Love Songs from a Shallow Grave

bookshop. He goes there often. She signs up also. By now she’s built up the courage to confess her love. She tells him they need to talk. But he’s too busy. He doesn’t call her back. She stalks on, and that’s when she sees Neung with Kiang. Probably follows them out to their love hotel. Bang. Her already troubled mind explodes. She wasn’t that stable to start with but now, the man she’s been in love with for fifteen years, the man she gave up her future and her dreams to follow home, Neung has a lover. A wife’s one thing, expendable. She knows that men with wives take on lovers. Happens all the time. But this is an attractive single woman and Jim could smell the love in the air. It was all over for her. Revenge was the only option. Neung works at Electricite du Lao. Jim follows him around. She learns he’s in a work team at K6. Coincidentally, the nurse attached to the K6 clinic breaks her leg. It appears someone pushed her off a balcony. They didn’t ever find a culprit but I’m sure we all know who it was. And so she started to assemble her murder trilogy.”
    “If I’m allowed to say,” Siri smiled, “that was a brilliant piece of detective work. There I was, afraid an innocent man was about to be shot, but you had it all worked out. If I’d known, I could have concentrated on my incarceration with a lighter heart.”
    Phosy wore a glow, not only of illegally imported Mekhong whisky, but of a policeman’s pride. It suited him.
    “But I was still a pace or two behind the amazing Dr Siri, wasn’t I?” he said.
    “How do you mean?”
    “You worked it out without the benefit of the diary or information from Germany.”
    Siri blushed and lowered his voice. Two Thumbs had been edging his chair closer to keep up with the conversation.
    “I had nothing conclusive,” Siri admitted. “Just a series of hunches.”
    “Like the towel?”
    “Like the towel, yes. Covering Dew’s lap with the towel after killing her seemed really incongruous. If you hate someone you don’t give a damn about their modesty. It seemed like a gesture of apology. “I’m sorry I had to kill you.” And it occurred to me as being a particularly feminine act. That’s when it first entered my mind that the encounter in the shower might have been a homosexual one and that the killer might have been a woman.”
    “The Vietnamese security people were convinced of it,” Phosy said. “The Vietnamese girl on their bodyguard unit had quite a reputation for…lady to lady…you know. Someone had seen her together with Dew earlier that evening. When they found Dew’s body in the sauna, they were sure it was their girl who’d killed her.”
    “Which explains why they were so keen to cover it up,” Siri nodded. “Now I see. And Dew’s inclinations would also explain the relationship with her husband. Her parents had wanted her to get married and have children to continue the family lineage. It’s really important for some people. They knew they’d be raising the children by themselves. It’s all about face. Oh, I don’t doubt they thought being married and having children might shake those silly gay ideas out of their daughter but it didn’t work. I feel sorry for Comrade Chanti. He was duped all the way along the line. Can’t say I blame him for shopping around for a new wife.”
    “Do you think Dew and Jim were actually…?”
    “I doubt it. It was more likely that Jim, the medic, found out about Dew’s leanings and decided she could take advantage of the situation. Dew’s husband was Neung’s boss. It was as good a start as any. The first nail in Neung’s coffin. She had a narrow avenue of time to work in. She found out Neung’s wife was away for the weekend and he’d be stuck babysitting. He wouldn’t be able to run around building up alibis. It wouldn’t surprise me if Jim hadn’t built up a list of other potential victims, all of whom could be tied to Neung.”
    “But Kiang had to be at the top of the list.”
    “She’d certainly have to be one of her victims. I imagine Jim met Kiang at the bookshop and became friendly with her. She would have talked about fencing, perhaps suggesting that any man who fenced would be impressed with a woman who knew the fundamentals. Something like that. She offered to teach Kiang and said she’d be in touch when she was free. That way she could bring Kiang into play at any time. “Hello, Kiang, I’m free this evening. Would you like a lesson?” We’ll never