Peter May - The Firemaker

‘Are you threatening me, Professor?’ Li’s voice was level and steady.

‘No. I am telling you how things are. And they are things over which neither of us has any control.’

‘We’ll see,’ Li said, and he turned abruptly and headed for the door, catching Margaret by surprise. She had no idea what had been said, but the tone was unmistakably hostile. Her brow furrowed in a question to Professor Xie that was formulated entirely in body language. After all, they had performed three autopsies together. There had been an element of bonding in that. The professor responded with an almost imperceptible shrug that carried the hint of an apology. Margaret sighed and followed Li out. She caught him up as he stepped from the cool of the building into the blaze of mid-afternoon sunshine.

‘What was all that about?’ she asked.

‘He was warning me off.’

‘What, you mean threatening you?’

‘No.’ Li smiled grimly. ‘Warning me.’

Margaret shook her head. ‘I don’t understand. I mean, can’t you just arrest him for obstructing a police investigation?’

‘We have no such law.’

‘So, what happens if someone refuses to co-operate with the police?’

Li smiled with genuine amusement at her naïveté. ‘No one refuses to co-operate with the police in China.’

Margaret took a moment to fully absorb his meaning. ‘But isn’t that what Professor Xie just did?’ she asked.

Li’s smile faded. ‘No. He didn’t refuse to co-operate. He just lied.’

‘Where is she now?’ Chen stood behind his desk, eyes blazing with anger as he gathered papers together and slipped them into a briefcase.

‘In my office.’

‘You’re a fool, Li,’ Chen raged. ‘I told you she was to play no further part in this investigation.’

‘She’s a witness. I’m taking her statement.’

‘Proving what? That Professor Xie’s English is less than perfect? For God’s sake, Li, what possible reason could the professor have for deliberately destroying evidence or failing to carry out blood tests?’

‘None.’

‘Well, there you are, then.’

‘He was ordered to.’

Chen’s laugh was hollow and without humour. ‘Oh, what’s this? A conspiracy theory now? Dr Campbell is turning out to be the biggest mistake I ever made.’ He rounded the desk and unhooked his jacket from a peg on the back of the door.

‘It’s got nothing to do with Dr Campbell.’

‘You’re right. It hasn’t. This is an investigation by Section One of the Criminal Investigation Department of Beijing Municipal Police.’ He pulled his jacket on angrily.

‘The point is, someone tried to stop us doing tests on Chao’s blood, Chief.’

‘Well, if that’s true, they succeeded, didn’t they?’ He looked at his watch. ‘Look, I’ve got a meeting at the Procurator General’s office. I’m going to be late.’ He paused at the door and cast Li a withering look. ‘Perhaps you’d like me to pass on your conspiracy theory to Deputy Procurator General Zeng, since you and he seem very tight on this case.’

Li followed him out into the corridor, ignoring the barb. ‘Chief, I think the key to this whole case is in what those blood tests would have shown up.’

‘Then find another key. There’s always a back door.’ Chen checked his watch again without breaking his stride. ‘And, for heaven’s sake, lose the American. I hear she’s quit her job at the university.’

‘She’s booked a flight home tomorrow morning.’

‘Good. Make sure she’s on it.’

Li stopped and watched Chen all the way to the end of the corridor, then turned into the detectives’ room, ignoring the curious glances of his colleagues and passing straight through into his own office. He slammed the door behind him. Margaret was sitting at his desk, tipping the chair slowly backwards and forwards.

‘It’s strange to think he was in here,’ she said. She lifted a copy of Johnny Ren’s photograph from the desk. ‘I take it this is him?’ Li nodded. ‘He doesn’t look at all like I imagined him.’

‘How did you think he’d look?’

‘Not Chinese. I don’t know why. I knew he would have to be, but it’s not the picture I had in my head.’ She examined the photograph again. ‘He’s got evil eyes, hasn’t he? There’s no light in them. They’re quite dead.’ She looked up. ‘What did Chen say?’

‘He’s not buying into a conspiracy.’

‘Are you surprised?’

‘Not really. He thinks Professor Xie’s story sounds quite plausible.’

‘So where does that leave us?’

‘It leaves me trying to catch Johnny Ren. And it leaves you catching a plane home in the morning.’ He glanced at her, then quickly averted his eyes, suddenly self-conscious. He wandered to the window, hands pushed in pockets, and there was a silence between them that lingered interminably.

Finally she said, ‘Of course, there could be another way of getting access to Chao’s medical history.’

He turned, frowning. ‘How do you mean?’

‘Well, presumably he had a doctor. I mean, where else would he get all those prescription drugs?’

Li shook his head in disbelief. It was so obvious, why had it taken both of them until now to think of it? And then he smiled to himself.

‘What’s so funny?’ she asked.

‘Old Chen,’ he said. ‘He is a prickly old bastard, but he’s not stupid. I told him I thought the key to Chao’s murder was in his blood. He said,’ — and Li was careful to recall the exact words — “then find another key. There’s always a back door.”’

‘As long as you let me help to unlock it.’ Margaret raised an appealing eyebrow.

‘You’ve got a plane to catch.’

‘A lot can happen in…’ She checked her watch. ‘… seventeen and a half hours.’

Li turned the Jeep down Beijingzhan Street, and ahead of them rose the twin towers of Beijing railway station, where Old Yifu would arrive back from Sichuan some time that evening. Li had taken a circuitous route to Chongwenmen to avoid the traffic that had ground to its habitual afternoon standstill on the second ring road. He had finally summoned up the courage to ask Margaret what had happened to make her quit the university. And she had told him: about missing her lecture, about the attitude of Jiang and his staff, about her row with Bob. Now he shook his head and said, ‘I am so sorry, Margaret.’

‘Why? It’s not your fault.’

‘If I had taken you back to your hotel instead of my apartment none of this would have happened.’

‘If I hadn’t got drunk…’ She didn’t need to finish. ‘Well, anyway, it’s that little bitch, Lily Peng, that I blame. It was her that snitched on us.’

Li shrugged. ‘If it had not been her it would have been someone else — the duty policeman at the apartments, the staff at the Friendship… But there was no reason for you to quit.’

She sighed. ‘Yes, there was. I guess maybe Bob’s holier-than-thou attitude pushed me over the edge, but the blow-up’s been coming since the moment I stepped off the plane. I should never have come here, Li Yan. I came for all the wrong reasons — to escape the mess of my life back home, not because I wanted to come to China. And Bob was absolutely right. I didn’t take the interest I should have, I didn’t prepare properly. I arrived with all the baggage of popular paranoid American propaganda about China and communism — and a completely closed mind.’ She glanced at him across the Jeep and smiled ruefully. ‘If I hadn’t met you, if you hadn’t challenged me and forced me to open my eyes and my mind, I would probably have gone through my six weeks here like some kind of automaton, and none of this country would have rubbed off on me. And I’d have gone home the same person I was when I arrived. And the same wasted life would have been waiting for me when I got back. But these four days have changed me. When I go home tomorrow, it’ll be a different me who gets off the plane in Chicago. And I won’t be going back to the same old wasted life. I’ll be starting a new one.’ She stared at her hands. ‘I just wish…’ But she couldn’t finish what she had started and shrugged, a little hopelessly. ‘So why did you take me back to your apartment?’