Shan returned his steady gaze. “I have one question, Lieutenant Huan. Do you know where Fujian Province is? Thousands of miles from here. Yet somehow you got the provincial governor’s signature on Metok’s death warrant during a week when he was at a Party conference in Fujian Province. Not to mention the seal of the Commissar.”

Huan smiled, seeming to welcome Shan’s defiance, then slowly, silently, gathered up the photos, one by one. “One thing about this empty countryside, miles and miles of open road with no witnesses. Little bugs must get squashed all the time.”

The knob picked up the blue windbreaker he had dropped on Choden’s desk and donned it before stepping outside. “Set your goals to match your abilities, Constable,” he said as he opened the door. “Like picking up the litter in your town square.”

As Huan bent to enter his car an unshelled walnut slammed into the fender beside him, accompanied by a peal of high-pitched laughter. Shan spun about to discover Kami, standing in the alley by the station with another walnut in her hand. Huan instantly straightened, hand on his gun, then laughed as he saw who had thrown the projectile. With a desperate cry, the girl’s caretaker darted out of the shadows and dragged her down the alley. Huan made the shape of a gun with his hand and fired imaginary shots in Kami’s direction before climbing into his car.

Shan watched as Huan and his men drove away, realizing he had asked Huan the wrong question. On the windbreaker had been the same embroidered emblem he had seen on the one the deputy director had been wearing, a red hammer over the white chorten, encircled by the words Safety in Serenity. “There’s a school for children with behavioral problems in Lhasa,” came Choden’s voice. His deputy was approaching from the square. “For those too young for incarceration. I checked, Constable. The civil authorities have the power to send a child there.”

A shriek of laughter caused them both to turn toward the square. Somehow the girl had already circled back around them and was now trying to mount one of the sheep a herdsman was guiding through town.

Choden glanced at Shan with a hopeful expression. “I left the form on your desk, Constable. Please,” he implored, then darted off to catch the girl.