The Adversary by Michael Walters Read Free Book Online Page A

had indeed slipped back into their old familiar pattern of dialogue—Nergui asking questions, prompting Doripalam to think harder, underpinned by the same old desire to please and impress the olderman. This was not, he thought, appropriate behavior for the chief of the Serious Crimes Team. On the other hand, he was forced to acknowledge that, on the basis of previous experience, it might enable him to come up with some answers, or at least some new questions.
    â€œI read that he got himself a new job?” Nergui said. Doripalam wondered precisely where Nergui had read this. Admittedly, the story had been well covered in the press, thanks to Mrs. Tuya’s cousin. But Doripalam was also aware that Nergui could gain access to pretty much any internal police information if he chose.
    â€œWe don’t know for sure,” Doripalam said. “He phoned his mother a couple of weeks before the time we think he vanished—though we don’t have an exact date for that, or even know for sure that he really has disappeared. He told her he was leaving the Ministry, that he had a new opportunity in front of him which was too good to refuse.”
    â€œBut he didn’t tell her what it was?”
    â€œNo, in fact, she said that he seemed very secretive. Kept hinting that there was more he could tell her but that he had to keep it confidential. That kind of thing.”
    â€œNot a Government job,” Nergui said. It was not a question.
    Doripalam smiled faintly. “Well, I imagine you would know. But, yes, we did check that, because we couldn’t think what kind of role might have any requirement for confidentiality.”
    â€œIf not a Government role, that suggests something more dubious,” Nergui said.
    â€œMaybe. That is, if we take what the mother said at face value. By that time, she seemed keen to stir up asmuch trouble as possible. I wasn’t directly involved, but I read all the transcripts of the interviews and I couldn’t decide whether or not she was exaggerating what Gavaa had said. Making it sound more mysterious than maybe it was.”
    â€œBut he still vanished?” Nergui ran his fingers slowly through his thick black hair.
    â€œWell, in the sense that we don’t know where he is, yes. But his disappearance doesn’t seem to have been particularly sudden. He’d given his landlord a month’s notice on the apartment, so was clearly expecting to move. He’d also given notice in his job, telling them that he’d found something that paid better, though he didn’t say what. But he left both the job and the apartment a couple of weeks earlier than expected. The landlord came to drop in some mail one day and found the place deserted.”
    â€œLike the
gers
?” Nergui said.
    â€œWell, yes, I suppose so. It was a furnished apartment, and, from what the landlord said, I don’t think Gavaa had many personal belongings in any case. Just some clothes, a few books and pictures. They’d all been stripped away, but I imagine they would have fitted into a small suitcase. The landlord was surprised he hadn’t said goodbye, as they’d gotten along fairly well, but just assumed Gavaa had decided to move early for some reason. When we spoke to him, he seemed to think the whole thing was just a fuss about nothing.”
    â€œWhat about the friends? If Gavaa had just moved to a new apartment or a new job, surely they’d know where he was?” Nergui crossed his legs and rested one ankle delicately across his other knee. His socks, Doripalamnoted, were pale blue today, matching the shirt and tie beneath his standard dark gray suit. Doripalam wondered vaguely how many color combinations Nergui had in his wardrobe.
    â€œYou’d have thought so, wouldn’t you?” Doripalam said. “That’s the only bit of the story that doesn’t hang together, where the mother’s concerns were understandable. He’d been