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“Is it really one of the most important?”

Horunted “Why do you think people have coone to one of the other digs in the gorges? I go there and I see little pieces of nothing being pulled froround I see my world about to be destroyed, but they see only that patch of barren land and the answers to the Four Mysteries that they think are hidden there”

“You speak frankly”

“Inspector, I have tried to speak frankly with you before Perhaps you have not heard me”

No, she hadn’t, and even though he see honestly now, she didn’t trust hi from nowhere She would listen to him, but she would remain aware that he was thecompletely unchecked until now

“Dr Ma and I drove out as far as we could, then walked down to the river,” Ho in his lips as he s, I knew soner—would leave a laptop co on a rock with his lunch So we hiked back up to the car and I radioed for additional help Soical conclusion was that the boy had gone into the river I came back here to notify the river authorities t

o alert ship captains At about that time, Stuart Miller came in and offered the use of his hydrofoil in the search”

“You didn’t note this in your report”

“Dr Ma said I shouldn’t I had to obey, because he outranks me”

“Ministry of State Security,” Hulan said, finally giving voice to what she’d suspected about Ma from the first day she’d met him

Hom nodded almost imperceptibly

“What’s he doing here?”

Hom’s lips turned down at the corners, and he lifted his shoulders slightly He didn’t know and knew better than to ask

He reached into his pocket for his keys, unlocked a drawer, pulled out a folder, and pushed it across the table “This is the accurate record of what happened that day”

Hulan opened the folder and began to read The events had unraveled as Hoela McCarthy cas,” she said