Flower Girl: A Burton Family Mystery Part 14

I replied, "Anyung has.h.i.+m nika, It is my pleasure to meet you Winter Blossom. I was once told a creation tale by a muyeo from an island off the southernmost sh.o.r.es of this land; however, I do not recall any mosquitoes."

"'Rhee, do you know the legend of creation that tells us how these pesky insects came to be?' Winter Blossom asked.

"'Only the mudang from the south tell of this legend,' Winter Blossom said. 'I learned it from my teacher who was also from an island off the southernmost coast of the peninsula. The tale is about two brothers who vied for rule of earth and the rule of the underworld. The first thing one brother did when he came to the mortal world was to kill the beasts and personally capture his brother. He then ordered his soldiers to tear his captured brother into pieces and toss his flesh and bones into the air. The cadaver turned into swarms of mosquitoes and flies which still plague the mortal world.'

As Rhyly continued her tale of the legend of rival twin brothers of the King of Heavens and Earth, it came to me that I needed to re-examine the relations.h.i.+p between Junior and Sincere Park. I may have missed something about the relations.h.i.+p between these brothers.

Rhyly continued, "Winter Blossom told me that one must have a healthy respect for all living things, even the smallest of insects. I was grateful that I had not swatted the tiny creature that attacked me on my arrival, leaving an itchy red welt. Then she said, 'We shall sip the green tea that Chungsik has brewed and share more legendary tales you need to know. Some of these tales have been lost or forgotten by many; however, they will fill a gap in your heart and mind for which you seek answers.'

"Chungsik handed Winter Blossom and me each a ceramic tea cup with a lotus flower printed on it, received in both hands. I smelled the fragrance of the delicious green tea which he had roasted and steeped as if he knew I was coming and what tea I preferred. I thought of Professor Craft's pa.s.sion for hojicha."

"My thoughts and actions turned to the two diaries recently found in a tomb on Namsan Mountain in the 21st century. These diaries would be the very sources of support for Shannon's plan to validate them and refute the Park's claims that they are forgeries. I kept a vigil each night or maybe I should say, "My paranoia meter was running full tilt."

Week Two of Rhyly's search brought another call. "I have some exciting news," She began, adding, "Last night, Winter Blossom came to me and told me, 'I have some things to share with you; they are from the tomb on Namsan Mountain next to where Sister Cerice and the Ewha scholars found the two diaries we believe to be the writings of Princess Deokman of the 7th century Silla.

"'I shall tell you what I know of the secret language used by the Wonhwa, woman to woman.'"

Rhyly continued, "Winter Blossom told me that much of women's contributions were systematically eradicated by rival families and by the Manchu and the Moguls in earlier times. However, she also told me tales that suggested that there is enough evidence to suggest that women and G.o.ddesses were an integral part of seventh century society. There is little recorded of the female shamans before the Joseon dynasties. Shamans, whether muyeos or mudangs, are the storytellers of these early Silla times, and it is one of these tales, told to me by Winter Blossom, that brought us to a discussion of the recent efforts by the Parks to defame the two diaries as forgeries. She added her belief that eradicating the history of women during the Silla era was only a small part of activities that have gone on for centuries. I immediately realized that she and Sister Cerice are on the same wave length on this issue.

"'Now, here is some fantastic news. Chungsik has discovered a decoding stick on Namsan Mountain," Winter Blossom said.

Rhyly continues, "Winter Blossom told me these things while Chungsik showed me how to decrypt a segment of the diaries.

"Together, the three of us translated a segment of the first diary. The translation revealed verification of a legend: Since the king had no son, he selected Princess Deokman as his successor and she became the first Queen of Silla. This was deemed to be justified by her displays of precocious intelligence. When the princess was but a child, the king received a gift of a box of flower seeds, along with a painting of what the flowers would appear like when in bloom. She looked at the picture and told her father that the flowers were pretty but sadly they had no scent so they must be peonies. The king then asked how she knew the flowers had no scent, and the princess told him that if the flowers had a scent, there would be bees and b.u.t.terflies gathering around them in the picture. The King took this as an example of his daughter's intellect, but actually, it is told that she was told of the scentless peonies before by her teacher, a muyeo from the south who came to settle in a nearby village on this same mountain.

