Snake Agent: A Detective Inspector Chen Novel (13 page)

"After all,"
Lao's sardonic voice echoed in Chen's head.
"We don't want him roaming around all over the place, do we?"
The more control they had over Zhu Irzh, Chen reflected, the better he would feel.

"It's too obvious," Lao murmured, energetically wafting the smoke from the brazier. Chen stifled a cough.

"What is?"

"Pearl. Talk about being conspicuous by your absence. It's almost pointed."

"So what does that mean?"

"It means that someone's blocking us. Even if Pearl's spirit is trying to reach us, it can't get through. See that?" He indicated a patch of shadow in the midst of the circle. "See how solid that is? That's a deliberate block, and I can't even tell where it's coming from. But I can guess."

"Pearl's father?"

Lao nodded. "If he's trying to reach her himself, or—worst case scenario—he's done so already, then one of his paramount concerns will be to make sure that no one else succeeds in doing so."

"All right. Then we should abandon this now and go back to Tang's."

Lao rose stiffly and wearily to his feet. "I think you're right. Well, we've failed with the séance, but that doesn't mean there aren't other things we can try. . . Give me a moment while I close this down."

Chen waited patiently as Lao went through the closing ceremony and the smoke gradually cleared. He held his breath as they stepped through the door into the living room, but Zhu Irzh was exactly where they had left him; sitting as still and silent as an elegant statue. A molten eye opened as Chen appeared.

"No luck?" the demon asked sarcastically. Chen was too relieved to find him still sitting there to resent the tone.

"Nothing. Lao thinks Tang is blocking us."

"I did try to convince you that my simple presence would probably have been an invaluable addition to your efforts," Zhu Irzh said, with gentle reproof. "But you wouldn't have it. . . So what do we do now?"

"We're going back into Tang's house. There's always the chance that he might have succeeded where we failed."

"Remember that Tang is Pearl's murderer," Zhu Irzh said. "And although even the feeblest ghost will take pains towards revenge if the opportunity presents itself, Pearl's even more terrified of her father now, after what happened last night."

"I'm counting on that to keep her away from him," Chen murmured. "But he might be too powerful for her, especially if he has help. . . I was hoping Ma might be able to distract him, but it doesn't seem to have worked. I don't suppose your contacts back in your own realm have any idea who Tang might be working with?"

"I've asked around," the demon said evasively, avoiding Chen's eye. "Haven't come up with anything yet, but you never know."

"All right," Chen said. There was no use in pushing Zhu Irzh. "Now, I need to call the precinct."

The voice on the other end of the telephone was crackling and distorted, and it was a moment before Chen realized that it belonged to Sergeant Ma.

"Detective Inspector? Is that you? You're very faint. I've been trying to get through to you. I hung on as long as I could at Tang's, but then his lawyers showed up."

Chen said, "I'm at Exorcist Lao's. I can barely hear you. There's probably too much interference. What is it?"

"Well, there are two things," Ma said, then hesitated.

"Go ahead."

"The first is Tang. He hasn't left his house. I've left a van on watch with infrared; they'll let me know as soon as Tang does anything."

"Good. What's the second thing?"

"I think there may be a problem at your home," Ma said. Chen felt as though the floor had suddenly opened up to reveal the gaping void beneath his feet. He stopped dead.

"What sort of problem?" His voice sounded very distant, as though it spoke from the bottom of a well.

"I think something may have got into your houseboat," Ma said. He lowered his voice, making it doubly difficult for Chen to hear him through the crackling static.
"
A
you know what.
A demon."

"How do you know that?" Chen said, still in that voice that was not his own.

"The captain thought things might be getting too much for one person to handle on their own," Ma said. "So, yesterday, he called in reinforcements. Someone's come from Beijing. A demon-hunter."

"A
demon-hunter?
Why wasn't I told?"

"The captain says he tried to get hold of you, but he thinks your mobile was switched off." Chen thought back to the previous day, moving through Tang's house with the mobile silenced in his pocket.

"Why didn't he leave me a message on my voicemail? Or send text?"

"He did, but he said it bounced back—there seem to be problems with the whatsit, the bioweb, at the moment. Anyway," Ma continued, "the demon-hunter arrived yesterday evening. We still couldn't reach you, so he went to your houseboat. And apparently he found—someone."

