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prior to ten but nobody saw anything. The body was discovered just after eleven.”
    “How can a GI be knifed to death in downtown Seoul and nobody see it?”
    “It’s on the outskirts of downtown, in a residential area, in one of those little catacomblike alleys leading up a hill toward a run-down yoguan.”
    “A what?”
    “An inn. A Korean inn.”
    It was hard to believe how little Korean the First Sergeant had learned in the almost two years he’d been here. But he was like most GI’s. He didn’t want to learn.
    “Late at night,” I said, “a place like that can be pretty isolated. The windows in the buildings around it are mostly boarded up, not used much. Some are warehouses. Others are kept shut during the winter to keep out the cold and to keep out burglars.”
    The First Sergeant shuffled some papers.
    “The Namdaemun Precinct has jurisdiction?”
    “Yeah. A Lieutenant Pak will be conducting their side of the investigation. We met him last night.”
    “What’d he ask you to do?”
    “Get information from Whitcomb’s unit. Interview his friends. Things like that.”
    The First Sergeant nodded. “I want those reports sent to him right away. Don’t get on your high horse and try to do the translation on your own, Sueño. Have the KNP Liaison Officer take care of it.”
    “Lieutenant Pak’s English is pretty good.”
    “Good. If we don’t have to translate them at all, so much the better. The first thing 1 want is interviews with everybody in the British Honor Guard. ASAP. Don’t concentrate on just his friends. Everybody. I also want interviews with anyone he might’ve known outside of the British contingent. And I want copies of his personnel records. If they give you a hassle, have them call me. I want this done now. Any questions?”
    Neither Ernie nor I said anything. It was a lot of work but more importantly it was also stupid. Churning out a ton of paperwork looked good when you sent it up the Chain of Command—they’d be impressed with how much you’d done—but it was more important to get to the heart of the matter. I couldn’t be sure yet where the heart of the matter resided but if I had to bet I’d say it resided with Miss Ku. First, I had to make sure she was still alive. But Ernie and I both knew better than to argue with the First Shirt. That would just set him off. Better to say yes and then do what you want.
    The First Sergeant lowered his voice. Confidential now. Buddy to buddy.
    “I don’t have to tell you this, you guys. You’ve already guessed that the head shed is about to shit a brick over this. While they’re here in the UN Honor Guard, those British soldiers are under our protection. But that’s an agreement that can be changed. The British Ambassador has already been on the line to the CG. If we don’t catch the killer, and pronto, they might pull their troops out of the joint command.”
    He let that sit for a while, waiting for us to be suitably impressed.
    “Politics back home,” he said. “One of their own killed over here and they have to rely on us to investigate.”
    “Tough for the country that gave us Sherlock Holmes,” Ernie said.
    The First Sergeant studied him, searching for a sign of mockery. He found none. Not in his face, anyway. Mockery was sort of a way of life for Ernie.
    “Yeah,” the First Sergeant said. “And tough for us too. When the Embassy is interested, you can expect the White House to be interested, and everyone up the Chain of Command is going to be watching us. The Provost Marshal plans to brief the CG on our progress this morning. You two guys are going to be under a lot of pressure, but I’ll be here to back you up a hundred and ten percent.”
    I almost burst out laughing. Ernie’s eyes glazed over. The First Sergeant looked at both of us and what he saw gradually made him angry.
    “Maybe you don’t want my cooperation? That’s okay too. Either way we’ll get the job done. I’ll pull you two off the case if I