His own difficult history with Wu Feng was well known. There was plenty of incriminating evidence, but as long as nobody knew about the beating that had backfired at Wu Feng’s, he could continue on as normal. The investigators would bury the accident report, to protect him, if Cheng Li would just keep quiet about the confrontation outside the house.
Cheng Li appeared at the door of the bar. He looked at the Chief in the corner and walked over, ordering a beer with a finger in the air. His expression was dark.
The Chief began with, “Have you heard the news?”
Cheng Li’s face turned sour. “Yes. You were in a terrible accident, Chief. Were you hurt?” The question was disingenuous. The Chief realized that he had some convincing to do. At the moment he was a murderer, and he had to negotiate his way down to co-conspirator.
“As you can see, I am quite okay. How about you? Have you recovered from your beating?” The Chief asked, regretting it immediately.
For a split second the officer looked embarrassed, but continued, “I had to walk home.”
“Yes, your two comrades were getting a ride to the hospital. You were still recovering from being choked.”
Cheng Li paused, looking confused. The Chief wondered if he was waiting for some kind of apology.
Cheng Li continued, “Last night I walked by the scene of the accident. You were gone already, but they were extracting the bodies from the other car when I walked past. Quite a mess you made there, Chief. That would have been me if they had decided to take me to hospital too. I was lucky I just got the choke-hold and not the kick to the neck that my comrade received.”
“Keep your voice down,” the Chief whispered as the barman brought the beer over.
“The three of you were supposed to teach them a lesson. Were you drunk or what?”
“You didn’t tell us that they were tai chi masters. We needed more men.”
The Chief replied, “I didn’t know Tai Chis could beat up seasoned cops. I thought they just did pretty movements in the park and meditated. Have you ever seen a Tai Chi actually kick someone? I haven’t.”
Cheng Li didn’t offer an answer. The Chief could see that Cheng Li had not been friends with his two dead comrades. He didn’t seem upset about their deaths.
“We must get our story straight. We are in this together. It is important that we both have alibis. If–”
“If what?” Cheng Li interrupted. “I am not guilty of anything. Last night you murdered four people with your expensive foreign car. I have you at a disadvantage. I think it is time I was given a nice promotion, don’t you agree?”
The Chief was fuming. Such insolence he was not accustomed to; however, a third dead officer would bring the spotlight onto him. He had to go the other way with Cheng Li.
“Remember, my young fellow, if you open your mouth, I will bring you down with me as an accessory to murder. I may even be able to pin the whole thing on you. There are a lot of people on the force who owe me. How about this? I’ll put the paperwork in for your promotion. If anybody asks, you and I had dinner together last night and your two comrades were on duty following Wu Feng and his wife. The investigators can work the rest out from there. The likely theory will be something like, ‘They got into a fight with Wu Feng and had to be driven to hospital and they were speeding.’”
He watched Cheng Li gulp his beer. Mention of a promotion seemed to have lightened his demeanor.
The Chief pushed. “Take the promotion. It is the most you can hope for. The salary will be higher. It is best for both of us. Trust me.”
“Okay, okay. Where were we having dinner?”
While the Master was out getting ice cream with Lu Lei, Matt called the handler at Langley.
“Beijing, for Marcus Roet.”
“Code please.”
Matt went through the motions to get through the system.
“Go ahead.”
“Yes, hello there, Marcus. How are things?”
“What do you have for me?”
“We are adopting a Chinese girl. She is five years old. So, everything’s good with you?”
Casey rolled her eyes at Matt and walked out of the room. She didn’t mind that Matt loved to rattle Roet’s cage. The guy was always defensive, so Matt pushed his buttons to keep him off balance.
Casey tidied the apartment as she thought about how family issues might help or hinder the mission objectives. Their plan was to keep Lu Lei safe and to carry on as usual. Matt had suggested that perhaps Casey could now get to know some wives of industrialists and politicians through their kids. Lu Lei would be making new friends at school, in her tai chi classes, and now in wider circles. There would be no harm done to the mission as long as their cover remained solid. Lu Lei would benefit in the long term with the broadening of her own group of friends, and perhaps she would develop her social skills.
It had occurred to Casey that they should quietly try to get a copy of the accident report from their contact and check it against what witnesses had to say. Beijing acted like a village despite being a major city. People talked. Maybe the informant would hear something in the coming days. Casey couldn’t help feeling that the timing was suspicious. They both go to a demonstration against the government and all of a sudden they are dead?
Casey heard Matt’s voice getting louder in the next room. She wandered back in and sat down on the couch to listen.
Matt yelled into the phone, “I think it’s a very nice thing we are doing, and you should understand that, having been adopted yourself.”
Casey laughed. Roet wasn’t adopted.
“Yes you are, Marcus. We knew your birth parents, and they left you at the fire station because you were such a difficult baby. Wouldn’t stop crying, apparently. Your mother told me that she was hoping that they would run over you with the fire truck.”
Casey stopped sweeping, mouth open, shaking her head.
“Oh come on Marcus, I’m just yanking your chain. Firemen would never run over such a nice basinet.”
