As they left the salon, Chen saw that Huang had come in a local police car.
Uncle Wang was serving a customer at an outside table, and there was no other place outside for them to sit and talk, so Chen followed Huang into the car and lost no time in asking about Shanshan.
“Your people have detained Shanshan, haven’t you?”
“You’re right on top of the latest developments, Chief,” Huang said, offering him a cigarette. “There’s a new focus in the investigation-on the people who had a grudge against Liu. She’s been detained because of her arguments with Liu. According to Mi, Liu had said something about firing her. So Shanshan has a possible motive. She was also heard threatening Liu about a week or so before his death in his office-saying that he would pay a terrible price. At least a couple of people in the company heard it.”
“I have reason to believe she was arguing with Liu about work, and she was warning him about the consequences of the industrial pollution. I strongly suspect she made no threat to Liu personally. So, who heard her make the threat?”
“Mi, and Zhou Qiang, the sales manager, who called her a bitchy busybody. It is true that some people in the company don’t like her.”
“What about her alibi?”
“She doesn’t have one. She said she was alone in her dorm room that evening, watching TV and reading, and she then went to bed around ten.”
“Most of the people in the dorm would have given you a similar answer. A considerable number of them are single, and Wuxi is not a city with a lot of entertainment at night.”
“Wuxi is not Shanghai, I know,” Huang said. “But the murderer is someone who was not a stranger to Liu. As we suspected from the very beginning, it’s someone who knew where Liu was spending the night.”
“But others in the company also know about Liu’s home office. It’s no secret. As you mentioned yesterday, Mi, the secretary, knew Liu’s whereabouts better than anybody else. And Mrs. Liu too.”
“That’s true.”
“It would make more sense for Liu to have told the people close to him about his plans for the night. With the rancor between Shanshan and Liu, how could she have possibly known where he would be?”
“How-I don’t have an answer to that.”
“Besides, with the problems between the two, it’s beyond me why Liu would have let her in, and then let her strike a fatal blow without struggling-even if she had paid him an unexpected visit that evening.” Chen paused before going on, “No, I don’t think she should be detained without any evidence or witnesses.”
“I see your point, Chief. As your friend, she may have told you things we don’t know.”
“Whether she’s my friend or not makes no difference. In fact, as I told you, I met her just two days ago,” he said, wondering whether Huang would take his word for it. “As cops, we have to tell ourselves what we can do, and what we can’t.”
“I couldn’t agree more. You’re a man of principle. I would not have detained her, but I’m the youngest one on the team; they wouldn’t listen to me. Not to mention that Internal Security is in the background, and they backed the decision.”
That was probably true, Chen thought, but he still hoped Huang would try to get her released. “There is something strange about this case, Huang. To begin with, the timing of the murder. It happened just as the IPO for the company is coming up, and in the midst of the persisting controversy about its dumping of industrial waste,” Chen said deliberately. “I’m stuck here on a vacation that has been pushed on me, as I’ve told you, and I really have nothing to do at the center. I think we can look into this case together-you and I.”
“You mean we can work on a case together? That would be absolutely fantastic, Chief Inspector Chen-to investigate under your supervision. I’ve dreamed of it for a long, long time.”
“No, it’s not my case. Nor is it the time for me to make a move out in the open. I’m not a cop while I’m in Wuxi. We have to make sure of that.” Chen added, with touch of self-irony, “I know you like Sherlock Holmes stories. Remember how he occasionally stays in the background and lets the police do the job?”
“Yes, he does that in several stories, Chief Inspector Chen.”
“None of your colleagues should know about my working with you.”
“Whatever you prefer.”
“But for me to work on a case, whether in the background or in the foreground, there are things I do, and things I don’t do.”
“I understand.”
“For one thing, I don’t want to crack a case by detaining and interrogating people without justification.”
“You mean-” Huang left the sentence unfinished with an edge of hesitation in his voice.
Chen knew why the young cop was hesitant, so he decided to give him another push.
“Honestly, I was surprised when I was told to come here on a vacation I don’t need. But Comrade Secretary Zhao must have his reasons.”
It was no more than the truth, but to the young cop, it hinted that Chen had been sent here for something highly confidential; something Chen himself had wondered about.
“I happened to know Shanshan,” Chen went on after a dramatic pause, “because of something said by Comrade Secretary Zhao. He read an article by her-something about environmental protection. So he wanted me to do some research on new problems in China’s economic reform,” Chen said. He thought it wasn’t too much of a fabrication. “I’m about to write a report on sustainable economic development, development that is not at the expense of the environment. It’s not at all my field, but I couldn’t say no to him.”
“No wonder you came to know her so quickly,” Huang said with an awestruck look on his face. “I really appreciate your trust in me, Chief Inspector Chen. I understand it’s highly confidential. I’ll do my best.”
“Give me what additional information you may have about the case. In particular, has the final autopsy report come out yet?”
“Yes, I’ll get you a copy too.”
“Don’t mention Zhao or me to anybody,” Chen added in a hurry, reaching for the car door handle. “It’s a very delicate situation, but you’re capable of judging how to deal with it.”
“Sure, I’ll follow your instructions.”
“Then we’ll get to work, Sergeant Huang,” he said. “I’ll discuss the first step we’re going to take soon, but in the meantime, I’m going to write a report about it for Beijing.”
SIX
On Wednesday morning, Chen called Shanshan.
“I tried to get hold of you yesterday, Shanshan. I called you several times, but without success.”
“Something happened at the company. It turned out to be a false alarm,” she said. “But they didn’t let me go until the evening.”
“What!” he said, acting surprised.
Sergeant Huang had informed him that she’d been released the previous evening. How Huang had managed it, Chen didn’t ask, but Huang mentioned that Internal Security had shifted its attention to somebody surnamed Jiang, who had been feuding with Liu. In other words, Jiang was a more likely suspect. Still, Chen had become increasingly interested in the case, whether or not Shanshan was out of the woods.
For one thing, Internal Security wouldn’t have intervened in a simple homicide case, even though Liu was an important man in Wuxi.
“I’m glad that it was nothing but a false alarm. But I think you need to take a break, Shanshan.”
“What is false or not false, I don’t know. And I am taking the day off.”
“That’s good,” he went on. “How about an excursion around the lake today?”
“We walked along the lake the day before yesterday, didn’t we, Mr. Chen?”
“Well, had we but world enough, and time-”
“What are you talking about?”
“Just a line from a poem by Andrew Marvell,” he said. “My vacation here is only for a week or so, you know. Since you’ve taken the day off, why not?”
“You’re really persuasive.”