Now I knew I was right. This was not an incident we wanted to touch.
There was no way to win. Somebody's ox was going to be gored, and everyone else would try to make sure it was ours. Nothing was moving the right way. Simply getting things unsnarled to zero would take me a week, and by then there would be no trail left to follow.
"Why do we have to take this case? It's a foreigner, and we only deal with foreigners if there is a crime."
Pak raised an eyebrow. "Murder is usually defined as a crime. Criminal Code, Chapter 8, Section 1, Article 141, unless there are extenuating circumstances; also Article 142, fit of rage, or 143, self-defense."
"But we don't know where it happened, much less who's responsible and under what circumstances."
"That's what the investigation is for, Inspector."
"That assumes we can investigate. If another foreigner did it, and if it happened outside the capital, then we have no jurisdiction. We touch a case with dead outsiders, we'll get nothing but interference from the Foreign Ministry. On top of that, we'll get blamed for not solving it, and at this point, believe me, no one can solve it."
"You just stuck your nose in the door and you know all that?" As soon as Pak frowned, I knew where we were heading. I tried to put my mind somewhere else, somewhere peaceful, before he started the lecture.
"Let me make something clear, Inspector: This is the capital city.
It may not be a fine and fancy place, like Geneva or Prague, but it is the capital of our country, and it is the responsibility of our unit to keep it safe. At this moment, it is not safe. This isn't the border, Inspector, this is the capital, and I'm damned if I'll have dead bodies turning up, not anywhere, not on highways, not in hotel rooms. So, like it or not, we are going to find out what happened here. And we will do so quickly. And when I say 'we,' Inspector, I mean 'you' very specifically. I need a report by 2:45, something I can stuff down Kim's gullet."
As he pressed the elevator button, Pak turned and waved toward the room in a gesture of frustration. "Find me something, anything. That will give us a couple of days." The elevator door opened, and he said to no one in particular as he stepped in, "Too bad. Nice room, actually has a view."