The City and the City

At the Besźel airport, Borlú and Corwi await the arrival of Geary’s parents. They drive the grieving American couple through the city to view their daughter’s body. Despite their “compassionate-entry stamps” and lack of experience unseeing, any blatant breaching could get them deported.

After Geary’s parents have viewed the body, Borlú and an American embassy representative explain the unique protocols of the justice system. Once Breach assumes control, the investigation, trial, and punishment will be conducted in secret. As they discuss their daughter’s work—there was some conflict with her professors—her father implies he knows who murdered her. The conversation grows heated; her parents mention “Qoma First” and “True Citizens,” ultra-nationalist extremist groups that have accused Geary of treason.

Borlú contacts Isabelle Nancy, Geary’s academic adviser, and asks about her studies. Nancy denies that Geary was studying Orciny, a subject for folklorists, not archaeologists. The importance of the Bol Ye’an dig—the site of Geary’s research—is that it predates both Ul Qoma and Besźel, and therefore the artifacts may hold the key to the origin of both cities. After Geary’s controversial presentation a few years earlier, Nancy notes that Geary’s work became “lacklustre.” She was also a devotee of the work of David Bowden, who argues that Orciny is real, its inhabitants currently living, unseen, in the gaps between Ul Qoma and Besźel. Nancy regards Orciny as an unsubstantiated myth.

Borlú tries to contact Bowden, who is currently living and teaching in Ul Qoma. While researching his work, an officer calls to tell him that Mr. Geary has gone “AWOL” and “breached.” At the airport, Borlú finds the Gearys have been taken into custody, Mr. Geary unconscious in his cell. Borlú tells Mrs. Geary that they have committed a serious infraction, but Mrs. Geary says her husband was intent on investigating his daughter’s many enemies. Now officially deportees, the Gearys are put on a plane. Borlú takes a note from Mrs. Geary’s bag—an address for True Citizens, the far-right group the Gearys believe is responsible for their daughter’s death.

Borlú and Corwi investigate the headquarters of True Citizens (TC) but are denied access. They ask the members about Geary, and they accuse her of being “no friend of Besźel” (123). When TC’s attorney shows up, Borlú questions him, but in the absence of a search warrant, the attorney orders the inspector to leave, although not before citing a conspiracy theory that Geary was working to undermine Besźel on behalf of Ul Qoma.

Later, Borlú and Corwi discuss TC’s political connections: “Everyone knows the TC are the street soldiers of the NatBloc [nationalists]” (127). They wonder if some higher-ups are trying to scare Borlú off the case. Once again, Corwi is surprised that her partner hasn’t dropped the case entirely while waiting for Breach to take over.

The next morning, Borlú is summoned to his superior’s office, where he is informed that the Oversight Committee “is refusing to invoke Breach” (130). The case is still Borlú’s, and he is not happy about it, fearing it runs too deep for a mere street cop. As justification for its decision, the Oversight Committee has sent a videotape of the white van legally crossing between Besźel and Ul Qoma, suggesting no breach has occurred. Borlú wonders why the Committee would go to such lengths to justify denying his request. His superior, Commissar Gadlem, posits a connection between the videotape and Borlú’s confrontation with TC (and their political benefactor). He assigns Borlú to continue the investigation in Ul Qoma.

As he prepares to cross over, a copy of Bowden’s book, Between the City and the City, arrives. Borlú calls Corwi, suggesting she do a bit of last-minute investigating before his travel documents are approved.

Borlú and Corwi question the van’s owner, Khurusch, about his AQD visa, which allows his vehicle to travel back and forth between the two cities. It’s illegal to leave such documents unguarded in a vehicle, and Borlú finds it a “handy” coincidence that the murderer, needing to dump a body across the border, would just happen to steal a van with an AQD visa left inside. They suspect Khurusch left the visa in the van on purpose and arranged for it to be taken—for a price. Khurusch denies everything.

Later that night, Borlú and Corwi sift through crime statistics. Based on similar incidents during the night of the crime, they deduce that the thief was “visa-hunting” and, after two unsuccessful attempts, finally stumbled upon Khurusch’s van with the visa left inside. To pull this off, the perpetrator would have needed access to official records. They realize this case goes deeper than a simple murder, and they don’t know who they can trust.