“This is ridiculous,” Edgar protested. “I heard that music played. It is Shan music; the scale is completely different. Of course it sounds different on European instruments, but it isn’t any sort of code—”

“Naturally, we were loath to level accusations at one of our most successful commanders in Burma. We needed more proof. Then, days ago, we received intelligence reports that Carroll and yourself had met at Mongpu with both representatives of the Limbin Confederacy as well as the Bandit Prince, Twet Nga Lu.”

“This much is true. I was there. But—”

“There, Mr. Drake, Carroll formed an alliance with the Limbin Confederacy to repel British forces from Yawnghwe and reestablish Shan autonomy.”

“Nonsense!” Edgar sat forward in his chair. “I was there. Carroll acted without orders, but he had to. He convinced the Confederacy to submit to a peace treaty.”

“Is this what he told you?” Nash-Burnham looked up at the Lieutenant.

“Yes, but I was there. I saw it.”

“Tell me, how much Shan do you speak, Mr. Drake?”

For a moment Edgar was silent. Then he shook his head. “This is ludicrous. I have been in Mae Lwin for nearly three months, and not once has the Doctor shown any indication of insubordination to the Crown. He is a man of principle, a scholar, a lover of art and culture—”

“Let’s talk about art and culture,” the Lieutenant sneered.

“What do you mean?”

“Why did you go to Mae Lwin, Mr. Drake?”

“You know very well why I went to Mae Lwin. I was commissioned by the army to tune an Erard grand.”

“The piano that now floats at the shore of our camp.”

“That is right.”

“And how did you get to Mae Lwin, Mr. Drake? Were you escorted there as outlined in your commission?”

Edgar said nothing.

“Mr. Drake, I will ask you again. How did you get to Mae Lwin?”

“Doctor Carroll sent for me.”

“So you went against orders?”

“I had come to Burma to tune a piano. Those were my orders. I could not return to Rangoon. When I received Carroll’s letter I went. I am a civilian. It was not insubordination.”

“So you went to Mae Lwin.”

“Yes.”

“What type of piano did you go to tune, Mr. Drake?”

“An Erard grand. You know that. I don’t see what this has to do with this matter.”

“Erard…that’s an unusual name. What kind of piano is that?”

“It’s French. Sebastien Erard was actually German, but he moved to France. I—”

“French? You mean the same French who are building forts in Indo-China?”

“This is ridiculous…you are not suggesting that…?”

“Only a coincidence, or maybe a matter of taste? There are many fine British pianos.”

Edgar looked at Nash-Burnham. “Captain, I can’t believe I am hearing this. Pianos don’t make alliances…”

“Answer the questions,” said Nash-Burnham, flatly.

“How long does it take to tune a piano, Mr. Drake?” asked the Lieutenant.

“That depends.”

“All right then, just give me an approximation. In England, what is the most time you have ever spent tuning a piano.”

“Tuning only?”

“Tuning only.”

“Two days, but—”

“Two days. Really? Yet you yourself said that you have been in Mae Lwin for nearly three months. If a piano can be tuned in two days, why have you not returned home?”

Edgar was silent. He felt a spinning, a coming-apart.

Minutes passed and still he said nothing.

At last Captain Nash-Burnham cleared his throat. “Will you be able to answer the charges and testify against Surgeon-Major Carroll?”

The piano tuner answered him slowly. “Captain, what you are saying cannot be true. I was at Mongpu, I saw them meet. I spoke to Twet Nga Lu. Doctor Carroll was negotiating peace. You will see. I believe him. He is eccentric, but he is a genius, a man who can win hearts with music and science. Only wait, and when the Limbin Confederacy presents its proposal to the Crown, you will believe me.”

“Mr. Drake,” the Lieutenant said, “two days after the meeting in Mongpu, the Limbin forces, led by the sawbwa of Lawksawk, with the support of troops we believe were sent by Carroll, attacked our positions in one of the strongest offensives of their campaign yet. Only by the grace of God were we able to drive them back to Lawksawk, and there burned the city.“

Edgar was stunned. “You destroyed Lawksawk?”

“Mr. Drake, we destroyed Mae Lwin.”

23

It was dark. Since the Captain’s words, Edgar had not spoken. He sat in the chair in the center of the room, and the Lieutenant and Captain Nash-Burnham left, the door clattering shut behind them. He heard the hollow resonance of a chain being drawn over the bamboo frame and the scrapings of a key. He heard the men walk away, silent, and he watched the sunlight fade and listened to the sounds of the camp grow dim beneath a swell of insects singing. He touched the inside of his palm and ran his fingers over the calluses, They are from the tuning hammer itself, Katherine, This is what happens when we hold on to something too tightly.

It was dark and the voices of insects rose up, and through the slats in the wall sifted a heavy air, laden with mist and murmurs of rain. His mind wandered. He thought of the movement of the river, of the shaded banks, and he followed them back, against the current, Thoughts do not obey the laws of falling water. He stood on the banks of Mae Lwin before the bamboo huts and they were burning, flames dancing over them, consuming, leaping to trees, branches dripping fire. He heard screaming, and looked up thinking, It is only the sound of the jungle, the cries of beetles. He heard the chain running over the bamboo.

The door opened and a figure entered, floating, a shadow as dark as the lightless night, Edgar, hello.

The piano tuner said nothing. May I come in, the shadow asked. The door swung softly. I am not supposed to be here, it said, and the tuner answered, Neither am I, Captain.

For a long moment there was silence, before the voice floated once again out of the darkness, I need to talk to you.

I think we have spoken enough.

Please, I am already under suspicion myself, If they know I am here, they will arrest me as well, I have been interrogated. Is that meant to comfort me? This is not easy, Edgar, None of this is easy, I only want to talk. Talk then. Edgar, I want to speak as we spoke before today. As we spoke before you killed the boys. Edgar, I killed no one. Is that so, three of my companions are dead. I shot no one, I asked them not to kill anyone, but I have been suspended from my command. Nok Lek was fifteen, said Edgar, The others were only boys.

They were silent, and the insects entered again in chorus. Edgar listened to the trill, The sound is so strong yet it comes only from the scraping of tiny wings.

Edgar, I am risking everything to come here to talk to you.

He heard a deeper rising falling from the insects’ call, Those are beats, sound built from the interaction of unequal tones, Sound made from discord, I am surprised I have not heard this before.

I need you to talk to me, Think of your wife.

Sound of discord, he thought, and he answered, You have not asked me a question.

We need you to help us find him, said the shadow.

The sound of the insects seemed to cease, the piano tuner lifted his head. I thought you said you captured Mae Lwin. We did, But not Carroll. And Khin Myo? Both escaped, we do not know where they are.

Silence.

Edgar, we only want to know the truth.

It seems in short supply.

Then perhaps you can talk to me, and this can end without more bloodshed, and you can go home. I have told you what I know, Doctor Carroll was a great man.

Those are empty words at times like this. For you perhaps, Captain, perhaps that is the difference. I only want to know facts, After that we can decide what he was. You mean you can decide, It should be clear I have decided already. I don’t think that is true, There are many reasons to disappear into the mountains, to bring pianos into the jungle, to negotiate treaties, There are many possibilities.