Chapter 14: Hot Water

"I'll have the warrant for Chi Feng's accounts by tomorrow night," the captain said.

She had walked them down to the station steps herself.

"Don't go near him. Don't call him. If he hears a whisper, those accounts are empty by lunch."

"He doesn't know where I am," said Xiao Chen.

"He knows exactly where you are, Chen. He had a man at the scrapyard." She looked at Shen Yan. "Look after your lawyer."

"I'm trying," said Shen Yan.

"Try harder," the captain said, and went back inside.

They drove back to Cedar Hill in silence.

The old secretary's niece had left a paper bag on the hall table with rice, boiled eggs and a thermos of tea she had made herself.

They ate in Shen Yan's room with a chair wedged under the door handle.

Xiao Chen kept the window cracked and the key to the east wing in his pocket.

At half past nine the housekeeper knocked and held out a cream envelope on a silver tray.

"For Young Master," she said, and fled.

Shen Yan opened it with a thumbnail.

The card inside was written in Mrs. Shen's perfect hand.

Lunch on Thursday at the Harbour Club. Family only, darling. I've missed you so.

"Family only," Shen Yan said slowly. "That means you aren't invited."

"It means she wants you alone and in public, where she can be warm."

"Do I go?"

"We both go. I'll wait in the car."

Shen Yan folded the card in half.

"I don't like how calm you are."

"I'm not calm," said Xiao Chen. "I'm tired. There is a difference."

His shoulders had been tight since the cabinet.

He rolled one and winced.

Shen Yan watched him do it.

"The bathroom in this wing has a big shower," he said. "My father had it put in for his back. Go and stand under it for ten minutes."

"The house is not ours."

"The water is." Shen Yan's dimples flickered. "Go on, Lawyer Xiao. It's an order from the heir."

Xiao Chen went.

He stood under the water with his forehead against the cold tile and his eyes shut, and the day ran down the drain.

The door opened behind him.

He did not turn around.

"You said ten minutes," he said.

"It's been ten."

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