by Mai Jia
Everyone sat there staring at their hands, desperate not to catch his eye. He was unperturbed.
‘The reason I’ve called you to this little meeting is that I’m hoping you will join us in dragging him from his dreams, help us wake him up. The sooner he comes to understand the situation, the sooner you can all go home.’
When Hihara said this, he seemed sincere, as if he was speaking from the heart.
He carried on. ‘Let me explain. We want you to tell us whatever you like and in as much detail as you can. Just see what you can remember, give me some evidence, and he’ll crack.’
‘What happens if we can’t think of anything?’
‘It doesn’t matter. In many ways, that’s to be expected. But if any of you do have suspicions about him, now’s the time to tell us. It’s natural to be cautious, and I fully understand if you’ve been protecting yourselves…’
In the end, nobody had anything of any value to contribute.
It was now time for Hihara to put his latest brainwave into action.
He sent everyone off to eat lunch – to eat lunch and to meet Turtle.
His thinking went something like this: if Turtle reacted in some way on meeting Ghost, that would be good, but what if he didn’t react? Naturally, anyone he didn’t react to couldn’t be Ghost. There was an eighty to ninety per cent probability that Wu Zhiguo was Ghost, so if Hihara put the others right where Turtle could see them and Turtle did absolutely nothing, then wouldn’t that prove that Wu Zhiguo was Ghost? This was a simple mathematical problem, which could be expressed in a series of equations:
Suppose that: Ghost is X
We already know that: X = 1/ABCD
Then: X ≠ ABC
Therefore: X = D
Or, to put it even more simply: if it’s not this, then it must be that. A or B.
It was because he’d made this calculation that Hihara was in such a good mood. It made him feel that there was a point to what he was doing, that he was on the path to success.
He wanted everyone to be relaxed when they went in to lunch, because that would make it easier to get Turtle to react. Which was why he’d decided to be honest with the other three. There was no need to lie to them when telling the truth would be so much more effective. And he was still leaving room to attack them again.
Even though Wu Zhiguo was his chief suspect, Hihara couldn’t be a hundred per cent sure of his guilt. What if he’d made a mistake somewhere and was now knocking at the wrong door? The likelihood of that was slight, perhaps as little as 0.1 per cent, but once an investigation has gone off track it’s hard to be sure of anything, and a 0.1 per cent mistake could ruin everything. There were two possible ways in which he might have gone wrong:
One: X ≠ D, X = 1/ABC. In other words, Wu Zhiguo wasn’t Ghost but someone else was.
Two: X = D + 1/ABC. Ghost wasn’t one person but two.
Right now he didn’t care whether he was knocking on the wrong door or not because telling the others the truth could only help him. If he was on the right track, then Wu Zhiguo was indeed Ghost (X = D), in which case he’d just shown his faith in the others (ABC), which they fully deserved. If he was wrong (X = 1/ABC or D + 1/ABC), then he still hadn’t failed – this would make Ghost (1/ABC) feel secure, catch them off guard, make them feel safe enough to try and make contact with Turtle.
6
As they took their seats in the dining hall, Hihara continued being bright and nice, making a show of how friendly he could be. He came across as very approachable for a man of such high rank.
He’d designed everything to make it as easy as possible for Turtle to get close to them. He’d chosen a table right in the middle of the room, where they could be seen by everyone coming up and down the stairs and were easy to approach, and he’d also invited a couple of the girls from the officers’ club to join them. Since he was trying to pretend that they were drinking to celebrate the successful conclusion of the investigation, he thought that having two whores pour drinks and sing was not a bad idea. Besides which, there were lots of girls at the club just waiting to be summoned.
To begin with everyone was very restrained, including Police Chief Wang and Secretary Bai. After all, Hihara was from headquarters, he was in the Imperial Japanese Army and he was their boss. But after a couple of songs and a few drinks, they came to life. They started raising their glasses repeatedly in toast after toast, the songs came faster and faster, and their voices got louder and louder.
Li Ningyu was left out of it all because she didn’t drink, so she looked rather bored and lonely. But Gu Xiaomeng seemed determined to include her: if she didn’t want to play the drinking game Guess-Fingers, they’d do something simpler, like flipping coins or throwing dice. They ended up playing Scissors, Paper, Stone, with Gu Xiaomeng drinking the forfeit for her every time she lost.
