Chapter 9 — The Journey of the Missing Bronze Drum

The news broke Monday morning, earlier than anyone on the investigation team expected. An online newspaper published an article with a sensational headline: "Rare Dong Son bronze drum 'evaporated' from archaeological site, suspicion of lax protection of national heritage." The article cited an "unnamed source" detailing both the disabled locking mechanism and the specialized cart tracks — details that only a few of the excavation team and investigation team knew.

Diem read the article on her phone as soon as she entered the Bureau's headquarters, her hands clenched so tightly that her knuckles turned white. She read the quote from the "anonymous source" again, trying to remember exactly who was at the Go Lang Uyen scene in the first twenty-four hours: Chu Vinh Tru's excavation team, several commune police, the local criminal technical team, and of course, neither she nor Mr. Dang from customs had ever been there. The list of people who knew the technical details of the locking mechanism was not long, but it was enough for her to understand that finding out who had talked to the press would not be simple at all.

Before she could sit down, she was summoned to the Director's meeting room.

The meeting room this morning was more crowded than usual: the director, two deputy directors, representatives of the communications department, and a woman wearing a business suit that Diem had never met, introduced as a public relations consultant invited from outside.

"This article causes serious damage to the reputation of the Department," the Director said, his voice tense, placing the printed article on the table. "Not only that, I just received a call from a senior leader's office, asking directly why a national-level artifact could be stolen so easily, and what the current investigation progress is."

"We're progressing in the right direction," Diem said, trying to keep her voice calm. "But more time is needed so as not to reveal important clues before there is enough evidence to act."

"Time is something we don't have much of," a deputy director interjected, his voice sharper. "The press is hunting for news every hour. If there are no specific results to announce soon, public opinion will make its own inferences, and all inferences will be detrimental to the industry."

The communications specialist opened his laptop and presented a few slides analyzing the spread of the article on social networks. "We propose a press conference this week, releasing some controlled information to reassure public opinion, and show that the Department is aggressively handling the case."

Diem felt a wave of anxiety rising. "If released too soon, even controlled information, the network under investigation may realize how close we are, based on what we choose not to say. I recommend postponing the press conference for at least two weeks."

"Two weeks is too long in the current context," the Director said, rubbing his forehead tiredly. "I understand your concerns, but I also need to balance between professional requirements and practical pressures from many sides."

One detail that caught Diem's attention: during the meeting, the name Ta Bach Son was mentioned twice, both times in a positive way - a deputy director mentioned the fifty million VND reward he proposed as a "nice deed that needs to be publicly recognized in the press conference to balance negative public opinion", and the media specialist proposed inviting him to "speak as a reputable collector in support of heritage preservation" at the upcoming press conference.

Diem glanced at Hai, who had also just been invited to attend the meeting as a representative of the coordinating police side. The two people's eyes met for a short moment, enough to convey the same unspoken thought in the middle of a crowded meeting: if their suspicions about Ta Bach Son were correct, putting him on the press conference stage as a "silent hero of the heritage industry" would be a serious mistake, possibly ruining all the long-standing silent investigation efforts.

"I would like to have an opinion," Hai spoke up, his voice calm but decisive. "As the investigation coordination unit, we recommend that no individual or organization related to the case be made public, even in a praising direction, until the investigation has an official conclusion. Bringing anyone to the media at this stage poses potential professional risks that we cannot fully anticipate."

The room was silent for a moment. The director looked at Hai, then at Diem, his eyes searching.

"What are you implying, Major?"

"I don't mean anything specific," Hai replied, choosing his words carefully. "I'm just following the basic principle of investigative work: not making public any connection with parties that may be involved, whether related in a positive or negative direction, until there is a clear conclusion. This is the principle of protecting innocent people, not just protecting the investigation process."

The director nodded slowly, seeming to temporarily accept that argument, although his eyes were still a little uncertain. "Okay, I will consider postponing the invitation to personally speak at the press conference. But the press conference will still take place this week, with the minimum acceptable information. Ms. Diem, Mr. Hai, I will give you two more weeks to get more specific results, before I am forced to transfer the file to a higher level for handling in a different direction."

"A week may be too short to complete a complex project like this," Diem said, trying to suppress the impatience in her voice.

"I understand that better than anyone," the Director replied, his voice softening a bit, as if he was also under pressure from a higher level that he was not comfortable speaking out in this crowded meeting. "But you also have to understand, I can't always use the excuse of 'needing more time' to delay a public answer, especially when there was a painful precedent twelve years ago that no one has explained satisfactorily until now." He paused, his eyes flickering with something unpredictable. "I've read the report you attached about case 48A. I don't object to you digging it up again, but I need you to understand that digging up an old case while under pressure about a new one is a double-edged sword - it can bring about a breakthrough, or it can distract you from what's urgent at hand."

Diem tightened the file in her hand, did not refute, just nodded in acceptance, even though in her heart she knew clearly that those two cases, for her, were never really separate from each other.

The meeting ended, everyone left the room one by one. On the way out of the meeting room area, Diem almost bumped into a group of reporters who had sneaked into the second floor hallway, cameras and microphones pointed straight at her as soon as she recognized the face on the name tag strapped to her chest.

"Miss Diem, can I ask a question? There is information that the smuggling ring behind the loss of bronze drums is related to a famous collector in Hanoi, can you confirm?"

Diem stood still for half a second, her heart pounding. That question was so close to the truth that she and Hai had just begun to suspect, so close that she wondered if the source who leaked the information for this morning's article also knew more than they thought.

"I cannot comment on any details of an ongoing investigation," she said, her voice trying to keep it steady, then walked quickly through the crowd, feeling the cameras still following her until she turned onto the stairs.

Hai caught up with her on the first floor landing, breathing lightly. "Do you hear that question?"

"I heard." Diem stopped, leaned her back against the wall, trying to calm down. "That question wasn't the random guess of an idle reporter. Someone gave them a name, or at least a hint that was specific enough for them to dare to ask so directly."

"The list of people who know we're eyeing Hoai Co Duong is very short," Hai said, his voice serious. "You, me, Mr. Khoat, and maybe a few people inside the Department if your field report was circulated through many levels before reaching me."

"Are you okay?" he asked, his voice lowered.

"Not really," she admitted, something she rarely said so frankly. "I just realized that we are not only racing against smuggling rings. We are also racing against our own administrative apparatus, with the press, with the pressure to have quick results regardless of the cost of missing important evidence because of haste."

"That's always been a part of this job," Hai said, his voice somewhat bitter from experience. "The bad guys aren't the only opponents we have to overcome. Sometimes the toughest opponent is the one-week deadline our superiors just set."

Diem looked down the smoky stairs below, where the noise of reporters still echoed from the second floor hallway, gradually fading away but not completely ending.

"A week," she repeated, her voice low. "So we don't have time to fumble with each cautious step like before."