"Winter Blossom reminded me that this knowledge must remain our secret until such time as when the two diaries are decrypted and in safe hands. I bowed and nodded."

I interrupted Rhyly's tale. "I recall two other accounts that exist in ancient historical accounts of Seondeok's unusual ability to perceive events before their occurrence. Did you learn of these as well?" I asked.

Rhyly replied, "You're right, Shannon. However, these were not to occur until later in her life when she was Queen Seondeok, not as Princess Deokman. Chungsik thinks that the later tales of Queen Seondeok may appear in the second diary. Nevertheless, I'll include these tales in my account because they demonstrate what a remarkable woman she was."

At the end of Rhyly's fourth week she called and reported that nearly all of the first diary was decrypted; however, they were stymied on the second diary. I suggested that Chip Moriga could be called in and that he was going to be at Angie's wedding here in Cheju-do in June.

"Before I left for home, Winter Blossom told me the legend of when Queen Seondeok had foreseen an attack and her own death. She added, 'We are hopeful that predictions of such events are verified in the second diary.

"Winter Blossom told me that the last page in these diaries, if they are indeed authentic, should contain the last of Princess Deokman's, Queen Seondeok's predictions. Legend has it that she once said, 'Some days before I die, I will gather my officials and give the order to bury me near the Dori-cheon ("Heaven of Grieved Merits") which has great meaning to Buddhists.' It is also of legend amongst the muyeo that 'These diaries are her tribute to the Wonhwa and the women of this great land, a contribution to the future. They are for the grave on Namsan Mountain that lies parallel to where I will be entombed.'

This was the clue that led Chungsik to his discovery of the key.

Rhyly's tale was not over. "After a stick fighting lesson one day, Winter Blossom said to me, 'It is time for you to learn what the muyeo know of the secrets of the language that is set down in these diaries. These are hieroglyphs, words and thoughts known only to the women who were Wonhwa. Princess Deokman feared that soon the contributions of the Wonwha as warriors and spiritual leaders of the hwarang would be lost or destroyed and their roles forgotten. So she wrote in a coded language known only to these women and then only to a few. It is also told that the Princess and her Wonwha friends developed a key to decoding this language which Chungsik was the first to discover in the graves next to Queen Seondeok's on Namsan Mountain, he and I shall share with you.'

I flashed back on Angie's and my secret language at the Bush School for girls as Rhyly, make that Rhee, continues her tale.

"We spent several evenings together with Winter Blossom and Chungsik teaching me how to decipher the hieroglyphs on the fighting stick, the key to reading the diaries. Chungsik and Winter Blossom showed me how each hieroglyph on the fighting stick contained a clue as to which characters were written and that interpreting them in the correct order was critical. Top-down, right to left; however, every third column was followed by every fifth column.

Chungsik told me that the ma.n.u.script was transferred to pages in reverse order. I now knew the key to deciphering the coded language of the two diaries. Book two of the diaries consisted mostly of the many details of the lives of the Wonwha as spiritual leaders. Book one doc.u.mented the life and predictions of Princess Deokman that I have related.

With the a.s.sistance of Chip Moriga, we should be able to say, mission accomplished! I thought.

"During my stay at the grave mounds of Namsan Mountain in Gyeongju, I started to see spies in every shadow. This continued day and night from the moment of my arrival forward. Professor Craft would say my paranoia meter was off the scale for the entire trip," Rhee said.

Then, one moonless night, Winter Blossom pointed and whispered to me, 'Someone's spying on us from behind that large mound.'

"Indeed, a silhouetted figure watched us from behind one of the larger mounds on Namsan Mountain. When we thought the spy had left, Winter Blossom wrapped the two diaries in a cloth and put them in a metal box about the size of a shoe box. Next, she stepped across to the second grave and wrapped the coded long-stick in waxed paper. She would give the items to Sister Cerice for safe keeping.

