Don’t Cry, Tai Lake

instead of waiting passively for the fatal blow. And the fatal strike would have come from the front, rather than from behind. Then there was the lack of fingerprints too. The criminal could have wiped them up, but if it had been unpremeditated, it was more likely that the killer would have fled without cleaning up.
    Moreover, the amount of the blackmail, even if it was a large amount, wouldn’t have presented a real problem for Liu. He didn’t even have to take it out of his own pocket, it could have been written off as a consulting fee, as the other companies mentioned in the folder had done.
    Also, if Liu had chosen to confront Jiang that way, he would have been ignoring the potential consequences—particularly the possible impact on the IPO plan. Jiang could have done something desperate, which would have resulted in a disastrous situation for the both of them, as in the proverb, where the fish dies struggling to get free of the net and the net breaks as the result of the fish’s struggles.
    Chen lit a cigarette and drained the coffee in one gulp before he stood up and began to pace about the room.
    Now, supposing a different man, for a different reason, had come to visit Liu that night. That could explain a lot of things that didn’t make sense in the blackmail scenario.
    Chen gazed at the smoke rings spiraling up—indeed, a lot of things …
    The young attendant reappeared carrying the tiny thermos bottle of herbal medicine. She glanced at the breakfast tray, which had hardly been touched except for the coffee.
    “The breakfast wasn’t good?”
    “It’s very good. I’ll eat it a bit later.”
    “It’s better to take the medicine after you eat.”
    “Yes, I know that,” he said and motioned her to leave the medicine on the table.
    He pulled out another cigarette, but changed his mind and put it back into the box before absentmindedly moving over to the French window in the back.
    Out the window, on the cedar deck, he saw a tung-oiled paper umbrella unfolded against the railings, red-pointed like a gigantic breast, trembling slightly in the wind. Everything is imaginable, but not necessarily innocent . The night before, he had gone for his customary walk in a light drizzle, and left the umbrella out on the deck after he returned.
    He sat down in the antique dark wood chair by the window and stretched his feet onto the windowsill. In postmodern theory, it could be said that the sight of the shapely chair arms took him, he thought with a touch of amusement. Indeed, many would be contented to just sit here—
    But the morning wasn’t going to be a quiet, contemplative one for him. His cell phone rang, sounding like the alarm clock in the dream. He glanced at the number on the screen. It was Sergeant Huang.
    “Liu’s rival had a solid alibi too.”
    “Who?”
    “Zhang Tonghua, the head of another chemical company in Wuxi, who was Liu’s main rival in that line of the business.”
    “Oh, the man you targeted,” Chen said. “Of course, Zhang could have hired a killer to do the job, but then it would have become too much of a wild goose chase.”
    Chen thought about the puzzling details of the crime scene, details which couldn’t be accounted for in a scenario involving a professional killer, either.
    “But the timing of it,” Huang said, not giving up. “We can’t miss the connection between his murder and the IPO plan. Surely it’s not a coincidence.”
    This point had been first made by Chen. Huang had obviously embraced and elaborated upon it and probably saw it as his own by now. Still, it made some sense while nothing else did.
    “Oh, about Shanshan’s phone record,” Huang went on, “I’ve found something for you.”
    “Yes?”
    “The threatening calls were made from public pay phones. They were by no means a kid’s prank calls.”
    “That’s what I suspected.”
    “What’s more,” Huang said after a pause, “somebody else is interested in her phone calls. Her calls are being tapped in connection with the investigation into Jiang.”
    “Oh, that’s interesting. Who’s bugging her?”
    “Internal Security. According to them, she and Jiang know each other well. She could have been involved.”
    “Have they found anything?”
    “Not yet. At least, they haven’t said anything to me. But I’ll follow up, Chief.”
    “Thanks for telling me this, Huang,” Chen said. “Call me immediately if there’s anything new.”
    After he hung up with Huang, Chen tried to fit