Hearing the intercom buzz, she went to see who it was. The Master had returned with Lu Lei.
Once inside the apartment Lu Lei twittered happily on to Casey all about the flavors of ice cream she had wanted to choose. The Master looked tired, so Casey encouraged Lu Lei to go to the guest room where Barbie was waiting for her.
The Master greeted Matt, and they both sat down. Lu Lei’s little voice began its conversation with Barbie, and they all listened for a moment before the Master began to speak quietly. As he revealed the details of the accident, they listened in silence.
“The two other passengers are still unidentified. We do not know who they were or what they were doing in the car. Nobody recognized them.”
Matt asked, “And the Chief?”
“People said that he hit them at great speed. I will go tomorrow to identify the bodies. Perhaps I can inquire as to the others. The Chief was taken to hospital in the ambulance. People said that he was not hurt.”
Matt and Casey were quiet for a while, their minds ticking over.
Casey asked, “The funeral?”
“In two days. One of the students is making all the arrangements.”
Matt answered, “Good. By then Lu Lei will have had her first appointment with the psychologist. We’ll be on more secure ground as to how to handle her.”
The Master stroked his beard. “Lu Lei has done enough tai chi for today. She has the evening off. I must leave her with you while I go and address the classes. I shall return home directly from there. Please feel at liberty to call me if there are problems.”
Casey crossed her arms. She knew that Lu Lei would miss her parents tonight and might ask questions that she had no idea how to answer.
“I’m so worried about her. This is all so awful. I just don’t know what to say to her. There are no words.” Casey looked at the Master.
“Remember, my dear Casey, those who celebrate at birth and mourn at death may have it backward. Also, talk about the caterpi
llar and the butterfly.”
Casey smiled sadly back at him and showed him out.
9
Doubts
The next morning Lu Lei sat outside the psychologist’s door, playing with the stuffed dolls she’d found in a box in the waiting room. The Master and the Barbecue Couple were in the office absorbing the advice of the psychologist. They had, so far, done everything right, it seemed.
“The biggest hurdle is going to be Lu Lei’s reluctance to accept you both, Matt and Casey, as her new caregivers.”
Casey asked, “Can we ease her into it, let her stay with us just a few nights a week? Last night she went to sleep at our place straight away, but we’d kept her busy all day and we put her to bed exhausted.”
“I don’t think it’s a good idea to split her living arrangements. Bring all her things from home. Be firm with her. No going back on your word. The child will need all your love, but of equal importance, she will need an iron structure that she can trust. Also, she will ask questions about the death of her parents. You must prepare adequate and consistent answers.”
The psychologist continued on about reassurance and careful listening. Matt wondered what had really happened between the time of the demonstration and the accident. He tuned back in when she said the word, "funeral".
“Tomorrow’s funeral will be an important occasion for Lu Lei. It will be her first opportunity to acknowledge their death. Ritual is very helpful. She must participate or be included somehow.”
The Master nodded in agreement. “I shall clean and dress the bodies, with the help of two of the adult students, which is our tradition. This will happen this afternoon. I assume that it is best if Lu Lei does not see her parents. We will be cremating them and having a service afterward.”
“If their faces look different from how she remembers them, injuries etcetera, it may be best if she does not see them. You must be the judge.”
She looked at each of them and said, “Do what you can to cushion her landing. Surround her with people who love her and be around as much as possible.”
She looked solemnly at Matt and Casey before continuing.
“I think it is time for Lu Lei to talk with me by herself. We shouldn’t need more than an hour. You don’t all need to wait. Just one of you is enough. I’d like to have a quick chat with you about her afterward.”
Casey said, “I’ll stay.”
“Good, then. Like her parents, I am a Buddhist, so I am confident that what I say to her will align well with what she has already been told.”
Lu Lei looked up as the adults appeared.
Casey spoke. “Lu Lei, say hello to the nice lady. She is very interested in you and wants to ask you your favorite color and some other questions too.”
“It is pink. Also blue. I like dogs with spots.” Lu Lei was still sitting on the floor.
Lu Lei accepted the lady’s hand and entered the office. To Casey, she looked as tiny as she had ever looked.
Matt and the Master went across the street to where Matt had parked his car. Matt opened the car door for the Master. “I’d like to drop by their house, but on the way, I need to pick up a few things.”
The Master nodded and smiled. “An interesting idea. Let us go.”
Matt pulled over twenty meters before Wu Feng’s house. Grabbing the plastic bag containing the items that he’d bought in a couple of shops along the way, he stepped out of the car and walked around to help the Master get out.
“Let’s watch where we walk. If something happened here, there might be evidence. The police may have come around already, but who knows?”
The Master replied, “It is difficult to foresee what the police will do. When the perpetrator is also in charge, one would expect the proceedings to go... in his favor. I would suggest that we do not spend too much time here.”
“I agree. Let’s get to work.”
Walking toward the house, Matt immediately spotted the tracks in the gravel that spinning tires had caused. He pulled the measuring tape out and placed it between the tracks, taking a photo with the disposable camera. Close by, the Master pointed out the two bicycles left uncharacteristically far from the house, leaning on their stands. Matt photographed them and then looked around at the ground, seeing that there had been activity there. Looking for a clean footprint proved fruitless, but he noticed a few spots of blood to one side.
