The Bangkok Asset: A novel (32 page)

However, by some quirk of dharma I have the medicine to hand—and the cure. I’m racing to the hovel on the back of a motorbike. I promised the jockey triple the usual fare if he can beat the traffic. As a result we spend a lot of the ride on the sidewalk, trying not to knock over pedestrians. When we arrive I tell him to wait while I dash inside to pick up a packet of Marlboro Lights and the rest of that oil Krom gave me. Once back on the bike I tell the jockey to take me to the police station. The plan is to find me a nice subterranean cell where no malevolent vibes can reach me. There I shall avail myself of the power of Buddhist meditation boosted by cannabis. It won’t take more than a couple of joints and some intense breathing exercises. It happened once before on the Green Sash case where we found the head but never located the torso: I totally freaked out, but with the healing herb and the wisdom of the Buddha and the seclusion of the cell I was able to reach the underlying reality of Universal Mind. As for Chanya, don’t worry, she’ll be fine once I’ve got some herb into her; we must not judge her too harshly: empty days weaken all of us, and she does have an adventurous streak.

Now, I don’t want to lead you astray, R, and probably such radical therapy is not for you, but as I explained once before in an evangelical moment, compassion is the cosmological constant of the psyche, just like the speed of light in physics: at the end of the day everything is measured against it. So that’s where I’m headed right now. I’m not being sentimental or religious, it’s simply the only enhancement worth having. There is the slight problem of desolation, though. It’s where the treasure’s buried, and you do have to cross that desert, as the holy man said. Did you ever reach this moment yourself, R, where you take a deep breath and gulp before you bite the last bullet?

I am yours in dharma, Sonchai Jitpleecheep.

John Burdett was brought up in North London and worked as a lawyer in Hong Kong. To date he has published seven previous novels, including the Bangkok series:
Bangkok 8, Bangkok Tattoo, Bangkok Haunts, The Godfather of Kathmandu,
and
Vulture Peak.