Chapter One - Richard Lewis

"What happened here in 1965, Mother?" There it was. That was the heart of it, the
core of the great big tangled puzzle.
Arini didn't reply. Nol hit the light switch on the porch wall, and she startled at
the sudden brightness. "What happened to my father? Who betrayed him?"
Arini smiled. It was a most peculiar smile, sad and amused and even a touch
contemptuous. "Are you interrogating me?"
"You've never told me a thing about it. Not once. Those people killed on the
beach. Those bones. Who were they?"
"I'm afraid I was never a very good mother to you, was I?" Arini opened her door
and slipped into her room. Nol felt like a creature out of his element, stranded on an alien
shore.
In bed, Nol fidgeted, constantly checking his watch as the hours marched on. Suti
was tucked away into her sleep, as if she had not a care in the world. This was unfair, Nol
knew, for that evening she'd grimly worked on her account books and calculator and
computer to figure out the shop losses and what to do next.
Nol's many worries were presently coalesced into a minor unease. Where was
Putu? He'd tried Putu's cell phone a dozen times, each time getting the no service
announcement.
From the bed stand his cell phone buzzed, jerking him awake. Putu's number was
on the screen. Nol answered with enormous relief. "Where are you?"
"There's a problem," Putu said hoarsely. "Come get me. I'm at the pura dalem."
He hung up.
Nol hit dial, but only got a screech.
He quietly gathered his clothes and dressed out in the parlor. Ten minutes later, he
pulled up to the temple, the car headlights sweeping the temple's empty graveyard. At
their far reach, the pond's cement balustrades flashed like dirty teeth. Uneasy, he grabbed
the tire iron and got out, leaving the door open and the engine running.
"Putu?" he called out. "Putu?"
He eased past the banyan toward the pond as a brittle wind rattled the leaves.
"Putu?"
"Right here."
The soft voice came from behind him.
Nol whirled. From behind the banyan's twisted trunk spun an ogre's shadow. The
thing grabbed the tire iron from him. In the same instant, the ogre's enormous hand
slammed into the side of Nol's head, stunning him. He wheeled backwards, his vision a
multi-color sparkle as he toppled over the pond's balustrade, landing on his back in the
water with a big splash. Gasping and floundering, he tried to swim, but then he dimly
realized that his feet were touching mucky bottom. He stood there, gathering his wits.
The lights of his car were still on, poking the darkness above him. He flung himself
toward the pool's steps, the sandstone rises eroded and slippery with moss, and managed
to haul himself onto a perch.
The ogre moved to the balustrade. Gong's moon face shone in the starlight. One
huge hand was wrapped around Putu's neck, and in the other he casually held the tire
iron.
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