Li opened his eyes and realised he had broken out in a sweat. He had never encountered such brutal and unfettered evil, and he wanted to catch it and stamp it out of existence. He turned towards the door and saw Yongli hurrying into the detectives’ office. There was a strange, forlorn look about his friend, almost haunted. Li was surprised to see him. He had never come to the office before. Li went through. “Hey, pal, what are you doing here?” He saw now that Yongli’s face was a dreadful pasty colour, and there were deep, dark rings below his eyes.

“I need your help, Big Li.” He sounded pathetic. Like a small boy who knows that the favour he’s about to ask of a parent will be denied.

“What is it? Are you in some kind of trouble?” Li had never seen Yongli like this before.

“It’s Lotus.”

And Li’s heart sank. He should have guessed. Yongli, he knew, could cope with just about anything life threw at him. But Lotus . . . “What’s she done?”

“She’s been arrested.”

Qian appeared at the door, a little breathless. He made a face and nodded down the corridor. “The Chief’s decided to sit in on this one, boss. I think he’s getting a bit impatient.”

“I’m on my way,” Li said. He turned to Yongli. “Listen, it’ll have to wait. I’ve got a meeting.”

But Yongli behaved as if he hadn’t heard. He said, “When we left your apartment this morning we went back to the Xanadu. The cops raided the place just before five. Some kind of vice sweep. We all got taken downtown.”

“Ma Yongli, I don’t have time just now.” Li started for the door and Yongli followed him.

“They found drugs in her bag. Heroin. She says she has no idea how it got there.”

“They always do,” Li said, losing patience. It bore out all his worst fears about Lotus. He turned down the corridor, Yongli trailing in his wake.

“I believe her, Li Yan. She’s not into drugs. Never has been. But they’ve arrested her. She could get sent down for years. Hell, they shoot people for less!”

Li stopped outside the door of the meeting room and turned on his friend. “Look, I told you she was trouble. Right from the start. I mean, what do you expect me to do? I’ve got a triple murder on my hands, a room full of detectives waiting on me. And you want me to drop everything and bale out some whore with a bagful of smack?” He regretted it as soon as it was out of his mouth.

Colour rose on Yongli’s pale cheeks and his eyes turned cold. “Whatever you think of Lotus, it’s me who’s asking for help. I thought we were friends, Li Yan. Or was that just some silly delusion I had?”