"Oh, goddess," said Chen involuntarily. "Inari."

"Mrs Chen didn't seem to be there," Ma said. "Probably she was out shopping or something." He sounded none too convinced. "There was no sign of her, anyway—just the creature, and some kind of animal."

"What happened?" Chen asked.

"He engaged the—the thing in combat but it threw him in the harbor," Ma said. Chen's eyebrows rose. Inari was demonkind, true, but hardly a warrior.

"Where is this man now?"

"Back here, in the captain's office. I think he'd like a word with you."

Chen sighed. "All right. Put him through."

The voice that greeted him was one of the coldest Chen had ever heard. A single syllable could have iced the South China Sea. "Comrade Chen?"

"Yes. Good morning."

"Good morning, comrade. My name is Citizen No Ro Shi. You must have heard of me. I've rid the capital of over two hundred hostiles over the last twenty years."

"Yes," said Chen with a sinking heart. "Yes, I know who you are."

"You haven't done so badly yourself," No Ro Shi said magnanimously. "I'm looking forward to working with you. But I'm afraid I have black news. You had a visitor last night. It's fortunate that you weren't at home. Ma told you what happened?"

"Yes."

"It's rare for me to be defeated," No Ro Shi said, without a trace of self-satisfaction "But the hostile caught me unawares. It was a female."

"So I gather," Chen said tightly.

"I'm afraid there's no sign of your wife, not yet."

"That's okay. She's at her mother's," Chen said, lying furiously. He'd pay for it later, when the small disruption in the path of Truth reached Kuan Yin, but for now, it was worth it.

"Reassuring news," No Ro Shi said, with apparently genuine relief. "What a fortunate thing, that she should have been absent from home. She would almost certainly have been slain."

"I'll tell her to stay where she is for now," Chen said hastily. "Just in case the thing comes back. Do you have any idea where it went?" As he spoke an unwelcome vision of Inari's photograph, which customarily sat on Chen's desk, floated into mind. In the picture, Inari was almost unrecognizable behind hat and sunglasses, but No Ro Shi was a suspicious and competent professional. Chen would just have to hope for the best.

"I knew you'd want to get straight on the case," No Ro Shi was saying. "I haven't been able to trace the hostile, but I'm making it a priority."

"Look," Chen said. "I'm right in the middle of an investigation at the moment, so I can't come back to the precinct just now. Can we meet up later?"

"No problem. Anything I can help with?"

"No, I'll explain when I see you."

"I'll get on with finding the intruder then," No Ro Shi said. "See you later, comrade."

"Listen," Chen said, thinking quickly. "Don't worry about me. If Hell's sent someone after me, I must be on the right track. Right now, my main concern is Tang. I want someone close to that house, keeping an eye on him. He's a dangerous man, and a prime suspect."

There was a short, considering silence on the other end of the phone, then No Ro Shi said, "I commend your professionalism. It's rare to find someone these days who puts their duty to the State above their personal feelings. I'll get over there. Where will you be?"

"I'll get over to Tang's as soon as I can. Right now, I need to try and track down a ghost. I'll meet you later." He waited for No Ro Shi's assent, then slammed the phone back in his pocket and swore. Zhu Irzh uncoiled himself from the sofa and strolled across.

"Problems?"

"Yes." Chen said curtly. He felt as though the force of the Tao was pulling him in opposite directions. If he didn't find Pearl Tang's ghost soon, then he was fairly sure that her father would: this was presumably why Tang had not left the premises. Chen imagined the industrialist, still wearing his Armani suit, hunched over his occult preparations in the cellar. But on the other side from duty lay Inari, hunted and afraid, somewhere out in a city where the very ground burned her feet as she ran. Chen studied Zhu Irzh's enquiring face and wondered just how far he could trust the demon. The answer was almost certainly not at all. If he abandoned duty and went after Inari, the goddess' wrath would know no bounds, but if anything happened to his illicit demon love, he'd never be able to live with himself. Apprehension of what Kuan Yin might do formed only a small part of the equation, however: he would not live in fear of the gods, however threatening they may be. Inari could at least look after herself to some degree (here, he thought of his wife precipitating Beijing's foremost demon-hunter into the oily waters of the harbor and gave an involuntary smile), whereas the ghost could not. Pearl would have to come first. Lao was watching him closely.

