Luu stared at me, and I could sense his eyes probing into mine. Was he a strange new kind of killer a lord executioner? He seemed to have a conscience. He was philosophical. A philosopher-warrior? How much did he know? Did the case end here?

“Why did someone orchestrate the murder of Ellis Cooper?” I finally asked. “Simple question. Will you answer it for me?”

He frowned. "All right. I will do that much. Cooper lied to you and your friend Sampson. He had no choice but to lie. Sergeant Cooper was in the An Lao Valley, although his records don't say so. I saw him execute a girl of twelve. Slender, beautiful, innocent. He killed the girl after he had raped her. I have no reason to lie about that. Sergeant Cooper was a murderer and rapist.

"They all committed atrocities; they were all murderers. Cooper, Tate, Houston, Etra, Bennett and richter. Harris, Griffin and Starkey, too. The Blind Mice. They were among the worst, the most bloodthirsty. That's why I chose them to hunt down the others. Yes, I was the one, Detective. But I'm already condemned to death here. There's nothing more you can do to me.

"Colonel Starkey was never told why the murders were taking place in the US. He didn't know my identity. He was an assassin; he never asked. He just wanted his money.

“I believe in rituals and symbolism, and I believe in revenge. The guilty have been punished and their punishments fit the crimes. Our unburied dead have been revenged and their souls can finally rest. Your soldiers left their calling cards, and so did I. I had plenty of time to think about it in here, plenty of time to make my plans. I hungered for revenge, and I didn't want it to be simple or easy. As you Americans say, I wanted payback. I got it, Detective. Now I am at peace.”

Nothing was as it seemed. Ellis Cooper hadn't been entirely straight with us from the start. He'd proclaimed his innocence to Sampson and me. But I believed Tran Van Luu. The way he told the story was entirely convincing. He had witnessed atrocities in his country, and maybe even committed them himself. What was the phrase Burns had used wreak havoc?

“There was a saying the Army had in the An Lao Valley. Do you want to hear it?” he asked.

“Yes. I need to understand as much as I can. It's what drives me.”

“The phrase was, If it moves, it's VC.”

“Not all our soldiers did that.”

“Not many actually, but some. They came into villages in the out country. They would kill everyone they found. If it moves... They wanted to frighten the Viet Cong, and they did. They left calling cards like the straw dolls, Detective. In village after village. They destroyed an entire country, a culture.”

Luu paused for a moment, possibly to let me think about what I had heard so far. "They liked to paint the faces and bodies of the dead. The favorite colors were red, white and blue. They thought this was so humorous. They never buried the bodies, just left them for their loved ones to find.