“What do you mean, Father?” Peiqin added a pinch of black pepper to the old man’s soup.

“Yu is Chief Inspector Chen’s man. People all know that, both in and out of the bureau. So they chose to tell me a thing or two.”

“What did they say?” Yu asked.

“Some guys are white-eyed chickens, with the tiniest black guts, only good for back-pecking. Now they are catching the wind and shadow between Chief Inspector Chen and the American woman. Internal Security may have been sent into the hotel.”

“Those good-for-nothing bastards.”

“Don’t worry too much. Chief Inspector Chen is a cautious man,” Peiqin said quietly, wiping her hands on the apron. “That’s why he wanted to bring her to our place, rather than to his.”

“He asked me when you would come back, Father,” Yu said.

“I had a talk with him this morning. About Gu Haiguang.”

“Who is Gu Haiguang?”

“The owner of the Dynasty Karaoke Club. A Mr. Big Bucks connected to those gangsters. Hasn’t your boss spoken to you about him?”

“No. We didn’t talk on our flight.”

“He said that he would call me about meeting Gu later tonight. I tried to reach him at the bureau, but he was not there.” Old Hunter said between bites, “I don’t know what Gu’s involved in. The case of the victim in the park or that of the woman on the run. But what I gave your boss should be enough to lock Gu up for a couple of years.”

“So where is he going now?” Yu said. “That’s strange. Wen’s case is concluded. I don’t know what else he is up to.”

“He cannot be too careful,” Old Hunter repeated.

“Have some more dumplings, Father,” Peiqin said, coming back with another steaming bowl. “He’ll call.”

Several hours later, Chief Inspector Chen had still not been heard from.

With Qinqin asleep on the convertible sofa, and Old Hunter in his own room, Yu and Peiqin lay quietly on their bed, waiting. There was nothing else Yu could do. Holding her hand, he talked about their guests. “Chief Inspector Chen may have his peach blossom luck, but it will never bear fruit.”

“What do you mean?” Peiqin said. “You must have noticed the way she looked at him.”

“That makes no difference, Peiqin. Their relationship is impossible.”

“Why? Chen is not immune to her attraction. There are so many stories about cross-cultural marriages nowadays.”

“Not in his position,” he said. “In fact, he could not discuss everything in the investigation with her.”

“Did he tell you that?”

“Yes, the line between the insider and outsider, Party Secretary Li’s line.” Yu had not told Peiqin everything either, like about the food poisoning incident in Fujian.

“He can go to the United States, can’t he?”

“Even if he wants to, do you think he will go far there-with his political background here? Politics are everywhere. He will never be a chief inspector there.”

“She can come here and make a good wife for him. She enjoyed doing things even in our cramped kitchen.”

“To carry out the chamber pot early in the morning, to ride the old bike in the rain and snow; to put out the fire in the coal stove in the evening, day in and day out. No, I don’t think so, my wife.”

“Haven’t I been doing all those things? I am a happy, contented wife.”

“It would not work for Chief Inspector Chen. With an American woman in his life, his career would be practically finished.” He added somberly. “Besides, we don’t know how things stand between Chen and his HCC girlfriend. Whatever their problems, she helped him before, in his time of trouble.”

“You may be right.” Peiqin softened. “I don’t want to argue with you tonight.”

“Why?”

“We are moving into a new apartment. In a month. I still cannot believe it. This may be the last time we will receive your boss or any other guest here.”

“Remember Chen’s first visit?”

“Of course. During the National Model Worker case. We had a crab meal that night.”

“That night, I lay awake for a long time in the dark, listening to the bubbles of crab froth as they moistened each other.”

“Why?”

“We’re so pathetic, compared with those HCC, partying all night in their mansions. We had to hold our breath in bed, with Qinqin sleeping in the same room.”

“Oh that, Guangming. I would love to hold my breath tonight, one more time,” she said, touching his chest.

But the telephone rang.

It was Inspector Rohn. She could not reach Chief Inspector Chen. The automated message from his cell phone said it was out of range. She was worried. So was Yu, who promised to call her as soon as he heard anything.

He thought he had lost the mood, but Peiqin’s caresses eventually worked.

Chapter 36

The airplane was delayed again.

Inspector Rohn, Wen, Detective Yu, and Party Secretary Li, Sergeant Qian, everyone except Chief Inspector Chen, was at Shanghai ’s Hongqiao International Airport, standing by the arrival/departure monitor, which as yet showed no departure time scheduled for the United Airlines flight to Washington, D.C.

According to Detective Yu, Chief Inspector Chen was on his way to the airport. Yu had heard from him an hour earlier. That was not like the punctual chief inspector. Inspector Rohn was concerned. Since their meal last night at the Yus’, she had not heard from him. In spite of the “successful conclusion” of her mission, as Party Secretary Li had put it, some of the questions they had had during the investigation remained unanswered. And the flight would take off, if not further delayed, in only one and a half hours.

The afternoon sunlight sifted through the tall window. Wen stood alone, her face pallid, lifeless, like an alabaster mask except for the bluish smudges of stress under her eyes. Yu was busy making inquiries about the weather in Tokyo. Qian, whom Catherine met for the first time, seemed a dapper young man who spoke in a pleasing manner and offered to fetch drinks for them. Secretary Li once more harped on the friendship between the Chinese and American peoples. Catherine excused herself and went to Wen’s side.

She found it hard to offer comfort in Chinese. “Don’t worry, Wen,” she said, repeating what she had said in Suzhou. “If there is anything I can do for you in the United States, I will do it.”

“Don’t worry, Inspector Rohn,” Wen echoed. “Your work here is successfully completed.”

She did not feel “successful.” As she tried to find something else to say, she saw Chen and Liu enter the airport carrying several plastic shopping bags.

“Oh, Liu Qing’s has come with Chief Inspector Chen to see you off!” Catherine exclaimed.

“What?” Party Secretary Li hurried over to them. Yu and Qian followed. Wen took a step backward in disbelief.

“I have brought Comrade Liu from Suzhou, Party Secretary Li,” Chen said. “I did not have time to ask for your approval.”

“Liu has cooperated with us,” Catherine said. “We could not have succeeded in persuading Wen without his help. They should have the chance to say good-bye.”

“Not just that, Inspector Rohn. There is something further I need to discuss with Comrade Wen Liping,” Chen said. “Let’s move to the airport meeting room over there. We have to talk.”

It was an oblong meeting room, elegantly furnished with a marble table and two rows of leather-covered chairs, where city officials met distinguished foreign guests during their brief, temporary stays in Shanghai. Catherine seated herself with Wen and Liu on one side of the table, Chen with his colleagues on the other. At the end of the meeting room, there was a small anteroom, in which the travelers could relax on the sectional sofas.

“Inspector Rohn, Party Secretary Li, Detective Yu, I apologize for having not discussed a new development with you,” Chen said.