Chapter 15 — Forest Keeper

On Monday, when she returned to the station, Khue decided it was time to confront Ma Van Loc directly, even though Nguyen advised her to wait longer to gather more evidence. But after the trip to the top of Pu Cai, after witnessing with her own eyes the suspicious traces, after learning about the secret meeting eight years ago, Khue felt that she could not continue to pretend that nothing happened, could not continue to report daily work to the person who may have known about her father's real death without telling the truth.

She found Loc in the office during lunch break, when most people at the station had gone out to eat. He was sitting alone, reviewing some reports, his glasses hanging down the bridge of his nose as usual.

"Mr. Loc, I have something to say," Khue started, her voice trying to stay calm even though so many emotions were swirling in her heart.

"Yes, tell me," Loc replied, without raising his head, continuing to look at the papers.

"I found my father's report in the archives. About the illegal timber yard he discovered eight years ago, and about the secret meeting he had with me, just a few days before he died."

Loc's hand stopped on the page he was holding, a heavy silence enveloped the room. He slowly raised his head, took off his glasses, and placed them on the table with a slow gesture, as if trying to buy time to mentally prepare for what was about to be faced.

"You know," he said, his voice low, no longer the usual calm, majestic look of a station chief.

"I know my father reported to me about suspicions of officials assisting in the illegal logging ring. I know you promised to help him contact the provincial police. And three days later, my father passed away." Khue said, each word was like a knife cutting into the tense atmosphere between the two people. "Why didn't you tell me this for the past eight years? Why did you pretend like you didn't know anything when I asked about the old file?"

Loc stood up, walked to the window, turned his back on Khue, his shoulders visibly shaking. "You think I don't want to tell you? Do you think I've been comfortable keeping quiet for the past eight years?"

"So why?" Khue asked, her voice also trembled, no longer able to maintain her original calmness.

Loc turned to look at her, his face etched with a deep pain that Khue had never seen before, the wrinkles seemed deeper, older than his real age. "Because I'm scared, Khue. The night after your father reported to me, someone came to my house. Not a direct threat, just a polite 'visit', but enough for me to understand the message clearly — if I were still involved in this, my family would be in danger. My wife was pregnant with their second child at the time. I... I chose to stay silent."

Khue stood still, the feeling of anger in her heart fighting fiercely with a reluctant sympathy that was forming when hearing these painful confessions. "Did you tell my father about that 'visit'? Did you warn him?"

Loc bowed his head and was silent for a long time before answering, his voice choked. "I was about to say something, but before I could, your father went on a patrol alone to Pu Cai that night, saying it was to verify more before officially reporting. I didn't know he was gone, no one told me. The next morning, when I heard the news, I tried to find him right away, but it was too late."

"Do you think someone hurt my dad?" Khue asked directly, her voice shaking with excitement and pain.

Loc looked at her, his eyes were red, filled with a torment that had weighed heavily for eight years. "I don't know for sure, Khue. I've asked myself that question countless times. But I'm afraid, I'm afraid that if it's true, then my silence for the past eight years means I've let my friend's killer roam free, just because of my own cowardice."

The room was filled with a heavy silence, only the sound of an old ceiling fan spinning steadily overhead. Khue felt a raw anger inside her, but at the same time, she also realized a truth that was more complicated than she had ever imagined — Loc was not the mastermind, but another victim of fear, someone who had to make a difficult choice between protecting his family and doing the right thing, and chose wrong, then had to live with the consequences of that choice for eight years.

"I need you to help me," Khue said, her voice softened somewhat, although the necessary toughness was still there. "I need you to testify, when the right time comes. I need to know who came to 'visit' you that night, if you remember any details."

Loc nodded, a slow but decisive nod. "I'll help you, Khue. It's time for me to atone for my mistake. The person who came to my house that night, I don't know his name, but I remember his face clearly - a middle-aged man, with a long scar on his left cheek, accompanied by two other people standing silently outside the gate. Later, one time I saw him appear at a meeting between the district and several forest products businesses, sitting next to the president of Kim Phat company."

This new detail makes Khue more certain about the connection between Kim Phat Company and his father's death, although the final link is still missing to directly connect Ta Quoc Bao with the specific actions that night.

"Can you describe the scarred man in more detail? Height, voice, dress?" Khue asked, trying to remember every detail so she could compare it later when needed.

"Medium height, a bit thin, lowland accent, not my local accent," Loc tried to remember, frowning as if trying to recall a memory that had been buried for eight years. "Wearing a leather jacket and shiny leather shoes, not like an ordinary wood merchant, more like a big business person. At that time, I still remember him saying one sentence, his voice was very gentle but cold: 'We just want to make sure everything here is peaceful, for both you and your family.'"

Khue quickly wrote down those details in her own notebook, her hands shaking slightly because of both anger and determination. "If in the future I need you to identify me through photos, or confront me directly when an investigation agency gets involved, are you willing?"

"I'm willing," Loc replied without hesitation, his eyes somewhat steadier now, as if letting go of the burden of secrecy had somehow restored some of the vigor of the ranger he once was before fear overcame him eight years ago. "I owe your father, you, and the entire forest a proper explanation. It's time for me to repay that debt."

The two sat for a while longer in silence, a silence that was no longer tense and hostile like at the beginning of the conversation, but had turned into a reserved sympathy between two people who both carried the pain of the loss of the same person. Before leaving the office, Khue turned to look at Loc one last time.

"Thank you for telling the truth, even though it's late," she said, her voice softening. "Your father, if he knew, he would probably understand."

Loc nodded, his eyes were red, he couldn't say another word, just raised his hand and waved lightly as Khue walked out of the room, carrying part of the shared burden, but also carrying a new, heavier responsibility - the responsibility to protect the man who had just bravely told the truth, before those behind the scar could discover that their secret was gradually being exposed.

"Thank you, Mr. Loc," Khue said, her voice now carrying a complex tone — both an echo of anger and a sincere sympathy for a man who had to live in torment for the past eight years.

"I'm sorry, Khue. I'm really sorry," Loc said, his voice choked. "I know an apology cannot make up for what you and your family have endured, but I will do everything I can to help you bring the truth to light, no matter what the cost to myself."

That afternoon, when Khue returned to the rescue barn, she discovered that Brown had mild signs of illness — not eating, not exercising, and body temperature slightly higher than normal. Nguyen immediately checked and determined that the baby langur had a mild intestinal infection, perhaps due to a strange leaf it tried to eat while exploring the cage. The two spent the entire evening next to Brown, taking turns monitoring his body temperature, giving him the correct dosage of medicine, and coaxing him to eat soft food bit by bit.

Amidst the hours of worry for Nau's health, mixed with mixed emotions after the confrontation with Loc, Khue found a strange comfort in Nguyen's steady, patient presence by her side. Near midnight, when Brown finally ate some thin porridge and showed signs of being more stable, they both breathed a sigh of relief and sat leaning against each other next to the cage, exhausted but reassured.

"Thank you for today," Khue said softly, her head resting lightly on Nguyen's shoulder in a tired but sincere moment.

"No need to thank," Nguyen replied, his voice gentle, his hand gently caressing her hair. "We're a team, right?"

Khue smiled, even though her eyes were closed due to fatigue, feeling more clearly than ever that, amidst all the turmoil and painful truths that were gradually being exposed, she had found a solid fulcrum, someone willing to accompany her through every journey ahead, no matter how arduous and dangerous that journey was.