Chapter 43: Visiting Hours

Xiao Chen told Shen Yan he was going to chambers, and took a taxi to the prison.

He told himself it was a short trip.

He told himself rules were written for days when they could be kept.

The visiting room had a long glass wall, with a telephone on each side.

A guard stood at the far end.

Xiao Chen sat on the plastic chair and waited.

Down the bond Shen Yan's mood came to him, warm and a little sleepy.

He was at the Tower, with a pencil behind his ear.

Xiao Chen thought of him asleep that morning, with a hand over his heart, and his chest went tight.

A door buzzed.

Chi Feng came in.

He was thinner. His grey prison shirt hung loose on the shoulders, and his hair had been cut short.

But he still walked as if he were entering a restaurant.

He sat down opposite and smiled.

He picked up the telephone.

"Lawyer Xiao. You look tired."

"I need answers."

"No hello?"

"The blue boxes."

Chi Feng's smile did not move.

"Ah," he said softly. "She found it."

"Say it."

"I collected the box on the first of every month. I handed it to you in the corridor."

He lifted one shoulder.

"It was a staff benefit. You were very grateful."

"They were not blockers."

"No."

"They were the same drug as the strips."

"I assumed so. I did not ask."

Chi Feng leaned closer to the glass.

"You were perfect, you know. I want you to understand that. You were calm and precise, and you never once asked for your name on a door."

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