Chapter 8: The Study

In the morning Su Ye did not ask about the night.

He put a cup of tea in Lu Chen's hands and said, "Whatever it was, it keeps."

Lu Chen's wrist stayed quiet while he held the cup, as if it were waiting too.

He could not say the thing, so he went to do the thing he could.

Ma Rui met him on a bench behind the public library, with his bag clutched on his knees.

It was raining a little.

Neither of them had an umbrella.

"Forty-one million," Ma Rui whispered. "In two years."

He swallowed.

"Harbor Line Freight billed Su Group that much for hauling nobody can show me."

"Who signs the payments?"

"The head of finance. But the invoices are approved from Su Lu's office."

Ma Rui's hands shook around the strap.

"Chen, I can see where the money goes. I can't see who owns the company that gets it."

"That's what I need."

"Where would you even find that?"

"In her study," Lu Chen said. "She keeps the company papers in the wall safe."

Ma Rui stared at him.

"You can't break into the safe."

"I don't have to break it."

In four years Lu Chen had watched Su Lu open that safe more than a hundred times.

He knew the code.

It was the date she was adopted into the Su family, which she celebrated every year with a cake and a speech about gratitude.

That night the house was almost empty.

The chairman had gone to bed early with his crossword.

Su Ye's parents had taken him to the hospital for a check on his ribs.

Lu Chen stood at the foot of the stairs.

He felt a dull ache in his side, which meant Su Ye was lying on a table somewhere, being pressed.

It was not a bad pain.

He found he did not mind it.

It was the only way he could feel him while he was away.

Su Lu's study was at the end of the east corridor.

The door was unlocked.

She never locked it, because she had never needed to.

He closed it behind him and crossed to the painting of the mountain in the mist.

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