Buddha's Money (35 page)
"Here. Let me do that."
He found the right key and opened the door. I switched on the light.
Ernie wasn't in his bunk. The blankets hadn't been mussed. Still out in Itaewon, I figured.
It was the wall locker I was worried about. Ernie had an extra bolt on it and a double padlock, always bragging that it was burglar-proof.
The padlocks hadn't been moved.
But the hinges lay on the floor in pieces. Someone had patiently scraped off the thick layers of olive-drab paint and unscrewed the hinges and pried them off. The door of the locker was slightly ajar.
"Shit," Jorgenson said. "I didn't know she was a slicky girl. I thought she was his girlfriend."
"Did you see her leave?"
"No. She must've slipped out the side door."
A drop of rain splatted on my leg. The window was open, the screen set on the floor below it.
I peered into Ernie's locker. Jorgenson shone the flashlight in. Propped up on a set of folded fatigues was Herman's phony American passport and the wad of Korean and U.S. bills. I counted them. They hadn't been touched.
But the jade skull was gone.
Jorgenson reached in and lifted out a felt purse. "What's this?"
I snatched it out of his hands and examined it. I saw the neatly embroidered Korean lettering: Choi So-lan.
I pulled back the strings of the purse, opened it, and turned it upside down. Out fluttered two handfuls of freshly shorn black hair.
"Looks like somebody cut their hair," Jorgenson said.
I nodded.
"Not that chick who was looking for Ernie?" Jorgenson asked. "If she cut off this much hair, she must be bald by now."
I nodded again, thinking of Choi So-lan. Of Lady Ahn. Of Mi-ja. Of Kublai Khan's jade skull. "I think you're right, Jorgenson. She's bald all right. As bald as a Bride of Buddha."
MARTIN LIMÓN grew up in Los Angeles county, just fifteen miles south of City Hall. He retired from military service after twenty years in the U.S. Army, including ten years in Korea, and now lives with his wife and children in the Seattle area. His first novel,
fade Lady Burning,
was a
New York Times
Notable Book of the Year. He is also the author of
Slicky Boys,
which has been optioned by Paramount.