On the way back home, Kanita was sitting with her face smiling.
Noticing the different feeling from days before, Mok said to her, “Today, you look good.”
“Yes, because last night I had a good sleep,” Kanita told.
“You're not afraid anymore, are you?”
“Still, but a little bit.”
“Good.”
“Well, can I ask you some questions?”
“I will answer if I can.”
“Okay.” Kanita chuckled. “I want to know about your job as a driver because I heard Aunt Dari said you have worked as a car driver for many years.”
“Yes. I think about twenty years.”
“You said you have worked for Crow Maison for three years. What’s about.. I mean before that.”
“When I was young, I worked with my uncle. He got a van and he drove people from Phnom Penh here and I was his assistance. Then he sold his van to me. I did for about three years, I stopped, then I went to work as a driver for an NGO. That NGO worked in this province and I drove for them around the province.”
“That’s why you know a lot of areas.”
“Yes.” Mok nodded.
“Why did you quit?”
“I didn’t quit. There were no more funds, so the NGO was closed.”
“I see.” Kanita wagged her head.
“I was unemployed for about six months before I came to work for Crow Maison.”
“Well…” Kanita thought for a moment before she decided to carry on asking, “Do you know about the history of the Crow Maison? When did it open?”
“I don’t know much. I just heard it started to receive guests a year before I entered it. Before it was a house for living.”
“A house for living!”
“Yes. The house for living. Friend of Aunt Dari.”
“I see. It’s the house of a friend of Aunt Dari. She or he?”
“She is a lady. She came from Paris.”
“Is she Cambodian?”
“She is French.”
“Oh! So Aunt Dari knows how to speak French?”
“Yes. Aunt Dari came from Paris too.”
It was interesting. Kanita turned to sit on her left to be easy to talk with Mok, “Can you tell me about her?”
“Well, Aunt Dari is Cambodian and her hometown is here. During the war in 1970, she ran to France. She lived and worked in Paris. When she retired, she decided to come back to Cambodia to live here. The owner of the Crow Maison is her friend, named Marie. I call her Madame Marie. She built this house to do her work, but due to finance issues, she decided to rent the rooms for students from abroad who came to Cambodia to do research. And she called Aunt Dari to help her.”51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZEJalpaO8c
“You said she built the house to do her work. What is her work?”
“She is an artist.”
“Oh!” Kanita raised her eyebrows as she felt a little bit surprised. “Madame Marie, artist,” she murmured alone, for a few seconds. Then she seemed to remember something. “Does she like wearing a red dress?”
“Yes,” Mok nodded, “she likes red dresses.”
“Is she the ghost who is haunting me?”
Mok didn’t reply when he heard it, but looking at his expression, Kanita could sense that her suspect was not wrong.
“Oh my god!” She rotated her body to sit straight with a big surprise on her face.
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