A Loyal Character Dancer

too.”
     
    It was the old man’s way of offering help, Chen realized. The retired cop was an old hand, with contacts of his own. “I cannot agree more. In fact, I was thinking of asking for your help, Uncle Yu.”
     
    “Whatever I can do, Chief Inspector Chen.”
     
    “I have two cases on my hands. They are not related, but each may have something to do with the black as well as the white way. I doubt that Qian Jun is experienced enough to do a good job, and Party Secretary Li, as you know, won’t want to become involved for his always politically correct reasons.”
     
    “Give me all the details. Forget about Party Secretary Li.”
     
    “First, with respect to the victim in Bund Park, we have not identified him yet, but the initial report from Dr. Xia supports our hypothesis.” He handed a copy of the report to Old Hunter. “He was killed shortly after having had sex with someone, still in his pajamas. So possibly he was killed at home or in a hotel. If in a hotel, I don’t think it could have happened in a state-run five-star one, which would have had to report, but there are so many private places, massage parlors and the like.”
     
    “And underground brothels, too, Chief Inspector Chen. You will not find anything about these places in the bureau’s data files.”
     
    “Second, there is Wen Liping’s case. Yu is working on it in Fujian. A former educated youth from Shanghai, Wen may have come back to the city.” He produced a picture of Wen. “If she’s not staying with a relative, those cheap private hotels without a business license would also be her choice.”
     
    “Good, I will check all the possible places. I’m old, but I can still do something.” Then the old man added seriously, “Don’t ever underestimate these thugs. They can haunt you like demons lurking in the dark, striking at a moment you can never anticipate. Last year, an old colleague of mine disappeared in the middle of a gang investigation. His body has never been found.”
     
    “I’m sorry to drag you into it, Uncle Yu.”
     
    “Don’t say that, Chief Inspector Chen. I’m glad to be useful. I have nothing to worry about, a bag of old bones. Whatever comes, it’s not a bad bargain at my age. You are young, and you still have a long way to go. You cannot be too careful with the triads.”
     
    “Thanks. I will be very careful.”
     
    After he parted with Old Hunter outside the Moon Breeze, Chen called Inspector Rohn. “We are going to interview Wen Liping’s elder brother, Wen Lihua, tomorrow morning.”
     
    “So the answer is a straightforward yes?”
     
    “According to Confucius, ‘A man is not fit to stand if incapable of keeping his word.’”
     
    “ ‘So you start panting for breath,’” she said, laughing, “ ‘the moment people say you’re fat.’”
     
    “Oh, you know that Chinese expression too!” It was an idiomatic one he had heard only once among old Beijingese. Inspector Rohn had an exceptional command of Chinese proverbs.
     
    “When do we start?” she said. “I’ll wait for you in front of the hotel.”
     
    “No, you don’t have to do that. Traffic can be terrible. Around eight, but I’ll call your room.”
     
    “Fine, I’ll be waiting.”
     
    As he turned off the phone, something he had just said flashed across his mind.
     
    Traffic.
     
    Because of the terrible traffic in the area around the Peace Hotel and strict speed limits, vehicles literally crawled. And it was there, that morning, as they stood on the corner of Nanjing and Sichuan Road, that the motorcycle had come out of nowhere, racing right at her. Sichuan Road was not a street frequented by motorcyclists. He seemed to remember having heard a sputtering sound as they stood talking there on the street corner. The motorcycle had nearly run her down. It must have started up nearby, which made the incident even more suspicious. If the rider had just started his engine, why else would he have accelerated like that?
     
    Inspector Rohn had just arrived in Shanghai. Only three people were aware of her mission. Could the Fujian triad have struck so fast? What was he confronting in his search for Wen? For the first time, he had an ominous feeling about this investigation.
     
    Was it because of Party Secretary Li’s emphasis on Inspector Rohn’s safety?
     
    Or because of Old Hunter’s lecture on the black way?
     
    He was disturbed by the memory of clutching Inspector Rohn, to keep her out of the reach