The City and the City

Borlú’s search of Geary’s dorm room yields nothing. That night, Borlú makes arrangements with Dhatt to visit Bol Ye’an the next day. Eager to continue the investigation, he walks to the excavation site alone that night. He is stopped by police, but he shows his papers and mentions Dhatt’s name, after which they escort him back to his hotel. The next morning, Dhatt is upset that Borlú has overstepped his bounds as a consultant. He may not conduct any independent investigation.

At the dig site, they interview Professor Rochambeaux, the head of the project, who doesn’t know anything about Geary or Rodriguez. As they explore the site, they encounter David Bowden, whose graduate student advisee, it turns out, is Yolanda Rodriguez. They agree to meet Bowden later, but in the meantime, Nancy escorts them around the dig site, explaining various “pre-Cleavage” theories—that is, theories about the time predating the establishment of Besźel and Ul Qoma as separate city-states. Borlú and Dhatt then interview the students working the dig, and they learn that Yolanda is also fascinated with the myth of Orciny and that Geary was into “weird stuff.” However, not one student, Borlú notes, mentions Breach as a possible cause for the women’s disappearances, perhaps out of fear. Just then, a security guard approaches, asking about the progress of the investigation. He seems a little too interested, and they decide to interview him later.

Borlú and Dhatt sit in a café and go over the details of the case. What they know is the following: Geary, involved in radical politics, was murdered in Ul Qoma, her body dumped in Besźel, and the murderer went to great lengths—aided, perhaps, by a high-level bureaucrat—to not commit breach. Borlú then mentions the anonymous phone call, suspecting it was a unificationist, and Dhatt wants to investigate the lead immediately.

Dhatt rants about the unificationist movement before pulling up to their headquarters. He bursts through the door, rounds up the five members in the house, and forces them to speak, hoping Borlú will recognize the voice from the phone call. He does not, but Dhatt thinks he’s being too timid, that he’s concerned about implicating himself in a breach incident. In truth, Dhatt’s harsh methods rankle Borlú. They agree to interview Nancy and Bowden once again.

They arrive at Bowden’s apartment, which is brimming with Besz and Ul Qoman artifacts. Bowden reiterates that Geary was smart but opinionated and possibly “piss[ed] off the wrong person” (204), unlike Rodriguez, who was “sweet” and had no apparent enemies. He recalls refusing to supervise Geary’s Ph.D. thesis and her anger over it. He mentions Rodriguez’s interest in “dissensi,” disputed areas claimed by either both cities or neither. Borlú and Dhatt then suggest that Bowden, as the “doyen” of Orciny research, may also be at risk.

Bowden provides Borlú and Dhatt with a list of dissensi sites, and Borlú continues to study Geary’s notes and Bowden’s book. Later that night, he receives another anonymous phone call, but he identifies the voice as Jaris, one of the “unifs” he and Dhatt interrogated earlier. He claims that Geary found Orciny and established contact, that she was helping them in some way, and that anyone who knew about it was in danger, including himself. He tells Borlú he’s leaving.

Borlú calls Mrs. Geary and asks if her daughter was seeing anyone. She says yes, but she doesn’t know any names. She is also confident that her daughter was killed by someone who disliked her theories. The next morning, Borlú is awakened by Dhatt, who informs him, “Someone sent a bomb” (216).