"Suddenly a figure came out of the shadows running at Winter Blossom and me as we were starting to carry the items back to the Land Rover. Winter Blossom and I both had our fighting sticks and we fended off his attack. One of Winter Blossom's blows. .h.i.t the intruder below his left ear, and he went down.

"You must leave now, Rhee. Go quickly. His body will be dealt with. Take these items to Sister Cerice for safe keeping. Kamsamneda and safe journey back to your home my friend."

When Queen Seondeok's grave was discovered and excavated these many centuries later, the Ewha archaeologists found her two diaries written in a language that would now be deciphered.

"I started up the Land Rover and drove away from where the attacker's dead body lay. Somehow I knew that the shadow man who attacked us was Courtney Grey. I tried to keep my cool. Had he not challenged us he'd be alive today.

"Muyeo or not, I still wonder how does Winter Blossom know all this? Is the Wonwha tradition being secretly kept alive and pa.s.sed on from generation to generation? I even feel that you and I are being somehow indoctrinated into the Wonwha. Does that make sense to you Shannon?"

Chapter 15: Dalisay's Protectory: What Remains to Be Done.

After narrating the tale of her research and discovery, Rhyly turned to the next task. "First, I had to return to the other grave mound at Gyeongju and give Sister Cerice the three artifacts. Using the Princess's fighting stick to decode the two diaries, Chip should make short order of the decryption.

Hamish waved me goodbye and sent me homeward with another hug. As I got in line at Incheon Airport to board my flight for home, Chungsik emerged out of nowhere. He whispered, "It was in the second grave next to that of the queen." Then he vanished.

"Being part of Angie's wedding party in June will provide enough time for Chip to complete his work." Rhyly replied. Then, sending greetings to all, Rhyly hung up.

I glanced up at the big clock over the kitchen bar; it read 10:49am PST. Reddy did his disappearing act. At home in Berkeley, Dalisay had taken on the role Angie and I had played for years before she moved in with her fiance from the CIA. "I'm so glad you're both back home safely. Where's Reddy this morning?"

I agree, give her a big hug, and say, "This time I think he really is after Critter and Penelope."

Dalisay disagrees. "I think he's hiding from the CIA." Our laughter brings Comet and Shy to see what all the excitement is about. "I'm only teasing," She said. "Reddy and I received a call from Ms. Betty-Sue this morning, and he went to Oakland International Airport to check out the PC12 for a flight to Belize. The sad news is that Dr. Dooley has pa.s.sed away. Reddy and I are flying down to Belize for a few days to help out with the funeral arrangements and with the negotiations to purchase the Dooley Clinics. He was a fine man and a wonderful humanitarian, and we need to ensure that his good work will continue with the new owners." Dalisay downed the last sip of her espresso and started out the door for her Oakland Clinic. She stopped suddenly and said, "I have just had a eureka moment. Let's rename Dalisay's Oakland Clinic- Dalisay's Protectory."

"The chivalry of my cell phone theme music is getting to you. And, isn't a protectorate or protectory a political term? I guess it could be a refuge for poor children."

She replied with a laugh, "Exactly!"

"I like it."

Left alone in an empty house, I wondered if Michaela was in the bas.e.m.e.nt. Then, two boisterous Akitas interrupted my melancholy and brought me back to reality. "Okay, pups, let's take a run up the mountain, then treats at Beastro's Coffee House." Comet and Shy's curled tails wagged excitedly as if they had never gone on a run before. I felt somehow cleansed, as if I was starting life anew.

I was still plagued by a feeling that the Zubaida case had some unfinished business, there were some ragged loose ends trailing around in my thoughts. Earlier, at the Beastro after our morning run, I found myself thinking of the visit to the Park's Seoul Clinic. That visit had nagged my dreams. Now I found it occupying my waking thoughts.

I tried Matte's advice about back-tracking those days during our Korean tour and the visit to the clinic in Seoul before my first a.s.signment, to see if I could clarify my sense of unfinished business. I recalled when Hamish and I arrived at the Parks' Seoul Clinic to meet with the Park brothers, and the receptionist told us that Dr. Sincere Park was out of country for a few weeks, so I met with Junior.

