“Sure. It’s a current passion among middle-class Middle Americans with nothing better to do with their time. A girlfriend dragged me along to a class once. The balance of yin and yang and the flow of ch’i and all that kind of stuff. The spirituality of architecture and interior design.” She paused. “So who’s this guy?”

“Evidently, a feng shui man,” said Li through gritted teeth.

“And . . . he goes with the job, does he?”

Li glared at her, and was then distracted by more unrestrained laughter from his colleagues. He turned his glare on them, which muted their laughter a little, before turning back to the feng shui man. “What are you doing in my office?” he repeated, although he already knew the answer.

His heart sank as the feng shui man confirmed, “Your Uncle Yifu asked me to fix your feng shui. He is very concerned about this place. And he is right to be. Ve-ery bad feng shui.”

Detective Wu brushed respectfully past Margaret with a solemn nod and appeared at Li’s shoulder. He pushed his dark glasses up on to his forehead. “Chief wants to see you, boss.”

“What?”

“As soon as you got back, he said. I think maybe he’s worried about your . . . feng shui.” And he couldn’t keep his face straight any longer.

Li’s lips pressed together in a resolute line. “Excuse me,” he said to Margaret, and pushed back out into the corridor.

At the far end he rapped on a door and walked into Chen’s office. Chen’s face clouded as he looked up from his desk. “Shut the door,” he said tersely. “What is that man doing in your office?”

“He’s a feng shui man,” Li said hopelessly.

“I know what he is.” Chen was struggling to keep his voice down. “What is he doing here?”

Li sighed. “My Uncle Yifu sent him.”

Chen leaned back in his seat and groaned in frustration. “I suppose I should have guessed.”

“I’m sorry, Chief, I had no idea . . .”

“You know that the practice of feng shui is not approved of in official institutions. Just get rid of him. Now.”

“Yes, Chief.” Li turned to the door, but stopped, his hand still on the handle. He turned back. “By the way. The suicide in the park? It’s a murder.”

When he got back to the detectives’ office Margaret was engaged in what appeared to be animated conversation with the entire office, Lily acting as interpreter. Li closed his eyes for a moment and wished, fervently, that he was somewhere else. “Hey, boss,” Wu said, “this is some smart lady. Lily’s been telling us how she figured out the identity of the body in the park.”

Margaret was sitting on one of the desks and swivelled towards the door. “This is a really nice bunch of guys you’ve got working for you, Deputy Section Chief Li.”