Officer Tang stood over Granny Ng scratching his balding head and seemingly at a loss for words. Finally, he squatted down in front of her and said, “Granny, are you comfortable?”

Granny Ng nodded. “Quite comfortable, thank you. But these handcuffs…”

“Yes, I’m sorry about that,” said Officer Tang. He pulled a slim notebook and pen from his jacket pocket, then tapped the pad a few times before asking, “Do you realize, Granny, that you’ve broken the law?”

Granny Ng bit her lip. She stared at the edge of a small, halfmoon indent in the carpet where one of the computer table legs had shifted.

“This is private property,” he continued, “belonging to this gentleman here. If Mr. Mok decides to press charges—”

“Why did you say my name?!” exclaimed the young man at a volume that seemed to surprise even himself.

“I think it’s a bit late for that,” said Officer Wong, peeling a Post-it note from the closet wall. “I imagine she knows quite a lot about you already.”

Officer Tang continued. “If Mr. Mok decides to move forward, you could be charged with counts of housebreaking, trespassing—”

“And theft,” added the young man.

“What items have been stolen, Mr. Mok?” asked Officer Wong.

“Well, food, mostly.”

“Mostly? Anything else? Anything of value?”

The young man hesitated, then shook his head.

“I see.” Officer Tang noted this in his book, then stood up and rubbed his knees, which were sore from the squatting. “Granny, my colleague and I here need to fill out a report, and for that we need to ask you some simple questions. It would be much better if you could cooperate with us on this.”

Granny Ng nodded.

“Good. Now, can you please tell me your full name?”

“Ng Shui Lin.”

“Age?”

“Sixty-three. No, wait—sixty-four.”

“How long have you been living here?”

Granny Ng finally stole a glance at the young man, who was staring at the wall over her shoulder with an expression of nervousness and quiet anger.

She answered quietly. “One year.”

“What!” The young man was almost shouting, his face reddened. “Why did you do this? Is this your idea of fun? Why aren’t you at home with your children and grandchildren? Do they even know where you are?”

The officers asked the young man to calm down and suggested that they continue the investigation at the station.

Granny Ng and the young man were each interviewed for half an hour. The young man told Officer Tang that for the past few months, he’d begun to notice that food was going missing. He also noticed that household supplies like soap and toilet paper were getting used up a lot more quickly than usual. At first he’d thought little of it, putting it down to his own absentmindedness; perhaps Mrs. Lee the cleaner had left him a note about it and he’d forgotten. After all, he would also lose track of other things: he’d forget where he’d put a flashlight or an extension cable, for example, and then after a few weeks the items would just turn up on their own. But after some time, a vague, nagging doubt began to visit him just before falling asleep at night. The following morning, before leaving for work, he would quickly check around the house for signs of disturbance. He never found any.