Then it hit me like a jang bong blow to the temple. If Sincere had been at the clinic that day, he might have remembered me, even though we had last met fifteen years before at a bontoogi match, which he lost to me, a mere girl. I thought at that time that this was a stroke of luck as Sincere was more likely to recognize me than was Junior whom I had little contact with as Carrie Lee.

Then I dropped back further in my recall, to before the tour, back to Professor Hunt's Seminar in Seattle where Courtney Grey appeared to be l.u.s.ting after Penelope. We had never resolved the question of why Courtney was at the Seattle seminar. It seemed curious at the time; however, I had nearly forgotten about the question until now. h.e.l.l, it did not seem relevant until now.

Back then, in Seattle, I had felt that my true ident.i.ty as Carrie Lee was secure in that when I last saw Sincere he was fourteen and I was eleven and I had just beaten him at long stick fighting. Furthermore, back then I was Carrie Lee, not Shannon Burton.

What I did not know then was that Courtney Grey worked for Dr. Sincere Park. Maybe he was sent to Seattle to spy on me and find out if I was the original eleven year old girl known as Carrie Lee who had defeated and embarra.s.sed his boss. I had overlooked the obvious.

The question of why Courtney was at the seminar had gone unanswered. Now, I had a plausible answer. Sincere had been stalking me for many years, waiting for his revenge. The question was what form Sincere's revenge would take and when.

Courtney had known from the day I was at the Parks' Seoul Clinic with Hamish that I was Carrie Lee. And had reported that fact to Sincere, his boss, while keeping the fact unknown to his brother, Junior. Now I realized that it wasn't merely a coincidence that I had been nagged by a sense of unfinished business about Zubaida's case and the motives of Dr. Sincere Park and his lackey Courtney Grey.

I told all this to Reddy as he emerged from the bas.e.m.e.nt, he replied, "This means that Sincere knows who shot Junior. Part of Sincere's revenge was setting us up to kill his older brother so he would inherit the Parks' family business and fortune. Hamish tells me the Parks are worth nearly a billion euros. He won't risk losing the fortune he's just acquired."

Sincere and the Park dojang had recently taken the initiative in the academic community by calling the two ancient Silla era diaries forgeries in a series of TV interviews, all in a continuing effort to discredit women's contributions to Korean history and development. However, it finally dawned on me what his personal motive had been for having Courtney stalk me in Seattle and all over South Korea. Sincere wants his revenge after all these years for his embarra.s.sing bontoogi defeat at the hands of a mere eleven year old girl named Carrie Lee. My paranoia meter rang up a 10+.

Sincere must have also found out that Rhyly and I had been contacted by the women scholars at Ewha University to a.s.sist in the decryption and authentication of the two recently discovered diaries he had publicly called forgeries. So, he sent Courtney to follow us on our tour in the Benz. The pieces to the puzzle were falling into place.

The ring tone on my smart phone startled me, the sound of "Have Gun will Travel" blasting out for all in the Beastro coffee house to hear. I felt like an embarra.s.sed movie theatre patron who forgot to turn off her cell phone at the denouement of the movie, the very moment when the ident.i.ty of the killer is about to be uncovered on the big screen.

"Sorry, folks, I forgot to reset the volume," I said aloud, receiving a chorus of hushes and one 'fermez la bouche' from the laughing Beastro clients. "I always increase the volume when I am in the shower and I forgot to reset. Despite my eidetic memory I am a mere human."

The caller ID of my smart phone read "Crow." Shy, Comet, and I relocated to a private booth near the back of the Beastro, and I swiped my thumb across the smart-phone screen as Rhyly said, "Hi, Shannon, what's up at Berkeley Labs? How are the pups?"

Before I could answer, Rhyly continued, "Okay, Shannon! I'll take on another co-pilot job, or would you rather fly commercial to Angie's wedding? In short, I'm ready for Angie's wedding. I'm a.s.suming I might be helpful to Chip putting any necessary finis.h.i.+ng touches on his decryption of the two diaries. Ms. Clemmie can book me a flight to Cheju-do?"

