Jeannie Lin - The Jade Temptress

She hadn’t shed a tear for her former lover, but with Wu’s simple remark, his closeness, how his shadow seemed to hold her steady, Mingyu felt her eyes welling up. She took a deep breath and forced the emotion back.

“What is it that you needed from me?” she asked.

The moment broke between them. It had been as tenuous as a spider’s web and just as invisible, except in the right light.

“You mentioned that General Deng often met with you here.”

He stepped aside to allow her into the courtyard and Mingyu breathed a bit easier now that she was no longer facing him.

“The general would host meetings here when he required more privacy than a banquet hall could offer.”

“Deng Zhi also maintained a home in the northern part of the city.”

She nodded. “The Deng family mansion.”

“Yet he spends most of his time outside the capital.”

“Most powerful officials keep honorary residences here. It’s a sign of the Emperor’s favor,” she explained. “Deng enjoyed the previous Emperor’s favor, at least. Do you know of his history?”

Wu glanced down at her, his expression neither confirming nor denying her question. She had to remember that he was new to Changan. Furthermore, he was the magistrate’s hired hand and locked out of the sort of conversation a courtesan could easily overhear. Men of high rank liked to talk.

“The general had a rival military governor accused of treason and, through one scheme followed by another, took over the warlord’s army as well as several other garrisons. As a result, Deng controlled one of the largest military circuits within the empire. And one quite close to the imperial capital.”

If Wu Kaifeng had any interest in politics, he didn’t show it. His expression remained blank except for his eyes which were focused unnervingly onto her.

“Scheme after scheme,” he said finally. “The two of you must have suited one another perfectly.”

She flinched. “True or not, Deng Zhi is gone now. There is no need to insult me—or him.”

“It wasn’t an insult. Just an observation.”

A glaringly personal observation, speaking of General Deng and her as if he knew anything about them. Mingyu turned toward the main part of the house, purposefully cutting him from view. “Why are we here, Constable?”

“I studied the perimeter.” He gestured toward the low wall that surrounded the property. “There are two entrances. Or exits, whichever way you wish to think of it. The main one is the front gate. The secondary one is through the kitchen. The walls are not difficult to scale, but climbing over them would attract notice.”

Mingyu listened patiently, an important skill for a courtesan. It was fascinating to try to figure out who Wu Kaifeng was as a man. He was a blunt instrument, no finely honed edge, no finesse. Not at all like the men she was accustomed to dealing with.

Whatever Wu revealed of himself, she could believe. As fearsome as most found him, he never used his physical presence to intimidate her outside of that one time when he was performing his duties in the interrogation room. Not the way Deng had.

“Did General Deng typically have servants with him when he was here?” he asked.

An odd feeling crept down her spine. “Yes. At least one attendant and always bodyguards. I noticed there was something unusual when I arrived yesterday, but I couldn’t place what it was. And then everything became confused.”

“So no one was here when you arrived.”

She frowned. How had she failed to recognize that? “The place seemed empty, but the general would send his attendants away when he wanted more privacy.”

“Then he must have been eager to see you after such a long time away.”

Her face heated. Such a thing shouldn’t make her blush. Mingyu was an experienced courtesan, but Wu had no sense of what should be spoken and what must remain unspoken.

“The bodyguards would never be far away,” she pointed out. “A man like Deng has to always be watchful of enemies.”

Kaifeng nodded. “Violence begets violence. Did anyone else know where he would be waiting for you that morning?”

“Madame Sun knew of it. And I assume Deng’s servants must have known, as well.”

“The household is in mourning. I am forbidden to question his wife or son,” Wu said with a scowl.

Mingyu went still. “His family is here, as well?”

“Deng’s wife returned to the Changan along with her husband. She had the unfortunate duty of identifying her husband’s body. His head is still missing.”

Wu took two steps toward the house before he noticed she wasn’t following beside him. He looked back over his shoulder. “Have I offended you? I tend to ask my questions directly.”

“I was surprised the general would have summoned me while his wife was present in the city.”

“Explain.”

“Deng’s wife was not happy when he wanted to make me his concubine.”

“But you didn’t become his concubine.”

“I did not.”

“Why not?” he asked.

She shot him a warning look, but Wu continued to wait for her answer.

One would have thought with time among the society of the capital, Constable Wu’s manners would smooth out, but his rough conduct was apparently not due to his low birth nor being from the provinces. Her own peasant upbringing had been scrubbed away by Madame’s training. In Changan, if one had a way with words and mastered the social graces, one could be reborn. But Wu had no interest in being anything other than what he was.

“Deng Furen is one of those women who very much has a say in what happens in the household. She comes from a very wealthy and powerful family.”

“You are not telling me everything,” Wu insisted.

Mingyu sighed. “These are women’s matters. A courtesan’s role is different than that of a concubine. If I were to leave the Lotus to disappear into Deng’s household, I would have been completely under his wife’s rule.”

He took a moment to consider her explanation. His curiosity must have been satisfied, because he gestured toward the door. “Come inside.”

She went still. They were at the entrance to the study. “I can’t—”

“I need you to see something.”

Without waiting for her, he pushed the door open. If Mingyu turned and fled now, things would be even worse for her. She had no choice but to follow his lead.

It wasn’t as bad inside with Deng’s body removed, yet in a way it was also worse. Bloodstains surrounded the desk and chair, the only clean area being where the corpse had sat.

“You should know that the evidence indicates the general was killed very close to the time that you arrived at the house,” Wu said. “You may have even been in the house at the same time, with the killer leaving through the rear exit.”

She swallowed and her hand flew to her throat. “I could have walked in at the wrong moment—”

“Did you see anyone out in the street when you arrived?”

Mingyu shook her head. “No... I don’t know.”

“There are a few details I left off of the official report. I need you to speak to them now.”

Her chest tightened until she could hardly breathe. She had told him everything, hadn’t she?

“There was blood on the hem of your robe yesterday. Also on your sleeve.”

Every muscle within her tensed. “Impossible.”

“There was also blood on your hands, Lady Mingyu.”

She vaguely remembered stepping toward the corpse. She remembered backing away, stumbling to the gate. Calling to the boy who was loitering outside.

“You were studying my hands in the interrogation room,” she said dully.

“Beneath your fingernails. When I came back here last night, I found the washbasin had been used. You can still see it now.”