Cambodian Book of the Dead (24 page)

 

THE ROOF OF THE WORLD

 

The roof of the casino was the last place where Tep would search for Maier. Mikhail had led him back to the old hotel on a different trail, past the old water tower and through tall grasses. By afternoon, the Bokor Palace had become a hive of activity. SUVs, all of them black and without number plates, arrived one after another and dropped off groups of girls. Lexus was the preferred brand for the killers. Mikhail and Maier had entered through the basement and climbed one of the broken stairways to the top of the building. Now they were watching the scene below from one of the crumbling towers at the front side of the building.

The Russian stared down grimly at the preparations for the great summit of the Kangaok Meas Project. Maier knew that Mikhail had almost shot him. He was in the way.

 

Shortly after dark, Tep arrived with his son, the White Spider and Viengsra. Now the three corpses lay lined up on straw mats in front of the casino.

For a while the old general stood in front of the remains of the people closest to him, lost in thought. It wasn't his best day. Maier counted twelve girls who stood to attention behind Tep. After an hour, he turned away and walked into the building. The girls carried the corpses around the casino building to the edge of the Bokor plateau and doused them in kerosene. The loud hiss of the flames reached all the way to the rooftop. Two of the girls heaped wood onto the corpses, while a third used a stick to push hands and feet that stuck out of the fire back into the flames. After an hour, nothing remained but three dark spots and a few bones on the ground. One of the girls began to shovel the ash and bones over the side of the cliff. Maier almost smiled. That was how war criminals ended – some of them. But the death of the White Spider was hardly a victory. Men like Lorenz would never become extinct.

 

A huge, rusty water tank stood in the centre of the roof. The round steel container offered the only protection from the evening's cold wind. Mikhail spread a dirty
krama
on the shadow side of the tank and pulled a tin of corned beef, two baguettes, mangos and a bottle of vodka from his bag.

As far as Maier could remember, he had consumed nothing but rice and
prahok
during his incarceration. He had already noticed that his trousers did not seem as tight as they had been. Nothing got rid of excess fat quicker than torture. He grabbed one of the mangos and devoured it like a starved animal, squeezing the yellow flesh from the skin into his mouth.

The Russian was in good spirits.

“The story of the Kangaok Meas is centuries old. The reincarnation in the story, the continuation of evil, from one generation to the next, originates with the brand of Hinduism that some of the kings of Angkor followed. Brahmin priests were very influential at the Khmer court and they spread the belief in the continuation of the soul. On top of that you have the archaic animist belief system of the Khmer and the cruel history of the last decades. We are in Cambodia, dear, not in Vladivostok or Germany. This place is haunted. I know this country.”

Maier shook his head. He was a detective, not an exorcist. Mikhail slapped his shoulder and grinned with yellow teeth.

“Maier, everyone will believe what they want. I've had so many extreme experiences in my life, that I have no options left but to remain open to everything. I am a collector. That's a respectable profession. I collect situations.”
The Russian took a swig of vodka from the bottle and handed it to Maier. The alcohol woke him up. He was beginning to feel in tune with himself once more.

“Why did you not shoot me?”

“Maier, young man, I am not a mass murderer. Three thugs were enough for me. And I need your help tonight. Vichat and the other rangers will not come near the casino at night. They are very scared of the shrimps.”

“I love vodka. Did you know that?”

“Yes, dear, I remember talking about drinking at length after you'd fallen off your motorbike.”

“Was that you?”

Mikhail brushed a huge hand through his greasy grey hair and appeared to evaluate what the detective had said.

“My dear Maier, you ask as many questions as one would expect from a detective.”

“That's what the White Spider said as well.”

The Russian laughed until his face had gone the way of a tomato.

“Then you know that you have to be careful in Cambodia if you look over another man's shoulders.”
He winked at Maier and coughed.

“So be careful.”

Maier had dozed off when the Russian shook him by the shoulder.

“Maier, the shrimps are searching the casino. They will be up here in a minute.”

The fat Russian had already packed the baguette and vodka and was in the process of climbing into the water tank. Maier jumped up and followed him.

A few seconds later, they could hear voices in the stairway.

The shrimps were not alone. Tep had stepped onto the roof and spoke French.

“Tonight we have the last initiation of the Kangaok Meas in the casino. A little earlier than planned, but this damn detective from Germany make many problem for us. Many big problem. Today he kill my son.”

“I am sorry to hear that. Have you caught M Maier?”

Maier recognised the voice of the other man immediately. He sat next to Mikhail in knee-deep rancid water and tried to hold his breath. The two men stood directly in front of the water tank now, while the shrimps searched the roof. The Russian had pulled a gun and pointed it directly at the thin rusty wall of the tank.

