Snake Agent: A Detective Inspector Chen Novel by Liz Williams Page A
Authors: Liz Williams
Tags: Fantasy:Detective
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a minute. Let's at least get out of the rain and have a chat with this unfortunate spirit."
Zhu Irzh bolted towards the temple with his coat held over his head. The rain was driving hard now, but at least it had the advantage of cleaning Chen's trousers. The thought of turning up at his goddess' temple reeking of the city sewers had not been an appealing one. As always, the doors were open, symbolizing Kuan Yin's permanent openness to those who suffered. No one was about, save for a large and melancholy frog sitting in the middle of the courtyard. Chen led the ghost to the main temple and opened the door.
Inside, the temple was silent. Two guardian spirits, represented in stone, stood by the entrance. Chen lit a taper and their faces flared into sudden nightmare prominence. The ghost gave a small, muffled cry. Chen found three kneeling-mats and sat down on one of them.
"Now," he said, as gently as he could, to the ghost. "Do you understand what I'm saying?" The ghost stared at him in silent incomprehension. "Can you understand me? Can you speak?"
"It might be a language problem," Zhu Irzh suggested. "Sometimes they lose the language of life after they've crossed over. You speak Gweilin, don't you, Chen?"
"It's a possibility she might have lost her Cantonese. That's usually a result of death caused from head injury, isn't it? Well, we'll try."
He repeated his questions in Gweilin and a spark of understanding appeared in the ghost's white eyes.
"Can you tell me anything at all?" Chen said.
The demon leaned across and said in fluent, rasping Gweilin, "Listen, Pearl. You're dead, okay? Either your dad had you murdered or did it himself. Then he arranged for you to be sent to Hell, but brought you back again. Why?"
The ghost gaped at him. Chen snapped, "Don't you think she's suffered enough?"
Zhu Irzh spread his hands. "She'll have to face facts sooner or later."
In a high, wondering voice the ghost said, "He killed me because I found out about the others. He had them killed, too, because the Xi Guan told him to."
Chen frowned. "What's the Xi Guan?"
"I don't know."
"No use looking at me," Zhu Irzh said, in response to Chen's questioning glance. "It's just a title. It means 'The Pre-Eminent.' "
"Where did you hear the word?" Chen asked the ghost.
"My dad." She twisted her hands. "I knew a lot about what my dad was doing. I used to go through his stuff in the study when he was out and no one was around. I knew he signed a bargain with the Ministry of Wealth, long ago, and that's why we were rich. But lately, over the last year or so, he started to get angry. His investments weren't doing so well—he hadn't put any money into bioweb technology because he thought it was a fad, but then it got really popular and he kept saying the Ministry of Wealth had cheated him, they should have told him, and he was going to look for someone else to help him. Then one night, very late, a man came to the house. I—I'd gone out, by myself, to see someone—I was coming back through my bedroom window when I saw the man. I couldn't see him very clearly, he was wearing a hood, but he stank. He smelled like something that had gone rotten, and he moved in a funny way. I didn't stick around, I went back into my bedroom. After that, things got a bit better and dad seemed to calm down. But then—then all my friends started dying, we all had problems—they said it was anorexia. And I just got depressed. And one night I got so hungry I couldn't stand it. I went downstairs to the kitchen. Dad was in his study, on the phone. He sounded tense, like he did when he was pretending not to be angry. He said, 'I've done everything the Xi Guan asked me to do. Do you realize the danger I've put myself in over these deaths? Seven virgin souls for your experiments—that's what the Xi Guan wanted and that's what you got. I've kept my part of the bargain. Now it's your turn.'
"He hung up and he was coming out of the room, so I turned to run, but I—I
Zhu Irzh bolted towards the temple with his coat held over his head. The rain was driving hard now, but at least it had the advantage of cleaning Chen's trousers. The thought of turning up at his goddess' temple reeking of the city sewers had not been an appealing one. As always, the doors were open, symbolizing Kuan Yin's permanent openness to those who suffered. No one was about, save for a large and melancholy frog sitting in the middle of the courtyard. Chen led the ghost to the main temple and opened the door.
Inside, the temple was silent. Two guardian spirits, represented in stone, stood by the entrance. Chen lit a taper and their faces flared into sudden nightmare prominence. The ghost gave a small, muffled cry. Chen found three kneeling-mats and sat down on one of them.
"Now," he said, as gently as he could, to the ghost. "Do you understand what I'm saying?" The ghost stared at him in silent incomprehension. "Can you understand me? Can you speak?"
"It might be a language problem," Zhu Irzh suggested. "Sometimes they lose the language of life after they've crossed over. You speak Gweilin, don't you, Chen?"
"It's a possibility she might have lost her Cantonese. That's usually a result of death caused from head injury, isn't it? Well, we'll try."
He repeated his questions in Gweilin and a spark of understanding appeared in the ghost's white eyes.
"Can you tell me anything at all?" Chen said.
The demon leaned across and said in fluent, rasping Gweilin, "Listen, Pearl. You're dead, okay? Either your dad had you murdered or did it himself. Then he arranged for you to be sent to Hell, but brought you back again. Why?"
The ghost gaped at him. Chen snapped, "Don't you think she's suffered enough?"
Zhu Irzh spread his hands. "She'll have to face facts sooner or later."
In a high, wondering voice the ghost said, "He killed me because I found out about the others. He had them killed, too, because the Xi Guan told him to."
Chen frowned. "What's the Xi Guan?"
"I don't know."
"No use looking at me," Zhu Irzh said, in response to Chen's questioning glance. "It's just a title. It means 'The Pre-Eminent.' "
"Where did you hear the word?" Chen asked the ghost.
"My dad." She twisted her hands. "I knew a lot about what my dad was doing. I used to go through his stuff in the study when he was out and no one was around. I knew he signed a bargain with the Ministry of Wealth, long ago, and that's why we were rich. But lately, over the last year or so, he started to get angry. His investments weren't doing so well—he hadn't put any money into bioweb technology because he thought it was a fad, but then it got really popular and he kept saying the Ministry of Wealth had cheated him, they should have told him, and he was going to look for someone else to help him. Then one night, very late, a man came to the house. I—I'd gone out, by myself, to see someone—I was coming back through my bedroom window when I saw the man. I couldn't see him very clearly, he was wearing a hood, but he stank. He smelled like something that had gone rotten, and he moved in a funny way. I didn't stick around, I went back into my bedroom. After that, things got a bit better and dad seemed to calm down. But then—then all my friends started dying, we all had problems—they said it was anorexia. And I just got depressed. And one night I got so hungry I couldn't stand it. I went downstairs to the kitchen. Dad was in his study, on the phone. He sounded tense, like he did when he was pretending not to be angry. He said, 'I've done everything the Xi Guan asked me to do. Do you realize the danger I've put myself in over these deaths? Seven virgin souls for your experiments—that's what the Xi Guan wanted and that's what you got. I've kept my part of the bargain. Now it's your turn.'
"He hung up and he was coming out of the room, so I turned to run, but I—I
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