“Yes, the Americans can be so… different.”

“As a representative of the Chinese police, I believe it’s proper to show hospitality. It’s beyond me who the devil-” He had a lot more he wanted to say, but he saw the expression pass across Li’s face. It was not the moment to blow off steam since Internal Security was involved.

It was not the first time for Chief Inspector Chen.

The involvement of Internal Security might have been understandable in the National Model case, in which the ever-glorious Party image was at stake. But in this investigation, Chief Inspector Chen had not been doing anything that could possibly jeopardize the Party’s interests.

Unless someone wanted to put an end to his investigation. Not in the interests of the Party, but in that of the triads.

“Don’t think too much about it,” Li said. “I have made it clear to the informer: This is a very special case. Whatever Comrade Chief Inspector Chen does is done in the interests of the country.”

“I appreciate it, Party Secretary Li.”

“Don’t mention it. You’re not an ordinary cadre. You’ve got a long, long way to go.” Li stood up. “It’s not an easy job for you. A lot of stress, I understand. I have talked with Superintendent Zhao. We’ll arrange a vacation for you next month. Take a week off, and go to Beijing -see the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, and the Summer Palace. The bureau will cover the expense.”

“That would be great,” Chen said, rising. “I have to go back to work now. By the way, how did you learn about the abduction in Qingpu, Party Secretary Li?”

“Your man Qian Jun called me late last night with this information.”

“I see.”

Li walked Chen to the door and said, with his hand resting on the door frame, “About a week ago, I dialed your old phone number by mistake. So I had a long talk with your mother. We old people share common concerns.”

“Really! She has not spoken to me about it.” Chen marveled at Li’s capacity occasionally to add a human touch to Party politics.

“She believes it is the time for you to settle down. A family for yourself, you know what she means. It is up to you to make the decision, but I think she’s right.”

“Thank you, Party Secretary Li.” Chen saw what Li was driving at. The proposed Beijing vacation was part of it. With Ling in the background. Party Secretary Li’s remarks may have been well meant, but his timing was portentous.

Why should Li have brought this up today?

After leaving Li’s office, Chen took out a cigarette. But he put it back into his pocket. There was a water cooler at the a corner of the corridor. He drank some water, then crushed the paper cup into a wad and dropped it into a wastebasket.

Chapter 20

The moment he got back in his office, Chen dialed Qian Jun.

“Oh, I called you several times last night, Chief Inspector Chen, but I could not reach you. I lost your cell phone number. I’m really sorry about it. So I called Party Secretary Li.”

“You lost my cell phone number!” He did not believe Qian’s explanation. He could have left a message at his home. It was understandable that a young ambitious cop might try to please the number-one Party boss-but by circumventing his immediate superior? He began to wonder why Li had insisted on assigning Qian to him.

“You know what happened to the Guangxi woman, Chief Inspector Chen?”

“Yes, Party Secretary Li has told me. How did you learn of it?”

“After I talked to you, I got in touch with the Qingpu police. They called me in the evening.”

“Any new developments today?”

“No. The Qingpu police are still trying to find the jeep the men rode in. It had an army license plate.”

“Tell them to contact me as soon as they have any leads. They are responsible for what happened in their area,” Chen said. “Anything new about the body in Bund Park?”

“No. Nothing, but the official autopsy report from Dr. Xia. There’s nothing new in it. No response from hotels and neighborhood committees, either. I’ve interviewed a number of hotel managers. More than twenty of them. None of them provided any clue.”

“I doubt that they have the guts to speak. The gangsters would never leave them in peace if they did.”

“That’s true. Several months ago, a cafe reported a drug dealer to the police, and it was totally smashed the next week.”

“What else are you going to do?”

“I’ll keep calling the hotels and neighborhood committees. Please tell me what else I can do, Chief Inspector Chen.”

“There is one thing you can do,” Chen said testily. “Go to the hospital. Ask the doctors to do their best for Qiao. If money is an issue, draw on our special budget.”

“I’ll go there, Chief, but the special budget-”

“Don’t give me any buts! That’s the least we can do,” Chen snapped, slamming down the receiver.

He was perhaps too upset to be fair to the young cop. He felt enormously responsible for what had happened to Qiao, who had gone through all that for her baby, and still lost it in the end. What was worse, she could never become pregnant again. A devastating blow to the poor woman.

Chen broke a pencil in two, like an ancient soldier breaking an arrow in a pledge. He must find Wen, and soon. That would be his way to retaliate against human smuggling. Against Jia Xinzhi. And against all the evil of the triads.

He brooded over Qiao’s bad luck in finding the job in Qingpu. “Fortune begets misfortune, and misfortune begets fortune,“ as Lao-tse had said thousands of years earlier. So many provincial people had poured into Shanghai, they could not find jobs even with the help of a new institution in the market economy-the Shanghai Metropolitan Employment Agency. Qiao had succeeded, but that success had led to disaster for her.

There was another office for him to call, he realized. Wen might have turned to the job agency for a temporary position, such as a live-in waitress or nanny.

The answer he got was not encouraging. Their records did not show anyone matching Wen’s description, nor was a pregnant woman considered a likely candidate in the present day job market. The agency manager promised, however, to call if any relevant information turned up.

Then Chen phoned the Peace Hotel. It was still his responsibility to keep Catherine Rohn company, whatever criticism this might lead to. She was not in. He left a message. This was not the moment for him to go to the hotel, holding a bouquet of flowers. Not after Internal Security had reported his putting a trinket around her neck, and Party Secretary Li had chosen to bring up the subject.

He had worked with her for only a couple of days. A partner assigned to him temporarily. It could have been, however, one of the unstated reasons for Party Secretary Li’s proposing the vacation in Beijing. A timely reminder. Everything was politics, and everything would be grist for Li’s mill.

He decided to go to his mother’s place during the lunch break.

It was not far away, but he had Little Zhou drive him there in the Mercedes. On the way, he stopped by a food market, where he bargained with a fruit peddler for several minutes before he bought a small bamboo basket of dried Longyan pulp. He recalled Inspector Rohn’s gibe about his bargaining skills.

The sight of the familiar old building in Jiujiang Road seemed to promise the brief respite he needed from politics. Some of his former neighbors greeted him as he stepped out of the Mercedes which he was using for his mother’s benefit. She had never approved of his career choice, but in an increasingly materialistic neighborhood, his cadre status, with a chauffeur holding the door for him, might help hers.

The common cement sink by the front door was still damp. He spotted deep-green moss sprouting abundantly, like a large map, near the tap. The cracked walls needed extensive repairs. Several holes at the foot of the side wall, from which the crickets of his childhood had jumped out, were still there. The stairway was musty and dark, and the landings were piled with broken cardboard boxes and wicker baskets.