Death of a Red Heroine

over tomorrow. You are here to question us, Comrade Chief Inspector.”
    “But I can be of some service, too. There’s no bureau rule against it.”
    “All the same, no,” Wei said. “Thank you.”
    “Anything else you want to ask?” Hua added.
    “No, if that’s all you can remember, our interview is finished. Thank you for all your information.”
    “Sorry, we have not helped you much. If there are some questions—”
    “I’ll contact you again,” he said.
    Out on the street, Chief Inspector Chen’s mind was full of the man in Guan’s company in the mountains.
    The man spoke with a clear Beijing accent.
    So did the man with an unmistakable Beijing accent in Uncle Bao’s description.
    The man was tall, polite, well dressed.
    Could it also be the same tall gentleman that Guan’s neighbor had seen in the dorm corridor?
    The man had an expensive camera in the mountains.
    There were many high-quality pictures in Guan’s album.
    Chief Inspector Chen could not wait any longer. Instead of going back to his office, he turned in the direction of the Shanghai Telephone Bureau. Luckily, he had carried in his briefcase stationery with an official letterhead. It took him no time to pen an introduction on it.
    “Nice to meet you, Comrade Chief inspector,” a clerk in his fifties said. “My name is Jia. Just call me Old Jia.”
    “I hope that’s enough,” he said, showing his I.D. and the letter of introduction.
    “Yes, quite enough.” Jia was cooperative, keying in the numbers on a computer immediately.
    “The owner’s name is—Wu Bing.”
    “Wu Bing?”
    “Yes, the numbers starting with 867 belong to the Jin’an district, and—”The clerk started fidgeting. “It’s the high-ranking cadre residential area, you know.”
    “Oh, Wu Bing . Now I see.”
    Wu Bing, the Shanghai Minister of Propaganda, had been in the hospital for most of the last few years. Wu Bing was out of the question, but somebody in his family. . . . Chen thanked Jia and left in a hurry.
    To find information about Wu’s family was not difficult. A special folder was kept for every high cadre, along with his family, in the Shanghai Archive Bureau where Chen happened to have a special connection. Comrade Song Longxiang was a friend he had made in his first year in the police force. Chen dialed Song’s number from a street corner phone booth. Song did not even ask why Chen wanted the information.
    Wu Bing had a son whose name was Wu Xiaoming.
    Wu Xiaoming, a name Chen had already run across in the investigation.
    It was in a list Detective Yu had compiled of the people he had interviewed or contacted for possible information. Wu Xiaoming was a photographer for Red Star magazine; he had taken some pictures of Guan for the People’s Daily .
    “Do you have a picture of Wu Xiaoming?”
    “Yes, I do.”
    “Can you fax one to my office? I’ll be there in half an hour, waiting by the fax machine.”
    “Sure. You don’t need a cover letter, do you? Just a picture.”
    “Yes, I’ll call you as soon as I get it.”
    “Fine.”
    Chen decided to take a taxi.
    He soon had a faxed copy of Wu Xiaoming’s picture. It might have been taken a few years ago. But clearly Wu Xiaoming was a tall man.
    It was urgent for Chief Inspector Chen to move forward.
    He did two more things that late afternoon. He made a phone call to the Red Star editorial office. A secretary said that Wu was not in.
    “We’re compiling a dictionary of contemporary artists, including young photographers,” Chen said. “Any information about Comrade Wu Xiaoming’s work would be helpful.”
    The tactic worked. A list of Wu Xiaoming’s publications was faxed to him in less than one hour.
    And Chen went to visit the old couple again. The second visit turned out to be less difficult than the chief inspector had expected.
    “That’s him,” Wei said, pointing at the fax copy in Chen’s hand, “a nice young man, always with a camera in his hand.”
    “I’m not sure if he’s nice or not,” Hua said, “but he was good to her in the mountains.”
    “I’ve got another picture,” Chen said, taking out Xie Rong’s picture. “She was your guide in the mountains, wasn’t she?”
    “Yes, actually—” Wei said with an inscrutable smile, “she may be able to tell you more about them, much more.”
    “How?”
    “Guan had a big fight with Xie in the mountains. You know what, Guan called Xie a whore.”

Chapter 16
    S unday morning, Chief Inspector Chen took