The helicopter left at 8 a.m. sharp. Both Roper and the pilot were sticklers for time. On board were the two quiet girls, the pilot, Roper, and Madam Daeng. If the pilot had his way, the noodle woman wouldn’t have been allowed on the flight. She’d been given clearance only as far as Thakhek and back to Vientiane. But that morning she’d whispered something in the pilot’s ear that obviously made him more receptive. Siri had watched from the guesthouse window and he made a mental note to ask her which particular threat to life or limb had worked on the shifty little man. She could be quite frightening.

Siri was on his way to Thailand. The small misunderstanding of the previous evening had been sorted out. Beer had gone to Siri’s room with good news. He had found a Japanese. JICA, the Japanese aid agency, had begun operations in the Thai countryside and they had placed a volunteer in Nakhon Phanom, across the river from Thakhek. Beer had arranged to meet her. River guards on both sides were on the lookout for refugees fleeing Laos but the sight of an old man and a younger one with a messed-up face in a rickety rowboat didn’t raise an eyebrow. Whenever Siri crossed the river, it always felt like time travel; a visit to the not-so-better future.

Kyoko was short even by Japanese standards but everything seemed to be in proportion. What she lacked in mass she more than made up for in beauty and bon humeur. Her smile was bracing and it came naturally and often. Her laugh was contagious. She’d graduated the previous year in Thai language and culture from Osaka University of Foreign Studies, which had left her with a somewhat narrow career path. And, as if to prove it, there she was in the distant northeast teaching handicrafts to people with disabilities—as a volunteer.

Siri and Beer met her for lunch in a canteen with buffet-style meal choices that looked like paleontological samples. Kyoko’s Thai was grammatically perfect and amusingly accented. She was a simple linguistic puzzle. Once Siri had cracked her pronunciation he was able to wade into a conversation.

“I am very excited to meet you, Doctor,” she said. “Mr. Beer told me all about you.”

“I’m amazed he found you so quickly,” said Siri.

“I am happy to be found.”

“Did he tell you what we need?” Siri asked.

“In a way,” she said. “Better you tell me.”

Siri hoisted a small fishing net from the floor and onto the empty seat behind him. From it he produced Toshi’s diary.

“This,” he said, “is the diary of a Japanese pilot.”

He went on to explain how it had come into his possession and to summarize the Lao language section. Kyoko was due to teach a class in paper folding so Siri had to keep it brief.