Golden Peacock - New Detective Short Stories

Detective's photo in the disappearance of a person in Dapeng

One afternoon, while Maung San Sya and I were sitting in the front room, reading the newspaper and discussing the many crimes that were happening in the area, the front door suddenly opened and a very imposing man, dressed in a long robe, a hood, and a hat, stood in the doorway, looking at us, then suddenly fell down, leaning against the door.

Then, both of us were surprised and then suddenly stood up. After hugging the unconscious man, Maung San Xia took out the items in his bag so that he could know who it was. He found a handkerchief, a leather bag containing 27 kyats, and a round-trip train ticket. Maung San Xia read the ticket and learned that he had come from Dapeng Station. Looking at the man who was still closed in his eyes...

Rare .. Over 40 years old, profession: lawyer or teacher, name: U Ohn Bae, origin: Aok Daw.

I ... If you can tell by looking at people's appearance and clothing, then fine. How do you know their name?

Oh my.. Ko Thein Maung, your eyes are still not that sharp. Can't you see the initials O,P on his shirt pocket? What else can you think of besides the name Ohn Bae?

"I ... I'm blind, I can't even see that much."

At that moment, the old man regained consciousness, rolled over, got up, and apologized to us for not being able to remember. He said, "It's been two days since I ate rice. I'm so upset and confused that I can't remember to eat rice." Finally, he came to U San Sya, saying that he couldn't help it.

Shay .. (smiling) Yes, I'm coming, but I'll tell you about the matter, U Ohn-Bae.

“ I am a school teacher in Dapeng. U Aung Min’s son, Maung Ba Kyaw, who was supposed to teach at my school, has gone missing. His father, U Aung Min, has announced a reward of 200 baht if his son is found, and an additional 100 baht if he can identify the people who stole it. I came here to benefit U San Sya. I also came because I was worried that the son of a good man who was entrusted to my school would be ruined, and I came because I was worried that others would not dare to entrust him to the school in the future. I also came because I felt sorry for the child. Please identify a goat and help me find it.”

What is U Aung Min? -

Father .. U Aung Min is a former MP. He owns over 1,000 acres of land, a rice mill, a sawmill, and is a very wealthy man. He also helps me with 8 baht a month for my son’s school fees and food expenses. With this happening, what good can I do if I become careless?..

Shay .. Where does U Aung Min live?

Dad .. He lives in Letkhopkone village, about 6 miles from Dapein.

Shay ... Tell me how the little boy disappeared.

Father .. Well, I have a reputation for being a good teacher and a good teacher. In my school, the children of the rich people from the neighboring villages were sent to my school as boarding students before they were sent to the English school. U Aung Min had money, but he was not happy. He and his wife often quarreled. Finally, his wife, Daw Mya May, got angry and left and went to live with her parents in Yangon. One of the sons, Maung Ba Kyaw, was not sent by his father. After his mother left, saying that it was time for him to study, he came to my school. The boy was happy when he came to school. He was very eager to learn.

Sha .. How old are you?

Dad .. It's been about 9 years.

Rare .. Tell me.

Dad .. It's been about 3 months since I've been to school. Nothing happened, my dear. Last Monday night, he disappeared. He slept upstairs in the school. Maung Saw Maung, the son of the landowner U Kyaw Myat, and Maung Ba Khin all slept in the same room. In the morning, Maung Ba Kyaw was gone. The front door didn't open. Not even the door to his room. However, there was a big sycamore tree growing right next to their bedroom window. If you go, it looks like this sycamore tree has gone down. I looked at the roots of the big sycamore tree and I couldn't find anyone's footprints.

Rare .. I can't even hear the screams at night.

Dad .. I didn’t hear it. If he had shouted, Maung Saw Maung, who sleeps with him, is a very light sleeper. He must have heard it well. Now, he hasn’t heard anything. They went to bed together at around 9pm. So we went to his house and asked, searched and searched, but we couldn’t find any news. At first, we couldn’t remember anything about the boy’s disappearance. At around 10pm, we learned again that Maung Htun Min, the assistant teacher who slept in the room next to the boys’ room, had also disappeared.

Shay .. Is Maung Tun Min fully dressed? Does he have all his clothes?

Dad .. This teacher is a very poor teacher. He only has two shirts and one pair of shoes. He didn't have two shirts, he didn't have shoes, he just left in a shirt. Oh... Oh, he doesn't have the bike he was riding, he's both gone missing for 3 days now. His father is also dead, and as you can see, we can't even eat, and the assistant teachers are running around, and we haven't heard anything yet, so we ran to U San Sya.

What kind of person is Maung Tun Min, the missing assistant teacher ?

Dad .. You are a very honest person, you are not a person who just hangs around, drinks, or eats. I can't even tell you how they got together and disappeared.

My friend Maung San Shar was listening to U Ohn Bay's story while smoking a pipe. Even though U Ohn Bay had finished speaking, he seemed to be thinking and did not ask any further questions, but continued smoking his pipe and remained silent.

Finally

Sha .. It's a shame you didn't come to me as soon as you disappeared. If you had called me right away, I wouldn't have been able to find your footprints under the big sycamore tree, but if I had looked, I would have found you.

Dad .. It's not my fault, sir. I remembered right away. But if U Aung Min had made this incident known, he would have been afraid that people would have known about the reasons why they were not compatible, so he stopped me from going, so I stayed away.

Shay ... Why don't you file a complaint with the police?

Dad .. I couldn't stand it anymore, so I filed a complaint, so the police came and investigated, but they didn't say anything.