One Saturday morning, Mr. Mok phoned the police station and asked for the officers in charge of the case. Officer Wong took his call. She could barely conceal her surprise, and was guarded when answering his questions about the old woman. Finally, after several minutes of assuring her of his benign intentions, she told him to come down to the station. There, she and Officer Tang told him that soon after the old woman’s arrest, a search had gone out for her next of kin (she had refused to tell them the whereabouts of her son, claiming she had forgotten). It was outside of their normal scope of involvement, but the officers felt badly for the old woman, and had posted an appeal for her relatives to contact the police.

After a week with no reply, during which the old woman had been placed in a shelter, Officer Wong managed to track down the old woman’s son and daughter-in-law. They claimed to have been completely ignorant of the situation. When questioned about their lack of action at the time of her disappearance, they said that she’d left a note about visiting a relative. They added that they’d received a letter from her some time later, informing them of her decision to live at a friend’s house, and that she was quite happy there.

“The funny thing,” said Officer Tang, “is that they looked like such a nice, respectable sort of couple on the surface. He’s a teacher, and she works for one of those fashion places—”

“Louis Vuitton,” said Officer Wong. “But nothing too exciting; she works in the accounting department.”

“They just didn’t look like the kind of people who’d let their own mother wander the streets,” said Officer Tang.

“If you don’t mind me asking,” said Officer Wong, “why exactly are you trying to find her?”

“I just want to make sure she’s all right,” said Mr. Mok, surprised to hear the words come out of his words. “Believe it or not, I feel a little responsible.” Before he could help himself, he blurted out, “I was thinking of giving her a job.”

The police officers looked dubious.

“As a housekeeper,” he continued. “She did a good job of keeping the place in order. I suppose I never fully appreciated it at the time.” As soon as he heard himself say it out loud, it really didn’t seem like such a bad idea.

The police officers told him the son and daughter-in-law had placed her in a nursing home, which, in the end, meant that she was probably no better off than if they’d never been tracked down. “You know the kinds of things that happen in there,” said Officer Wong.

By the time Mr. Mok left the station, the two officers had helped him find the name and number of the nursing home. He called that day, pretending to be the old woman’s son. The receptionist sounded surprised to hear from him. He asked if he could visit her that day. The receptionist told him that visiting hours were over, and when he asked if he could come by the next morning, she informed him that the home needed at least twenty-four hours’ notice to prepare the residents for visitors.