Thirty-Three Teeth by Colin Cotterill Page B

to ask for more. He had escaped across the river with all the others, not knowing what punishment his sophisticated family name might bring down upon him.
    The Pathet Lao takeover could have been a disaster for Manoluk, had Dtui missed any paychecks. Nobody was sure whether they’d keep their jobs in the new regime, or be paid, or be sent for re-education. Dtui and Geung went to the morgue every day as usual and mopped and dusted and whacked cockroaches, waiting for some news of their fate. But in the beginning it turned out that the new system worked in their favor. The government made a demonstrative point of helping the disadvantaged. Although money became scarcer and virtually disappeared after two drastic devaluations, Dtui was able to stock up on rice and canned supplies.
    That’s how things still were. Manoluk had her better and worse days. Mostly she just lay and read. Like the mysterious monk had predicted, ma was having a better year. Her cirrhosis wasn’t getting any worse, but she still needed medical attention that wasn’t available in Laos. If Dtui got the posting to the Soviet Bloc, she could live dirt-cheap and send the living allowance back. It was double her salary. Girls she knew were doing just that.
    She could dream of finding a wealthy man to marry and end all their suffering, but although the Lord had blessed her with intelligence and kindness, He hadn’t made her slender or pretty enough, so their future was in her hands.
     
    She sat in the dim glow of the desk lamp staring at the molds in front of her on the desk. She was wearing her Chinese overalls and a thin layer of red dust. Earlier, at the hospital garden allotment, she’d been assigned to rescue as many gaaw turnips as she could from the impenetrable crust of the back lots. Those that hadn’t been baked by the heat had become inedible fossils.
    She should have gone straight home to see how Manoluk was doing, but instead she’d become fascinated by this case. She’d made agar casts of the teethmarks on teacher Chanmee and was comparing them with the two other sets. Whatever had savaged the teacher had also bitten deep into the throat of Auntie See. There was no doubt about it.
    Although the front morgue door was open, she heard a knock on the frame outside. She called out: “Who is it?”
    “Civilai.”
    “Come in, Comrade.”
    Civilai walked through the dark vestibule and into the office.
    “Hello, Dtui. Siri not here?”
    “He’s not back yet.”
    “Ah, those Luang Prabang girls.”
    “He sent a message this afternoon that he’s trying to get a flight. There’s some problem with his paperwork.”
    “You surprise me.”
    “They say he can’t get a laissez passer out of Luang Prabang because he didn’t have one to get in. So, officially he shouldn’t be there.”
    “Ridiculous. This was official business.”
    “It was, but the doc didn’t come back when he was supposed to. He missed his helicopter ride. I think he upset the local governor as well.”
    “He never gets too old to break the rules, does he? I’m convinced if he weren’t the national coroner, he’d be in prison.”
    Dtui sucked air through her clenched teeth.
    “What is it?”
    “He might end up in prison anyway.”
    Civilai shook his head and went to sit at the doctor’s desk. “What’s the old dog done now?”
    “I don’t know, Uncle. But two uniformed policemen have been here twice looking for him. They say they have a warrant.”
    “What for?”
    “His arrest.”
    “What on earth do they think he’s done?”
    “They wouldn’t tell me.”
    “I’ll get Phosy to look into it. We can’t have our only forensic surgeon locked up. I’ll see what I can do about his travel pass, too.”
    “Thanks, Comrade.”
    He looked around at the office. “Hot, isn’t it?”
    “Damned hot.”
    “What’s that you’ve got there?”
    “Teeth marks.”
    “Aha.”
    He carried his chair over to her desk and looked at the clear gray molds. He poked a