Free The Flower Net by Lisa See Page B

businesses in the interior? That his son was kidnapped as a warning or for ransom? That the whole thing was botched and they dumped the body?”
    “We don’t know yet. We’ve already been in contact with Beijing…”
    “You what?” David asked sharply.
    “Let me say at the outset that we at the State Department were well aware of Guang Henglai’s disappearance.” O’Kelly paused to let this revelation sink in, then went on. “The boy has been missing for almost a month. Those of us at the State Department—even recent tourists to China—are familiar with the case. China is well known for being able to find anyone at anytime anywhere. During these last few weeks China has mounted its largest manhunt ever. Needless to say, they found neither Guang Henglai nor anyone who could give them any information as to his whereabouts.”
    “So there’s been no evidence of foul play on Chinese soil?” David asked.
    “I’m not saying that. But with the current political tensions—the ballyhoo in the Taiwan Strait last year and Hong Kong this summer—the State Department felt it was important to notify the Chinese government and thus Guang Mingyun as soon as possible. We don’t want it to appear as though the U.S. could be involved in any way.”
    “How could we be involved?” David asked. “The body was found rotting on a Chinese freighter, for Christ’s sake!”
    “David,” Madeleine cautioned. “Let’s hear him out.”
    “We know the body was found on the
Peony
,” O’Kelly continued. “We know that Guang Henglai has been dead a long time. But how do we prove that to the Chinese? How can we prove that he didn’t die at the hands of an immigration officer—either on the boat or at Terminal Island? With things the way they are right now, the Chinese have every reason not to believe us.”
    David shook his head skeptically. “I have to assume that his parents will want the body for burial. Their own experts could tell them how long he’s been dead, and that he certainly wasn’t the victim of a beating or gunshot wound or whatever else they might imagine.”
    “Let me throw something else into the mix,” O’Kelly went on. “If the coroner is right that the boy died before he left China, the timing would coincide with the death of the son of Ambassador Watson.”
    Jack Campbell’s lips formed for another low whistle.
    “You just lost me,” David said.
    “Watson’s the ambassador to China,” O’Kelly explained. “His son was found dead in Beijing at the beginning of the year. It was written off as an accident.”
    “But it wasn’t?”
    O’Kelly shook his head. “As you might expect, relations with China are rather chilly right now. Nevertheless, when we contacted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs—our Chinese counterpart—we were informed of several things. First, the Chinese themselves don’t believe the accident theory.”
    “And there’s evidence to support that?”
    “I must stress that what we’re talking about here is extremely confidential.”
    “Go on.”
    “Despite what you may read in the paper, we do have friends in China. A copy of Billy Watson’s autopsy was wired to us. I think you’ll be interested to note several similarities. Both Watson and Guang were the same age. Both Watson and Guang were found in water. And”—O’Kelly paused to get their full attention—“both boys had a mysterious substance in their lungs.”
    “What are we talking about here?” Madeleine asked. “A Chinese serial killer?” She looked around the room. “Is there such a thing?”
    “It’s too early to draw any conclusions. We need more investigation, and we need to get our own man in that investigation. This is where you come in, Stark. The Chinese have apparently heard what happened on the
Peony
and they are willing to work with
you
, whether out of respect, gratitude, or because they want to look you in the eye when you relate the details of finding Guang Henglai’s body. We