Evidently, Li Ningyu wasn’t that lonely.
The more they drank, the more they enjoyed it, and the more they sang, the more they enjoyed that too; there was flirting and teasing, people drank toasts to each other, and then drank more just because it was there. Their table was so loud and lively that soon everyone else in the dining hall was staring at them in surprise and alarm. Among those watching in amazement were Police Chief Wang’s men, some of whom were leaning over the upstairs banisters, while others were keeping an eye on them from elsewhere in the room.
Colonel Hihara and Police Chief Wang both frequently got up from the table. They went to answer the phone, to go to the toilet or to spit by the front door. The whole point was to make the three ECCC officers believe that what Hihara had told them was true: they were no longer suspected of being Ghost, nobody was watching them any more, they could do what they liked again – and if they wanted to pass on some secret message, it would be perfectly easy to do so.
Just as Hihara had expected, shortly after everyone had taken their seats, Turtle appeared. He came in through the door from the kitchen, headed towards the bar, where he asked for two toothpicks, and then went back out. Hihara assumed that this was just an exploratory move.
Seeing this, Wang Tianxiang glanced at a member of his team, who jumped to attention and went to the kitchen to deliver his message – a message that was intended for Turtle’s ears – instructing the waiters that they should lay another place since Chief of Staff Wu was on his way. This was meant to prevent Turtle from worrying if he didn’t see Wu Zhiguo.
About ten minutes later, Turtle appeared a second time. Strictly speaking, this didn’t really count as an appearance, since he just came out into the corridor, craned his neck, then retreated. Again, Wang Tianxiang instructed a member of his team to go to the kitchen and let Turtle overhear him telling one of the waiters to prepare a packed lunch and take it over to Chief of Staff Wu – he was working on something urgent and simply didn’t have time to come to the dining hall.
If Turtle were then to appear a third time, that would mean that Hihara might yet be knocking on the wrong door (X = 1/ABC); if he didn’t, then they could be one hundred per cent sure that it was Wu Zhiguo (X = D).
In the end, Turtle didn’t reappear. What was he doing? One of the surveillance team reported afterwards that he hadn’t been doing anything; he just squatted down next to the oven and smoked a cigarette. He seemed worried and very disappointed.
*
A lot of important things happened during the lunch, but it was over in less than an hour. This was because once Hihara had decided that Turtle wasn’t coming back, he lost interest in it; and also because Gu Xiaomeng had drunk more than was good for her and started cursing other people, in particular Wu Zhiguo.
‘Damn him! It’s all that bastard’s fault that we’ve been locked up here for two days!’
Locked up…? They were supposed to be engaged in a top-secret mission! Gu Xiaomeng was going to ruin everything – they had to shut her up. Police Chief Wang quickly ordered someone to get her out of there, and everyone then started walking back to the rear courtyard.
Gu Xiaomeng clearly enjoyed a drink, but she didn’t have a great capacity for it and she’d been drinking Li Ningyu’s forfeits, so it was no wonder that she was extremely drunk. But at least she could still walk and wasn’t shouting so everyone could hear – that really would have ruined all Hihara’s plans.
After that lunch, Hihara began to feel quite fond of Gu Xiaomeng. At the fork in the path, he said goodbye to the rest of the party, who were returning to the western building, then began to chat with Wang Tianxiang as the two of them continued to the eastern building. ‘Supposing that Ghost is one of them—’ he nodded in the direction of Secretary Bai and the others ‘—bearing in mind what you just saw at the lunch table, what conclusion would you come to?’
Wang Tianxiang was puzzled. ‘Why are you still suspecting them? It has to be Wu Zhiguo!’
‘I’m not saying it isn’t Wu Zhiguo. But just supposing it isn’t, how would you analyse what happened just now at lunch?’
Oh, thought Wang Tianxiang, his boss was just doing this for fun; it was a test to see whether he’d grasped the essentials of the situation.
Unfortunately for Wang Tianxiang, he had not. He stammered out a reply of sorts, but he really had nothing to say.
