Murder most foul

No really.  It happened about two weeks ago.  I found out from a fellow teacher whose overbearing parents and aunts (seven in total) were arriving from Indonesia, ostensibly to visit, but unashamedly to lure her back into the fold. 

She came into the school hot and clearly flustered.  “There’s been a murder at the hotel my parents are going to be staying at.  There’s police tape.  It’s closed off.  They’re arriving tomorrow.”

“Really?” I was fascinated by the concept.  The most prevalent crime here is domestic violence and the odd mugging of a malae.  A murder though . . . intriguing . . . .

“Yes!” she said, getting more and more distraught.  “My parents are arriving tomorrow.  I can’t change their hotel because they’ll ask why and then they’ll have any more reason to drag me back to Indonesia.”

I empathised.  “I see your problem.”  And I did.  Basically she was caught between a rock and a hard place, so I proffered the only solution I could imagine might bring some relief, “Red wine?”

Since it was before 9am, she politely declined and set about ringing the hotel to find out if it was open.  It was and remained so the next day for her family’s arrival.

I didn’t see much of her as she navigated familial territory and news of the murder was sporadic.  No one, it seemed had details, though almost everyone knew it had happened.  Disgruntled employee?  Husband and wife killed?  Children too?  No one knew for sure . . .

 . . . until my Indonesian friend returned to work.  Her parents, it transpired had the story – or at least more of it than we had previously heard.  This doesn’t surprise me.  overbearing parents are adept at grilling their children, why not turn their interrogation techniques on unsuspecting members of the public?

So here’s what we know.  The Manager of one of the nice hotels and his wife were both killed.  They were in different rooms.  Their two children were unharmed but have been split up and sent to the grandparents on either side of the family.  As yet there has been no arrest and police are uncertain if the reason for the murders lies in Timor-Leste or in some off-shore crime syndicate.   

Ah the intrigue continues.  As they say on Law and Order:  “Someone somewhere knows something”.  Apparently though, they just aren’t telling.