"Is everything all right?"

"Not entirely. Can I have a word with you?" Pulling Lao into the hallway, he shut the door. "There's no way you can keep Zhu Irzh here, can you?"

"Certainly not. I don't want your hellish friend lounging about in my house."

"Look," Chen said, trying not to sound too impatient. "I've just found out that a man named No Ro Shi is here, from Beijing. The demon-hunter."

"No Ro Shi
is here? Why?"

"He was drafted to help me, ironically enough."

"What about Zhu Irzh? What about your wife?" Lao said, aghast.

"Precisely. It's a bit of a problem. I have to try and work round the demon-hunter; that's why I need your help."

"Gods know I've got enough grudges against Hell, and usually I'm grateful for any support we can get, but No Ro Shi's a nutter," Lao said. "He's somewhere to the left of Chairman Mao. He's got an ideological axe to grind against any manifestation of the supernatural."

"Thanks for the reassurance," Chen said. "What about Zhu Irzh?"

"There's nothing I can do, not long term. I can keep him here for a couple of hours, like we did this morning, but eventually the restraints will wear off and he'll be free. And I don't honestly know how long I could hold him if he really put his mind to breaking out. He's hanging around because he needs our help, not because we're making him."

"This is getting complicated," Chen lamented. "I obviously don't trust Zhu Irzh, and now I've got a demon-hunter to keep off my back. Zhu Irzh and I just happen to have ended up together—this isn't some kind of formal inter-departmental arrangement. It's entirely fortuitous, and as such, it's likely to be frowned upon. I don't want to risk taking him to Tang's while No Ro Shi is there, and I don't want to leave him on his own in case he succeeds in finding the ghost and snatches her back to Hell. And I can hardly take him home, because No Ro Shi's sniffing around and I can't reach Inari."

"See if you can track down the ghost. It's likely she won't be that far from Tang's; after a while in the world, they're drawn back to the vicinity of their death, unless someone gets hold of them through séance. My advice is to head for Tang's anyway and tell Zhu Irzh to keep his head down. Anyway," Lao added, with a glance at the closed door, "does it really matter if the demon-hunter does us all a favor and takes out the Seneschal?"

Chen sighed. "I don't like being a party to murder. That's what No Ro Shi does, you know. He can kill a demon's presiding spirit—what passes for its soul. He doesn't just dispatch them back to Hell—he can fling them off the Wheel itself. I'm not sure I want that to happen even to Zhu Irzh."

"He's the
enemy
, Chen."

"Nevertheless," Chen said firmly, and went back into the living room.

"Is everything all right?" the demon asked.

"Fine," Chen said abruptly. He did not want to embark on lengthy explanations in front of the demon, although it was worth any money that Zhu Irzh already knew about Inari. "Lao—can we borrow your
tian h'ei?"

"I suppose so," Lao sighed. "As long as you bring it back in one piece. It'll need something that belonged to the dead girl."

"The only thing I've got is a spectral scarf," Chen said, as Lao shuffled from the room. "It'll have to do."

"You're borrowing his
what?"
the demon asked.

"Surely you've come across them? It's a creature. A ghost-tracker."

"Oh, a
rhu xhur
, in Gweilin. Yes, of course I know what they are; they're as common as rats."

He glanced up as Lao came back into the room, the ghost-tracker in his arms. Zhu Irzh regarded the small, squat, lobster-like thing with some distaste, which appeared to be mutual. The ghost-tracker hunched its bony carapace and rotated its antennae.

"I'll put him on his lead," Lao said. He placed the unappealing beast on the floor and carefully attached a long leather strap to its collar. Claws rattled and snapped.

"You can take charge of it," Zhu Irzh said fastidiously to Chen. Lao seemed surprised.

"Don't you like them?"

"I don't like vermin."

"Vermin!" the exorcist said, outraged. "You're a fine one to talk!"

"What did you say?"

"Gentlemen, please," Chen said, and there was something in his tone which made Zhu Irzh, as well as Lao, fall silent. "We're not here to trade insults."

"I
have been a model of exemplary politeness," Zhu Irzh retorted.