CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

The road to the monastery was rough, dusty, and long. Halfway there, the car started to overheat, and they had to push it another six miles to the nearest town. Thankfully, it was a small car. As they pulled into a small service station, the man clucked his tongue.

"Can you help us?" asked May.

"Yes. I help," he said, taking a seat in the shade, fanning his face.

"Today," said May firmly.

"Yes. I help today," he said, staring at them. Tanner and Hiro started to move toward the man, but May gripped their arms.

"How much?" she asked. The old man smiled, missing several of his teeth. He gave her a number, which was ridiculously low in her mind, but she knew how this game was played.

"No," she said, shaking her head. "That's too high."

The old man gave her another number, and they repeated the dance. Several times, he threw out a number far too low for the damage on the car, but negotiating was considered good manners here. When they finally landed on a number, he stood.

"Be back in thirty minutes. The car will be ready." He pointed across the street to a small noodle restaurant, and they ducked inside, grateful at least for the shade and multitudes of fans blowing on them. The noodles were homemade, well prepared, and filled a void they didn't even know they had.

As promised, thirty minutes later, their car was fixed, and they were on their way. Nearly dark when they arrived at the monastery, they were offered a place to sleep and a warm meal, but they could not speak to any of the new monks until the morning.

"You are free to walk around," said the older monk.

"Thank you," said Hiro. The monk stared at them, then spoke softly.

"Tell me, why does a Chinese woman, Korean man, and Japanese man travel so far to visit one grieving husband and father?"

The trio stood still for a moment then May stepped forward.

"We believe that he can help us find some answers that might save a friend of ours," said May. "We mean him no harm, and we don't mean to upset him further. We just need to know why our friend's life is in danger and how we can stop it."

"His secrets are his to tell," said the Monk. "Sleep well. I'll have food delivered to your quarters."

They watched the older monk disappear and stared at one another, then out toward the mountains.

"He knows something," said May.

"I'd say the Monk knows everything. He knew our nationalities," said Hiro. May smiled.

"No. Not that monk. I meant that Jae-Hua knows something. He's hiding here to soothe his grief, but for some other reason as well. I just wish we knew what that reason was."

There was a knock on the door, and two young monks entered, placing food and drink on the table. They bowed as they left, smiling at the three strangers.

Nestled against the backdrop of a small grouping of mountains, they took their meal outside, watching the night sky pass them by.

"I don't think I've seen so many stars since we left home," said Tanner.

"It is beautiful," said May. "This is one of those times when I wish we could stay longer so I could do some research on the artifacts in the monastery. This monastery, in particular, tries to keep the Tibetan Buddhist monk heritage alive."

"I wish I loved history like you, May," said Tanner.

"It's not really history," she smiled. "It's what history leaves behind. Every culture, every society, ever known has left something for us to study. A clue that gives us insight into their lives. It's amazing. For instance, Gobero, Niger, in the Sahara, there are hundreds of burials, far more than any site of comparable age. Plus, there are thousands of artifacts. Just finding it was completely accidental, but finding it let us know that, at one time, the Sahara was lush and green. It had plants and wildlife and water!"

The two men chuckled at her enthusiasm and excitement.

"Five thousand years old. Can you imagine that?" she smiled.

"It does seem remarkable," said Tanner, "but then again, we have ghosts on our property more than four hundred years old. Imagine if we could find things belonging to them, the artifacts. It would be pretty incredible."

"Yes. Yes, it truly would," said May quietly.

"What are you thinking?" frowned Hiro.

"I was just thinking, what if we could find a way for the ghosts to help us in cases? I mean, beyond just our immediate area. We know that they have a ‘network,' so to speak. What if we could develop that further and perhaps solve more mysteries?"

"It's an interesting idea," said Tanner. "I'm not the expert, but we could send an e-mail to Noah, Julia, and Mama Irene. Maybe this is something they could start working on. Maybe a whole new division for our team."

"Ultimate cold cases," said May, laughing as she scanned her hand across the sky like a marquis.

"Let's get some sleep," said Tanner. "I'd like to speak with Jae-Hua in the morning and leave as soon as we can."