The Adversary by Michael Walters Read Free Book Online

know what you’re doing.”
    â€œMaybe long enough, if you’re really afraid.”
    As they had talked, Nergui had sat himself down in front of Doripalam’s desk. He was, Doripalam noted, carrying a box file labeled “SCT Inquiry” which he placed unselfconsciously down on the corner of the desk. Doripalam wondered if he was supposed to ask about the file, but he decided to delay that for a while. All things considered, at the moment he felt more comfortable discussing the murder case.
    Nergui leaned back in the chair, lifting the front legs off the ground. He looked the same as ever, Doripalam thought, and it was difficult to gauge whether he was going native in the Ministry. Doripalam had not honestly expected him to stay in that role for very long. Particularly after the incidents with the Englishman.And yet here he was, more than a year on, apparently settled into his role as the Minister’s bagman, supposedly dealing with issues of national concern but—as far as Doripalam could judge—spending most of his time processing files in his small but well-appointed office on the third floor of the Ministry. Except, of course, that he wasn’t there at the moment. At the moment, he was sitting in Doripalam’s office, once again sticking his nose into the business of the Serious Crime Team and engaged in—well, who knew what?
    As always, Nergui’s dark-skinned face gave nothing away. He gazed impassively at Doripalam as though he had been following every twist of the younger man’s train of thought. “Do you think it’s connected with the son?” he said, after the silence had become uncomfortably prolonged.
    â€œAgain, who knows?” Doripalam said. “Until now, I hadn’t been taking the son’s disappearance particularly seriously.”
    â€œBut you thought it was worth going up to talk to her yourself?”
    Doripalam shrugged, still uneasily aware that he had, for whatever motive, timed the visit to Mrs. Tuya to coincide with Nergui’s return. He had no doubt that Nergui had noted the fact. “That was a PR thing, mainly,” he said. “You saw the kind of coverage she’d received in the press. Another example of precisely what we didn’t need at the moment.”
    â€œShe had a relative on
Ardiin Erkh
, I understand?” This was one of the privately-owned national daily newspapers that had appeared with the arrival of democracy in the country.
    Doripalam nodded. “A cousin. Assistant editor or some such. That was how she got the original coverage. Then all the others jumped on the bandwagon.”
    â€œWidow of military hero loses son. Police have no leads. That kind of thing.”
    â€œPrecisely that kind of thing. Except that the implication was ‘police can’t be bothered.’”
    â€œBecause you didn’t take it seriously?”
    â€œWell, we didn’t particularly, to be honest. The boy, Gavaa, was nineteen. He’d moved to the city to take up a clerical job in one of the state departments. A large well-built boy who apparently took after his soldier father. Bright and self-sufficient. And, by all accounts, not on particularly good terms with his mother. Nothing there that made you think of him as a natural victim.”
    â€œYou thought he’d just taken the opportunity to leave home properly?”
    â€œPretty much so. All the signs were that he’d settled into the city pretty quickly and pretty successfully. He had a good circle of friends. For a young man without commitments, he was fairly well-paid. He was renting an apartment near the center, just a few hundred meters from Sukh Bataar Square. All in all, a fairly cozy lifestyle.”
    â€œBut you couldn’t track him down?”
    â€œWell, no, that was the mystery. That and the circumstances of his disappearance, such as they were.”
    Doripalam was becoming aware that, once again, the two of them