Love Songs from a Shallow Grave

trial?”
    “I assume there’s somebody.”
    “In a land without lawyers?”
    “The military, probably.”
    “The military conduct court martials and executions. This is a completely different thing. This is no war trial. This is an affront to democratic principles. This is a chance for the public to see Marie Antoinette’s head roll.”
    “Who?”
    “Doesn’t matter.”
    “Siri, slow down. You sound as if you’re on his side. What are you playing at?”
    “Not playing at all, Phosy. Looking at all the facts, I’d probably agree that he’s as guilty as the devil himself. Anybody would. Which is no doubt why Judge Haeng selected this as his opening number. Easy. No complaints. An evil killer gets what’s coming to him. Accolades all round. The only loser here is justice. The rightful course of law. Without that we have nothing to believe in.”
    “What would you do, Siri? Lock him up till the constitution’s finished? He could be an old man by then.”
    “Good point. Can I see him?”
    “Who?”
    “The accused.”
    “What for? Why? When? You have to be at the airport by six.”
    “How about now?”
    Phosy laughed. Siri was staring at him with those emerald-green eyes. No smile. No bluff.
∗
    At the doctor’s insistence, Phosy let him walk back to the cells by himself. Neung sat on the wooden bench, his slumped frame diced by the shadows of the metal mesh of the prison bars. He was long-limbed, a strongly built young man, but his face was soft, the type a woman would find more attractive than a man. It was the face of a child that some would feel an urge to mother.
    “Are you Somdy Borachit? Also known as Neung?” Siri asked.
    The prisoner seemed stunned, even shell-shocked. It took him a while to acknowledge Siri was there outside the bars.
    “Yes.”
    “Did you kill Hatavan Rattanasamay, Khantaly Sisamouth and Sunisa Simmarit?” Siri asked. No point in preliminaries.
    Neung looked at Siri coldly.
    “Who are you?”
    “You answer my question and I’ll think about answering yours.”
    Neung stood, walked to the bars and glared. Siri resisted the temptation to take a step back.
    “Why would I want to kill three people I hardly knew?”
    Siri nodded.
    It was a bad response. A murderer’s answer.
    “But, it isn’t true, is it?” Siri said. “That you didn’t know them, I mean. One you were having an affair with. Another you’d known since she was a child. You travelled to Germany with her.”
    “What’s the matter with you people? Don’t you listen? We didn’t travel anywhere together.” Neung had raised his voice. “And I’m not answering any more of your questions until you tell me who you are and what you’re doing here.”
    “You aren’t exactly in a position to call the shots. But I have no objection. I’m Dr Siri Paiboun. I’m the man who conducted autopsies on the three women you killed.”
    With a speed and ferocity Siri couldn’t have expected, Neung smashed the heel of his right hand into the concrete wall of the cell. Siri took that step back after all. He was certain the prisoner had broken several small bones in his hand. But there was no pain on the man’s face, only anger.
    “That’s quite a temper. Are you prone to violent outbursts like this?” Siri asked.
    “Of course, I’m a violent maniac. Even more evidence for you. Shoot me before I lose control, why don’t you?”
    He slid down the wall to a sitting position on the floor. He massaged his wrist and looked up at the ceiling.
    “Anger and sarcasm aren’t going to help you in here,” Siri reminded him.
    “And what is going to help me, Comrade?”
    “The truth might be a good place to start.”
    “I’ve tried. Believe me, I have. But your police friends have their own truth and they’ve been backing me into it all day.”
    Siri sat cross-legged on the floor and looked at him. He took a few seconds to consider the consequences of what he was about to do.
    “Has anyone told you what the evidence is against you?” he asked.
    The prisoner looked up.
    “I’ve picked up bits and pieces from their questioning. But not everything. No.”
    So, for the next ten minutes, Siri laid it all out for him. He told him about all the circumstantial evidence that was ganged up against him. And, as he spoke, Siri watched the man’s reactions. He watched for nonchalance and feigned surprise but Neung listened intently and asked questions at the right times. He was like an acolyte listening to the