Lily imagined her.
Up there.
Alone.
Lily often teased but never like that. Never like that.
The phone in the Jeep rang. Fong grabbed it. He listened for a second then shouted, “What?” Then quickly, “When?” He listened for a moment then cut the man off. “When exactly? Never mind. Don’t let anyone near that cell. I want the whole place put off limits and I want all the men on duty prepared to be interviewed. Is that clear?”
Fong turned to Chen, “One of the islanders died in his jail cell.”
Chen spun the steering wheel and pressed down hard on the accelerator.
The young warden who met them at the prison entrance was filled with excuses and apologies, clearly fearing that he’d be blamed for the death that had taken place on his watch.
Fong ignored the man and demanded to be brought to the cell. The remaining two brothers were in the basement isolation lock-ups. All that was left in the original cell was the dead man. Fong recognized the nervous man he’d interrogated two days ago. For a moment, he couldn’t recall his name. Then he did. Hesheng, meaning: in this year of peace. He remembered that he’d made a joke about it – no one had found it particularly funny – not even those who watched the process.
The dead man sat with his back against the bars, his head slumped unnaturally far forward. Fong pushed open the cell door and stepped in. Hesheng’s colour was already souring to that of a Caucasian. There were no overt indications of cause of death. There were no signs that a struggle had taken place. Just a man suddenly deep in sleep and not about to ever awaken again.
Although he knew that Hesheng was dead, Fong said, “Get me a pocket mirror, Captain Chen, and call the coroner, I want an autopsy done on the body. I want to know how he died.” Fong felt, more than saw, the young officer leave. He wanted to be alone with the corpse.
Fong knelt down and moved his hand beneath the man’s nose. No air movement. Dead men still don’t breathe. Fong examined Hesheng’s face. He seemed young. He seemed peaceful. Fong put his hand to the man’s neck and pushed gently. The head moved. No rigour, so it hadn’t been too long.
Then he sensed a movement. He couldn’t tell where, but something was in motion. For a long moment he questioned his own perception, and then he saw it again. The man’s shirt moved. Slid.
The mongoose leapt up his spine.
Fong jumped back, knocking a metal pitcher from the low table in the centre of the cell. The pitcher and a metal cup clattered to the floor.
The serpent emerged from the space between the top buttons of the dead man’s shirt. Its slender yellow head pivoted with a sensuous ease, its tongue flicked out and tasted the air. The eyes, flat omens of death, slowly panned toward Fong, and then the head followed.
The mongoose turned and feigned indifference, although Fong sensed it ready to fight.
Fong tried to move, but slipped on the liquid that had spilled from the pitcher. In the back of his mind he noted that the water was slightly oily.
The mongoose flexed its knees and prepared to spring.
The serpent slithered down the front of the dead man, its eyes boring holes in Fong.
Fong rose slowly and moved away from the yellow presence. “Don’t ever trap an enemy or it will have to fight.” The Art of War phrase leapt into his mouth as he continued to back away.
Then the snake was in motion. Fast.
The mongoose pushed off Fong’s spine and was instantly airborne.
Fong planted a foot and tried to leap away, but the oily liquid on the sole of his shoe made him slide and he crashed to the ground. For a second his head filled with blackness. When he snapped open his eyes, the lethal yellow head was within inches of his mouth.
Fong felt the serpent’s breath on his cheek. How odd that death’s breath should be so soft. So inviting.
Then the snake’s head disappeared beneath a heavy boot.
Fong looked up.
Chen stood there squashing the last of the life from the surprisingly small reptile.
Fong sprung to his feet. He immediately sensed the mongoose was no longer with him. He glanced at Chen; the squat man seemed to have a lithe grace about him that wasn’t there before. Fong understood. The mongoose had saved his life and moved on. He put his hand on Chen’s shoulder. The man was shaking. “It’s dead. Leave it.”
Chen wanted to protest, but Fong was already searching the wall of the cell and calling to him, “There’s got to be a hole.” Fong ran his hand along the base of the wall. “There.” He raced out of the cell yelling, “Collect a sample of that liquid on the floor.”
Fong shouted at the two guards in the front to follow him as he ran around the side of the jail and counted cell windows until he got to Hesheng’s. He approached the wall while holding up his hand to stop the two cops from following him. “Cordon off this entire area. It’s a crime scene now. Tape it!” The guards looked at one another, not sure what the Shanghai cop was talking about.
Fong looked back toward the road. Nothing much there. A tall-fenced landfill, a deserted industrial site. A good place to dig a tunnel and deliver a snaky message. For a moment he wondered if the message was for all three men. Then he rejected that. It was for Hesheng, and somehow it had found its mark.
It was for Hesheng because the man was becoming frightened.
Fong remembered the man’s fear. It hung like a cloud before him. Fong had seen it. And so had they – the politico and Chen and the thug and the warden. They’d all seen the fear, and he’d added to that fear. He cursed himself, his stupidity, his vanity, his involvement in another death. His wife’s – his friend Wang Jun’s – and now Hesheng’s.
Fong hitched up his pant legs and got down on all fours. He ran his palm along the base of the wall. The hole had to be there somewhere. Something gave beneath his hand. He pulled away some litter. At first he couldn’t see it. Then he did. A single piece of dislodged mortar had fallen inward. He carefully removed the other pieces. The gap in the wall was almost square, cut by a sharp tool. He measured the square by spreading his fingers. The hole was wider than his outstretched fingers. He brought his hand, fingers spread, to his face. His fingers reached past his cheekbones.
A sharp cutting tool wider than a face – for an instant an image of the hanging man on the boat came to him – the face, one bloody scream.
He forced himself back to the present and cleared the area of debris. He looked into the passageway. It was grooved both top and bottom, about eight inches in diameter. As if it had been dug by a long corkscrew. Fong traced one of the grooves with his hand and imagined the yellow serpent rolling gently in the contours as it moved toward its prey.
An extremely long, sharp-tipped, corkscrew-like instrument, with an eight-inch diameter. Like the widebladed hoe they postulated was used to remove the faces of the Taiwanese men on the boat, this was another implement Fong had never seen.
Back at the factory, Fong filled in the others on the murder at the jail. The phone beeped the code for an incoming long distance call.
As Lily went to answer it she said, “A whole lot of death for a little place.”
“I agree,” said Fong.
“Where are the two brothers who avoided the serpent?”
“They didn’t avoid it. They’d been moved several hours earlier,” Fong replied. Before they could question him he added, “That’s why there was only one cup by the water pitcher.”
“More with the cups. You’ve become a specialist in disappearing drinking devices, Fong.”
“Who took the brothers out of their cells, sir?”
“Don’t know, Chen, but until it’s answered I’ve ordered the brothers kept in holding cells apart from each other.”
“Do you think they had something to do with this snake thing, Fong?” asked the coroner. “Fuck, who kills with snakes?”