Flower Girl: A Burton Family Mystery (23 page)

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 manuscript 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 documented the life and predictions of Princess Deokman that I have related.

With the assistance 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 hit 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 passed 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 fiancé 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 passed 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 basement. 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 assignment, 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 lusting 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. Hell, it did not seem relevant until now.

Back then, in Seattle, I had felt that my true identity 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 embarrassed 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 basement, 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 embarrassing 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 assist 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 embarrassed movie theatre patron who forgot to turn off her cell phone at the denouement of the movie, the very moment when the identity 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 assuming I might be helpful to Chip putting any necessary finishing 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 authorship 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 assistants 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 compass in Queen Seondeok's tomb. I knew that this was Chungsik's doing, but I kept the secret. "The compass seems to be fixed on a direction of 270 degrees," Rhyly said, adding, "so If we place the compass 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 compass, 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 shiny gold object into what she described as her future grave site." How did he know that?

Later the researchers had the compass carbon dated and found it was from the Han dynasty in China. They identified it as being most likely a geomancer's ancient magnetic compass. I thought about the Geomancer in Reddy's tale. Was this compass 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 shirts, worn with the shirt 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 pagoda 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 godfather, 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 pronounce 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, superstition 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 damned," I said to Rhyly. "You told me that you left the bastard dead for your muyeo friend to dispose of.”

Rhyly asked, "Which bastard 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 cabaña.

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

"Here, here to Hamish!" 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."

Hamish then spoke, "Speaking of children, believe it or not, the flower girls are from Parks' Home for Girls and so are the escorts. I managed to arrange with the local police for the girls to get this one last paid assignment before they are placed with respectable local families. It looks like the Parks are out of the child bride business, at least here on Cheju-do."

I replied, "Perhaps Dalisay could take one or two of the girls in as residents at The Paladin Protectory."

I pulled Rhyly aside and whispered urgently, "The blonde flower girl is missing."

Rhyly replied, "She isn't all that is missing. Someone has stolen the jang bong with the hieroglyphs from the Gyeongju dig site. One of Sister Cerice's contacts called me during all this distraction."

I scanned the wedding reception crowd to see if anyone was walking away from the party instead of mingling. I had seen the two escorts and the dog bump into the chauffeur before he drove off in the lead Benz limousine. I glimpsed the white and red dress of the missing flower girl as she slid across the rear seat. I had been blocked by the many onlookers and well wishers at the time; however, details now came back to me.

A small shadow figure dressed in black started up a black motorcycle and followed the first Benz out of the circular driveway in front of the hotel onto the street and headed towards the coastal highway which leads to the airport. The Belgian Mallinois was running alongside the motorcycle. The older escort hitched a ride with Hamish and tried to follow.

The traffic was dense. Hamish told me later that when they reached the hotel, they asked the desk clerk if a Dr. Sincere Park or a Courtney Grey were registered guests. A 1,000 won note got us a room number, #615 for Dr. Park. Hamish asked the maid on the sixth floor of the Chosun Cheju-do Hotel if she had seen two men and a young girl enter or leave room #615.

She replied, "A small dark skinned man wearing one of those colorful Philippine barong tagalog shirts was leaving room #615 when I arrived to clean." The maid had seen the shadow man shortly after Angie's wedding and about ten minutes before Dr. Park himself returned and then checked out of the hotel. He had asked the desk clerk to store his luggage until he could make arrangements to have it sent to him. The motorcycle afforded him an advantage in navigating the dense traffic.

The desk clerk then volunteered some additional information in hopes of another 1,000 won gratuity. Hamish obliged him. He said, "I saw a large dog sitting next to a black motorcycle when Dr. Park picked up his room key. The dog and the motorcycle were gone when the doctor checked out."

On 2 June 2015: Reddy magically reappeared. I said as we stood at the bottom of the trail, "I knew you'd be here at this very spot today. Where the heck have you been? Wow! Is Angie mad at you."

"I'll fill you in later," he said and we trekked up the mountain to visit Anne's and my graves on Udo crater for our second time. We trekked the trail up the mountain together, and I knew that from now on, should the dream of the man in black return, in this new dream he would not be alone.

That night, Reddy disappeared again and, when we parted, I felt closer to him than ever before.

As the sun rose the next morning, Hamish drove Rhyly, Chip, and me to Cheju-do airport to catch our Jetair charter flight back to Oakland. He shared a message he had just received from Ms. Betty-Sue Curfew.

"She's in Belize negotiating to purchase Dr. Dooley's Clinics, and she said to tell you that she previously met Dalisay in Belize and was planning to visit her clinic in Oakland soon. She plans to return stateside in a few days. I told her I was sending two of the flower girls to Dalisay for enrollment at the Refectory.

Meanwhile, Dr. Sincere Park and a tall man described as a Westerner were seen at the Belize Hotel two days ago, reputedly on their way to the Caribbean. This morning," Hamish continued, "I received another message, from a cohort in Seoul. The South Korean police have issued a warrant for the arrest of Dr. Sincere Park on the grounds of running a child slavery business on Cheju-do Island. No mention of Courtney Blaine Grey."

Back in Berkeley, the kitchen phone caller ID read "Sister Cerice". I punched the speaker phone so Rhyly could hear. She had stayed over with me, deciding to risk Professor Craft's wrath one more day.

"Greetings, Sister Cerice, we are all back home safe and sound. How is the decrypting coming along?"

"Thank you for all your assistance and your presence in South Korea. Would you and your colleague Dr. Raincrow have some time to verify our decoding of the two diaries when your friend Chip completes his decryption in a few weeks? We want to present our strongest case in Incheon at the Three Kingdoms Conference in August. We are sure that these are the writings of Princess Deokman and Queen Seondeok and not forgeries. The two diaries are most assuredly from the Silla era."

Sister Cerice then added: "Professor June Chung of Ewha Women's University said to tell you that your help in our discovery of the fighting stick in the tomb adjacent to Queen Seondeok's is a most exciting find. Even though the stick was stolen, we had the images from the stick photographed. We thank you all for your assistance in determining how the long-stick serves as a key to decoding the intricacies of the coded language in the diaries. We have found a pattern thanks to Chip and have deciphered the first diary which contains many details about the Wonhwa. We are also beginning to determine what is in the second diary now that Chip has broken the code of the more difficult segments with that latest second grave clue from Chungsik."