Jimm Juree 01; Killed at the Whim of a Hat

General Suvit. I did my terribly formal salute for him and he didn’t know whether to nod or wag his tail so he saluted back and turned on his heel and fled. Not for the first time in my life, I didn’t realize exactly what a prize I held in my hand. I assumed it wasn’t terribly important because it wasn’t sealed, just tied with one of those string thingies.”
    “But even with the pressure of such a temptation, you didn’t take a peek?”
    “Of course I did. I mean, he didn’t make me swear not to look, did he? And it didn’t say, ‘For the eyes of Major General Suvit only’ And, knowing the military, it might have contained something illicit. It was my duty to look. And what do you think it contained?”
    “I give up.”
    “I’ll give you a clue or two: knife, blood, abbot…Oh, come on, you must have it by now.”
    “I thought they’d sent the body to Bangkok.”
    “It appears the legal system in the capital is busy at the moment so they rerouted Abbot Winai to Prajuab.”
    I scraped my chair close and he winced at the noise.
    “All right. What did they find?” I whispered.
    “I’m not sure I can tell you.”
    “You’d sooner face the embarrassment of being beaten up by a girl?”
    “That was threatening behavior toward a police officer. I could arrest you for that.”
    “Chompu?”
    “All right, but this really is not for publication. Thirteen stab wounds, no less. Seven were postmortem.”
    “No!”
    “All stomach and groin. Long, very sharp knife. Blade about thirty centimeters.” I knew that. I’d seen it. “Perpetrator probably shorter than the victim, left handed, no defense wounds so the abbot was, no doubt, taken by surprise.” I knew that, too. Shock, more like it. Completely bemused, but, as I recalled it then, not fearful. Just a look of resignation. And I doubted the killer was left handed. He just needed his right hand free to take pictures. “Victim otherwise in good shape. Died from exsanguination. No other marks on the body.”
    “What do you make of it?” I asked him.
    “From what little I know of the case I’d say the killer wanted to make a point. The first two wounds would have done the job so this was a statement. ‘Look what I’ve done.’ There was something bottled up inside the killer that needed to be let out. There’s madness there.”
    “Do you think another abbot could have done it?”
    “No.”
    His answer was crisp and definite.
    “Then why do you think the head of Wat Feuang Fa is still a suspect?”
    “If he is, and I’d have to take your word for it because nobody tells me anything, it’s because A, he has a motive, or B, he’s the only suspect they have.”
    That was a bull’s-eye on both.
    “I don’t believe he did it but all they’d need is a murder weapon,” he said, “and your Abbot Kem is well and truly defrocked.”

Nine
“ I understand small business growth. I was one .”
    —GEORGE W. BUSH, NEW YORK DAILY NEWS , FEBRUARY 19, 2000
    I arrived home just in time to start preparing lunch. I wondered whether my family might just happily starve to death if I didn’t bother to come home again. The nearest pizza restaurant that delivered was four and a half hours away. I’d even checked how far they’d be prepared to go. I tell you, I don’t make long-distant calls just to get laughed at. That was the last hint of business they’d see from me. I was exhausted. I thought of all the male crime reporters around the country returning home about now to those wives in Understanding Thailand who greeted them with a smile and a table of food. Why didn’t I have a wife like that?
    I would start on the mackerel. I was sure they’d missed me, whereas Arny walked past and ignored me completely. I’d had the truck all morning, preventing him from going to his gym. I knew he’d be mad. Mair was in the shop slicing huge banana bunches into smaller banana bunches and writing the price, 5 baht , on the skins. Everybody in Maprao had banana trees so I couldn’t think who’d buy any. Across the road, Granddad Jah was sitting under the banana leaf roof on the bamboo platform watching traffic.
    I had nobody to tell about my morning. I’d been a busy investigator. There were four hotels and seven resorts in or around Lang Suan, eight if you included ours, but I can’t think why you would. After leaving the police station at Pak Nam I visited every one of them. I could have flashed my press card with my finger over the expiration