‘You don’t think she’s cute?’ Hihara asked out of the blue.
‘Who?’
‘Gu Xiaomeng.’
‘Cute?’ Wang Tianxiang stiffened. ‘Didn’t you see what she did when she got drunk? She nearly showed us all up.’
‘The fact that she dares to get drunk is proof that she’s cute,’ Hihara pointed out. ‘You told me that she’s a gourmet, that she likes to drink, so yesterday evening I invited them to have some wine, to see whether she’d dare to drink it or not; then Li Ningyu messed everything up and we didn’t get to find out one way or the other. But then today, as you saw for yourself, she got drunk and talked all kinds of rubbish. If she was Ghost, there’s no way she’d have done that. Which proves she’s not the one we’re looking for. I think you can stop having people watch her Mr Jian for us.’
Now that Gu Xiaomeng was no longer a suspect, Hihara could have set her free, but when he thought about what a loose tongue she had, particularly once she’d had a drink, he decided she’d have to suffer a bit longer.
Wang Tianxiang giggled. ‘Quite possibly she’ll be happy about that.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Have you noticed how close she is to Li Ningyu?’ Wang Tianxiang gave an inadvertent twitch of his nose. ‘How she always comes to her defence, whether Li Ningyu is present or not. And then just now, when she got drunk, she looked very affectionately at her.’
‘Are you trying to tell me that they’re lesbians?’
‘Girls from grand families like that get up to all kinds of weird things.’
‘So do you know what lesbians get up to?’ Hihara laughed.
Wang Tianxiang shook his head. ‘Do you, Colonel Hihara?’
‘That’s an abstruse question,’ Hihara said with a smile. ‘What would I know about it?’
SEVEN
1
Both Hihara and Wang Tianxiang felt so much better after that lunch, and not just because they’d been able to eat and drink their fill. Mathematical formulae had allowed them to feel that they were in control of the situation, that they were going to get results. They were feeling confident, and they had planned what they were going to do next. So when they got back to their own building, Hihara had Wu Zhiguo brought to the sitting room; he was going to question him himself.
Wu Zhiguo’s hands were manacled and his mouth was gagged – he obviously wasn’t being a good prisoner. The fat staff officer said that he’d been shouting continuously and demanding to see Commander Zhang.
Colonel Hihara stepped forward and removed the pillowcase stuffed in his mouth. ‘You want to see Commander Zhang? Right now, I am Commander Zhang, I represent him. If you have something to say, then go ahead.’
Wu Zhiguo couldn’t speak right away. His mouth and tongue were numb. Although he made several attempts, nothing came out.
‘Okay,’ Hihara said, ‘then let us say something first.’ He instructed Wang Tianxiang to tell Wu Zhiguo what had happened with Turtle during lunch. Then he had another go. ‘So, tell me, what’s your story now?’
Wu Zhiguo was now able to form a few words, though they came out hesitantly, as if he were only just learning to talk. ‘I… really… don’t… know… who… he—’
‘If that’s all you have to say,’ Hihara interrupted, ‘I don’t want to know.’ He turned to Police Chief Wang and Staff Officer Jiang. ‘If you want to listen to him, go ahead. I’m leaving.’
Wu Zhiguo knew that if Hihara left, the beatings would resume. He lurched forward to block his path, glaring angrily, looking like he might attack him. Hihara dodged nimbly to one side, shoved the Police Chief out of his way, then slapped Wu Zhiguo twice across the face. ‘Are you trying to get yourself killed?’ he hissed.
Wu Zhiguo shut his eyes. ‘Colonel Hihara, I had no idea… you were… such a fool… You actually think I… am a Red… when I am totally loyal to the Imperial Japanese Army…’
Hihara snorted. ‘A full confession right now would be the best way to show your loyalty!’
Wu Zhiguo’s tongue seemed to have got a bit better. ‘You can… ask anyone in Hangzhou, ask… anyone in the Qiantang valley… Everyone… knows… how successful I’ve been in quashing rebel activities. I’ve arrested and killed plenty of Nationalist agents, and plenty of Communists. If I am Ghost, how could I have done that?’
