Peter May - The Firemaker

‘You see! You see!’ Yongli danced round the worktop towards him. ‘He’s got you thinking like him now. Bed? Shit, man, it’s only ten thirty. The night is young. And you are turning into an old man.’

‘I’m up at six tomorrow. I’ve got three murders on the go.’ Li drew a deep breath and sighed. ‘Only I know I wouldn’t sleep.’

‘Ah. So you’ve come to consult with Dr Ma Yongli, that well-known dispenser of sound advice for insomniacs.’

The nearest thing to hand was a pot, so Li threw it at him. Yongli caught it easily and grinned. ‘That’s more like it. A bit of spirit. A bit of life left in the old dog.’ He swung himself up to sit on the worktop beside him. ‘So what’s he done now?’

‘My first day, in my new job, in my new office, and I walk in to find a feng shui man sitting cross-legged on my desk.’

Yongli looked at him in astonishment. ‘You’re kidding!’ But it was clear he wasn’t. ‘And Uncle Yifu sent him?’

‘To balance my Yin and my Yang and get my ch’i flowing freely,’ Li said gloomily.

Yongli roared with laughter, slapping his thighs and then drumming his palms on the worktop.

‘Yes, yes, thank you, thank you,’ Li said sarcastically. ‘That’s exactly the reaction it got from the rest of the office.’

‘Are you surprised?’

‘No, I’m not. But when it happens to you, and your boss calls you in and tells you to get rid of him, and your uncle says he’ll fix your boss, believe me, it’s not funny.’

Yongli, still chuckling, dug an elbow into Li’s ribs. ‘Of course it is. Hey, lighten up, Big Li. You’re taking life far too seriously.’

‘When your life is dealing with death, then you take it seriously,’ Li said firmly.

Yongli looked at him and shook his head sadly. ‘What are we going to do with you?’

But Li was lost in his own thoughts. ‘And then there’s my sister. Pregnant again, and determined to go through with it. And then I’ve got to go in tomorrow morning and lose face to my boss, and to some jumped-up American pathologist who thinks she’s better than us.’

‘Woah, woah. You’re going way too fast for me. What’s all this about?’

‘My boss gets this American pathologist to do an autopsy for me. She’s lecturing at the Public Security University. He met her on a course in Chicago. It’s a personal favour.’

‘So far so good.’

‘It goes well. The university offers her services for the rest of her stay. I turn them down.’

‘Why?’

‘It’s complicated.’

‘I thought she did a good job?’

‘She did.’

‘So what’s the problem?’

‘God, now you’re beginning to sound like my uncle!’

‘Ah.’ Yongli nodded sagely. ‘Now we’re getting to the root of it. Your uncle thinks you should take up the offer.’

‘Which I’ve already knocked back.’

‘So if you go back and say you’ve changed your mind…’

‘I’ll lose face.’

‘And if you don’t?’

‘My uncle will be offended.’

‘And God forbid you should offend your uncle.’

Li turned on his friend, angry now. ‘My uncle’s been good to me. I owe just about everything I’ve achieved in life to Uncle Yifu. I’d never, never do anything to hurt him.’

Yongli raised his hands defensively. ‘Okay, okay. So you love the old guy. It doesn’t stop him driving you crazy.’

Li’s anger diminished as quickly as it had flared up. ‘No,’ he said. ‘No, it doesn’t.’

They sat in thoughtful silence for a full minute. Then Yongli said, ‘So, this American pathologist… An old battle-axe, is she?’

Li was evasive. ‘Not exactly.’

‘But she’s old, right?’

Li shrugged. ‘Not exactly.’

A worm of suspicion started to wriggle its way into Yongli’s head. ‘Well, if she’s not exactly a battle-axe, and she’s not exactly old… would you say she was young? Attractive?’

‘I guess. Sort of.’

‘Sort of young? Or sort of attractive?’

‘Sort of… both. She was the yangguizi at the banquet McCord gatecrashed last night at the Quanjude.’

‘Ah.’

‘What do you mean, “Ah”?’

Yongli waggled a finger at him. ‘It’s beginning to fall into place.’

‘What is?’

‘Your little head started expressing an interest and your big head put a stop to it.’

‘Oh, crap!’

‘Is it? I know you, Li Yan. I’ve known you for years. You’re scared of having a relationship, even if it was just sex, in case it interfered with your big career plan. First it was the university, now it’s your job.’ Yongli jumped down off the worktop. ‘You know what you need?’

‘I’m sure you’re going to tell me.’

‘You need to get yourself laid a little more often.’ Yongli tossed his tall white hat across the worktop and started untying his chef’s apron. ‘Come on,’ he said. ‘You’re coming with me.’

‘Where?’

‘The Xanadu Karaoke Club.’

‘What?’ Li looked at him incredulously. ‘You’re winding me up.’

‘No, I’m not. It’s a new place, off Xidan. Open from eight at night till eight in the morning. The booze is cheap, the women are plentiful, and it’s not all karaoke. There’s live music, too.’ He hesitated. ‘Lotus is singing there now.’ And he saw Li’s face darken immediately. ‘And don’t start preaching at me, all right?’

‘For heaven’s sake, Ma Yongli, she’s a prostitute! A whore!’

Yongli looked at him dangerously. ‘I’ll take your fucking head off.’ His voice was barely a whisper.

Li softened his tone. ‘I just don’t understand how you can go with her when you know she’s been with other men.’

‘I love her, all right? Is that such a crime?’ Yongli looked away, clenching his jaw. ‘Anyway, she’s giving all that up. She’s making a career for herself as a singer.’

‘Yeah, sure.’ Li slipped down off the worktop. ‘I think I’ll pass, though. Wouldn’t exactly do me any favours to be seen consorting with a known prostitute.’

Yongli turned on him. ‘Can’t you stop being a cop for two minutes?’

‘No. I can’t ever stop being a cop. Because it’s what I am.’

‘Yeah?’ Yongli pushed his face into Li’s. ‘But you can stop being my friend, right? When it suits you. When you don’t like my girl. That how it goes? Well, fuck you!’ And he turned and stormed towards the door.

Li stood staring after him, his heart battering his ribcage. ‘Ma Yongli,’ he shouted. Yongli kept going. ‘Ma Yongli!’ This time he positively bellowed.

Yongli stopped at the door and turned, his face livid. ‘What?’

They stared at each other for fully a quarter of a minute. Then Li said, ‘I think it’s your round.’

By the time they reached the Xanadu, their spat at the hotel was forgotten. Or, at least, each kept up that pretence for the other’s benefit. It was about the last place in the world Li wanted to be right now, but he was trying to be a full-time friend as much as he was a full-time cop. Sometimes it wasn’t easy being either.

There was a queue to get in, and they stood for nearly twenty minutes, smoking and watching life drift by on the streets, talking about nothing very much. Groups of sullen youths stared lasciviously at groups of giggling girls in miniskirts and Wonderbras who flaunted their sexuality with a carelessness that, in the West, would quickly have led to trouble. They made Li feel old, disconnected somehow from their world, as if it were so much different to his. And, of course, it was. In thirteen years the world had turned and was no longer the same place he had inhabited as a twenty-year-old. He didn’t recognise the kids of today as being like he had been. They belonged to a new age. Everything — values, expectations, earnings — was different. He was still linked to a troubled past that owed more to the excesses of the Red Guards and the Smashing of the Four Olds.