Disco for the Departed (24 page)

"He'll never forgive you, you know."

"I know," Siri said and smiled his most devilish smile.

"I'm serious. He can make life very difficult for you, Dr. Siri."

"You don't suppose he'd fire me and banish me to the countryside?"

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" Manivone started to laugh. She walked over to the coroner and sniffed at the air by his cheek. A Lao no-contact kiss. "I suppose you know you're my hero," she said.

Siri squeezed her hand, blushed a little, and walked out of the cutting room. Manivone put her arm around Dtui.

"How's Geung, really?"

"He'll live," Dtui said. "In fact, this morning he was looking a little too flushed. Dr. Siri had me talcum-powder him down."

"You want to swap bosses?" Manivone asked.

"Not on your life, sister. Not on your life."

COLIN COTTERILL was born in London in 1952. He has taught in Australia, the United States, and Japan, and has lived in Thailand on the Burmese border, and in Laos. He lives in Chiang Mai, in northern Thailand.