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Hulan turned right, walked to the intersection of another alley, and saw dead ends in both directions Still, she went right and followed the wall of the coate She examined the rusted keyhole and determined that no one had tried to tamper with this side either As she retraced her steps, she looked up and saw glass shards embedded on top of the compound’s protective wall She also studied the places where the interior buildings intersected with the wall The steep roofs were coreen finish Only an expert martial arts practitioner would have been able to scale the wall and the roofs Threea dead body and a bucket of blood would have had an impossible time of it
Hulan went back to the north gate, continued on to the corner, and turned left to go back around to the front of the hotel While not a large thoroughfare, this was a busy enough street that Hulan doubted even under cover of darkness three ruesome burdens could have passed unnoticed And even if they had soer, how could they have co behind some forensic evidence? Hulan was back to the question that had proo on this quest: How did a trio of what she presu seen either inside or outside the co only the most minimal traces behind?
DR MA WAS NEXT ON HULAN’S TO-DO LIST, BUT WHEN SHE ASKED the day clerk to arrange transportation to Site 518, he answered that he’d be honored to find a car and driver, but she wouldn’t find the archaeologist because he’d gone to Hong Kong Again Hulan cursed herself for being sloppy—first Lily’s papers, now Ma Hulan had her suspicions about hi Kong
She asked for and received directions to the Public Security Bureau Hulan went back outside and opened her u rain, but people were out and about On one corner a wo a tooth pulled On the square above the dock a free market bustled From its second-floor location, the Public Security Bureau kept an eye on all these activities
The bureau was sle room with a counter and four desks flanked by two offices set off by glass partitions The usual posters pro the one-child policy had been pinned to a bulletin board, while a population resettlement schedule for Bashan covered another wall and was accoans: DEVELOP LAND TO RESETTLE RELOCATEES and GAINING BENEFITS FROM INUNDATION
Captain Hom sat behind a desk in one of the private offices Hulan lifted a section of the counter and ulfed by the blue haze of cigarette smoke
“You’ve returned from the dam, I see,” he said
“Everyone sees in Bashan”
“For VIPers”
She put a hand on the back of a chair “May I?”
His face visibly fell She sat down, and he leaned back in his chair with a deep, rattling sigh
“I read your report on Brian McCarthy’s death,” she began “It was very thorough, but I have a couple of questions if you don’t mind”
When he said, “Whatever I can do to help,” she kneas putting a s face on a bad situation
“I’d like you to go back to the day Dr Ma contacted you about Brian What happened exactly?”
“He cauests had gone ht another one, then stubbed out his first in an ashtray overfloith butts “I wasn’t worried We’d gotten numerous reports froht for hiet in trouble if he slept on their land? All natural concerns because not et very far from the river Tourist boats have never stopped here, so we siners until the Cultural Relics Bureau designated Site 518 as one of thethe river”