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Epilogue

 

Three Weeks Later

It had been a peaceful enough day at the precinct—a haunting in Hsu Tan, reports of a ghost sighting in the north of the province—but Chen was nonetheless pleased to get home at a reasonable hour, after a couple of beers with Sergeant Ma. He wandered along the dock, absently kicking small stones into the glittering water, and gazing out to the golden place where the sun was setting over the South China Sea. Across the water, the houseboat rocked in the gentle breeze, the waves sending shimmering reflections along its flank. He could see Inari pottering about in the kitchen, the badger-teakettle scratching itself on deck.

As he reached the end of the dock, however, the world rang. The golden sea turned dark. When his head cleared, Chen saw that someone was standing before him. The figure wore a long, silk coat, and a sword was slung over his shoulder.

"Seneschal Zhu Irzh," Chen said, shading his eyes against the sudden glare of the light. The demon bowed.

"Detective Inspector Chen. Good to see you again."

"I'm glad you seem to have escaped Heaven in one piece," Chen said, and meant it. The demon grinned. "Heaven, yes. Pretty place, I thought. Bit insipid."

"You may have a point. So what are you doing here?"

The demon scuffed the toe of one boot in the dust; he appeared mildly embarrassed.

"The thing is. . . Hell's settled down a bit since the recent unpleasantness. They're rebuilding the Ministry of Epidemics. The First Lord of Banking gave me a very favorable report, but my department felt that, what with the Imperial Court being involved and everything, that they really didn't want me around for a bit. Political embarrassment and all that. So they've sent me here. On assignment."

"I see," Chen said, momentarily lost for words.

"They cleared it with your department. I'm to stay for three months. There was," the demon cleared his throat, "some talk of my acting as your partner."

"Where are you going to live? Have they sorted out your accommodations?" If he concentrated on the practicalities and ignored the future for once, it made things easier. Zhu Irzh nodded.

"I'm in a boarding house off Shaopeng Street. There are all manner of people in there. I like it. I've just come from there." Looking carefully at a point past Chen's shoulder, he added with studied indifference: "By the way, the Ministry of Wealth has unwrapped the First Lord's house. I went to see him a few days ago, met his family. He has a daughter, very charming girl, who seems to have taken something of a liking to me. . . Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that there are possibilities."

"I see," Chen said, smiling. "Well, I'm glad." And rather to his surprise, he found that he was pleased, too, that Zhu Irzh would be around for a while. They worked well together, and it would be nice to have a colleague who didn't regard him with manifest suspicion—though it was true that Sergeant Ma's awe seemed to have diminished considerably since his own excursion between the worlds. Zhu Irzh interrupted his thoughts.

"Thank you, Chen," he said. "I hoped you might be."

"Since you're here, you might as well come and say hello to Inari. Have you eaten?"

The demon brightened. "Not yet."

"Well, then, come to dinner."

Chen stepped from the dock onto one of the pontoons, and with the demon following, he made his way home, across the gilded, dappled water.

 

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Framed