Red Mandarin Dress by Qiu Xiaolong

Author:Qiu Xiaolong
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Published: 2010-07-07T21:00:00+00:00

TWENTY

IT WAS THE WORST blow Yu had suffered in his career as a policeman.

After a sleepless night first at the cemetery, then the bureau, he rubbed his bloodshot eyes and decided to go again to the Joy Gate, where a young colleague of his had been abducted and murdered while he was stationed outside, entrusted with the duty of protecting her. He could think of nothing else.

At the Joy Gate, the police were still searching and re-searching all the rooms, hoping against hope that they might find some undiscovered evidence left behind. He didn’t think joining them would be of any help.

He went to the front desk and asked for a list of regular customers. The criminal must be familiar with the building to be capable of having made such a plan. At his insistence, the day manager produced a printout.

“It really doesn’t mean any—anything,” the manager stammered, swallowing hard. “They are just good, regular customers.”

“Good customers, I see,” Yu said. “How regular?”

“The basic fee is not expensive, but with drinks and tips, it could be easy to spend five or six hundred Yuan an evening. A regular customer comes at least once a week.”

“Has any of the regulars stayed in the hotel above?”

“The hotel is not so fancy. Not too many care to stay here, what with the noise all night long. Nor is it always a good idea, either. People make assumptions about what a customer and a dancing girl are up to in a room upstairs. So many would rather go to another place.”

“That makes sense,” Yu said, nodding.

It was a list of names, addresses, and phone numbers. Some of them also indicated their profession or preferences. It was possibly a PR list.

“When we have special events,” the manager explained, “we like to notify them.”

He would make calls to some of the people on the list, Yu thought. Then one of the names seemed to jump out at him. Jia Ming, his profession indicated as a lawyer. It was a name Yu remembered. Chen had asked him to check into him with regard to a high-profile housing development case.

It was strange that Jia, a well-known lawyer, busy with a controversial case, would have the time to be a regular customer here.

“Can you tell me something about this man?”

“Jia Ming,” the manager said with an apologetic smile, “I am afraid I cannot tell you much. He’s not that regular.”

“What do you mean?”

“Most of the people on the list are Big Bucks. They come here to ‘burn money,’ squandering it on girls and services. Jia comes, but he pays only for an entrance ticket, sits in a corner, watching over a cup of coffee, seldom dancing, and never asking anybody out. He’s here just once or twice a month.”

“Then why is he on your list?”

“We wouldn’t have noticed him but for a phone call from the city government several months ago. Someone wanted us to report on any of his improper behavior here. But he didn’t do anything out of line—we’ve never seen him taking out a girl—and we reported truthfully.

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