The Windup Girl(118)

"And what do you get, dear Kanya?" Jaidee asks.

"You know," Kanya mutters. "I get what I swore I would get."

"And do you still desire it?"

She doesn't answer him, steps over the barrier door to the shrine's interior. Even at dawn, the shrine is crowded with worshippers, people crouched before the Buddha statues and the shrine of Phra Seub, second only to the one at the Ministry. The grounds bustle with people making offerings of flowers and fruit, shaking out their fortunes with divining sticks-and over it all, the monks chant, guarding the city with their prayers and amulets and the saisin that stretches from the shrine to the dikes and pumps. The sacred thread wavers in the gray light, held aloft on poles where it crosses thoroughfares, stretching miles from this blessed hub to the pumps and then circling the seawalls. The monks' chanting is a steady drone, keeping the City of Divine Beings safe from the swallowing waves.

Kanya buys her own incense and food offering, takes it into the cool confines of the pillar shrine, down the marble steps. She kneels before the old city pillar of sacked Ayutthaya, and the larger one of Bangkok. The place where all miles are marked from. The heart of Krung Thep, and the home of the spirits that protect it. If she stands in the shrine's doorway and looks out toward the dikes, she can see the rise of the levees. It is obvious that they are in the depths of a bathtub. They are exposed on all sides. This shrine… she lights her incense and pays her respects.

"Don't you feel like a hypocrite, coming here, of all places, at Trade's whim?"

"Shut up, Jaidee."

Jaidee kneels beside her. "Well, at least you're giving some good fruit."

"Shut up."

She wants to pray, but with Jaidee bothering her, it's useless. After another minute, she gives up and goes back outside to the increasing morning light and heat. Narong is there, leaning against a post, watching the khon dances. The drums beat and the dancers go through their stylized turns, their voices raised high and stark, competing with the drone of the ranked monks across the courtyard. Kanya joins him.

Narong holds up a hand. "Wait until they're done."

She masters her irritation and finds a seat, watches as the story of Rama is played out. Finally Narong nods, satisfied. "It's good, isn't it?" He tilts his head toward the pillar shrine. "Have you made your offerings?"

"You care?"

Other white shirts cluster in the compound, making their own offerings. Asking for promotions to better paying assignments. Asking for success in their investigations. Asking for protection from the diseases that they run up against every day. By its nature, this is a shrine for the Environment Ministry, almost as important as the temple of Phra Seub, the biodiversity martyr. It makes her nervous to speak with Narong in front of them all, but he appears entirely unconcerned.

"We all love the city," he says. "Not even Akkarat will fail to defend it."

Kanya makes a face. "What do you want from me?"

"So impatient. Let's walk."

She scowls. Narong seems unhurried, and yet he has summoned her as if it is an emergency. She tamps her fury and mutters, "Do you know what you've interrupted?"

"Tell me as we walk."

"I have a village with five dead and we still haven't isolated the cause."

He glances over, interested. "A new cibiscosis?" He guides her out of the compound, past the marigold sellers. Walking onward.

"We don't know." She masters her frustration. "But you're delaying me from my work, and though it may please you to make me run like a dog when you call-"

"We have a problem," Narong interrupts. "And though you think your village is important, it is nothing in comparison to this. There has been a death. A very prominent one. We need your help in the investigation."

She laughs, "I'm not the police-"

"It's not a police matter. There was a windup involved."

She stops short. "A what?"

"The killer. We believe it is an invasive. A military windup. Heechy-keechy."

"How is that possible?"

"It is something we also are trying to understand." Narong looks at her seriously. "And we cannot ask the question, because General Pracha has taken control of the investigation, claiming jurisdiction because the windup is an interdicted creature. As if it were a cheshire or a yellow card." He laughs bitterly. "We are blocked entirely. You will investigate on our behalf."

"That's difficult. It is not my investigation. Pracha will not-"

"He trusts you."

"Trusting me to do my job and allowing me to meddle are two different things." She shrugs and turns away. "It's impossible."

"No!" Narong grabs her and yanks her back. "This is vital! We must know the details!"

Kanya whirls, throws Narong's hand off her shoulder. "Why? What is so important about this? People die all over Bangkok, every day. We find bodies faster than we can shovel them into methane composters. What's so important about this one, that you'd have me cross the general?"

Narong pulls her close. "It's the Somdet Chaopraya. We have lost Her Royal Majesty's protector."

Kanya's knees buckle. Narong drags her upright, keeps talking, fiercely insistent. "Politics has become uglier since I started in this game." He has a smile on his face, but now Kanya sees the rage banked below. "You're a good girl, Kanya. We have always held our part of the bargain. But this is why you are here. I know this is difficult. You have loyalty to your superiors in the Environment Ministry as well. You pray to Phra Seub. This is good. It is right for you. But we require your help. Even if you have no taste for Akkarat anymore, the palace requires it."