Chapter 13: Chapter 12: Ekalai

The condition of the four young men sitting in the interrogation room was different among them: one looked bored, another scared, one anxious, and the other trembling. When the door to the interrogation room opened, August entered with an expressionless face. Without any emotion, he placed the confiscated digital camera and several belongings, including a document, on the table.

“For you four to invade the scene of a murder while the case is still not closed is quite a bold move.”

“We didn't do anything wrong, right?” Two said pushing the model next to him to ask her opinion.

“It's true, we went in to film for a moment and then we left.”

“But his fingerprints are at the crime scene and that is considered damage. “If there are fingerprints, they could accidentally become suspects without realizing it.”

“This is incriminating, officer. We just go in and record a clip to upload to the channel. Plus, we showed what was happening all the time. Anyway, the public is a witness, you can see it yourself, if you don't believe us, just ask the channel owner. Isn't that right, Jump?” The young woman, the only one in the group, turned to ask her friend who had been silent since the police brought him here.

"Do you have something to say?" Singha asked the young man who was sitting absentmindedly.

"No." Even as he responded, the young man in front of him still did not turn to look at him. He just looked at the wall.

“And where is the phone they used for the live broadcast?” The three teenagers turned to look at a person.

“Jump, give the phone to the police,” Dear said uneasily.

“What the fuck is wrong with you Jump?” Bomb turned to look at his friend in disbelief.

“Damn buddy, they're all going to arrest us all soon. Just give the damn phone to the police. You had it in your hand when we left.” The youngest person in the group, Two, nervously shook the arm of the person next to him.

“I said I don’t have it!” Jump broke free of his hand violently before standing up from the chair. This made the three remaining friends look at each other in confusion, because Jump seemed to act differently.

Singha was not at all surprised. He simply took the watch and looked at it before standing up and stepping forward to push the boy back to sit as usual. His piercing eyes examined the other's dirty body before asking more questions.

“They have a ghost hunting YouTube channel.”

“Yes,” Bomb replied.

“How long has it been open?”

"One year."

“Interestingly, no news has been published about this story yet, but you know it, and you know the details.” Singha turned on the big camera to see the contents, although he had already seen some of it before.

“How did they know that?”

“By an email. “Someone sent us an email telling us that there was a place they suggested we visit, and where we could challenge the ghosts.”

"I can see?" Two quickly pulled out his phone and handed it to her. Singha looked at the name on the email and knew it wasn't one that just anyone used. He pressed a button to call Lieutenant Khem, who was standing as an observer in the other room to come pick up the phone, to verify the origin of the email and the IP address.

“As for the four of you, other officers will come to give you some examinations, as well as to take additional tests.”

“Ha! Evidence. “Are we really going to be prosecuted, officer?”

“Oh, my mother will kill me.”

"Damn!"

The sound of cursing echoed throughout the room. Except for one person, the only one who didn't say a word, and was still sitting in the same place, which was Jump.

“I have something to ask, in the place, has anyone found a doll?”

"A doll?"

"Yeah." The three of them looked at each other before turning to look at the person sitting there on the edge of the table.

“Yes, I found a doll. Phi Jump said it was a broken doll.”

“Please tell me you didn’t touch her.” August frowned. Because it is a clue where they can find fingerprints of the criminal.

“I didn't touch it, Phi Jump grabbed it and threw it at Bomb, and then he dodged it, it fell and it broke. But we didn’t bring her with us.”

Singha cursed under his breath before the door to the interrogation room opened again. This time it was someone who came in with a look of not being very satisfied, both about the matter of the boy who was sitting in front of the interrogation room waiting, and about the morning's episode with August.

“You take care of it.”

"Where are you going?" King grabbed him as he passed him, but Singha let go and walked out angrily, without saying anything else.

Thup is sitting drawing the image of the female ghost that he kept in his memory. Although he had never been able to look at her face clearly due to the fear it caused him, so he only drew her without the clear face.

At one point, as he pressed the pencil to the paper, the door opened and he looked up, preparing to get up, before seeing who was leaving the room. But then, he saw inside the room, a young man, who was sitting at the end of the table, and what caught his attention was the woman, who was wearing shabby clothes, her body was so pale and green that it seemed that she could not. It had blood. There were marks on his body, like spots of purple to the point of almost black and dotted with green. And the most important thing is that it was on the young man's neck. Suddenly, the woman slowly turned her head until she was looking at Thup with a smile!

“Come on Thup. “We have things to do.”

“Phi Sing!”

"What's happening? Won't you pick up your pencil? “You dropped it.”

“The young man sitting at the edge of the table…” Singha narrowed his eyes and looked at the boy in front of him without clearly understanding him. "What did?"

“He invaded the crime scene.”

“At the murder scene?”

"Yeah."

“And…did he bring anything from there? What did he bring with him?”

"Why you ask?"

“I saw the same ghost woman, the one from Khun Min’s house… riding on his neck.” Singha turned around and looked at the interrogation room door again before opening it and entering.

“You four…” Suddenly, King stopped talking when he saw that the one who had just left came back again. “Haven't you left?”

“Did they bring something from the crime scene?!”

August approached, and looked directly at Jump. But the young man simply seemed distracted. Singha came closer to him and said again. “I asked if you brought anything.”

“What are you doing, Inspector Singha?” King asked in a serious tone. Singha pulled the collar of the young man's shirt without hesitation, but before he started searching, the subject appeared agile, much to the surprise of the others. King saw this and was about to intervene to stop him, but August pulled something out of the boy's coat pocket.

