Pak's phone was ringing when I walked in an hour later. As soon as I picked it up, the line went dead. My office had been searched. The sandpaper I'd left on the desk had been opened and then refolded the wrong way. Why had they driven away just after Kang came up? How did they happen into the same restaurant just as we were leaving?
The only thing I was sure of was that Pak was yelling at Kang this very minute, demanding to know why the Investigations Department had exposed one of his inspectors to danger without telling him, and warning that he was going to cut off cooperation with Kang once and for all.
Pak's phone rang again. I let it go several times before I picked it up. It was the vice minister. "Inspector, your phone seems to be disconnected."
His voice was dangerously normal, like the lid on a bottle of poison. "Get over to the Ministry, now. The Minister wants to see you. There's been an accident." Before I could ask what he meant, he hung up.
The Ministry was a five-minute car ride away. On my bicycle it would take longer. The bicycle was leaning against the tree where I had left it. It looked like the back tire had lost more air, but there wasn't much I could do about that. At the first intersection, the traffic lady whistled for me to stop and use the underpass. I ignored her. She could blow her whistle until she was red in the face, because 1 knew she didn't have a radio, and by the time a patrol car appeared to ask her what was wrong, I'd be at the Ministry. I gave her a salute as I rode by.
The guards at the Ministry's gate waved me through without asking to see my ID. The vice minister was in the Minister's outer office, sitting on a couch with an assistant, going over some papers. He pretended I wasn't there. Finally, he stood up and nodded to me. "The Minister is on the phone. As soon as he gets off, we'll go in. You will stand and listen to what he says. Don't ask him any questions, and don't comment on anything he says. When he's done, come back out here and wait for me."
"What happened? You said there was an accident?" I realized I still had the pistol in my back pocket. A good reason to let the vice minister walk ahead of me.
"Inspector, do us both a favor. Say nothing." His lips quivered with the rage that had long ago boiled away all his other emotions. "You think you're above the rest of us. You think you can ignore the regulations, sidestep politics, forget to come to the study sessions for months on end.
Sanding wood instead, like some backcountry carpenter. You don't even bother to read the editorials in the newspaper. Don't think it hasn't been noticed. Did you think you'd get away with it forever?" The vice minister's aide shot me a warning look. He never wanted trouble, always wanted things calm until he could get out of the room.
The double doors to the Minister's office opened. The vice minister went in first, I followed, and the aide stepped past me into the hall, but not before he had mouthed one word: "Pak."
The Minister looked up slowly as we walked in. His face was haggard, his eyes sunk into his head, his cheeks hollow. He rested his glance for a moment on the vice minister as if he wanted to say something, then thought better of it and turned to me. "Inspector, have a seat." He gestured to a chair in front of his desk. The chair looked as frayed as he did, though it had once been a handsome piece. The arms were carved in an unusual shape, sloping down slightly and then flaring at the ends, so that whoever was sitting there did not have to grip the arms but could relax. "Your grandfather made that for me." From the corner of my eye, I could see the vice minister stiffen, and as he did, the shadow of a smile played across the Minister's face. I sat down, favoring one side. I didn't want to blow a hole in grandfather's chair, or my leg.
"Everything he did, everything he made, was perfectly planned and crafted. Not that he was perfect himself. But he left behind an example of enduring value." The Minister paused a moment to consider his next remarks. "I'm sure he passed those traits, and those values, on to you.
I've watched you for years, Inspector." He glanced at my shirt. The absence of the pin was noted with a cough.
The vice minister walked around the desk and put a piece of paper in front of the old man. The Minister read it quickly, and as he did his shoulders slumped. "On the road leading up the hill to the monuments, weapons were discharged," he said. This was very much the Minister's style. He never said "shots were fired," but rather "weapons were discharged."
He looked back down at the paper. "Your chief inspector was hit several times. He died in the hospital a short time ago. He had a pistol in his hand, an Israeli army pistol. It had been discharged twice." The Minister paused. "You were seen at lunch with him, along with an official of the Investigations Department. Do you know anything about this?"
The vice minister looked sharply at me, warning me to keep quiet.
He needn't have worried. I was stunned, feeling sick. Pak had insisted I go back to the office. Now he was dead.
The Minister stared into space briefly, lost in thought. "Chief Inspector Pak will be irreplaceable. He was truly one of our foundation stones. I don't know what we are going to do without him." He stood up and walked around the desk so he was next to me. "There will be a tough investigation, and I mean very tough, over what happened this afternoon. The only reason you aren't in custody right now is that I've personally intervened at the top." The Minister turned to the vice minister.
"Would you excuse us a moment?"
The vice minister raised a hand in protest, "Sir, I hardly think it would be proper-"
The Minister interrupted. "You let me worry about that. I'm asking you to leave my office so I can speak in private with the Inspector. Are you going to do so, or shall I have you thrown out?"
The vice minister's face became a blank mask. He gave a wooden bow and moved across the carpet to the doorway. "I'll be in my office," he said to me, and then closed the doors with an ominously gentle touch.
The Minister leaned against his desk, looking even paler and more tired than he did when we walked in. "This is the end for me. But that's not important. Things are happening. You can swim with the tide, Inspector, I won't blame you. Or you can act. But you'll have to make up your mind quickly."
I glanced around the room. The Minister shook his head. "Don't worry. This room is clean. They try every now and then, but whenever we find their handiwork, I raise hell and they have to remove everything.
Then they have to start all over. I'm surprised the walls are still standing, they've drilled so many holes for their microphones. It has become almost a joke at the parties."
"What happened to Pak?" I needed to know if he had been surprised or if he had surprised them.
"Pak and Kang were walking up the hill together. Six Military Security agents stepped out and ordered them to get on the ground. Pak drew his weapon and fired. He killed one of them before they shot him.
Kang rolled behind some boulders and fled. They are looking for him now. My information is that you spent time with Kang on the border last week. It has also come to the attention of Military Security, believe me. This case with the dead Finn you've been investigating, it also has Military Security connections."
"I realize that."
"What you don't realize is that things are moving at the top." The Minister looked at his watch. "In about two hours, the leadership meets to discuss final details on clearing away some old mistakes. These were bad mistakes, horrendous mistakes, Inspector. They will snap their fingers, and someone will take the blame. That's all I know, and now you know it. The vice minister hasn't been told any of this, not from me, anyway. Still, he's vibrating about something. He probably has his suspicions.
Watch his tongue. It darts in and out like a snake's. Maybe he can smell the fear in the wind." The Minister put on a dark, well tailored jacket and straightened his tie. "I have to go to a meeting. I may not be back." He shrugged. "Someone might need this job to be vacant.
The vice minister thinks he's going to get it." The Minister laughed, and some of the gauntness left his face. "He's in for a surprise. If I am replaced this afternoon, you're on your own, Inspector." I stood up, and we shook hands. He stepped quickly through a side door, without glancing back.