‘The endless complications of life in China,’ Lyang said. ‘You know, you and Li Yan should come over some night for a meal. We’ve got a lot in common, we four.’
‘I’d like that,’ Margaret said. ‘It would be nice to get out for a change. Where do you live?’
‘Ah,’ Lyang said. ‘That was Bill’s only stipulation — that if we were going to live in China, it wasn’t going to be in some dilapidated apartment where the Government controls the heating. His first wife died in a road accident, and he had been rattling around on his own in their big town house in Boston. So when we got married he sold it, and we bought one of those fabulous new modern apartments near the Central Business District. You know, the ones built for foreigners. We’re in a complex called Music Home International. It’s silly, really, but the two apartment blocks have got like huge grand piano lids on their roofs.’ She seemed a little embarrassed. ‘You can’t miss them. But there’s a health club with a pool and tennis courts, and there’s a beautifully landscaped private garden which is going to be just great for Ling in the summer.’
Margaret felt a twinge of jealousy. Not that any of these things amounted to a lifestyle she aspired to, but they sounded a great deal more appealing than Li’s spartan police apartment with its tiny rooms and irregular heating. And the thought returned her to a reality from which she had escaped all too briefly into a world of laughter and freedom from maternal responsibility. She had forgotten what it was like to have a life of your own, and she wasn’t sure that a friendship with Lyang would be a good thing. It could be very unsettling.
IV
Li sat with Procurator Meng, Deputy Commissioner Cao, Deputy Minister Wei Peng and Director General Yan Bo in a stilted silence in the reception room where they had first gathered. They had come in one by one from their MERMER tests flushed and fatigued and oddly self-conscious. Conversation had been desultory, and none of them had talked about the test. They were all, with the exception of Li, smoking. In exasperation, he had eventually gone to the window to draw the blinds and open it. He stood now gazing west, beyond Yuyuantan Park where he had sometimes played chess with his uncle, towards the distinctive minaret-shaped TV tower catching the mid-afternoon sun. It felt like they had been there all day. In fact it had been little more than two hours. But Li was growing impatient now, anxious to get back to his investigation.
He turned as the door behind him opened and Commissioner Zhu, the last of them to be tested, breezed in from the computer room. He was actually smiling and, like the others before him, faintly flushed. ‘Charming woman,’ he said, adjusting his frameless spectacles on the bridge of his nose.
‘Quit dreaming, Commissioner,’ his deputy said. Cao was draped languidly on his chair watching his boss with knowing eyes, smoke seeping from the corners of his mouth. ‘It’s your backing she’s after, not your body.’ And Li realised that she had probably been doing a number on them all, each of them convinced that her warmth and touch and eye contact meant that they had struck some special chord with her. Li smiled to himself. Whatever it was she had, or did, it worked. And as he glanced around the other faces in the room, he knew that the same thought was also going through their minds.
The door opened and Professor Pan came in briskly, clutching a sheaf of papers. The moment she entered the room, Li knew that something was wrong. Her whole demeanour had altered unmistakably. There was a droop in her shoulders, her face seemed pale suddenly, and drawn. She was still smiling, but the smile was fixed and false, and she seemed reluctant to make eye contact with any of them. ‘Gentlemen, I am so sorry to keep you,’ she said. Her eyes flickered briefly around the room, and Li saw something strange in them. Something like confusion. All the confidence in them had vanished, and yet she was working hard at maintaining the facade. He wondered if something had gone terribly wrong with the tests. If she was going to fail to identify the three ‘criminals’. But then she said, ‘The tests are quite conclusive. Commissioner Zhu, Procurator Meng, Section Chief Li. I think my findings would be sufficient to convict you all of murder in a court of law.’
There was a spontaneous burst of applause, and Li looked around his fellow guinea-pigs. If any of them was aware of the change in Miss Pan it did not show.
‘Congratulations, Professor,’ Procurator General Meng said. ‘I think we are all very impressed.’
And Li wondered for a moment if it was all just some kind of sophisticated parlour trick. If it was, it was a very good one. ‘How do we know you weren’t aware all along which of us was briefed?’ he asked.
She swung wounded eyes on him, and he saw the hurt in them. But before she had a chance to speak, Deputy Cao said, ‘Don’t be ridiculous, Li. If the thing didn’t work, she knows we’d find out soon enough.’ And although she said nothing, Pan held Li’s eyes for longer than she had to, and he saw something else in them. Something confounding. Something like fear and a plea for help.
‘I think,’ the Deputy Minister said, ‘I can speak for everyone here when I say that I believe you can count on our backing for your project.’ He looked around, as if defying anyone to contradict him.
Pan tore her eyes away from Li’s and forced the smile back to her lips. ‘That’s very gratifying, Deputy Minister Wei. I’m very grateful to you all for your patience. I know it’s been a long afternoon for you.’
‘Not at all, Professor,’ Commissioner Zhu said. ‘I think we’ve all enjoyed the experience. A welcome break from the routine of the office.’
She nodded, glancing at her watch. ‘Well, I don’t want to keep you any longer, gentlemen. Thank you so much for coming.’ She made a tiny bow, and turned and hurried out of the room. Li saw the smile wiping itself from her face as she disappeared through the door.
* * *
‘Well, how did it go?’ Bill Hart pressed him eagerly as they went down the stairs together.
‘Oh, I think she’ll get her funding okay,’ Li said.
Hart grinned. ‘I never doubted it. What did you think?’
Li had to acknowledge, ‘I was very impressed. If MERMER is as reliable as that in the field, then it could revolutionise criminal investigation.’
‘Of course, it has to be used very carefully,’ Hart said. ‘I mean, think about it. You’re the investigating officer. You make a detailed examination of the crime scene, so now you carry the same information in your brain as the killer. Can we always be sure we’ll know which is which, who is who?’
Li nodded. ‘A fair point. And I suppose an investigating officer would have to be very careful that he didn’t accidentally provide a suspect with information that might read like guilty knowledge in a MERMER test.’
‘Absolutely,’ Hart said. ‘If this thing really is going to work in the field, then the rules of engagement are going to have to be very tightly defined, and applied. Otherwise it could be open to abuse.’
‘Like corrupt officers deliberately contaminating a suspect’s mind with information from a crime scene so that it will show up on a MERMER?’
Hart smiled knowingly. ‘Not that an officer in the People’s Republic would dream of doing such a thing.’
‘Nor any in the United States,’ said Li.
‘God forbid.’ Hart threw up his hands in mock horror, and they shared a grin. Then Hart’s smile faded. ‘I guess if Lynn gets her funding, then there’s a good chance mine will get cancelled.’
‘Why?’
‘Shit, Li Yan, Margaret was right. Compared with something like MERMER the polygraph’s a dinosaur. And in untrained hands it’s just about useless. She put her finger on it when she said it’s the operator who’s the real lie detector. And it takes a lot of training and a lot of experience to be good at it.’ He sighed. ‘Your bosses at the Ministry are less than convinced by it. I think they see it as not much more than a very expensive psychological rubber hose with which to beat a suspect.’ He laughed. ‘Hell, a real rubber hose is a lot cheaper and probably just as effective.’