Death of a Red Heroine

Chapter 25

Chief Inspector Chen,” he said, picking up his office phone. It was Chen’s first morning in the office after his return from Guangzhou. He had hardly had time to make himself a cup of the Black Dragon tea which was Ouyang’s gift.

“This is the office of the Shanghai Party Discipline Committee. Comrade Director Yao Liangxia wants to see you today.”

It was an unexpected call, and the voice from the other end of the line was unfriendly.

“Comrade Director Yao?” he said. “What’s it about?”

“That you need to discuss with Comrade Yao. You know where our office is, I believe.”

“Yes, I do. I will be there shortly.”

Yao Liangxia, whose late husband had been a deputy politburo member in the sixties, was herself an influential Party figure. Why should Director Yao want to see him?

Chen glanced out of his cubicle. Detective Yu had not come in yet. Party Secretary Li would not show up, as a rule, until after ten. He could make his Guangzhou report after coming back from the Party Discipline Committee.

The committee office was in Zhonghui Mansion, one of the impressive colonial-style buildings at the corner of Sichuan and Fuzhou Roads. He had passed the building many times, but he had not realized that there were so many institutions headquartered there-Old Men’s Health Society, Women’s Rights Committee, Consumers’ Rights Association, Children’s Rights Committee… He had to study the lobby directory for several minutes before locating Director Yao’s office on the thirteenth floor.

The bronze elevator had been sprayed with some supposedly high-class air freshener; the air inside felt inexplicably close. He was unable to shake off the sense of being caged even as he left the elevator, which deposited him just in front of Yao ’s office.

The Party Discipline Committee had been founded in the early eighties, with its central office in Beijing and branch offices in all large cities. After the Cultural Revolution, it was realized that the Party, with its unlimited, uncensored power, was unable to resist corruption, which would eventually lead to its downfall. So the committee, mainly consisting of retired senior Party members, came into existence to prevent and punish Party members’ abuses of power. Its main responsibility as a watchdog was to exercise a sort of censorship but the committee was not an independent institution. While it had conducted several intra-Party corruption cases, most of the time it barked rather than bit. However, the committee, which was authorized to perform background checks on Party members, was influential in the process of young cadre promotion.

Chen’s knock on the office door brought out a middle-aged woman with an inquiring look. When he handed over his card, the woman, whose voice he recognized as that of the secretary on the phone, led him into an elegantly furnished reception room containing a large oyster-colored leather sofa, flanked by two mahogany chairs and a tall antique hat stand.

He had anticipated that Director Yao would keep him waiting for a while. To his surprise, Yao came out immediately and shook his hand firmly. She led him into her office and had him sit in a leather club chair in front of a huge oak desk.

Yao was an impressive-looking woman in her late sixties, squared-faced with thick eyebrows, wearing a dark suit, which was immaculate, without a single wrinkle. No jewelry. Minimal makeup. She sat straight, appearing unusually tall behind her impressive desk, perhaps due to the combined impression of her starched collar, the splendid view from the office window in back of her, as well as his seat. Sitting in a chair much lower than Yao ’s, almost as if he was a witness at an inquisition, he was nervous.

“Comrade Chief Inspector Chen, I’m pleased to meet you today.” Yao spoke with a pronounced Shandong accent, which also fit the image of an “old Marxist woman,” a notorious character in the movie Black Cannon Incident, in which a Marxist bureaucrat made a fool of herself by punctuating her every speech with quotations from Marx and Mao. Chen had seen it with Wang, who joked about his becoming a “young Marxist man.”

“It’s an honor to meet you, Comrade Director Yao.”

“You’re probably not surprised to learn that you are highly regarded by us old comrades, Comrade Chief Inspector Chen. I’ve spoken to a number of people, and they all praise you as an intelligent and dedicated young cadre. You are on the seminar list of the Central Party Institute, aren’t you?”

“Yes, but I’m still young, inexperienced. So I have so much to learn from old comrades.”

“And you are working hard, too, I know. You’ve been quite busy recently, Comrade Chief Inspector?”

“Yes, we’re short-handed.”

“Is there some important case you are responsible for?”

“Several. Every case is important-to us.”

“Well, I have heard that you are investigating the case of Guan Hongying, the national model worker.”

He didn’t know whether that was a statement or a question, so he just nodded. But how could she have heard of it, he wondered.

“Is there any result so far?”

“A few promising leads, but nothing definite. A lot of questions are unanswered.”

“What are they?”

“Such as evidence, motive, and witnesses.” He was growing uneasy, as it was beyond the scope of Yao ’s office to be concerned with a homicide case. “At present, everything is just hypothetical.”

“I have asked you to come here,” she said with a stern quality in her Shandong-accented voice, “because I want to know how you are conducting the investigation.”

“It is a homicide case. We are following routine procedure.”

“You have targeted your suspect, haven’t you?”

“Yes.” He saw no point withholding the information. “At this stage, Wu Xiaoming is our main suspect.”

“Comrade Wu Bing’s son?”

“Yes.”

“How could that be? Wu Bing and I were colleagues in the early fifties, in the same office, and Wu Xiaoming used to play with our kids in the same kindergarten. I haven’t seen him lately, but he is doing a good job, I’ve learned from a cadre recommendation report from the Red Star. People have a very high opinion of him.”

“Wu might be doing a good job at the magazine, but he had an affair with Guan. In fact, he called her on the very night of her death.”

“Really!”

“Yes, we have evidence.”

