Audrey got off the elevator and stepped into the bullpen of the Organized Crime & Triad Bureau. Because narcotics cases often intersected with organized crime, she had been to this floor dozens of times before, but this time felt different. She was self-conscious of every movement. Looking as if she wasn’t doing something wrong was more stressful than she had anticipated, and she could now appreciate the sense of relief that criminals frequently experienced when they were apprehended. Audrey had never paid much thought to how she moved or how she greeted people, so she had no baseline against which to gauge the normality of her present behavior. She was hypervigilant of every glance from the detectives working in the bullpen as she moved swiftly toward the corner office, hoping to limit her human interactions.

Inspector Tsao rose to greet her as she entered his office. They had met when they were both in the academy, and he seemed barely to have aged in the ensuing two decades. He still had the same athletic physique, the same thick hair without a hint of gray. His movie-star looks seemed only fitting since the Chow Yun-Fat movies Tsao watched in his teens had inspired him to pursue the Triad Bureau. Even the immaculate office of this perennial bachelor seemed like a movie set. Audrey had been attracted to him when they were in their early twenties, but she was too principled to reciprocate a work colleague’s romantic interest. Now he was probably still dating beautiful women in their twenties, while she felt like a worn boot. She had married, had a child, divorced, and was now entering his office on two hours of sleep, in yesterday’s clothes.

Tsao pulled out a chair facing his desk. “Please, have a seat.” He circled around the desk, then paused at the sight of her. “You look exhausted. Have you been getting any sleep?”

“I’m fine. I was wondering if you had any intel on this crew moving product down in Tsim Sha Tsui.” Audrey was careful to speak in vague terms, not wanting to burden Tsao with the truth of her off-the-books investigation.

She showed him one of her surveillance photos of a man in a tank top offloading a crate. “Does this tattoo mean anything to you?”

Tsao studied the photo. “Dragon with phoenix wings. That’s the Sun Yee On triad. Was this narcotics?”

Audrey paused, then replied, “Rhino horn.”

Tsao seemed surprised at the revelation. “I guess you go where the money is,” he reasoned aloud.

“Someone is poisoning the rhino supply. I think it’s them, or someone in their organization.”

“Seems like that would be bad for business . . .” He looked puzzled. “Your unit is investigating this?”

Uncertain how much to give up, Audrey said, “No. Just me.”