Ever since the 95 Supreme Majesty scandal had broken, she’d been living in unceasing trepidation. Though he might not have confided in her about all his dirty business deals, she knew enough to realize that he was finished. As for herself, while she might not end up like him, it was only a matter of time before she was fired. Dang wouldn’t let her keep that crucial position in the department. What’s more, Jiang and his team were putting a lot of pressure on her to speak out against Zhou. She didn’t know what to do, so she called in sick and fled. She needed a break and a place she could quietly think about her options.
“I didn’t think anyone knew about this place,” she concluded.
Her account focused on her own experience, Chen noticed, and it didn’t have much to do with Zhou, though she didn’t try to conceal their relationship.
What could Jiang have wanted from her, considering how anxious he was to have Zhou’s death declared a suicide?
And why had she really fled here, all of a sudden? Presumably there was much pressure put on her, as she claimed, but she should have known that running away only made matters worse.
“What do you intend to do now, Fang?”
“Perhaps I can go back to England. That is, if I’m able to sell the property here.”
“Do you think you could get out of the country? As far as I know, your name and passport picture have been sent to the customs authorities throughout the country.”
She didn’t respond.
“Let’s talk a bit more about Zhou,” Chen said.
“What more can I tell you? Jiang believes I know ‘secrets’ about Zhou, but Zhou always told me that it wouldn’t do me any good to know about his business. I really believe he was trying to keep my interests in mind,” she said, with a catch in her voice. “He told me one day that everything he did for me was because I had been so nice to him in the old neighborhood. Allegedly, as a little girl, I’d flashed a sweet smile at him one day when he was utterly down and out. That was when he was working at a neighborhood production group for seventy cents a day and not seeing any light at the end of the dark tunnel.”
“It’s just like Jia Yucun at the beginning of Dream of the Red Chamber,” Chen commented without elaborating on it. It was possible that the archetype of an appreciation for beauty overwhelmed Zhou.
“I just did what I was supposed to do as the department secretary, never inquisitively or intrusively.”
“Did he have any other secretaries?”
“You mean little secretaries? Not in the office. Some people said that he kept me simply as a cover for other ones. I suppose that’s possible, but I don’t think he had the time for that.”
“But as his secretary, you surely know some of the confidential details about his work.”
“He worked hard and was under a lot of pressure,” she said, discernibly hesitant. “It was not an easy job for him. Nominally, he was the one in charge of land and housing development for the city, but there were so many other officials anxious to have a finger in the pie. He had to walk a tightrope all the time. For instance, there was the scandal of the West Eight Blocks. The head of the Jing’an District practically gave the land away, selling it at an incredibly low price to the developer. The developer got a loan on it for five times the amount he’d paid. Zhou knew about that, but the district head had already gotten approval for the deal from Zhou’s superior. What could Zhou do with those higher-ups who were far more powerful? He didn’t really talk to me about those things, but they weren’t really secrets, not in today’s China.”
“Yes, I have heard of the West Eight Blocks. The head of Jing’an District was shuangguied because of it, but the scandal didn’t touch Zhou. Not at the time.”
“Whatever sort of official Zhou might have been, he was good to me,” she said, her head hanging low. “It’s not fair that Zhou alone was to be punished when it’s really like a chain of crabs bound together on a straw rope—all connected.”
She then went on, repeating what she’d already said, adding nothing new or substantial.
But Chen didn’t believe she was telling him everything. He had to break down her resistance.
“I don’t know how I can help you if you don’t tell me everything,” Chen said, interrupting. He brought out the envelope from Melong and handed it to her. “Take a look.”
Her hand was trembling as she took out the pictures.
“So it was you, Chief Inspector Chen?”
“What do you mean?”
“I was sent copies of these pictures a couple of days ago.”