Curse of the Pogo Stick by Colin Cotterill Page B

shouted Haeng. It was his last word. He was able to wrestle open the door and, in throwing himself out, he managed to drag the bodyguard with him. Both men tumbled onto the dust and scrambled on all fours into the vegetation below. Within a second they were out of sight. Siri felt a sharp prick at the back of his neck. He turned to see a figure, the head wrapped in a sarong with just a narrow slit for the eyes. They were beautiful eyes. The assailant held up a thin stiletto as if to show Siri what had done the damage. Before he passed out, Siri offered the young lady the remnants of his orange.
     
    “Look! You can’t just play policeman,” Phosy told the three amateur sleuths sitting around the table at the back of Madame Daeng’s shop. Moths and flying beetles strove to avoid collisions as they circled the hanging lightbulb above their heads. “Let the professionals handle this, wont you?”
    A burst of laughter would have been less bruising to his professional pride than the ironic raised eyebrows and pursed lips that met his comment.
    “What?” he asked. “We have good people.”
    “And you are one of them,” Civilai assured him. “But until your return this afternoon, it appears that the charge sheet had sat in an in-tray on somebody’s desk.”
    “We’re understaffed.”
    “And will continue to be,” Civilai added. “And meanwhile, your pregnant wife is in extreme danger.”
    Dtui remained diplomatically silent. Phosy looked around at the unlikely detectives. He’d tried and failed to deter them from irresponsible acts in the past and he had to admit, as a team, they were far more effective than the converted foot soldiers he was training at police headquarters.
    “Well, I suppose attack is the best form of defence,” he conceded. The group cheered. Dtui gave his cheek a friendly sniff and refilled the glasses.
    “Good,” Madame Daeng said. “So, let’s get down to it. Comrade Civilai, what other insights did your contacts come up with?”
    “The military believe the hand grenade in the stomach of the corpse was one commonly used by the Royal Thai Army. As most of the aggression against us is launched from that side of the border, I suppose that’s only to be expected. As we only identified the Lizard from the photograph this afternoon we haven’t had time to contact the department at the Security Division responsible for her case file.”
    “I can do that,” Phosy told them.
    “And we’re certain this is the Lizard in the photograph?” Daeng asked.
    “Well, she does look like most other skinny old ladies,” Phosy said. “But I’d go along with Mr Geung on this one. Siri and I are the only two who met her in person so she is aware we can identify her. The only thing in our favour is she doesn’t know we’ve connected her to the bombing attempt. That gives us the edge.”
    “I showed the photo around at the hospital today,” Dtui told them. “None of the other patients in the picture could recall seeing her before or after that afternoon. They say she wheeled herself there and joined them at about twelve. She acted senile. Didn’t get into a conversation with anyone.”
    Phosy took a swig of the Thai rum generously donated by Civilai for the occasion. “All right then,” the policeman said. “So we know she was there at lunchtime. We also know the autopsy was delayed till five. So do we assume she was sitting there all afternoon in her wheelchair? Wouldn’t some of the hospital staff have approached her to find out if she was all right?”
    “Good point,” Dtui said. “I’ll ask around tomorrow. I imagine she would have been safe there until they called the other patients back into the ward. After that she would have been a bit conspicuous.”
    She looked at her new husband. She was very fond of him when he was in his managerial mode. She could almost see the dials clicking over in his brain. She brushed her hand against his arm and he pulled away