The Fifth Degree

Part 9

It took them another four hours to walk to another village. This one was larger and had a hotel with a phone. Captain Tong made a phone call, and they were soon on their way back to Bejing. They were lucky to find that the village also had a rail station. Captain Tong bought them passage and several hours later the train entered Bejing Station. When they arrived, a driver was waiting for them.

"There has been another murder," the officer stated.

"Take us to the scene of the crime," Captain Tong instructed.

"What about these three?" the officer questioned. "It is a crime scene. No citizens or tourists are allowed."

"I am responsible for them. They are here by invitation of the Commissioner as observers."

They drove in silence, each in their own thoughts. The three Shaolin speculating what they would find, and the police captain knowing all too well what they would. The scene was gruesome, blood was everywhere, and no evidence to explain how it got there, other than the dead man. No weapon could be found and no evidence as to whom had committed the crime. While Captain Tong explained to the officers why the strangers from America were there, one of them approached the dead man under the sheet.

Kwai Chang Caine moved toward the body and uncovered it. The face, now older, still contained the essence of the boy in his youth. Though deep lines etched the dead man's features, Caine never forgot him.

"Oh," he sighed deeply, trying to hold onto his grief, but knowing eventually, he would have to let go. For now, he had a duty to perform. He slowly pulled from his pouch, a white cloth. He wrapped it around the fingers of his right hand, dipped it into the open wound, and passed his hand up and down along the chest. He then brushed the cloth along the brow of the deceased man. Then he brought his face close to the dead man's ear and said, "Wait for us. I have to perform the proper ceremonies. You will be avenged." He spoke as if the man still lived. He allowed the tears to fall after that then once again covered the body. "You may remove the body now. It ceases to have meaning." Caine remained where he was remembering a time long passed as tears continued to roll down his cheeks at the loss of a once beloved friend.

Captain Tong observed the other two Shaolin, each bowing their heads. When the body was removed, questions abound. "What was that all about? He acts as if he knew the man."

"You will have to ask him," Peter said, remembering another time when his father performed the same act on another.

"I do not understand. What was he doing, performing some kind of ceremony?"

"Yes. Certain kinds of death fragment the spirit. Delays its passage," Chung Wang answered.

"Why?"

"Sometimes the manner of death has equal significance as the death itself. We're going to need a place of privacy to mourn the man's passing," Chung Wang requested.

Captain Tong watched as Peter approached his grieving father and placed his arms around his shoulders. He watched as the older man rested his head on the younger man's chest while the younger bent his head close to his father's ear and whispered something he could not hear. He was certain that Caine knew the man from his reaction to the body. He would have to ask the Shaolin later.

"See to it that they are taken to a comfortable hotel," the police captain stated.

"We must see to the family," Chung Wang stated. "There are certain ceremonies that will have to be performed."

"It is the officer's duty to inform the family . . ."

"He had no family," Caine stated.

"How do you know?" Captain Tong questioned.

Caine held out a set of prayer beads. "They were clutched in his hand. No one bothered to remove them."

"So, he was a monk. Even so, we will have to verify, and if he did have family, they will have to be informed. I must take those." Captain Tong pointed toward the prayer beads in Caine's hands. "That should have been the job of the coroner and the forensics team. I must know, do you know the deceased?"

"I did, long ago. I believed I would never see him again. His name is Lai Pei."

Continues with Part 10