Free The First Excellence: Fa-Ling's Map by Donna Carrick Page B

stubbornly at the bathroom door. He wanted to see how the beautiful, neurotic white woman would react to not getting her way.
    Paula’s eyes met Cheng’s for an instant, and in that moment the look of helplessness left her and was replaced with unbridled annoyance.
    She almost ordered him to move, but it would be futile to do so given the language barrier. Besides, the big oaf was obviously taking pleasure in her discomfort.
    She regained her placid demeanour as quickly as it had fled, and waited for Cheng to move.
    Cheng’s eyes missed nothing. In the instant when they met hers, he understood she was no ordinary female. He did not need the benefit of words to read Paula Kader.
    The woman was hiding something. But what?

FIFTEEN
     
    Fa-ling didn’t hear the first knock at the door. She tossed, half-asleep, jarring the earphones from her head.
    Henry knocked again more loudly. Fa-ling opened her eyes. It took a moment for her to remember where she was. She lay still in the bed, not sure whether she had heard anything.
    Impatient, Cheng pounded on the door. Fa-ling sat up, uncertain what to do. She was alone in a strange country and someone was banging on her door. She glanced at the bedside clock. It was three-fifteen in the morning.
    She padded to the entryway and looked through the peephole.
    She recognised the little concierge who had come on shift the night before. The two men beside him were difficult to make out through the tiny distorted lens.
    “ Police,” Henry said in English. “Please open the door.”
    “ One moment.” Fa-ling looked down at herself. Michael’s shirt was now rumpled and it fell open over her naked breasts. The only other thing she was wearing was a pair of white cotton panties. She quickly buttoned the shirt and ran toward the chair where she had laid her jeans.
    “ I’m coming,” she shouted, pulling up the zipper.
    Fa-ling opened the door. Cheng entered first, followed by Wang and the concierge.
    “ There has been an occurrence,” Henry said, “in the room next to yours. The police have come to ask you questions.”
    “ I don’t understand,” Fa-ling said. “What kind of occurrence?”
    Henry stood up straight and puffed his chest out. He was not immune to the presence of a beautiful girl. “There has been a death,” he said, allowing the moment of crisis to take hold.
    “ Who died?” she asked.
    “ I cannot say,” Henry said.
    Cheng immediately began to walk about the room, lifting things and opening drawers.
    Fa-ling watched as he rummaged through her suitcase. She hoped he wouldn’t disturb her backpack where she kept her clarinet and her journal.
    He sifted through her underwear and t-shirts, glancing up occasionally to see her reaction. The corner of her mouth lifted into a tiny half-smile, letting him know she understood the nature of his game.
    He was less interested in her belongings than in her reaction to the intrusion.
    Wang observed Fa-ling. How, he wondered, could anyone look so good on waking from a deep sleep? He’d been alone for too long. Whatever the reason, Yong-qi felt himself attracted to this young woman. She wore a man’s shirt, which she had buttoned up badly, so one side of the shirt hung lower than the other and the collar was out of whack. Her bare feet stuck out of the bottom of bellbottomed jeans that were too long for her.
    He almost smiled at the sight of her, but caught himself in time.
    “ What is your name?” Wang Yong-qi asked, waiting for Henry to translate.
    “ Li Fa-ling. Can you tell me what happened next door? Was there an accident?”
    “ Why did you come to Gui?” he asked.
    “ I came with a group from Canada,” Fa-ling answered in Cantonese. “I was born in Guangxi. I wanted to see the place where I was born.”
    Henry was disappointed his translation services would not be needed. He stood his ground near Wang, though, refusing to be left out of the action.
    “ Are you travelling with your husband?” Wang asked. It