“You mustn’t,” Shan said. “Too dangerous. Public Security is on the mountain, including Lieutenant Huan, who framed your husband. Now that I know where the pack is I can retrieve it when I go there next. It’s the kind of errand a constable does. Public Security will not suspect, I will just be retrieving the effects of a dead man for his family.”

Jiang slowly nodded. “Talons. Like the foot of a hawk.”

“Once a great garuda bird protected the mountain and the valley below. When the gods summoned him, he left behind his claws. The Tibetans say it means he is still watching, waiting for the right time to protect them.”

“But would you know how to find these bird claws, Inspector? It can be difficult to find your way on those mountain slopes.”

“On the western slope of the split mountain, above the big field of outcroppings,” he explained.

She repeated his words with a slow nod, then offered the sad smile again before pressing his hand and departing.

Pike waited to approach him until the woman could be seen on the steps below the wall. “Quite the conversationalist, Constable,” he muttered, then held up his phone, showing a photograph of the woman he had taken as she stood beside Shan. “Clever bitch. A versatile asset, as they would say in the trade.”

Shan shot him a quizzical glance.

“She was on the train that day. Sat beside him and struck up a conversation.”

The words slowly sank in. “You’re saying she was speaking with Sun before he died?”

“They seemed to hit it off. After a couple hours she went forward and brought back food for them both to eat. I remember because I had been watching from a seat three rows back, hoping the spot beside him would stay vacant so we might chat. But then at the last minute she appeared, just as the train was pulling out. Seats are assigned on the sky train. She had a ticket for that particular seat. So I had to wait until he got up then followed him.” Pike scrolled through the photographs he had taken of the woman. “Sun never came back. She stayed in her seat. When I got back to my seat an hour later, she was going through an overnight bag. Only later did I recall that she had arrived without baggage. It was his. She didn’t expect him to return.”

Shan turned toward the city and gazed out toward the squat fortresslike structure on the far side of the river, then glanced at his watch. “I have lunch with an aging cobra. The train arrives in four hours. Meet me at the station.”