It’s important we include all facts,’ Ratratarn said, handing the document back. ‘Since the case involves the death of a farang, we must anticipate some kind of inquiry. It’s a regrettable business, but since there were only two of us present, here’s hoping they’ll get through it quickly.’
    Komet returned to his desk and read Ratratarn’s amended conclusion: ‘Later asked by journalists at the scene whether he thought the suspect had committed the murder, Lieutenant Colonel Ratratarn replied there was no doubt as to the foreigner’s guilt. “An innocent man would have done everything in his power to defend his innocence,” he said. He added that he regretted that the suspect’s death would not enable him to be brought to justice through the correct channels.’
    Komet typed up the changes, unable to shake the feeling that the lieutenant colonel didn’t regret the foreigner’s death nearly so much as he regretted the prospect of an inquiry.
    It was almost lunchtime when he submitted the finished report and stumbled home. With barely enough energy to greet his anxious wife, Komet fell into bed.
    He woke several hours later to the sound of the television. Arunee was sitting on the end of the bed, eyes glued to the screen. Komet reached for the remote and turned up the volume to hear the news presenter on Channel 4.
    ‘A Scientific Crime Detection Division representative has confirmed that a cut-throat razor found by police at the home of Canadian murder suspect Khun Didier de Montpasse bore traces of blood matching the type of murder victim, local boy Khun Sanga Siamprakorn. Police say they found the murder weapon wrapped in a plastic bag behind a water trough in the foreigner’s backyard.’
    ‘But that’s not—’ Komet began.
    ‘Hush,’ his wife stopped him. ‘I want to hear this.’
    At the next ad break, Komet staggered outside to the toilet, directing a stream of urine into the hole in the floor. He flushed with a scoop of water from the adjacent tub and poured a second ladleful over his head. Rubbing his face, he tossed the dipper back, watching it bob on the surface.
    He could have sworn he’d checked the area behind the water trough at the foreigner’s house. Not only that: though Ratratarn said he’d fired twice and forensics found two spent cartridges at the scene, Komet remembered hearing only one gunshot.
    In hotel lobbies throughout Chiang Mai it was not unusual to see receptionists, bellboys, waiters and cleaners comatose in front of television soap operas and quiz shows, but it surprised Jayne to see the staff at the Silver Star transfixed by the local news. Glancing at the screen, she saw with a pang that it was an item about Nou and Didier. She removed her sunglasses.
    ‘Police say they found the murder weapon wrapped in a plastic bag behind a water trough in the foreigner’s backyard,’ a silver-haired anchorman in a brown suit said.
    The scene cut to a press conference at Police Bureau 5. A taut, hard-faced man in a skin-tight uniform, red braid coiled around one arm and fastened under an epaulet with a patchwork of coloured medals on his breast pocket, was surrounded by microphones. A caption identified him as Police Lieutenant Colonel Ratratarn Rattakul in charge of the murder investigation. Jayne listened as he droned on about the