Love Songs from a Shallow Grave

I saw one.”
    They were disturbed by a tall man with greased-back hair who came down the front steps to greet them. He wore a spotless white shirt with sleeves folded to his elbows and a tight patent leather belt that seemed to divide him into segments like an ant.
    “Can I help you, Comrades?” he said.
    “Comrade Chanti,” said Sihot, stepping down from the jeep and into a pool of water. He shook the man’s hand and indicated to his colleagues. “This is Inspector Phosy of police intelligence and Dr Siri attached to the Ministry of Justice.”
    They passed on their condolences to the husband of Dew and he suggested they go inside and out of the damned rain. Despite mumbling that he had a lot of work on his plate, he led them to the canteen where they ordered a thermos of tea and a plate of two-day-old Chinese doughnuts.
    Phosy took up the questioning where Sihot had left off. They had their tactics worked out.
    “Comrade Chanti,” he said. “This morning we received transcripts of your wife’s courses in the USSR. It appears she learned to fence while she was there.”
    “She what?”
    “She learned to use a sword.”
    Chanti looked surprised.
    “You didn’t know?” Siri asked.
    “No.” The man sipped at his tea.
    “She didn’t tell you about her courses?” Phosy asked.
    “Not a lot,” he replied.
    “You don’t see her for four years and you aren’t interested in what she studied?” Siri pushed.
    “I’m interested. Of course, I’m interested…”
    “But?”
    “She didn’t get around to mentioning it.”
    “How would you describe your marriage, Comrade?” Phosy asked.
    “If this is an interrogation I should be read my rights or something, shouldn’t I?” Chanti said coldly.
    “I’m afraid the legislators haven’t got around to giving you any rights just yet,” Phosy countered. “So perhaps you could just answer the question.”
    “No need to get defensive,” added Sihot.
    “I’m not. I’m not being defensive. I’m just…I’m just upset.”
    “Of course, you’ve just lost your wife,” Siri sympathised. “It’s only natural for you to be irritable.”
    “I am not…All right. Yes. I suppose I am. I’m sorry. My marriage was…was a typical Lao marriage.”
    “Really?” Phosy asked. “I thought in typical Lao marriages the husband goes out to work and the wife stays at home and looks after the children. The wife certainly doesn’t run off for four years and leave her husband to look after two little ones.”
    “I…”
    “How old are your children, Comrade Chanti?” Siri asked.
    “What? How old?”
    “Yes.”
    “Five and…seven?”
    “You don’t sound too sure,” Phosy observed.
    “I’m certain.”
    Sihot produced his notebook from his top pocket. It was bound in a large rubber band that he had trouble removing.
    “According to our files,” he said. “Your children are six and eight.”
    “What? Well, yes. That could be right.”
    “You don’t spend much time with your children, do you, Comrade?” Phosy said.
    “I see them.”
    “But you don’t live with them.”
    “Her mother looks after them.”
    “ Her? ”
    “Dew’s. They stay there. I work long hours. I can’t…”
    “You shouldn’t have to,” Phosy agreed. “It’s a woman’s job.”
    “She had no right to abandon you with them,” Siri put in. “How old was the youngest when she left? Two? My word. You must have had a lot of serious discussions about the implications before she left.”
    “She didn’t consult with me. Just announced she was going,” Chanti said.
    “You know, I’d be really pissed if my wife pulled a trick like that on me,” Sihot grumbled, half to himself.
    “It was demeaning,” Chanti confessed.
    “I bet it was,” Phosy agreed. “And finally she comes back and you think it might be all right. Everything might get back to the way it was. You could be together as a family again.”
    “And then she moves in with her mother and the children and tells you she wants a divorce,” said Siri.
    “You can’t…” Chanti began. “Did her mother tell you that?”
    “Yes.”
    “Well, it’s not true. She didn’t want a divorce. Just some time to think. We could have sorted it out.”
    “So you thought,” Siri said. “But then you find out she has a lover. After all that waiting, supporting her children…”
    “I…I didn’t know.”
    “Of course, you couldn’t have been certain,” Phosy kept up the attack, “but when she’s been