Red Mandarin Dress

won’t be good for you or for your business. So I want to talk to you first. I would hate to drag you through all that unpleasantness.”
    “Thank you for your thoughtfulness,” she said. “I appreciate it.”
    “If he is not guilty, your statement will serve only to help him. It has nothing to do with the housing development case.” He reached out his hand, patting hers. “Mr. Gu may have exaggerated about me, but he is right about one thing: good friends help each other. You are doing me a favor, I know.”
    It was a hint about an exchange of favors, and perhaps something more, which she couldn’t miss. Rather bogus for a cop, but justifiable in an exigency, something recommended even in the Confucian classics he had been studying.
    “So where shall I start?” she said, looking up at him.
    “From the beginning,” he said, “from your first meeting.”
    “It was about three years ago,” she said. “I was a college student then, in my third year, when Jia came to give a talk about career choice. I was impressed. Several months later, I had an opportunity for a modeling career, so I went to consult with him. To be fair, I was the one that took the initiative, but he sent me flowers after my first performance. So we started going out. He was a broad-minded man, caring little about the gossip concerning my profession.”
    “What kind of man did you find him—not just as a lover?”
    “A good man: intelligent, honest, and successful too.”
    “Did he talk to you about his life?”
    “No, not really. His parents passed away during the Cultural Revolution and his childhood was not a happy one.”
    “Did he ever show you pictures of his parents? Say, his mother, who was quite beautiful?”
    “No. He never even talked about her, but I knew he came from an illustrious family. I brought up the subject once, and he was surprisingly upset. So I never touched on the topic again.”
    “Did he often lose his self-control?”
    “No, nothing like that. He could occasionally lose his temper, but for a busy attorney, it’s understandable.”
    “Did he talk to you about his pressures or problems?”
    “In today’s society, who isn’t under pressure? No, he didn’t talk about it, but I could sense it. He handled controversial cases, you know. I saw several psychology books in his office. Possibly in an effort to find ways to release stress. From time to time, he would appear absentminded, as if suddenly thinking of a case, even during our closest moments.”
    “Did you notice any other symptoms?”
    “Symptoms—of what?” she said. “Well, he didn’t sleep well, if you want to count that as a symptom of something.”
    “Now, in your intimate moments, did you notice anything unusual about him?”
    “Can you try to be a bit more specific, Chief Inspector Chen?”
    “For instance, did he ever want you to dress in a special way?”
    “Not really. Off the runway, I didn’t want to dress like a model, and he showed no objection to that. He bought some clothes for me. Expensive, elegant, but not too fashionable. Which is his taste, I think. Once, he wanted me to go barefoot in a park like a country girl and a small rock cut my foot. He never asked me to repeat the experience.”
    “What about any special dress—say, a mandarin dress?”
    “Mandarin dress? Not everyone can wear one well. I’m too tall and skinny. I explained that to him, so he didn’t insist on it.”
    “Now a more personal question, Xia. Any deviance or problem in his sex life?”
    “What do you mean?” She stared at him. “Is that supposed to be the reason we broke up?”
    “I’m asking you this question, Xia, because it’s relevant to our investigation.”
    No immediate response. A shrewd businesswoman, she knew how important it was to maintain connections with a senior police officer, especially when such a case loomed in the background. She propped herself up with a couple of pillows and picked out a cigarette.
    “That’s something to talk about in a private room,” she resumed with a wry smile. “Do you want to know how we parted?”
    “Yes,” he said, lighting the cigarette for her.
    “People talked a lot about our relationship, but in reality, it didn’t go that far. In a restaurant or a café, he would let me hold his hand, and that’s about the extent of the intimacy between us. Believe it or not, he never kissed me properly, just a peck on the forehead or something like it. About a year ago, there was a