‘According to my information, you’ve arrested and killed plenty of Nationalists, but not many Communists.’
Wu Zhiguo was now able to speak without stopping. ‘That’s because we don’t have many Communists round here, and those that are here are very slippery. Most are based in mountain areas, where it’s difficult to arrest them.’
‘No,’ Hihara said with a laugh, ‘it’s because you’re Ghost and you can’t bear to arrest or kill fellow Party members.’
‘No!’ Wu Zhiguo shouted. ‘Li Ningyu is Ghost!’
‘So Turtle isn’t a Red?’
‘I don’t know who Turtle is.’
‘But he knows you.’
‘That’s impossible!’ Wu Zhiguo screamed. ‘Bring him here and let me confront him.’
Ah, well, once an officer, always an officer, Hihara thought wryly. Even in a situation like this, Wu Zhiguo still spoke like a Chief of Staff. ‘You want me to bring Turtle here?’ He chuckled. ‘That’s impossible, I’m afraid, since I need him to catch much bigger fish.’
He slowly walked away.
It seemed to Police Chief Wang that Hihara’s patience was being sorely tested – or perhaps this was simply the calm before the storm. The Police Chief had been itching to show Wu Zhiguo where to get off, and now his chance had come. He grabbed him by the hair. ‘Damn you, you mother-fucking bastard, if you mention Li Ningyu one more time, I’m going to cut your tongue out by the roots! Are you telling me that she managed to copy your handwriting?’
‘Yes!’ Wu Zhiguo said. ‘She’s been practising my handwriting in secret.’
‘Rubbish!’ Wang Tianxiang punched him so hard that he nearly toppled over.
When he’d regained his balance, Wu Zhiguo moved a step closer to Hihara. ‘Colonel Hihara, I’m telling the truth. Li Ningyu can forge my handwriting. She’s been practising in secret.’
This was a most unexpected development, and it made Hihara laugh. Then suddenly he found that the idea wasn’t laughable at all, but he still didn’t believe it. ‘Why not come out with all your dumb ideas at the same time?’ he said darkly. ‘This one is obviously ridiculous. Where’s your proof? Produce some evidence and I’ll release you immediately.’
Wu Zhiguo raised his head. ‘My evidence is that the characters are too much alike,’ he said excitedly. ‘You think the fact that any idiot can see that the handwriting is the same is proof of my guilt, but actually it’s evidence that s
he’s been plotting against me. Look…’ He pulled out a piece of paper that he’d prepared earlier and handed it to Hihara. ‘I wrote all of these – do they look the same? Would any fool be able to see that they were written by the same person?’
Wu Zhiguo had written out the message over and over again. He’d done it after being untied so that he could eat his lunch. Perhaps an expert graphologist would have eventually spotted the signs indicating that they were all authored by Wu Zhiguo, but it certainly didn’t jump out at you the way that yesterday evening’s writing sample had, where even a fool could tell they’d been written by the same person.
While Hihara was studying the sheet of paper, Wu Zhiguo grabbed his chance. ‘If I was Ghost, I would have given you a quite different handwriting sample last night—’
‘But when you were copying out the letter you didn’t know it was a handwriting test.’
‘If I was Ghost, I would have realized there was more to it. Why would you suddenly be making us copy out a letter to our families? Even I was sure you must be testing our handwriting in some way. If I was Ghost, I’d never have just used my usual handwriting, and absolutely no way would there have been a couple of characters so identical to the ones in the message that they could have been made with a stamp!’
He went on to say that if he was Ghost and was confronted with such cast-iron evidence, he could have avoided being beaten so badly by simply admitting to having written the message. ‘I can’t possibly be as stupid as you seem to imagine. On the one hand I’m supposed to be so idiotic as to blow my cover by giving a handwriting sample that reveals my identity, and on the other I am lunatic enough to risk getting beaten to death rather than admit that I am Ghost.’
As to why Li Ningyu would want to entrap him, he said it was because he’d arrested and killed so many Nationalist and Communist agents – they must all hate him. Since Li Ningyu was Ghost, she was determined to get rid of him, so she’d laid this trap for him. She must have practised his writing in secret and then written all her covert messages in his script.