"Whenever a public figure dies there will be those who say it was this demon or that spirit who took revenge."

"And there was such a report that night?"

"There was a full moon that night. A herder reported that he saw the horse-headed demon on a hill above the highway, doing something like a dance. The one called Tamdin. Among the pebbles that suffocated the Director of Religious Affairs was one bead, a rosary bead in the shape of a skull. The kind that Tamdin carries." Shan had touched such a rosary. The rosary of a demon.

"A shrine was built by the local people, on the spot, to praise their protector."

Doing a dance on a hill by the highway. Under a full moon. As though, Shan considered, Tamdin wanted to be seen.

"Shrines were built after the other murders, too. People say a truck driver saw Tamdin when the Director of Mines was killed. As I said, there're always such rumors when an official dies. Tamdin is a favorite of the people. Very fierce, no mercy in defending the church. A very old demon, one of those they call a country god, from the old Tibetan shamans before the days of Buddhism. As the people evolved to Buddha they brought Tamdin with them."

From the other side of the courtyard a sudden uproar of animals interrupted them. A gate had been opened and a huge pack of dogs was entering. Priests were feeding the dogs, more dogs than Shan had ever seen gathered in one place. He saw at least thirty and more were trotting through the gate.

Segeant Feng cursed and dropped onto the bench beside Shan, not taking his eyes off the animals. Three large black mastiffs, of the kind herdsmen used to patrol against wolves, lingered in the shadows, as though sensing that Feng and Shan were intruders. Feng's hand moved to his gun.

"Ai yi!" cried one of the monks as he saw Feng's reaction. He rushed to stand in front of the dogs. "They are under our protection," he said in a pleading tone. "They are part of Khartok gompa. They come from all over Tibet to be with us."

"Damned mongrels," Feng growled. "Where I come from they are raised for the pot."

The monk could not hide his horror. "They are part of us. The ones who remember. It is why they come here."

"Remember?" asked Shan.

"Priests who failed," the monk explained. "The dogs are reincarnations of priests who broke their vows."

As the monk spoke Yeshe appeared on the steps with the chandzoe. From the far side of the courtyard someone else shouted angrily toward Yeshe. The chandzoe put his hand on Yeshe's shoulder as though to calm him. The monk on the steps was still there, still aiming his mudra at Yeshe.

At last Shan recognized the mudra. It was to bestow forgiveness. A cold wave of realization swept through him as he looked back at Yeshe, as though for the first time. He had been so blind. He had asked Yeshe everything about himself except the most important question of all.

Two hours later they were at the top of the pass, so high that the stars on the far horizon were below them. Shan, in a drowsy haze, wanted the feeling of drifting through space to continue, until he floated into a world where governments did not lie, where jails were for criminals, where men were not killed with pebbles.

He became aware of a liquid rattle in the back seat. Yeshe had a rosary.

An hour later, as they moved into the crossroads at the head of Lhadrung valley, Shan put his hand on Feng's arm. "Go left."

"Lost your track, Comrade," Feng grunted. "The barracks are to the right. Sixty minutes more and we'll be in our bunks."

"To the left, to the 404th worksite."

"That's miles out of the way," Feng protested.

"That's where we are going."

Feng pulled the truck to a stop as it passed the intersection. "It will be nearly midnight by the time we get there. It's empty."

"Improves the odds."

"The odds?"

"Of meeting the ghost."

Feng shuddered. "The ghost?"

"I want to ask who killed him."

Feng turned on the cab light and stared at Shan, as though hoping for evidence that this was a joke.

Shan returned the stare without expression. "Scared of a ghost, Sergeant?"

"Damned right," Feng shot back, too loudly. He slammed the truck into gear and turned around.

A half mile from the bridge Shan instructed Feng to turn off the lights. The 404th worksite was as empty as death as they rolled to a stop near the bridge. Feng climbed out and immediately produced his pistol. Shan said nothing but began walking toward the mountain. After thirty paces he looked back to see Feng circling the truck, as if on sentry duty.

Shan paused at the end of Tan's bridge and gazed skyward, still in awe of the stars. He was afraid that if he reached out he would touch them. His knees were trembling.

He walked up the roadbed to the small cairn marking the site of Jao's murder and sat on a rock. There was no wind on the mountain. This was when the jungpo would prowl. This was when demon protectors would strike. He found his hand over his pocket which held the charm that called Tamdin. What were the words from Khorda's skull mantra? Om padme te krid hum phat.

A pebble moved behind him. His heart leapt into his throat as a shadow appeared beside him. It was Yeshe.

"It was a night like this," Shan observed, trying to calm himself. "Prosecutor Jao was driven to the bridge. Someone was here. Someone he knew."

"I never understood. Why here?" Yeshe asked. "It's so far from anywhere."

"That's the reason. The road goes nowhere. No danger of being discovered by passersby. Easy to escape." But that was not all. The mountain still had not given up its secret.

"So they walked with Jao," Yeshe said. "To look at the stars?"

"To talk. In private. Someone stayed below."

"The driver."

"I am here with Jao," Shan said, switching to the view of the murderer who had lured Jao to the mountain. "I brought him up here to tell him a secret. But something happened to surprise him. A loose rock. The tingle of metal. He senses his attacker at the last minute, and turns to struggle with him, long enough for Jao to pull an ornament from the costume." Shan stood with a rock in his hand, acting out the scene. "Then I grab a rock and hit him from behind." He threw the rock to the ground forcefully. "I arrange him neatly after I empty his pockets of identity. Then Tamdin uses his blade."

"So there're two killers."

"I think so now. Jao didn't come here with someone in a demon costume. He came with a friend, who had the demon waiting." Shan took a step away, back into character. "I don't want to watch." Shan walked toward the edge of the cliff. "I don't want blood to spray on me. I come to the edge and throw away what I took from his pockets." He picked up a stone and moved to the brink of the cliff. Extending his arm over the void, he released the stone.

"You told me why you were sent back from university," he said after a moment, still facing the abyss. "But you never said why you went to the university." Investigations, meditations, careers, relationships were much the same, he mused. They failed because no one thought to ask the right question.

Shan sensed Yeshe moving toward him, and stepped to the very edge, until his toes hung out over the blackness.