“What kind of evidence?”

He chose to be vague: “At present, circumstantial evidence.”

“So from this circumstantial evidence you conclude,” she said sharply, “that Wu Bing’s son has committed the murder.”

“No, we are not jumping to any conclusion. It’s still under investigation.”

“Still, the news would be a terrible blow to Wu Bing, and he’s in such poor health.”

“Comrade Wu Bing is an old comrade I have always respected. We know he is in the hospital. We know that. So we are being very careful.”

“Whatever Wu Xiaoming’s family background, I am not going to shelter him. Far from it. If he is found guilty, he should be punished. That’s Party policy.”

“Thank you for your support, Comrade Director Yao.”

“But, Comrade Chief Inspector Chen, have you thought about the people’s reaction to your investigation?”

Director Yao was surrounded by walls of thick, gold-edged government books. All the furniture in her office was massive. Everything bespoke the solidity of authority.

“Reaction?” he asked. “I am not clear what reaction you’re talking about.”

“People would say, ‘What, Wu Bing’s son has committed murder! Those HCC!’ That will not be helpful to our Party’s image.”

“Comrade Director Yao, as a Party member as well as a police officer, I’ve always regarded it as my highest responsibility to defend the unsoiled image of our Party, but I don’t see how our investigation can endanger it.”

“Comrade Chief Inspector Chen,” she said, sitting even more upright and crossing her hands on the desk, “our Party has made tremendous progress in economic and political reform, but during such a transitional period, there may be some problems people will complain about. And currently there is a social view opposed to high cadres’ children-the so-called HCC-as if they were all capable of any wrong. Of course it’s not true.”

“I see your point, Comrade Director Yao,” he said. “As early as elementary school, I learned what a great contribution the high cadres-the revolutionaries of the old generation-made to our country. So how can I have any prejudice against their children? Our investigation has nothing to do with any misconception about HCC. This is just a homicide case assigned to our special case group. We’ve made a point of keeping it from the media. I don’t see how people could know anything about our investigation.”

“You never know, Comrade Chief Inspector.” She then changed the subject. “So you went to Guangzhou a few days ago.”

“Yes, to make inquiries there.”

Director Yao’s knowledge of his trip disturbed him. Neither the Shanghai nor Guangzhou Public Police Bureau had to report a police officer’s activity to the Party Discipline Committee. In fact, there were not too many people who knew about the trip. He had left for Guangzhou without making a report to Party Secretary Li. Commissar Zhang and Detective Yu were the only people he had informed.

“It is close to Hong Kong. The special zone. You must have seen a different spirit there-a different lifestyle.”

“No. I was conducting an investigation there. Whatever the difference may have been, I did not have time to experience it. Trust me, Comrade Director Yao, I’m doing a conscientious job.”

“Don’t get me wrong, Comrade Chief Inspector Chen. Of course the Party trusts you. That’s why I wanted you to come to my office today, I’d also like to make a suggestion to you. For a politically sensitive case like this, I think we all need to proceed with the utmost caution. It is best left in the hands of the Internal Security.”

“Internal Security? It’s a homicide case, Comrade Director Yao. I don’t think I see the necessity.”

“You will, if you think about the possible political impact.”

“If Wu Xiaoming proves to be innocent, we’re not going to do anything. But if he is guilty, everybody is equal before the law.” He added, “Of course, Comrade Director Yao, we’ll be very careful to keep your instruction in mind.”

“So you’re determined to go on with the investigation.”

“Yes, I’m a cop.”

“Well…” she said finally, “it is just my suggestion. You’re a chief inspector, and it is up to you to decide. Still, I would appreciate it if you’d report to me when you make some progress in your investigation. It is in the Party’s interests.”

“That will be fine,” he said, trying to be vague again. He did not think it was his responsibility to report to her. “I’m a Party member. I will do everything in accordance with bureau procedure, and in the interests of the Party, too.”

“People are talking about your dedication to your work. Their praise seems to be justified,” she said, rising from her desk. “You’ve a great future ahead of you, Comrade Chief Inspector Chen. We are old. Sooner or later we will have to entrust our socialist cause to young people like you. So I expect to see you soon.”

“Thank you, Director Yao,” he said. “Your advice and instructions are very important to me.”

Everything she said was like a quotation from a political textbook, he reflected, nodding nonetheless.

“Also,” she continued in the same serious voice, “we’re concerned about your personal life.”

“My personal life?”

“You are a young cadre in the process of being promoted, and it’s proper and right for us to be concerned. You’re in your mid-thirties, aren’t you? It’s time for you to settle down.”

“Thank you, Comrade Director Yao. I’ve just been so busy.”

“Yes, I know. I’ve read the article about your work by that Wenhui reporter.”

She walked him to the elevator. Once more, they shook hands, formally.

Outside, the drizzle was heavier.

Director Yao’s interference was ominous.

It was not just that this senior Party official knew Wu Xiaoming so well. Yao and Wu’s families had moved in the same circles. An old cadre herself, her reaction to an investigation against an HCC was not too surprising. But her knowledge of the case was alarming, and she was so inquisitive about his investigation in Guangzhou, and even about his personal life, including “that Wenhui reporter.” In her position, Yao was not supposed to be aware of these things- unless Chen himself was under investigation.

The committee was the most powerful institution determining a cadre’s promotion or demotion. A week earlier, Chief Inspector Chen had told himself that he was on the way up-to serve the people.

Now he was not sure.