Li knew there was no way around it. When the revised report found its way into circulation, scandal was inevitable. And given the high profile of Jia himself, there was a good chance it was going to find its way into the media as well. All he could think about were Jia’s parents, the sad old couple he had encountered on the doorstep of their son’s apartment. He said, ‘The current investigation into the death of Jia and several other leading athletes looks like turning into a murder investigation, Commissioner.’
The Commissioner was clearly shocked. ‘I thought he died of a heart attack.’
‘He did. But in common with all the others, he was suffering from what we think was a virally induced heart condition that would certainly have killed him, if fate had not delivered the blow first. At least one of those others was murdered — the swimmer Sui Mingshan. And three others who supposedly died in a car accident were dead before the car crashed.’
The Commissioner looked at him thoughtfully. ‘And your point is?’
‘That Jia looks certain to become attached to a murder inquiry that is going to shake Chinese athletics to the core, Commissioner. Bad enough with the Beijing Olympics looming on the horizon. How much worse if there is a link between Jia and a high-ranking member of the Beijing Organising Committee of the Olympic Games?’
The Commissioner took a long moment to consider his point. At length he said, ‘Take no action for the moment, Section Chief. I will speak to the Procurator General. And others. And I will let you know my decision.’ He paused. ‘But just don’t think you’ve got away with anything. Do you understand?’
Li nodded and felt the scrutiny of the Commissioner’s probing eyes trying to decipher what lay behind Li’s consciously blank expression. ‘You said two things, Commissioner.’
‘What?’
‘You wanted to speak to me about two things.’
‘Ah…yes.’ And for the first time Commissioner Hu avoided his eyes. ‘It is a matter I had intended to raise with you this week anyway.’
‘To tell me I had been allocated a married officer’s apartment?’
Anger flashed quickly in Hu’s eyes and he snapped, ‘You know perfectly well there’s no question of you getting an apartment!’
Li felt the resentment that had been simmering inside him for weeks now start bubbling to the surface. If the Commissioner thought Li was going to make this easy for him, he was mistaken. ‘Really? That’s the first time anybody has ever conveyed that particular piece of information to me. So I don’t know how I would know it, perfectly well, or otherwise.’
For a moment he thought the Commissioner was going to strike him. ‘You sonofabitch, you really are hell-bent on putting an end to your career, aren’t you?’
‘I wasn’t aware I had much of a choice, Commissioner.’
‘My office asked you several weeks ago,’ the Commissioner said in a very controlled way, ‘for information about your intention to marry the American pathologist, Margaret Campbell. That information has not been forthcoming.’
‘That information,’ Li replied evenly, ‘was provided in full detail when I made my application for married accommodation. Nothing has changed.’
‘So you’re still intent on marrying her?’
‘Next week.’
The Commissioner took a very deep breath and raised his eyes towards the faces gazing down on them from the Martyrs’ Wall. ‘You really are a fool, Li, aren’t you? You know that it is Public Security policy that none of its officers may marry a foreign national.’ He sighed his frustration. ‘In the name of the sky, why do you have to marry her? We’ve turned a blind eye to your relationship up until now.’
‘Because I love her, and she’s carrying my baby. And I’m not going to creep around at night making clandestine visits to see my lover and my child. If marrying her is such a threat to national security, I’d have thought conducting an illicit affair was an even greater one. And if you’re prepared to turn a blind eye to that, then aren’t you just being hypocritical?’
The Commissioner shook his head in despair. ‘I don’t know what your uncle would have thought of you.’
‘My uncle always told me to be true to myself. He used to say, the universe is ruled by letting things take their course. It cannot be ruled by interfering.’
‘And there is nothing I can say that will change your mind?’ Li shook his head. ‘Then I will expect your resignation on my desk by next week.’
‘No.’
The Commissioner looked at Li in astonishment. ‘What do you mean, no?’
‘I mean I am not going to resign, Commissioner. If you are going to insist on enforcing this policy, then you are going to have to remove me from my post.’
The Commissioner narrowed his eyes. ‘You really are a stubborn…arrogant…bastard, Li.’ His raised voice caused heads to turn in their direction from the shooting range. He quickly lowered it again. ‘If you insist on following this course, then believe me, I will strip you of your commission and I will remove you from the force. You will lose your apartment, and your pension, all medical rights and rights to social security. And who will employ a disgraced former police officer?’ He paused to let his words sink in. ‘Have you really thought this through?’
Li stood rock still, keeping his emotions on a tight rein. In many ways he hadn’t thought it through at all. His application for a position with Beijing Security had been a half-hearted attempt to face up to the realities of his situation. But, in truth, he had been burying his head in the sand and hoping that somehow it would all go away.
‘For heaven’s sake, Li, you are the youngest Section Chief in the history of the department. You are one of the most highly regarded police officers in China. What kind of woman is it who would ask a man to give all that up for the sake of a wedding ring?’
‘Margaret hasn’t asked me to give up anything,’ Li said, quick to her defence.
‘What do you mean? She must know what’ll happen if you marry her.’ Li said nothing, and the Commissioner’s eyes widened. ‘Are you telling me you haven’t told her? That she doesn’t know?’
Li blinked rapidly as he felt his eyes start to fill. ‘She has no idea.’ And for the first time he saw what looked like pity in the Commissioner’s eyes.
‘Then you’re an even bigger fool than I thought,’ he said with sad resignation. ‘It is just a shame that your uncle is not here to talk some sense into your bone head.’
‘If my uncle were here,’ Li said stiffly, ‘I am certain he would be appalled by his old department’s lack of flexibility. He always said to me, if you cannot bend with the wind, then you will break.’
The Commissioner shook his head. ‘Then it’s a pity you didn’t listen to him.’ He snapped his hat firmly back on his head and nodded curtly. ‘You can expect notice to clear your desk in a matter of days.’ And he turned and walked briskly away towards the stairwell.
Li stood, a solitary figure, by the Martyrs’ Wall and felt their eyes upon him. The dead were his only company, and he was not sure he had ever felt quite so alone.
Heads lifted in only semi-disguised curiosity as Li strode into the detectives’ office. Tao was standing by Wu’s desk reading through a sheaf of forensic reports, peering over the top of his thick-rimmed glasses. He glanced up as Li came in, and his hand fell away, lowering the papers he was holding beyond the range of his lenses. Li looked at him very directly. ‘A word, please, Deputy Section Chief.’ And he walked into Tao’s office leaving his deputy to follow him in with every eye in the office on his back. Li closed the door behind them and turned to face Tao, his voice low and controlled. ‘I’ve been fighting an urge to kick the living shit out of you all the way across town,’ he said.