Love Songs from a Shallow Grave

asked, What was the timing of Neung and Jim’s respective arrival in⁄departure from Berlin? To answer that he needed to check the transcripts on his desk. It should have been a flying visit, but his return to police headquarters rendered all his other avenues of inquiry null and void. He would never get around to answering Siri’s question. Sihot was at his desk with a banana fritter suspended in front of his mouth between his stubby fingers. He was so engrossed by the book open in front of him that he’d apparently forgotten it was there.
    “Am I disturbing something?” Phosy asked.
    His voice would normally have alarmed Sihot but the sergeant’s head remained bowed over the text. The battered banana hovered.
    “Sihot!” Phosy yelled.
    The sergeant looked up, slowly.
    “Yes, Inspector?”
    “I trust what you’re reading has some bearing on the case?”
    “I don’t think there is a case any more, sir.”
    Phosy approached the desk and saw what had taken control of Sihot’s attention. It was a thick exercise book whose pages were filled with small, neat handwriting.
    “This arrived from the East German embassy just after you left, Inspector,” Sihot said. He flipped the notebook closed and Phosy stepped behind him to read the front cover. In Lao were written the words ‘MY GERMAN DIARY’ then something written in German followed by the name ‘SUNISA SIMMARIT’. This was Jim’s journal.
    “Evidently it arrived a few days ago in a box of personal items Jim had sent from Germany,” Sihot said. “She’d sent it surface mail addressed care of the East German Embassy, Vientiane. They didn’t realise what it was till they’d opened it.”
    “So why are we only just getting it now?”
    “Jim wrote in German. When he realised what it was, the attache took the liberty of translating the lines he thought would be relevant to the case. I have to say they’re very into this investigation, the Germans. He said if there’s anything else they can do just get in touch with him. The diary starts off pretty basic, he said, but as she gets more confident with the language, she starts to write more about her thoughts. The lines they translated are nearer the end.”
    Phosy took the notebook to his desk and flipped through the pages. The first translation he found was about ten pages from the end. It was written in red ink. The corresponding German was underlined.
    Z has asked me again. He’s very persistent , it read.
    Two pages on was the line, I know that Z really wants me to be his lover here. He makes no secrets about it. He pretends to be interested in teaching me fencing but he makes comments often about my looks and my figure. I should be flattered but it makes me uncomfortable sometimes .
    The next page. I know he’s married but he comes to me almost every day now .
    And the next. What do I have to do or say to persuade Z I’m not interested? He was here again today .
    Phosy looked up at Sihot who smiled. The inspector skipped a few pages until he was almost at the last entry. The red ink was everywhere now, in the margins and above the original lettering. Z had clearly begun to dominate her life. The entries had become less girlish, darker.
    Please stop. Please stop. Please stop. I can’t accept you. Your passion is killing me. I can’t think. I can’t study. Your shadow is darkening my life .
    Then the last entry.
    Z has taken my virginity. I am spoiled. He forced himself on me in the most awful way. He was inside me. I begged for him to stop but I was a delicate flower pressed beneath him. His strong muscular body was too powerful for me to resist. I still smell him on my skin, his aftershave, his sweat, his passion. It is all over. This country is stained with the memory of this event. I have to leave here. My soul can never be free as long as he is in my world. But what if he follows me back to Laos? How can I ever escape him? He is the devil and he has ruined my life. I fear what he has turned me into .
    At the bottom of the next empty page was a signature and a note in red from the attache saying that this was a certified translation and offering further help if there were any more questions. Phosy looked up and tapped his fingers on the page.
    “Bastard,” he said.
    “Her life must have been hell there at the end,” Sihot agreed with a mouth full of banana fritter. “And then he does that to her. A lot of sick people in this world.”
    Phosy looked at the piles of paperwork on