“I get him. Tomorrow we have money to buy casino. Tonight we blow it up. I catch the German OK. I watch all roads to Phnom Penh. Nothing to stop us now. In two years we open resort and golf course. No problem.”
The Frenchman had walked a few steps away.

“Can't you lend me one of your girls, Tep?”

The general hissed angrily, “You never have enough, Maupai. You are strong man. We are same age and you want girl more than me. More than Khmer Rouge general. This kill you one day. I tell you, keep fingers away from Kangaok Meas and my staff.”

The voices receded, but Mikhail waved to Maier to remain seated. For a while they heard nothing. Suddenly someone began to scratch the underside of the tank they were in. After endless seconds, one of the girls shouted an order and everyone trooped back down the stairway.

Mikhail and Maier rose from the cold, dirty water and climbed back onto the roof terrace.

“What did they say?”

Maier translated the conversation between Tep and the Frenchman.

The Russian took a long swig of vodka and grinned. “You see, young man, I am not the only one warning about Kaley.”

The girls had used duct tape to fasten a packet of explosives and a timer to the underside of the water tank. Mikhail ripped the packet off and examined it.

“Maier, this little packet is going to do much damage to the building. They must have installed something similar in the basement. That's where I have to go.”

The collector of situations had taken the package apart and stuffed half the explosive into his pocket. Then he reattached the rest exactly as the girls had left it.

He got up, his face beetroot once more, and checked his revolver.

“It's best you stay here. This bomb here has been defused. But they won't notice if they come back and check. I come and get you when the Kangaok Meas appears. Tonight, I will show you that Rolf must give up this woman.”

Maier didn't think he'd have another chance to ask the Russian anything.

“What are you doing here, Mikhail?”

“Maier, they will never build a golf course here. I am sure. I am the king of Bokor. This is my home. No need to know more about me.”

“I would like to know in whose interest you are working.”

The Russian hesitated, then he pulled a torch from his pocket and handed it to Maier.

“You will need it tonight, dear. And here's some good advice from a man who's been everywhere: if you find yourself in a minefield, as sometimes happens in Cambodia, then follow the sticks in the ground, otherwise you will end up like Les. Don't forget that. Follow the sticks.”

The giant disappeared down the stairs without another word.

Maier was alone. Almost alone.

“Oh, Maier.”

Maier turned around, but the voice had not come from the stairway. Kaley stood in front of him. She wore a green sarong and the black shirt she'd worn when he'd first met her, in what now seemed to be another life. She had put up her hair with the help of two chopsticks, which emphasised her beautiful face, interrupted in its perfection only by her bright shining scar. A timeless, unreal beauty. She smiled uncertainly and held up the palms of her hands. Maier remembered the words of the inspector. Death was a woman.

“Hello, Kaley.”

There was only one way onto the roof of the casino. Kaley had not come that way. The woman smiled past Maier.

“You look beautiful, Kaley.”

She pulled her sarong straight. The expression of modesty that crossed her face was so remote that Maier could barely breathe. She was fearsome. Suddenly she took a step forward and embraced Maier, clawing at his back with her hands.

“Oh, Maier.”

Maier took her in his arms, though he had no desire to be near her. She smelled of the red fungus that had grown all over the casino walls.

Kaley did not want to let go.

“Kaley, tell me what happened.”

When she finally disentangled herself she climbed on to the balustrade of the casino roof, sat down and let her feet dangle towards the ground.

“You catch me if I fall, Maier?”

“Of course.”

Without another word, she slipped forward, but Maier had already grabbed her under the arms. He almost expected her to dissolve into thin air, but she fell back into his arms. She was light, but not as light as one would expect a ghost to be.

“Maier, the people not leave me alone.”

“What kind of people?”

“The people who take me from the rice-field. They do terrible thing. I see many time. The Kangaok Meas in Bokor is no good.”

She lay in his arms like a drunk.

“Do you know what you are, Kaley?”

The young woman laughed unhappily.

“I am dead, you alive.”

“So you know who I am?”

She looked into his eyes for the first time.

“You are Maier.”

She lowered her gaze.

“How long has the Kangaok Meas been coming here, Kaley?”

Kaley shook her head.

“Long time. Many years.”

“Is the Kangaok Meas scared?”

“I am reborn. I am dead, you alive.”

“Can I help you somehow, Kaley?”

The Khmer began to cry.

“You promise you find my sister, Maier.”

He did not answer her. He couldn't. Not now. Not after all the death that had manifested around this woman. Kaley began to dance across the roof.