"No way. You'll fly with Chip and me, and Reddy, if he gets back from Belize in time. We have booked a Jetair charter flight. Ask Ms. Clemmie to book you a flight from St. Louis to Oakland on the 22nd of May. We depart Oakland for Cheju-do on the 23rd," I said.

Chapter 16: Flower Girls for Angie's Wedding.

We flew the Jetair Bombardier business jet from Oakland to Cheju-do without Reddy. Angie will be fuming if he doesn't show up to give her away at her wedding. She was already disappointed that Clinic duties and Belize were keeping Dalisay from attending.

Meanwhile, the Ewha archaeologists have begun a second dig on Namsan Mountain to expand the search for items to support and verify the dating and authors.h.i.+p of the two diaries and the fighting stick. Chip asked me if I knew the exact location of the grave where Chungsik found the fighting stick. He said he needed the precise map coordinates to decrypt a tricky list of hieroglyphs on the base of the long stick.

When we arrived in Gyeongju, Hamish met us and drove us to the mounds area to meet Chungsik but he was nowhere to be found, probably off to China on one of his visits. Sister Cerice and the Ewha scholars and their a.s.sistants met us at the dig. As we gazed out at the field of grave mounds on Namsan Mountain, I looked to Rhyly for guidance. However, she seemed as lost as the rest of us as to which of the many graves to dig up.

Chip whispered to me, "The coded fighting stick was found by Chungsik; however, the question is in which one of a dozen adjacent grave mounds near Queen Seondeok's tomb. I am pretty sure that the final clue in the key involves a set of geographic coordinates. So where do we start since no one saw Chungsik find the fighting stick and now he's disappeared."

Rhyly came running up from one of the mounds near Queen Seondeok's tomb. She was so excited she could hardly get out the words, "The second grave next to the Queen's... that's the last thing Chungsik told me...The second grave."

Then one of the Ewha graduate students came running across the field from the same grave site shouting excitedly and holding a golden object. She had discovered a golden compa.s.s in Queen Seondeok's tomb. I knew that this was Chungsik's doing, but I kept the secret. "The compa.s.s seems to be fixed on a direction of 270 degrees," Rhyly said, adding, "so If we place the compa.s.s on the corner of Queen Seondeok's tomb and draw a line in that direction, perhaps we'll find Chungsik's second grave."

Rhyly showed the diggers how to use the compa.s.s, exactly as taught to her by Chungsik. After finding nothing in one grave, we moved on to the next grave parallel to the Queen's on the 270 degree line. The second grave was soon uncovered and there we found the waxed paper that the fighting stick had been preserved in for the centuries.

Rhyly glanced at me and winked, whispering "I recall Chungsik telling me the tale of when Princess Deokman dropped a s.h.i.+ny gold object into what she described as her future grave site." How did he know that?

Later the researchers had the compa.s.s carbon dated and found it was from the Han dynasty in China. They identified it as being most likely a geomancer's ancient magnetic compa.s.s. I thought about the Geomancer in Reddy's tale. Was this compa.s.s a clue from him, from long ago?

Once more the geomancer had come to our rescue and I had yet to meet him and thank him.

Chip determined the final clue was the number 2, not the geographic coordinates but the simple number two. The trick was to subtract two characters from every segment of the second diary to get the final meaning. Yes, the Queen's remarkable prediction of her own death and burial was confirmed.

Back on Cheju-do for Angie's Wedding As we made wedding preparations, with Agent Clemson Rapier's being the groom and his partner Special Agent Effie Newsome milling about, I was concerned that the CIA was going to locate Reddy's Halla-san mountain hideaway. Reddy still hadn't showed up as planned, so we checked into a hotel instead. Anyway, with Hamish volunteering to hire some flower girls, I was free to keep a constant watch on the two CIA agents just to be sure.

