Six and a Half Deadly Sins (29 page)

“When did you first know about the poison?” asked Civilai.

“In the letter Dtui sent with Madame Chanta,” said Siri. “The one I read to Daeng on my deathbed. That was the first I knew that the Lizard had survived and that she was out to get us.”

“So that’s when I decided to kill my husband,” said Daeng. “The timing was perfect. He looked so awful.”

“Thank you for sharing it with me there and then,” said Civilai.

“We needed your reaction to be authentic,” said Daeng. “You are quite a horrible actor.”

“Perhaps not as melodramatic as Mr. Geung at the temple the other day,” said Siri. “It was lucky he broke down before the monks arrived. They’d have known for sure it was a setup.”

“We needed everyone at the Lu village to believe Siri was dead,” said Daeng. “We only shared the truth with you and Phosy later. That’s why we whisked the doctor away in the jeep so quickly. The Lizard has a network. She would have been able to trace back to see that Siri’s condition was getting worse as the trip progressed. She would have assumed it was the effects of the poison. And of course, it helped that she’d been expecting one of us to die. But this was the Lizard. She’s taken deviousness to a new level. And she knew we were capable of matching her cunning. She would have found it impossible to resist checking for herself that Siri was gone. We were certain she’d be there at the funeral.”

“And we’re certain she’s …?”

“No doubt about it,” said Siri. “The military didn’t take any chances. They were embarrassed to have lost her the first time around. They marched her directly in front of the firing squad. There are photos. The commander asked me if I’d like a couple for the album. I declined.”

The moon had started to rise behind the new rafters on
the roof. Siri and Daeng walked Civilai to his truck. “Is this a bullet hole?” asked Daeng, twiddling her finger in a perfectly round puncture in the tailgate.

“Air vent,” said Civilai.

“And what’s next on Civilai’s shopping list?” asked Siri.

“Ooh, I don’t know. I was thinking of doing a bit of Robin Hooding like yourself. Handing over wads of cash to those less blessed by the gods of illicit drugs. But then I decided it would only make them miserable. We have to keep the poor content with what they have. Wasn’t it Marx who said, ‘An increase in wages arouses in the worker the same desire to get rich as in the capitalist, but he can only satisfy this desire by sacrificing his mind and body’? I wouldn’t want to be responsible for that.”

Siri laughed, slapped him on the back and said, “And wasn’t it Irving Berlin who told us, ‘The world would not be in such a snarl, had Marx been Groucho instead of Karl.’ ”

There was no roof on their new shop, but what of it? The nights were star-studded, and the second floor of the new building was complete apart from walls and windows and floor tiles. There was a mattress at the top of a wooden ladder that would soon be a flight of stairs. It was house enough for them. Daeng climbed the ladder with a spring in her steps.

Siri followed close behind. “So how are you feeling about it?”

“I told you,” she said. “It’s perfect. I love my new legs.”

It had been two weeks since Madame Daeng drank the voodoo woman’s concoction. Within a week, the ever-present aches had subdued. She could walk without a limp. She had turned her back on the opium.

“I didn’t mean the arthritis,” he said. “I meant the … side effect.”

“It’s … I don’t know. I suppose I’m getting used to it.”

“Do you think it’s stopped growing?”

“It seems to have. And to be honest, I could tolerate it being as long as a king cobra rather than spending the last of my years a slave to rheumatism. No. It could have been much worse. What if it were a horn?”

“You’d have to wear a hat.”

“A long pointed one.” She lay back and admired the stars. “You don’t mind it, do you?”

“Not at all. In fact I find it rather erotic.”

“Siri, you would find a tin tea kettle erotic.”

“If you were wearing it, my love.”

“Thank you.”

They heard the frenzied scurry of Ugly chasing a water rat in the road below. Then silence.

“And what of my affliction?” Siri asked.

“Hardly noticeable.”

“That’s good. Good night, Daeng.”

“Good night, Siri.”

She turned to kiss him good night.

He wasn’t there.