“Damn Phi Jump! “Why did you bring that thing with you?” Bomb said in shock, before getting up and leaning against the wall.

“I didn’t grab it.” Jump spoke in a soft voice. “I didn't pick it up!!”

Jump yelled before pushing August's chest and trying to run out of the interrogation room, but crashed into Thup, who was still standing in front of the room. They both fell to the ground from the impact. When Thup slowly opened his eyes, he saw the ghost woman looking at him, still on the person's neck. His face was white. White eyes, full of blood vessels, and bright red lips. The smile he showed was so wide that you could see all his teeth. But then, his laughter faded, he opened his mouth and stuck out his tongue which was so long that it reached Thup's face.

“Thup, are you okay?” When Singtha touched his arm, the image in front of him disappeared. The young man trembled with fear, but even so he did not take his eyes off the person who was being detained.

“What did he have?”

"The doll." Singha held up the Sikban doll with the body and head separated from each other for Thup to see.

“Don't resist,” King said before lifting Jump off the ground. "And now that?"

“Take him to a cell and lock him up, you have to book him and then you have to call his parents,” Singha said as he picked up Thup. “Khem! Come here."

“What happened, inspector?” Lieutenant Khem and the sergeant rushed over immediately when they heard the commotion.

“Please take care of this matter. And here's another test. Take it to Say for examination.”

“Yes sir, understood.”

August dragged Thup's arm, who was still shocked, but went with him to the car. He didn't know what this kid saw to make him so surprised, but if he asked right now, he knew he wouldn't be able to tell him.

…

A black car was traveling down the road at the fastest speed allowed by law. Inside the car, the only sound was that of the air conditioning because the two men inside did not say a single word.

“Phi,” Thup suddenly said absentmindedly.

"That."

“That doll… Its head is not human, right?” Singha frowned. He thought carefully before answering.

"That's how it is."

“What kind of image is it? Is it the image of a tiger?” , Thup muttered to himself, before turning to look at Singha.

"How do you know?"

“They gave me one like that when I was a kid, that had the head of a tiger. His name was Ekalai.”

“I don't understand, did they give you one like that?”

“Do you remember the ghost story I told you?”

He didn't even turn to look.

“Is this what you saw more than twenty years ago?” His voice shook, but he still responded.

“No, the ghost I saw now was the same one that was in Khun Min’s house.”

"So?"

“Just now, when I collided with that man, I saw her.”

“The Siakban doll I found had the head of a tiger and the body of a person. So what good is it for me to know this?”

“What if it's related? What if the criminal uses this doll to do something?”

Singha frowned harder than before. He didn't have much knowledge in this area, it was somewhat beyond his scope of understanding. “Why didn't you tell me that you were given something like that as a child?”

“It was a belief in the past . I myself don't know if there are still people who believe in it or not. Each locality has a different legend about Mae Thao, but what I have heard from Luang Pu, says that Mae Thao was an angel or nymph, who takes care of newborns. It is said that Mae Thao comes to play with the child. Sometimes it helps treat diseases. Other times, it appears when the child cries. If the child is of a certain age, a ceremony can be performed to protect the child from the ghosts that haunt him. Then the child will no longer be able to see Mae Thao.”

“What if the child cries just because he has colic or something?”

“That's why I say it's a belief.”

"And what else?"

“What I have heard is that the Mae Thao ritual can be done on any of the seven days, but each day a different doll is used. One of them is Ekalai, who has the head of a tiger. “That one is used on Saturdays.”

August froze before looking at the back seat.

“Pass me the file back there.”

"Which?"

“The one with the black folder.”

Thup reached out and grabbed a folder and put it on his lap. Then he looked at August, who told him what to look for.

“Look and tell me which victim was born on a Saturday.”

Thup nodded before opening the file and reading through the victims' information, until he found what he was looking for.

“The Kotchakorn Girl.”

“Kaew? Kaew disappeared on Friday.” August muttered to himself, “Look in his file and look at the autopsy results.” Thup turned the paper over and over again, until I found photos and autopsy results.

“Don't look at the photographs, look for what I tell you.” Thup had to squint and turn his face away, but he kept searching until he found Kaew's name as quickly as possible.

“Do the results say what day Kaew died?”

“Hey, Saturday.”

"Really?" August immediately turned towards the gas station in front of him, where he parked the car, to take the documents and verify it for himself, because he wasn't sure if Thup read it correctly, since he was barely opening his eyes. But when he read it carefully, he found that what he told him was correct. The young inspector immediately took out his phone and made a call. He waited a moment and the other end of the line answered.

[King speaks.]

“When you go to check the houses of the seven victims, look for clay or clay dolls similar to those that that child collected from the crime scene.”

[Because.]

“I'll explain it to you later. Just do it. Please, hurry up."

[You don't give me any reason now. It's just a doll.]

“A doll that tells why the murderer chooses his victims. You understand?"

[Wait, where are you going now?]

“To prison.”

[What are you going there for?]

“To reveal how careless the police were in the past.” August ended the call, handing the folder of reports to Thup again. He then left the gas station parking lot and headed to his next destination.

“Thup, please take a look and tell me who was born on what day.”

“Yes Phi.” Thup turned the role over quickly because he didn't want Singha to be distracted from driving. When he found the requested data, he began to read the names.

“James was born on a Sunday, Jom was born on a Monday, Or was born on a Tuesday, Muen was born on a Wednesday, Mr. Min was born on a Thursday, Thee was born on a Friday, and Kaew was born on a Saturday.”

The seven victims were born on different days.