“Can you dance, Maier?”

“Not well.”

“Good for me.”

She touched him lightly on the shoulders and led him to the centre of the rooftop. Grey clouds rushed across the edge of the plateau. The old water tower looked like it was ready to march away, in the face of all the horror. Maier thought he could hear an orchestra play faintly, somewhere far away, as the fog slowly slid across the casino like creeping death and Kaley waltzed him effortlessly across the roof of the world. Had the vodka been drugged?

A few seconds later it was pitch dark.

 

FAITES VOS JEUX

 

“Gentlemen, we gather tonight to celebrate the last Kangaok Meas ceremony in Bokor Palace. Before we proceed I like to tell you, everyone who know about our project is one hundred percent with us. You have doubt in our business, now is time to go.”

Tep's voice echoed through the casino's ballroom, as a dozen or so investors sat down in a row of rattan chairs. The general was in uniform tonight. A revolver hung from his belt. Even in mourning, the old communist looked ready for battle. A few of the men carried briefcases. The room was lit by huge candles usually used in temples. Maier recognised most of the men in the warm twilight of the room – all of them foreigners who had bought property in Kep.

Two girls, dressed in black, stood behind a small bar and mixed cocktails. A straw mat lay in the centre of the otherwise empty hall. Music emanated from an unseen source. Maier knew the song, a mournful tune usually played during Cambodian cremations. Kaley had led Maier into the room in which he'd been beaten unconscious on his first visit. Now they lay next to each other beside two holes in the floor and stared down into the ballroom.

“Do you know that I have been here before, Kaley?” Maier whispered.

Kaley nodded.

“Do you know who attacked me when I was lying on the floor?”

Kaley shook her head.

“I not remember. It not important. Today you not worry. I hide you if someone coming.”

 

The ballroom had settled into silence. Now and then the ice cubes in the guests' glasses tinkled through the great nothing.

Something began to move in the semi-darkness at the end of the ballroom. Tep clapped his hands together.

“With your payments, we buy the casino, stop the rangers and build most exclusive resort in Southeast Asia. We pay a high price to do this. Enemy force kill my son and Inspector Viengsra today. For this reason, very difficult for me to celebrate. But finances for project now sure. Our agency, Kangaok Meas Project, now working. My staff travel all the region for mission. Every day we more rich.”

The general's speech was followed by polite applause.

Kaley stepped into the light, followed by twenty girls with hair cropped short, dressed in black pyjamas and rubber sandals. The Kangaok Meas looked unbelievably beautiful and cruel. Kaley wore a dress made from fine gold chains over a black thong. She wore her hair down, almost reaching her broad hips. Her body had a golden sheen. The scene below him looked both ridiculous and terrible to Maier, like a sequence in a Hollywood movie with a huge budget badly spent.

Maier pulled his head out of his observation hole and wouldn't have been surprised if she'd still been lying next to him, but she was gone. Rather, she'd appeared below. But how had she managed to change so fast?
The investors held their breath as the Kangaok Meas swayed past them. She shot a quick glance to the ceiling before she stood next to Tep. Tonight the long scar, accentuated by the white strand of hair, gave her a demonic aura, and split her face in two in the twilight of the ballroom.

Maier made no efforts to hide. The Kangaok Meas locked her glassy eyes with his, then she turned wordlessly towards the general.

The girls had lined up in two rows, silently facing each other.

The old general barely looked at Kaley and continued, his voice heavy with emotion. “Tonight I dedicate for my son. Also, my very good old friend, Herr Lorenz, is killed today. I will catch killer. For me difficult to lose old friend. More difficult to lose two, son and one good friend. This is story of Cambodia.”

Tep clapped his hands again and Kaley began to walk up and down the rows of girls. Her face was shiny and cold.

She was grinding her jaws. She must have taken something for this performance. Passing the girls three times, she pointed at two of the identically-dressed, prospective assassins.

The two girls stepped forward, while the rest of the group spread across the ballroom.

Maupai talked excitedly with another Frenchman next to him, but Maier couldn't follow the conversation.
Kaley started to walk from one guest to the next to collect their briefcases. Tep took each case and lined them up in a long row on the bar.

Kaley waved to the two girls who immediately started to approach each other. A low round of applause rose from the investors. For a moment the two girls circled, their eyes full of thirst for killing. One of the girls lashed out. The second girl took the hit to the face without trying to dodge her opponent. Instead she went with the blow and then, like mercury, slid towards her attacker. The first girl looked up but it was already too late. A small piece of metal flashed in the hand of the attacker. A split second later, she pushed the nail into her adversary's eye socket. The loser fell to the floor screaming. Kaley stepped between the two fighters.