“Some blood, but not much. Not a gunshot wound.”
Crouching down, he pulled on a rubber glove and picked up a couple of pebbles with dried blood on them and bagged them in a ziplock. A few steps away, nearer where the Master was looking, Matt saw the glint of something metal. “A scalpel... bloody.” He placed it in another ziplock and bent down to pick up a straw.
Strange that it’s cut in half, he thought.
“This is interesting,” said the Master, still near the bikes. Matt looked over. The Master was looking in the bushes. “It appears that there is a baton here. The kind used by the police.”
Matt came over, thinking about how he was going to bag something that big. “That’s incriminating.” He turned a ziplock inside-out and picked the baton up carefully, placing the whole thing in his plastic shopping bag.
Matt noticed that the Master looked suddenly sad.
“Shall we go?” asked Matt.
The Master replied, “I shall quickly get a few things for Lu Lei, from her room. They never lock the front door.”
“I’ll keep looking out here.”
The Master headed into the house and paused in the doorway, looking around the place, thinking about the last time they had all been here together. Even the Chief had been here celebrating with him. He walked into Lu Lei’s room and looked around at the little girl’s few possessions, opening a drawer in the small dresser with her tiny clothes folded neatly inside.
Outside, Matt heard a car approaching and thought it might be cops. To avoid being caught poking around outside, he jogged to the house and entered, closing the door behind him. He looked for a clever place to stash the plastic bag, just in case. It now contained evidence that may have the power to change people’s lives.
“A car is coming. We are just here to get some of Lu Lei’s things. That’s our story. Okay?” Matt yelled across the living room, still looking for a hiding spot.
The knock at the door came sooner than expected, the door opening without pause. The Police Chief’s unmistakable silhouette was in the doorway. “I saw a car outside and thought I should check the house.”
The Master emerged from Lu Lei’s room carrying an arm full of her clothes.
“Chief. Welcome. Please come in,” said the Master.
The Chief looked quizzically at Matt, who looked back at him, watching for body language and facial expressions. Matt had the evidence bag in his left hand behind his back.
“Hello, we met once before... here, actually. I’m Matt. You know, the Barbecue Couple?” Matt held his hand out, still observing the Chief carefully, then feeling the weak grip of his handshake and its rapid release and withdrawal. Matt could see over the Chief’s shoulder through the open door that there was another man looking over the scene of the scuffle. “Does your friend want to come in?” Matt asked.
“No, he will stay outside.”
The Master put the pile of clothes down on the couch and went to the kitchen and turned the small urn on. “Tea?” he offered, looking at the Chief. No one had yet mentioned the accident, or the Chief’s strange facial burns.
“No, thank you,” said the Chief, bringing his fingers up to his mouth to bite his nails, but catching himself. Matt remained quiet, waiting for a moment to do something with the evidence. The Master walked over from the kitchen and bent over to pick up the pile of Lu Lei’s clothes. With his back to the Chief, he handed the pile to Matt, who snuck the evidence bag into the middle of the clothes.
“Matt, would you please take these out to the car? There are still a few more things we can bring for her from her room.”
&
nbsp; Matt walked out of the house, passing the character outside, who stopped searching in the bushes to meet Matt’s eyes. Matt, saying nothing, looked him up and down. Definitely military training, dead looking eyes, probably done some bad things.
On his way back from the car, Matt stopped to talk. He put on his dumb American act and downgraded his level of Mandarin. “Hello, my name is Matt. What is your name?”
“Cheng Li,” he answered, looking a little annoyed at the interruption.
Matt continued. “Did you hear about it? That was a bad car accident, wasn’t it?”
“Yes, bad.”
“How many dead?” Matt asked
“Four.”
Matt waited, but no elaboration came.
“Did you know them?” Matt continued.
The man hesitated just enough that Matt’s internal lie detector started ticking. “No, I didn’t.”
“The other two, you probably knew who they were, right?” Matt asked, feigning a concerned look, staring right into his eyes now.
Another hesitation. Matt was getting under his skin.
“No, they were just two guys. Why do you ask?”
Matt kept the pace up. “No reason. Someone said they were cops.” Matt was already betting that was the case, based on the baton.
“No, no, I didn’t hear that,” he replied without hesitating, but his eyes looked momentarily off to one side before he said it.
Matt saw that the Master and the Chief were leaving the house. The Master carrying a cardboard box with the rest of Lu Lei’s belongings.
The Chief beckoned his comrade to get in the car. He nodded at the Master before getting in the driver’s seat of the unmarked police car and driving off.
Matt drove away from the house. The Master sat quietly watching the traffic ahead for a while, before deciding what he wanted to say to him.
“I think you have done very well, Matt. Thank you for your help. I feel that you must step back from this now. Let the Chief continue believing that you are merely a barbecue manufacturer, instead of ... whatever you really are.” The Master shrugged his shoulders.
Surviving Spies (Irving Waters, Spy Fiction Series) Page 10