not good for work that required plodding persistence. But it must be good for something, maybe a survival trait, assuming it wasn’t simply a loose connection. “Most Chinese girls that I’ve seen are okay. But a few are ugly. I’m sorry to say that, it seems unkind, but I guess if you’ve got a billion people, you’re bound to get some real dogs. You ever eat dog? I don’t think I could.”

“I’m not Chinese.” I finally turned to look at her. Her hands were pretty, long tapered fingers. She probably played Rachmaninoff on the piano, but I wasn’t going to start a conversation on anything with her, certainly not about composers. Who knew where it would lead. I only wanted her to go away.

“Not Chinese? You could have fooled me.” When I didn’t reply, she tried again. “Japanese?”

“In the Orient, you are granted three guesses. You have only one guess left.” She seemed to crave mystery.

“Mongolian,” she said and closely examined my face. “I wouldn’t have thought so; you don’t have those cheekbones they have. Marvelous cheekbones. Well, no matter, it’s good to see Mongolians getting out and about again. I haven’t seen one in years and years. Perhaps it has something to do with the food, do you think? We have lamb in some of the restaurants, you know, though we probably prepare it differently. I hope you won’t take offense at my thinking you are Chinese.” She smiled and bowed slightly, as she had no doubt seen in the movies. “Mongolians are herders, isn’t that right? I heard it is thanks to the Mongols that we invented croissants, though I cannot remember exactly why. Perhaps you’re familiar with the story. I imagine it is taught in your schools.”

“No, we have no schools. Herders have no need of education. We know only the wind in the grass and the warmth of mare’s milk. We use women like cattle. Good day to you.” I stood up and gave her what I imagined might be a herdsman’s leer.

Chapter Three

“Somebody, surely, somebody stayed awake all the way through their presentation and took notes.” The delegation head looked around the table. “If we don’t have any notes, we can’t send a report back. And if we don’t send a report, there will be a nasty telegram tomorrow from the ministry. I don’t like nasty telegrams on a Saturday.”

The room was silent.

“The rule has always been that the youngest one, no matter what, fills that job. Miss Ho?”

“I got most of it.”

“Most isn’t all. What was the problem?”

“He was reading out loud from that document. He droned on and on. If he’d done it this morning, I might have been able to keep conscious the whole time, but after lunch …”

“Nobody else? What about you, Paek?”

“Paek was sound asleep,” someone muttered.

“I got a good part of his opening remarks.” Mr. Paek was an elderly man with a dignified bearing and doleful eyes. “But then I lost him. I think my hearing failed. I don’t think I’ve ever been so bored. It was making me deaf.”

They all laughed. “Well, patch together what you can and fill in the rest as needed.” The delegation head took off his glasses. “I want the cable ready to go out before dinner. The ambassador will insist on seeing it. He’s not in a good mood, and I don’t want to give him any excuse to chew me out. What about you?” He turned to me. “What are your thoughts on what went on today?”

I didn’t have any thoughts, at least not on today’s proceedings. I was still thinking about yesterday and the morgue. I’d gone there not long after leaving the woman on the bench; she’d probably gone home and slept fitfully, dreaming of Mongolian herdsmen riding croissants, thundering across the steppes to attack the citadels of the West. M. Beret had let me in the back door of an old building, escorted me down dark corridors, and led me finally into a room with a single ceiling lamp hanging from a long cord. I didn’t need more light than that to tell it was Sohn. For some reason, I was glad he was in a place with worn wooden floors.

“And what did you observe?”

“Observe?” I thought about it for a moment, until I realized the delegation leader wasn’t asking me about Sohn’s body. “Diplomatic fencing isn’t exactly my specialty.”

“Really, I would have thought human nature was something the police would follow very closely.”

“It is, only we deal with