Behind the Night Bazaar by Angela Savage

something to start with. And I’ll take our discussion into account.’
    ‘Well, in that case, I suppose it’s all right.’
    It was all Jayne could do to resist snatching the document from Moira’s hand. If nothing else, it had escaped the clutches of the Chiang Mai police. She offered to make a photocopy and leave the original at the reception desk.
    While the copying was done, Jayne wandered around the lobby, typical of the excesses of Thai interior design. A huge, bronze temple bell dominated the main entrance, while larger-than-life statues of warriors guarded the stairs and elevator doors. The cavernous ceiling was augmented with recesses, each housing enormous, multi-tiered light-fittings like sprays of inverted parasols. The staff wore Lan Na period costumes, evoking Chiang Mai’s golden age as the kingdom of One Million Rice Fields: the men in tailored jackets and sarongs swept up between their knees; the women in matching silk jackets and long skirts, elaborate hairpieces tinkling like wind-chimes when they moved. Distracted by the back of one woman’s head, it took Jayne a moment to notice the receptionist gesturing at her.
    ‘It’s the blue colour,’ she said, shaking her head.
    Jayne looked at the documents. Not even this grand hotel could resist turning down the settings on the photocopier to make the toner last longer. As a result, notes in biro on the front page of the original hadn’t come out in the duplicate. She glanced at the woman and pushed the copy back across the desk.
    ‘Older sister,’ she said in her most polite Thai, ‘please make sure Khun Moira gets this.’
    ‘ Mai pen rai ,’ the woman replied with the hint of a smile.

B efore another night’s guard duty at the farang’s house, Komet fortified himself with a visit to the mor phii. The shaman, much revered for his ability to appease ghosts, gave him an amulet of herbs in a pouch of snakeskin, which Komet tucked beneath his dark-brown shirt. At the station, to his dismay, he was again summoned to Ratratarn’s office. And this time there was no mistaking the Lieutenant Colonel’s displeasure.
    ‘The deputy sergeant on the surveillance team that relieved you this morning says he found the back door unlocked. What do you have to say about that?’
    ‘But Sir,’ he said, thinking aloud, ‘I checked all the doors and windows. One window in the bathroom didn’t shut properly. But everything else was locked.’
    ‘So you have no idea how the back door came to be unlocked this morning?’
    ‘No, Sir.’
    ‘Well,’ Ratratarn clapped his hands, ‘it must have been the phii come to haunt his old house, right?’
    Komet blushed, aware of the amulet scratching against his skin. ‘Sir, I’m not sure—’
    ‘Oh, spare me these idiots from the ban nok !’ he banged his fist on the desk.
    Komet flushed again and bowed his head so low his chin touched his chest.
    The lieutenant colonel sat forward in his chair. ‘There must be a rational explanation,’ he said. ‘Think, Officer Komet. Think back and tell me everything that happened last night.’
    ‘Sir, I arrived at the farang’s house as ordered at 22.00. The surveillance team left and I entered the property. That’s when I checked the windows and doors. After that, I maintained a watch on the street from the front balcony.’
    ‘Did anyone approach the house?’
    ‘No, Sir. Though there were a few passersby, no one came near the place, except—’
    ‘Except what?’
    ‘Well, there were a couple of young guys—this was around 2am. They got into a fight in the street. I broke it up then returned to my post.’
    Ratratarn narrowed his eyes. ‘Did you get the names of these young guys?’
    ‘No, Sir. They were just two guys arguing over a girl. I threatened to arrest them if they didn’t stop fighting, and when did, I let them go.’
    ‘You let them go,’ Ratratarn repeated. ‘And would you recognise these men again?’
    ‘Ah, I’m not sure, Sir. It was quite