At last, and with some embarrassment, Hulan and David turned to Henry. He stared at them with agonized eyes. He didn't try to deny what they'd found, nor did he try to defend himself, which made the moment all the more awkward. He'd lied to them and lied some more. He'd bluffed and they'd called him on it. But before any of them could speak, a scream rang out in the distance. Then another, and another. Each one came closer. Hulan looked around and saw Suchee with her hands over her ears, trying to block the sound as if it were coming from inside her own head. But it wasn't, and Hulan watched Suchee's face change as she realized that the horrible, primitive wail was coming from outside.
23
THEY RAN OUT OF THE HOUSE. LO LOOKED AROUND, GUN drawn. Suchee took off in the direction of the sound, and the rest of them followed. David shoved Henry ahead of him, keeping him within grabbing distance. Running in this heat made Hulan's entire arm throb, but she pushed on, staying right behind Suchee as she led the way through the fields toward-Hulan suddenly realized-the home of the Tsai family. Without warning, a woman burst through the green wall of corn ahead of them. Her hair was disheveled, her eyes frenzied. "Tsai Bing! Tsai Bing!" She pointed behind her, turned, and retraced her steps to her own little farm.
This place was almost identical to Suchee's homestead. There was a house made of mud brick, an outbuilding or two, some chickens, a pig. Next to the well lay the sodden form of Tsai Bing, Miaoshan's betrothed, beloved of Tang Siang, and only child of the Tsai family. Tsai Bing's father was trying to resuscitate his son. Hulan knelt at his side and gently pushed him away. She felt for a pulse in the boy's neck, but his milky, unseeing eyes told her he'd been dead for some time. She put her fingers on his eyelids and closed them, triggering a new round of bone-chilling wails from the dead boy's mother.
"Investigator Lo," Hulan said, "please go to Da Shui. You will find Captain Woo at the station house in the center of the village. We need his presence here."
While they waited for Lo's return, Hulan inspected the body, checking his fingernails, his eyes, his mouth, gently running her hands over his limbs. Under the hot sun Tsai Bing's clothes dried quickly, making the body seem somehow less pathetic. At last Hulan let the boy's parents come close. They kneeled on either side of their son, tears streaming down their cheeks. Tsai Bing's mother held his hand to her chest, imploring him to speak to her.
Hulan retired to the one spot of shade she could find, a foot-wide stretch alongside the mud-brick wall of the Tsais' home. She sat down on her haunches as any peasant might do, except that she cradled her burning arm between her chest and her raised knees. From this position she took in the scene around her. David was staying with-no, guarding- Henry, who had turned away from the body and was looking out across the fields. Suchee had moved to Tsai Bing's mother's side and had an arm around her. The two women-one pale in the shock of tragedy; the other ravaged by loss and bitter acceptance-were now united by the worst pain a mother could experience.
Tsai Bing's mother's cries had alerted other neighbors as well, and they stepped through the fields and onto the hard-packed earth, some armed with the tools they'd been working with, others empty-handed but all with a shared look of dread. Hulan recognized only one of them. Tang Dan had been one of the first to arrive, and he circulated among the others, keeping them at a respectful distance from the body and its parents. At one point he ventured toward the quartet near the well, put a reassuring hand on Suchee's shoulder, and held it there. His strength seemed to travel down through Suchee's body, and she in turn seemed to tighten her arm around Madame Tsai's shuddering form.
About twenty-five minutes later, two cars arrived in a swirl of dust. Lo led Captain Woo to the body, while three other officers in green short-sleeve shirts pushed the neighbors farther away. Woo barely glanced at Tsai Bing, then ordered the parents to step aside. Then he began writing in his notebook. Never did he stoop down to look at the body. Never did he attempt to question Tsai Bing's parents. He did, however, stroll to the well and look into it. He made a few more notes, snapped the notebook shut, and strode to his car while calling for his men to follow.
Hulan stood, felt a wave of dizziness come over her, reached out a hand to steady herself on the wall of the house, then stepped forward. "You can't possibly be done," she said.
Captain Woo's eyes raked her from head to toe and back again. "This is none of your business," he said. "Leave it to the police." "What do you think happened here?" she asked. He stared hard at her, unaccustomed to being questioned. "You ask for trouble, taitai."
But Hulan didn't move from her spot. The peasants who'd clustered here gawked openmouthed at her impudence.
Suchee, sensing the danger her friend was in, took a few tentative steps, and warned, "Hulan…"
"I remember you," the captain said to Hulan. "You came to my office before. We don't like troublemakers in our county. Now, I will tell you again, this is an official matter, but if you wish to interfere, I will have no recourse except to have my men take you down to our office. I can assure you that you will not find the experience very pleasant."
All of this had taken place in Mandarin so David didn't understand what was happening. The others did, however, and not wanting to be associated with any disturbance that might come back to haunt them, began to shuffle off into the surrounding fields.
"Wait!" Hulan commanded. "Please come back, all of you." As the neighbors hesitated, she reached into her purse and pulled out her Ministry of Public Security identification and held it up for all to see. The effect was immediate. The neighbors stopped in their tracks.
Captain Woo, however, was not so easily cowed. "You have no jurisdiction here."
Hulan felt another wave of dizziness, and she swayed as she waited for the blackness to fall away from her eyes. She didn't think she had the strength for this. Then Investigator Lo came forward. With one hand he held out his credential, while the other rested on the grip of his weapon. A couple of the neighbors gasped. This was not a good place to be.
"I think," Lo said in a menacing tone, "you will be wise to listen to what Inspector Liu has to say."
Out of the corner of her eye Hulan saw David edge toward her. He may not have understood the words, but he couldn't mistake the standoff that was taking place before him. Henry grabbed his shirtsleeve to hold him back. Captain Woo perhaps had not seen the foreigners. Their appearance could only complicate things.