Two men escorted the five flower girls to their places as the ceremony was about to start. One escort looked slightly familiar, a thin full bearded man who walked with a stoop. The second man was a dark skinned, slightly built man of mixed ancestry, likely Philippine and African-American. Both escorts were dressed in PI style barong tagalog dress s.h.i.+rts, worn with the s.h.i.+rt not tucked in, and black dress trousers. They were accompanied by a Belgian Mallinois.

Still mindful of Matte's advice to backtrack our tour to find out more about my sense of unfinished business, I recognized one escort and the dog but not the older one. The smaller escort was the shadow in black on the motorcycle and the dog was the same Belgian Mallinois who stood guard at the Parks' Home for Girls' compound on Cheju-do.

The wedding music began and the guests stopped chattering and milling and took their seats as five flower girls, dressed in white with colorful red, yellow, blue, and green ribbons about their waists and tied in their hair, danced and twirled barefooted down the aisle. The flower girls skipped and gently tossed flower petals along both sides of the path that ran from the hotel lobby to the ceremonial paG.o.da style wedding podium. Then they lined up, two on the groom's side and three on the bride's as Clemson, the groom, took his place on the podium. The bride, Angie, soon followed, escorted by my G.o.dfather, Hamish. No Reddy. Angie waved to all present in the manner of queenly royalty. I was pretty sure she was ticked off at Reddy; however, she wasn't going to let anything ruin her wedding.

Angie and Clemson exchanged vows, then rings, and Father Daniel said, "I now p.r.o.nounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride." They did just that.

The third flower girl, a pretty golden haired, blue eyed child of perhaps ten, handed Angie a bouquet of flowers which she carried back down the petal strewn path to the hotel lobby. Two Benz limousines were waiting at the end of the path, rear doors open. The chauffeur of the lead vehicle looked vaguely familiar, and I thought, why two limousines?

Angie turned and tossed her bouquet. I could swear she aimed it at me even though she threw it over her shoulder. I ducked in an effort not to catch the bouquet, superst.i.tion and all. The phantom escort standing with the Belgian Mallinois deftly caught the bouquet just as it was about to hit the ground. He started to give me the flowers, then changed his mind and handed the bouquet to the lady standing next to Father Daniel. She giggled with delight, and I felt relieved.

This distraction left an opening that allowed me to see past the wedding party to the parking lot where I saw the backside of one of the flower girls enter the rear door of the Benz limousine. Shadow and his dog rushed the driver, making contact, but not preventing him from getting in the Benz and driving off.

"I'll be d.a.m.ned," I said to Rhyly. "You told me that you left the b.a.s.t.a.r.d dead for your muyeo friend to dispose of."

Rhyly asked, "Which b.a.s.t.a.r.d would that be?"

"That man, with one green eye and one brown eye," I answered, pointing at the chauffeur's face which was mirrored in the side-view mirror of the lead Benz as he closed the driver's door and started down the driveway.

Rhyly had a glazed look of disbelief on her face. She said, "Courtney's alive!" She whispered, "I guess we only knocked him out."

"Maybe he was just here looking for a date?" I said.

"Not funny!" Rhyly replied.

However, I noticed that the pretty blonde flower girl who had tossed the bouquet was missing, she was most definitely Courtney's type.

Angie and Clemson climbed into the back seat of the second Benz and soon the driveway was full of cars following their streamer-decorated limousine to the reception at the hotel beach cabaa.

At the reception after the ceremony, Clemson sprung a surprise. Tapping his champagne gla.s.s with a dinner knife, he announced, "I have a toast. To Hamis.h.!.+ Without whom this beautiful ceremony would not have happened, at least not this soon."

"Here, here to Hamis.h.!.+" echoed from the dozens present, many were paid observers including the four remaining flower girls now being escorted by Father Daniel.

"Now, an announcement," Clemson continued. "Shannon, you can stop stalking me. I resigned my government position a few days before we flew over to Cheju-do. I'll be setting up a new security consulting firm in San Mateo."

"We'll be living in the Bay area as soon as we find a home," Angie said, adding, "unless you'd rather we moved in with you in Berkeley and raised our five children in your place."

Clemson flinched.

Placing her hands on her hips Rhyly said, "You tell him girl."