Michael Walters - The Shadow Walker

“I hope you’re enjoying your visit to our country.”

“It’s very interesting. But I’d be grateful if you would get to the point.” Drew was watching closely. It was clear that the overweight man had little time for small talk, but it wasn’t clear if there was any agenda, behind his desire to conclude their discussion. The other man, Drew noted with some interest, had still not spoken, but was watching the discussion with a faint smile playing across his face, as though he were nothing more than a disinterested observer of the interview.

“Of course,” Nergui smiled. “As I think you have been told, I am a senior officer with the Ministry of Security here-”

“I was told you were a cop.”

“In effect, I am. I’m on secondment to the Serious Crimes Team. My colleague here-” Nergui gestured toward Drew, “-is most definitely a cop. He is a Chief Inspector with the British police.”

The overweight man looked across at Drew, baffled now. Whatever assumptions he had made about this meeting had clearly been overturned. “What’s this all about? What’s a Brit doing here?”

“It’s a long story, Mr.-?”

“Collins.”

“Mr. Collins. I won’t bore you with the details, as I realize how precious your time is. We’re investigating a potentially very serious crime in Ulan Baatar, which has also had an impact on some British interests there, hence Chief Inspector McLeish’s presence. Sadly, it appears that the case may also involve one of our own officers who went missing a week ago.”

“What does this have to do with us?”

“Nothing directly,” Nergui said. “Except that we believe that, after leaving Ulan Baatar, the officer in question came here.”

“Here? Why would he come here?”

“We do not know. As yet. He was seen at the airport, and we have some evidence that he came here. But we do not know what he did or who he saw. We are therefore interviewing a number of people-mainly staff, but also some guests-who may recollect him and shed some light on what he did here.”

“And why do you think we can help?”

Nergui shrugged. “I have no idea whether you can or not. As I say, we are simply speaking to a cross section of people. You have frequented the bar here in the evenings?”

“No law against that, is there? We tried that kind of law once. I wouldn’t recommend it.”

“On the contrary,” Nergui said, “it is encouraged. Though perhaps some of my countrymen partake with a little too much enthusiasm. No, I simply wondered whether you had seen the officer in question in the bar?” He handed the photograph over to Collins.

Collins scrutinized it closely, then twisted and handed it to the other man, who looked at it very briefly without removing his dark glasses, and shook his head. “I’m afraid we can’t help you,” Collins said.

“No? Well, we have to keep asking. Thank you for your time, Mr. Collins and-?” He looked at the other man, who smiled and nodded back, but still said nothing. “We are very grateful to you. I hope you will enjoy the remainder of your trip. Have you had a chance to meet any of the locals down here?” He added the last question as an apparent afterthought.

“Locals? One or two-I can see what you mean about them knocking back the booze. We’ve had one or two lively nights in the bar.” With the interview at an end, Collins sounded more relaxed.

“The local police use this place a lot,” Nergui said. “We thought that might have been why our colleague came here. But they seem to know nothing about this.”

“They-” Collins began, then stopped. “I don’t know who we met. We couldn’t really make ourselves understood. Except through the international language of the bottle.” He looked back at the other man, and Drew wondered whether some sort of signal passed between them. But Collins had his head turned away and the other man had not removed his glasses, so there was no way of knowing. “Well, if you’ve finished with us, gentlemen, I think we’ll go and prepare ourselves for another night of socializing and inebriation.”

“Please, be our guest,” Nergui said. “Have an enjoyable stay. Everything in moderation, as they say.”

“Except moderation,” Collins said, as a parting shot. The door of the ger closed softly behind him.

Nergui waited a moment, swinging softly on his chair, then said, “What do you think?”

“I think he’s guilty as hell,” Drew said.

Nergui nodded slowly, as though contemplating this opinion and giving his reluctant assent. “But of what?”

“Haven’t a clue, I’m afraid. Probably nothing to do with this case.”

Nergui laughed and rose slowly from the chair. “Come,” he said, “we’ve spent enough time in the darkness going slowly round in circles. Let’s at least step into the sunshine as we do it.”

Drew followed Nergui out of the tent. At first, the light was blinding after the dim interior of the ger. Although it was still only midafternoon, the sun was already low above the horizon, casting long shadows across the desert. The day was growing noticeably cooler.

“It will be cold tonight,” Nergui said. “Zero or perhaps lower.”

They walked slowly out of the camp gates, and made their way across the sand, Nergui leading. There was no obvious destination. The undulating sands stretched emptily ahead of them. Off to the left, in the far distance-it was impossible to tell how far-there was a small clustering of gers, but little else to be seen on the expanse surrounding them.

They walked a few hundred yards away from the camp, and Nergui stopped, looking back. “It looks very peaceful, no?”

“Miles from anywhere,” Drew agreed.

“Miles from anywhere,” Nergui repeated. “Miles from civilization, certainly.” He kicked the sand with his foot. “Desert,” he said. “Emptiness.” He began to walk again, heading away from the camp as if striding toward the desolate horizon. Drew followed, glad to be out in the air, but wondering where this was leading.

As though reading Drew’s thoughts, Nergui stopped again, turning to face Drew. “I do not like this,” he said, at last. “I do not like the pattern.” He spoke as though commenting on an item of clothing or furniture, and for a moment Drew was unsure what he meant.

“The case?”

“The case,” Nergui said. “I do not like the fact that we are down here in the Gobi. I do not like the involvement of the police. I do not like the systematic nature of these killings. I do not like the fact that-in the face of all that-we nevertheless appear to be dealing with a psychopath.”

“We still can’t be sure of that.”

“No, we can’t. Though I am not sure how else you would characterize such killings. But it is not just that. It is the totality of it that disturbs. It does not-how can I put this? — it does not fit together. And most of all, because there is a pattern here I still cannot read, I do not like the fact that we are down here, in this part of my country.”

Drew was lost now. He watched Nergui, who was striding up and down the sand, as though he were unable to stand still for a moment.

“I don’t understand. What is it you find so disturbing about this place? I mean, it’s a desolate enough spot, but-”

“Desolate,” Nergui repeated. “Yes, certainly. But it is the emptiness that disturbs me.”

This was all becoming a little too philosophical for Drew’s tastes. He would not have imagined that Nergui was a man prone to these kinds of imaginative fancies, but then he did not understand this culture.

Nergui smiled. “You think I am a superstitious fool?”

“No,” Drew protested. “It’s just-”

“I am expressing myself badly, trying to capture a feeling I have.” He shrugged. “The famous detective’s intuition. You have that?”