Margaret was frowning. “These are all possible indicators of HIV. Was he ever AIDS-tested?”

“Yes, I believe he was tested for HIV at the Beijing Hospital. That was about the last time I saw him.”

“And?” Margaret asked.

“And what?” the old man responded testily.

“Was the test positive?”

“Oh no.” The old herbalist scratched his chin. “Mr. Chao did not have AIDS.”

III

Li parked the Jeep in the shade of the trees at the east end of Dong Jiaominxiang Lane, a stone’s throw away from the back entrance to Municipal Police Headquarters where Li and Margaret had had their first encounter the previous Monday. She gazed along the street towards the redbrick building that housed the headquarters of the Criminal Investigation Department and the arched gateway that led into its compound. Was it really only three days since that first meeting? She said to Li, “That’s where we first bumped into each other, isn’t it?” And she grinned. “Literally.”

“Yes,” he said, smiling and remembering how angry he had been. “I was going for an interview for this job. Or, at least, that’s what I thought. I’d spent all morning ironing my uniform so that I would look my best. And I ended up covered in dirt, with my elbow grazed, and my shirt splashed with water where I tried to wash away the blood.”

Margaret laughed. That’s why he had been so annoyed. “It got you the job, though, didn’t it? They must have thought you looked like a man of action.”

“I’d got the job anyway. I’m just lucky they didn’t change their minds when they saw the state I was in.”

She touched his arm where he had grazed it, and he felt the heat of her fingers like a burn. “It’s taken a long time to heal,” she said.

“That’s a fresh one.”

“Oh.” She sounded surprised. “Some other girl knock you off your bike?”

He smiled. “It’s a long story.”

“Better not tell me, then. Because we don’t have much time left.” She had meant it in fun, but no sooner had she said it than they both felt the truth of it, and there was an unacknowledged pain in the fact of her looming departure.