A call came in through his public cellphone, ringing abruptly into his thoughts. It was from Party Secretary Li of the Shanghai Police Bureau.

‘You know what, Chief Inspector Chen? Comrade Secretary Zhao of the Party Central Discipline Committee has just called me, making his request of your help. It is the top priority for our bureau, of course, to cooperate with Comrade Secretary Zhao. So I have told others that you are engaged in a very special, very important investigation. No one will say anything about it if you don’t come to the bureau this week or next.’

Chen listened without making an immediate response.

‘But the city government has called us several times about the serial murder case. Both the Homicide squad and Detective Yu have been going all out for the investigation. You understand the timing of it.’

‘Yes, it is just like the People’s Congress Blue,’ Chen blurted out.

It was a standing joke about the politics of the air quality. Bad for months or years, the smoggy sky would suddenly turn blue with white clouds sailing over the Tiananmen Square on the occasion of important political events, such as the opening session of National People’s Congress. The Beijing government would go all out, sparing no cost, shutting down the traffic and chimneys to present a perfectly blue-sky background in all propaganda. Once the occasion was over, everything would go back to the smoggy norm.

‘Oh, you mean that. That’s the business of the environmental office. For us, it’s far more direct and immediate. If it’s truly a serial murder case, we may soon have another victim on our hands – in less than a week. And then another, if the case remains unsolved and the killing continues. Too much responsibility for us at this critical juncture.’

That was sounding, ironically, like a sweet revenge for Chen. Li had been trying hard to keep the case away from him. Now the table was turned, with the politics behind getting more serious. If the murderer went on killing, right into the session of the People’s Congress, the news would spread all over social media. Then Li’s career would be pretty much finished.

Li knew nothing about Chen’s own crisis, of course.

‘I could not say no to Comrade Secretary Zhao, you know that, Party Secretary Li. No way to excuse myself from his assignment.’

‘His assignment is highly important, but perhaps not that urgent. You don’t have to come back to the bureau full time. Talk to Qin whenever you happen to not be that busy.’ Li went on with no response from Chen, ‘We have already sent out our reserve force patrolling those politically sensitive areas. Quite a number of neighborhood committees there have been notified too. But you can never have too much prevention for a case like this.’

‘That’s true.’

‘In the meantime, what else did Comrade Secretary Zhao discuss with you?’ Li said, suddenly changing the topic. ‘He trusts you so much, we all know that.’