work at hand, but it would have to do.

When I got to the hotel, I spotted Jenö sitting on a bench on the second floor. He waved but didn’t make a move to join me. Well, I thought, if the molehill won’t come to Mohammed.

“I’m tired of being in my room,” he said as I stepped off the escalator. “There isn’t a lot on TV at this hour, and I’m out of things to read.” There was a book next to him on the bench.

Just then, three girls walked by in single file. The first one, pretending to be busy thinking, stared straight ahead. The second smiled and nodded, almost gaily. The last one looked away, a deliberate gesture. It was probably as close to haughty as she dared. They were all the same age, not more than twenty or twenty-one. The second one had her hair tied in the back with a blue bow. Otherwise, they were dressed nearly identically in bright-colored traditional Korean skirts and jackets.

“Did you see that, Inspector?” Jenö watched as the trio disappeared around a corner. “I love those dresses.”

“I wasn’t looking.” Of course I’d seen it. Who wouldn’t look at three girls floating by like ribbons in an April breeze?

“Nice to see something colorful for a change.”

“Next week is Lunar New Year; that means the flowers can’t be far away. It’s built into people’s genes, this sort of rhythm. You find it quaint, I suppose.”

“Not at all. Beside the dresses, you know what I noticed? Three girls, three separate reactions when they passed by.”

“Three. Were you expecting more, or less?”

“Why do you think the girl in the middle smiled? Why wasn’t she afraid like the other two?”

“None of them was afraid. What do they have to be afraid of?”

“You tell me.”

“Three girls went by. They weren’t triplets. Is there any reason they should react the same? Are they trained dogs?”

“It was a simple question.”

“Good.”

“Only a harmless observation.”

“Fine.”

Jenö pulled out his wallet. “Let me show you something.” He handed me a photograph of a group of schoolboys. Each confronted the camera in a different way. “This is my son”—he pointed at one of the boys—“and his friends. Look at them.”

“I’m looking.”

“Not trained dogs?”

“No.”

“So what makes them react so differently, so individually to the very same instant in time, just when the shutter clicks?”

“You have a theory?”

“No, it just interests me. I wonder about it. I’d say you do, too. All the time, you wonder about reality. Why does one person stand here and not there? Who moves to the front in a group? Who hangs back? Who smiles? Who smirks? Who stares into the lens? And most important, the question that nags constantly—why?”

“And the answer is?”

“You’re not following me, Inspector.”

“I think I am. You’re trying to figure out whether I’m the bird that flies off the tree first, or if I wait for the others. You’re trying to figure out whether I’m the schoolboy who smiles at the stranger, or if I’m the one who looks away. Do I wave when your car goes by, or do I stare impassively?”

“Cossacks, you’re seeing Cossacks again, Inspector. But thank you. I think you just answered my question. Now I have another one for you.”

“I’m listening.”

“Remember what I told you the other day? I need to make contact with someone. Can you help me?”

“No. I hate to be impolite to a guest, but absolutely not. I cannot help you do anything but stay out of trouble. Why don’t we sit and wait for more groups of girls to walk by. They do that every so often. It passes the time, and as long as you only look, it’s harmless. Besides, it’s comparatively warm in here right now. Making contact with anyone means going outside.”

Jenö passed me the book, his finger on the edge of an envelope between the pages. “They were sold out of volume twenty-two, but the lady assured me this one was equally as good.” His eyebrows did that bouncy, energetic dance the visiting Russian troupes always performed near the end of one of their programs. They call it a country quadrille. I just wasn’t sure what country.

2

In the midst of nowhere, in the middle of what should have been a small, narrow valley of rice fields backed up against a frozen river and lines of tall, ragged hills, a triple barrier cut across the land. On the outer perimeter, an electrified wire fence held up with thick concrete posts; inside that, electrified wires running close