But for the screams of the injured girl, the ballroom was absolutely silent. Tep waved for two other girls who pulled the loser onto the straw mat in the centre of the room and began to kick her.

Kaley stood on the edge of the mat and slowly pulled off her slip. Like a dark angel, she stepped closer to the injured girl and bent downwards, her back turned to the investors.

Two of the men had already jumped up and were dropping their trousers as quickly as possible. Maier began to understand what would happen now. He could hear the beating of leathery wings outside the building. He did not want to watch any longer and he had no idea how to stop what he was seeing.

This was like war.

Kaley grabbed hold of the head of the injured girl and slowly, theatrically, pulled the nail from her eye. The girl screamed. Blood spurted across Kaley's breasts, but the Kangaok Meas hardly noticed. She was now crouched on all fours above her victim. The first investor had almost reached and was about to make a grab for her legs. At the last moment, he was pushed aside by a second man.

“I have earned this. I am the most important investor,
n'est-ce pas
?”

Maupai grabbed the Kangaok Meas by the hips and tried to climb the undead woman.

Kaley held the bloody nail in her hand and turned briefly to the Frenchman, smiling broadly, before she plunged the metal into her victim's remaining eye. The head of the Frenchman exploded the very same moment and he fell on top of her like an old sack.

Rolf stepped out of the shadows, two revolvers in his hands and stared wild-eyed at Kaley.

Tep waved for his girls who began to close in on the young German from all directions, but Kaley ordered them to retreat. She rose slowly and approached Rolf, smiling faintly. Her breasts and belly were smeared with blood. Without a word, she knelt down in front of him and began to open the belt of his trousers. Rolf began to shake and raised the two guns. The tension in the room was unbearable.

Maier had no idea how to get his client out of this tight spot. He jumped up, ready to run downstairs and storm the show, but what would be the point. He would be totally outgunned down there.

“Not yet,” he said to himself and lay back down.

Rolf stared down at Kaley, crying, his two revolvers centimetres from her head.

The ballroom exploded.

Maier was thrown against the wall of the room he lay in. In seconds the space filled with dust which wafted up from the ballroom. Maier fought his way back to the hole but there was nothing to see. It was pitch dark below him.

Somewhere a smaller explosion went off and a wall collapsed. More dust. He crawled down the main stairs to the entrance, half-blind, and made it outside. It was pouring with rain. The casino's basement was on fire and thick cement dust poured out of the building's windows. The floor of the ballroom had collapsed and had swallowed all those who'd been present. The detective sunk helplessly into the wet grass in front of the building.

A car started behind Maier. One of the SUVs shot forward. Maier could see Tep in the weak light of the driver's cabin. The old general held on to the wheel, bleeding heavily and stared blindly into the darkness. Kaley emerged from the burning building and marched down the stairs. She looked untouched. In her hands, she carried the briefcases full of money. For a moment she stopped in the light of the car's headlights in front of Maier and looked at him, in apparent confusion.

“You find my sister, Maier.”

Seconds later she was gone. The general revved the engine and the car slithered away into the darkness. Maier sat alone, in front of the burning casino, knowing he would never be able to fulfil his promise.

 

After a long while, Maier mounted the steps to the hotel. The ballroom was a smoking bomb crater. He stared into the darkness, but he couldn't see a thing. His torch did not reach to the bottom. He would have to go down there.

He left the casino and circled the building until he found the back entrance to the basement. The same entrance through which he'd escaped on his first visit. Maier climbed downwards.

The water was still knee deep, but the basement floor was littered with large chunks of the ceiling. Someone moaned ahead of Maier and the detective stopped and tried to listen into the darkness.

“Rolf, Rolf, are you down here?”

Shadows moved around him. Someone coughed a few metres ahead. Maier walked on, deeper into the bowels of the building. Then he saw Rolf in the light of his weak flickering torch. The young German lay on a piece of beautifully tiled ballroom floor with which he'd fallen. But he wasn't alone. The girls lay around him in the stinking water as if waiting for something. Of course they were dead, but that didn't mean much in Cambodia.

He grabbed hold of the coffee heir and pulled him in the direction of the stairs. The girls made no efforts to stop him, but they followed Maier with their eyes through the dark water towards the exit. Death was a lady. Rolf was conscious. Maier could not see any gratuitous injuries on the young man. The rain had faded.

The detective stumbled from car to car until he found one with the keys in the ignition. He loaded Rolf onto the back seat and raced off without looking back, towards the coast, away from the cursed Bokor Palace, away from the dead shrimps, away from this damn case.