Siri smiled at Beer. The Vietnamese always seemed pleased to be given an assignment even though the Lao couple hadn’t yet paid him, nor had they negotiated a fee for his services. He seemed to know they wouldn’t cheat him of what he’d earned. He was a poor man. His clothes had seen many washings, his sandals were made from old tires, and his trousers were held up by a length of loosely macraméd strings. It was then that it occurred to the doctor.

“They weren’t American,” said Siri.

“What?” said Daeng.

“The raid on the village. The helicopters were American and the men wore American uniforms but the uniforms weren’t theirs. They were too big, hence the rope belts.”

“How long does it take to punch a few holes in a belt?” said Daeng.

“I don’t know, Daeng. But the point is—”

“They could have been small Americans.”

“Unlikely, and they probably didn’t care about the belts because they didn’t think anyone would notice such a small detail. Perhaps only a weaver would spot a fashion anomaly so they didn’t worry about it. It was all set up to make the villagers believe it was an American operation. In wartime nobody would question such a thing. Americans are historically nuts. But what if they were Japanese? There are Jap deserters peppered all through these mountains. Yuki-san has read the diary, or at least he knows of it. He might have found it in the village, or maybe someone on that raid passed it on to him. But that again begs the question, was the raid set up to find the diary or was finding it coincidental? Were they looking for something else but stumbled on the diary?”

“I have a question,” said Beer. “I’m still not clear why Yuki-san would show up in Thakhek and tell you about Hiro if he was involved himself.”

“He was sowing seeds,” said Daeng. “Of course, he came to keep Siri searching, afraid we might leave before we had the whole picture.”

“And he pointed us in the direction of the Tunnel of Love,” said Siri. “He threw in the clue we needed to identify Hiro. But who is he and what does he stand to gain from our presence here?”

“There are only two possibilities I can see,” said Daeng. “He wants us to find Hiro, or he wants us to find something that Hiro had.”

“The treasure,” said Beer.

“Exactly,” said Daeng. “It always comes down to money. How disappointing.”

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty

The Case of Beer

The next morning, with the early sun at their backs, Siri and Daeng were absently tossing a mushroom net into the river and freeing anything silly enough to get caught in it. It was a futile charade because nobody on either bank cared who they were or where they were going. Beer rowed slowly, allowing the current to do all the work.