Scene 10

On the journey from the river harbour to Phnom Penh airport, Maille was immersed in thought about his cook and her stilt-hut body odour. How often he had woken up at night with the sensation that the smell was right there in his bedroom. But the moment he opened his eyes, the perfume would vanish.

During the first phase of his mission Maille had, in his imagination, constantly been with Marie, the first secretary of the Lemusan secret service. Now it was his cook Odette who occupied his thoughts. Marie's cockiness and waspishness had prevented the embers of his attraction for her from growing into a fire. Was it the desire for the culinary delicacies of Santa Lemusa that had sparked his preoccupation with his cook? Or was it some other reason, a mood or an inconsistency, that had manifested itself as this odd flicker of thought?

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