Huan hesitated, not masking his confusion. “I sent no one. Do not try to distract me, comrade. I have enough to detain you. The colonel can call me, when he misses you in a day or two.”

Shan gave an exaggerated sigh. “So much paperwork. Just think of it. Public Security detaining an inspector working for the military governor. Public Security interfering with an investigation into matters that may affect the security of the motherland. Public Security has its lawyers. The army has its own lawyers. We will write our reports, then the lawyers will write theirs, which will be ten times as long. Then the provincial Party authorities will get involved. They’ll start citing the scriptures of Chairman Mao to let everyone know they have the ultimate authority. And eventually Beijing will step in. Generals and Party officials on special joint committees. By then they will view the whole thing as an embarrassment to the state and ask, who is the imbecile who started it? The answer will be obvious, the unreliable officer who started a prosecution based on myths and religion that the government could never officially acknowledge. Remind me. Who will be called the reactionary?”

Huan’s face flushed with fury. “You won’t dare start those wheels moving!” he hissed. “You are more vulnerable than me!”

“Not true. I have no ambition to higher office or higher rank. But not so with you. What was it last time? Three years’ loss of seniority? It’ll be four years next time, even five, and a posting to some Himalayan hill station that’s covered in snow nine months of the year.”

Huan quieted. He stood and went to the window, where he lit a cigarette as he stared out over Lhasa. The Potala, glowing on its well-lit hill, seemed to hover over the darkened city. “Such an imagination,” the lieutenant said. “You are out of your element, comrade, in a minefield you cannot navigate. You will come to realize I am doing you a favor.” He turned and exhaled smoke toward Shan. “Do you want a blanket to sleep here on the table or shall I take you down to the holding cells?”

Shan refused to be provoked. “While I’m here perhaps you can give me the contact information for Officer Daoli.”

A snarl formed on Huan’s lips.

“You know, the officer in Hong Kong who did that amazing fieldwork. Not only uncovering Metok’s secret account but also spotting the corrupt Tibetan on the streets on the very day he set up the account. What a workhorse! And what a memory, considering Metok had not yet been identified as a criminal!”

“Details of our secret investigations are never disclosed,” Huan warned.

Shan held up his hands as if to concede the point. “You would know the bureaucratic rules better than a lowly constable. Who should it be then? The banking authorities?”

Huan hesitated. “I don’t follow.”