the house. ”
“She has family in Shanghai. It’s natural that she would go back from time to time.”
“Who could tell what she was really up to in Shanghai? She used to be a high school flower, I heard, with a number of secret admirers hanging around.”
“Really!”
“And I can tell you why he sometimes stayed overnight at his home office. With all the responsibilities on his hands, he frequently worked late. But more often than not, he simply didn’t want to go back home. The home office was the only place he could really relax. But she wouldn’t leave him alone even there. One time when he was away on a business trip, she came over and turned the whole apartment upside down.”
Huang listened without interrupting. It was intriguing that Chen kept his focus on Mrs. Liu, even when interviewing Mi. It was possible that Mrs. Liu had killed him, as Huang had suggested at the crime scene, but after his initial excitement with it, it more and more seemed to him to be a theory that wasn’t supported by any evidence.
Mi’s accusations against Mrs. Liu were understandable, even though she had denied any knowledge of Liu’s family life. She knew that the cops had heard stories about her, so she was trying to downplay the relationship between her and Liu. Presenting Mrs. Liu as an irresponsible wife was designed to justify her own role in Liu’s life-if not morally, at least psychologically. But that self-justification was irrelevant to the murder investigation, with the exception that it presented a totally different version from that of Mrs. Liu.
Still, they learned some new things from the interview: for one, the frequency of Mrs. Liu’s trips to Shanghai. It wasn’t a long-distance trip, but it was nonetheless odd to so often leave her husband all alone at home.
And that led to the revelation about her having been a high school flower with many secret admirers. What could that possibly mean? If she had another man in Shanghai-which wasn’t unimaginable for a couple like the Lius, whose marriage was already on the rocks-it introduced a motive that had been so far overlooked. Mrs. Liu’s lover, whoever it might be, could have murdered for love or for money.
“Do you think Liu was planning to do something about his family problems?” Chen went on.
“What you mean?”
“Did he plan to divorce his wife?”
“No, not that I was aware of. As I’ve said, he didn’t discuss his family problems with us other than complaining a little, now and then, when he couldn’t help himself.”
Chen took out a cigarette, tapped it on the pack, and looked at Mi before asking, “Do you mind?”
“No. Go ahead. Liu smoked too.”
Chen changed the subject abruptly. “As you may have heard, Jiang is a possible suspect. Tell us what you know about him.”
“Oh, Jiang,” she said. “He called our office quite a few times. He was calling to speak with Liu, of course. What they talked about, though, I’ve no idea. I told Internal Security about all that.”
“Can you give us any more details?” Huang cut in. “Particularly, anything in connection with the night Liu was murdered.”
“Jiang called two or three days before the night Liu died, I think, but other than insisting on speaking to Liu, he didn’t say anything to me. That’s about all I know. And-” She cleared her voice before going on. “And as I told the police, Liu mentioned that morning he was going to see someone on some unpleasant business.”
“Did he say when or where?”
“No, not that I remember.”
“And who?”
“No, no names were mentioned either.” She added, “Oh, but two or three months ago, I saw Jiang arguing with Liu in his office.”
“His office here at the plant?”
“Yes, the inside office.”
“What were they arguing about?”
“They stopped talking the moment I stepped in, but I caught a word or two. It was, I think, about pollution.”
“Do you remember the date?”
“It was March, early March,” she said. “It was the day before the Women’s Day. Yes, now I recall…”
At that moment, a tall man burst into the outer office, greeting Huang in a loud voice.
“Hello, Comrade Officer Huang. What wind brings you over here again today?”
“Hello, General Manager Fu.”
“It’s only Acting General Manager for the moment. Please just call me Fu. And this is…”
“Chen, my colleague,” Huang said.
“Welcome. Come into my office.”
“Thank you, General Manager Fu,” Chen said. He then turned back to Mi. “We might come back to you if we have more questions. If you think of anything, please call us-or rather, call Sergeant Huang.”
Huang and Chen then turned and followed Fu into the inner office. Fu motioned for them to sit on two leather chairs opposite his oak desk. The wall behind the desk exhibited a striking array of framed awards, with Liu’s name on most of them, but under the glass on the desk, Huang saw several pictures of Fu.
“Is that Bund Park?” Chen asked unexpectedly, indicating a picture of Fu standing in front of the park, his hand pointing proudly to the river.
“Yes, I came from Shanghai.”
“So, do you go back there frequently?”
“I went back last Saturday, and I’m going there again this weekend. Nowadays, it’s so convenient to go back and visit. It’s only one hour by the new high-speed train. That is a picture I took two weeks ago.”
“You know what we’re here for, General Manager Fu,” Chen said, moving on to the heart of the matter.
“Yes. We need to get justice for Liu. He worked really hard and did a great job turning around the company. We owe our success to him, and we will never change the course that Liu charted out for us. We will, of course, cooperate with your investigation in every way possible.”
Fu spoke about Liu in a respectful and quite grateful way, as a young successor should, though his words were fulsome and couched in official language.
“We were just talking to Mi about Jiang,” Chen said, coming straight to the point. “Can you tell us something about him?”
“Not much, I’m afraid. Jiang talked to Liu, not to me.”
“So you knew about his contacts with Liu.”
“Well, I saw him talking with Liu in the office one day, but as a matter of fact, I didn’t even know at the time that his name was Jiang. Mi filled me in afterward.”
“Did Liu tell you anything about Jiang’s threat to expose the company’s industrial pollution problem?”
“Now, let me first say something about this so-called pollution, Officer Chen. There is a city environmental protection office in Wuxi. They have checked and double-checked our production procedure. Our samples have always proven to be up to the state standard,” Fu said with a serious look on his face. “Liu’s job was an extremely difficult one. In today’s market, it’s not easy for a state-run factory to survive, let alone to succeed. But Liu was successful, and it was no real surprise that he became a target for cold-blooded criminals like Jiang and other irresponsible critics who know nothing about our industry.”
“We understand all this, Comrade Acting General Manager Fu,” Chen said. “And we’ve spoken to Mrs. Liu too.”
“Really! That’s good. Considering Liu’s contribution to the company, we’re going to offer his family an adequate sum. In addition, there will be a position for Mrs. Liu-that is, if she wants to work here.”
“That’s so thoughtful of you. She’s originally from Shanghai. I wonder whether she might prefer to move back there.”
“That I don’t know,” Fu said, suddenly shifting the topic as he looked at his watch. “Have you had lunch, Officers? I worked late last night, and then skipped breakfast this morning.”
It was an obvious attempt to end the interview.
“We had a late breakfast,” Chen said, also glancing at his watch. It was near one thirty. “Yes, I think it’s time for us to leave.”
