Chapter 1: The County Chief's Death

A cell phone rang insistently. The middle-aged man snatched it up. “Hello? What is it?”

“S-Secretary Ma, the medical examiner checked the body. She said… she said…” The caller faltered, unable to bring himself to repeat the findings. The dead woman was the county chief, an official appointed by the authorities above.

“Spit it out, Lao Liu! What’s wrong with you? It’s just a dead county chief. It’s not as if we haven’t had one die in Gaoshan before!”

The shout frightened the caller into blurting it out. “She was raped.”

“What do you mean?” The man failed to understand.

“Exactly what I said.”

“What?” His head buzzed. “How? Wasn’t she alone?”

“Yes, but last night, some of Wang Dalong’s men must have seen her and decided to… do that to Chief Gao.”

The man’s face changed. His hand jerked, nearly dropping the phone. He caught it, his heart racing as a wave of fury swept over him. “Fuck! What the hell is Wang Dalong playing at? She was the county chief! He’s trying to get me killed! Does he even understand who she was?”

She was a government official, appointed by the city. Killing her was one thing, but raping a county chief, in her own quarters?

His heart pounded in his throat. This would blow up in their faces. He couldn’t let the higher-ups hear about it, and no one could be allowed to investigate. If they did, even nine lives wouldn’t be enough to save him.

“Have the body sent for cremation. Now! And silence the examiner. I don’t care how you do it, just make sure she keeps her mouth shut. You hear me?”

“Y-yes!”

“Hurry. Arrange the cremation. Go!”

“But…” The examination wasn’t even finished. Cremating the body now would violate procedure. If the authorities looked into it, he would be disciplined, and the whole affair would never withstand scrutiny.

“No buts! Get it cremated, now!” His heart hammering, the man hung up.

Still seething, he dialed another number. “Wang Dalong?”

“Brother Ma, it’s me. What’s the matter? It’s taken care of. Are you satisfied?”

“Satisfied, my ass! Do you know who she was? The county chief! A government official! You let your men do that to her? You’re driving me straight to my grave! Wang Dalong, were you raised on shit? How did I ever get mixed up with a stupid pig like you?”

Wang Dalong’s heart lurched. “Brother Ma, what are you saying? Someone did that to the woman?”

“I don’t care what you were trying to do. Revenge like that will get every one of us killed! She was a county chief, a government official, and you sent men to touch her. You—” The man ground his teeth. She had been sent down by the authorities. Her death was bad enough, but if they learned the young chief had been raped before she died, his career was finished. They would never let it go. This time, they had gone too far.

Wang sounded alarmed too. “Brother Ma, believe me, I never ordered anyone to do that.”

“I don’t care how you do it. Make the men who touched Gao Lan that night disappear. Right away, understand?” the man roared. His heart was nearly bursting out of his chest. This changed the whole nature of the affair. They had raped a county chief—his own colleague, for God’s sake.

He was beside himself.

“Don’t worry, Brother Ma. I’ll send someone to handle it right away. I won’t let you down.”

“You’d better keep your word, Wang Dalong, or don’t blame me for showing no mercy. And listen: Gao Lan is dead. The higher-ups will send someone down for certain. You people had better keep a low profile.”

“Yes, Brother Ma. Don’t worry.”

Wang was about to say more, but the man abruptly hung up.

He tossed his phone onto the sofa and took out a cigarette and a lighter. His hand shook so badly that after several attempts he still couldn’t light it. Furious, he threw both aside and let out a long breath. They had really gone too far this time. That idiot Wang Dalong was going to get him killed.

In the medical examiner’s office of the Gaoshan County criminal investigation unit, Lu Xiujuan sat stunned. The female county chief had been sexually assaulted before her death, and by more than one person. Who could have been so brazen?

Her heart raced. Had she made a mistake telling Deputy Director Liu? Chief Gao had been a good person. She had died for no apparent reason in her own quarters, and now this. What was Lu supposed to put in her report?

No. She was a medical examiner. She couldn’t let Chief Gao die without justice. She typed a few lines on her computer, printed them, folded the report and slipped it into an envelope she ordinarily used.

She had just finished when three police officers came in. “Examiner Lu, how is it? Are you done?” The man leading them was Liu Yixiong, deputy director of the Gaoshan County Public Security Bureau.

“I’m finished. I didn’t find anything else unusual. We need the family’s consent to perform an autopsy. Do you think one is necessary?”

“An autopsy? I don’t think so. The case is clear enough: a home invasion and robbery. We’re pursuing the killer. All right, we’ll take the body. You don’t need to concern yourself with it.”

“What?” Lu stared at them in shock as the two officers stepped forward and began wrapping the body. Something was wrong.

“Director Liu, you can’t just take the body away. It’s important evidence, and procedure requires—”

Liu shot her a cold look. Her heart pounding, she swallowed the rest of her protest.

“Where’s the postmortem examination report?” he asked.

Startled, she hurriedly replied, “There hasn’t been time. I haven’t written it yet.”

Her heart raced as she watched the officers bag the body and carry it away. What was Liu planning? Once they had carried it out of the examiner’s office, he stepped close to her. His eyes fixed on her like a hawk’s, his expression dark, and he began to speak slowly…