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NINETEEN

"Sorry," Go stammered. "I—must have freaked out there for a minute."

Jhai Tserai looked at him curiously. "What's he talking about? Who are you?" Then she smiled. Not many people could resist Jhai's smile, Chen thought, even when they knew she was trying to pull something. That demon-glamour . . . It didn't hurt that Jhai was beautiful, and (currently) wearing a silk jacket of silver-shot purple that outlined a modest, but appealing, cleavage.

Go was clearly smitten, even after a rough night. Chen wondered whether he would, on reflection, recognize Jhai for what she was: he must be one of the few people in the city to have wittingly encountered a tiger demon before, and Go might be reckless, but he wasn't entirely stupid. "My name's Pauleng Go," the young man said. "I write for the movies."

"Really? Which ones?"

Go named a few.

"Oh, I loved the first one. I thought it had a really interesting undercurrent of post-modernism and combined with the background of—"

"Maybe," Chen said mildly, "we could save the film reviews until later? We have a bit of a problem here, Jhai."

"Sorry, Detective. You must be wondering what the hell I'm doing here at this hour of the morning."

"Yes, since you ask."

"I just got back from Beijing; I was going to pick up Zhu Irzh. He said he was coming off shift first thing."

Chen sighed. "Mr Go, would you excuse us for a moment?" He ushered Jhai through the door, then went on, "He would have been, but he's gone missing."

"What?"

Chen explained.

"Oh, great," Jhai said. "I know this is trivial, but I wanted him to come and look at wedding dresses with me."

Wherever Zhu Irzh might be, Chen thought, he might be considered to have got off lightly.

"Zhu Irzh isn't the only one to go astray. Inari's badger's AWOL as well—the two are almost certainly connected."

"Do you think this is anything to do with me?" Jhai asked.

Jhai's habit of assuming that the world revolved around her was less arrogance than pragmatism: it frequently did. "It's a distinct possibility," Chen said. "Ever since your engagement was announced, Zhu Irzh's public profile has been prominent. Frankly, I wouldn't rule out kidnapping."

At least she wasn't the hysterical type. Jhai's eyes narrowed in an expression that Chen had come to know well, and she caught her bottom lip between her teeth.

"I can't just go home and sit there, after this. Is there anything I can do? Miss Qi's not here, unfortunately—visiting family back in Heaven."

A pity, Chen thought. Jhai's Celestial bodyguard would have come in handy right now.

"I doubt you'd just sit, Jhai. You have a company to run, after all. But put your own security on it—it can't hurt. We're overstretched."

"All right. But I don't want to get under your feet, Chen."

Oddly enough, Chen thought he could trust her not to. He said so. Then he added, "Could you come in here a moment? I don't want—" he gestured toward the interrogation room.

"Sure." Chen led her into one of the other empty rooms.

"That young man in there. I wasn't interrogating him, as such. He's in there to keep him safe. He says there's a tiger demon after him."

He had the pleasure of seeing Jhai look genuinely startled.

"Two shocks in five minutes, Chen. I don't know how you manage to stay so calm."

"Inside, I'm like Munch's Scream. Get ready for another one. That film you liked so much? This girl starred in it."

"You're joking. Lara Chowdijharee's a tigress? I knew there was a reason I identified with the protagonist."

"The thing is," Chen said, "do you actually know her?"

"The surname's assumed, obviously. But—yeah, I do. Didn't recognize her on film, though—I've only ever met her in her more demonic aspect, and on screen and under make-up . . . This lot are all my distant cousins, you see. Mother left Hell—our Hell—under a bit of a cloud. Fell in love with someone. A young lady. A very rich young lady, whose father owned a small pharmaceutical corporation, among other things. Had me by artificial means. Grand-dad, if one can call him that, died, and one of the things that got passed over to Mother was the pharmaceutical side of things—that's where Paugeng comes from."

"And of course your mother never returned to Hell."

"No reason to. Besides, our side of the family comes from Kerala—there's a long history of matriarchy in the region. Go-ahead women are nothing new there, but in other bits of India and Hell, things are rather more backward. Mother never really took to Hell. Thinks it's a bit—well, a bit Bollywood, I suppose."

"But this demon—Lara—she's a relation?"

"A cousin. She's one of nine sisters who live in a palace called the Hunting Lodge. It's in a region of Hell ruled by my cousin—another cousin—called Agni, who's really more of a demigod than a demon. Father was a fire deity. Great combination genetically, with all that tiger blood. Nice enough bloke, actually. Bit smarmy. He's been up here a couple of times. Can't say the same for Lara, which is probably why she's never looked me up."

"You don't get along?"

"I'm okay with strong women," Jhai said. "Which may surprise you. I respect them. But Lara's just a bitch and she's also really quite thick."

"Oh dear," Chen said, inadequately. "Go thinks she's actually unstable."

"It wouldn't surprise me. But all of them are a bit nuts. Agni's the sanest of them and even he's had his moments. What's Lara doing here?"

Jhai wouldn't be winning any Least Psychotic awards any time soon, Chen thought, but he kept that to himself.

"Go summoned her up," he explained. "Thought it was a good idea."

"Jesus."

"He's now realized the error of his ways, I think. Tried to send her back where she came from and it didn't work—he admits he's no expert in magic. She killed his business partner and burned his house down."

"Yeah, that sounds like Lara. What are you going to do about this, Chen? Try and find her, or what?"

"I have rather a lot on my plate," Chen said. "I know this is a substantial favor, but I was wondering if you could take charge of Mr Go? At least keep him safe."

"Don't take this the wrong way," Jhai remarked, "but Paugeng's got quite a number of secure units. He'll be safe enough with us and even if Lara shows up, I might be able to talk her out of doing anything too violent. I wouldn't count on it, though. But you can't keep him here. She comes from the Hunting Lodge, remember? There's a reason for that name. Good sense of smell, that side of the family. And if she shows up here and there's resistance, she's likely to do a lot of collateral damage. Paugeng's safer."

"Thank you," Chen said. "I'll leave it up to you whether or not you divulge the family relationship."

"Hmm," Jhai replied. "Best not. He seems freaked out enough already."

Any questions Chen might have had as to whether Go recognized Jhai for what she was, even subliminally, seemed irrelevant. Go was clearly delighted to be in Jhai's company, pathetically grateful for such a powerful champion, and offered as much help as he could to Chen in tracking Lara down.

"We're going to have to find her," Chen said in an undertone to Jhai as she led Go out of the building. "I can't guarantee she'll survive it."

"I should have more family loyalty," Jhai said, "but I won't blame you if you have to put her down."

"It'll be a SWAT unit, not a vet!"

"You know what I mean. Try and trank her—I'll send you some stuff, if you want. It's a difficult one, Chen. If we catch her and send her back dead, she'll be really pissed off. But so will the family. I know dead isn't really dead in our case, but it's the principal of the thing. Whereas if she's sent back alive, at least they can't get all uppity on that score."

"We'll do our best," Chen said. "But we'll have to make sure she stays where she's supposed to be."

"There are extradition agreements for that sort of thing." Jhai looked doubtful. "Don't always work, though."

And on that less than reassuring note, Chen had to be content.

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Framed

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NINETEEN

"Sorry," Go stammered. "I—must have freaked out there for a minute."

Jhai Tserai looked at him curiously. "What's he talking about? Who are you?" Then she smiled. Not many people could resist Jhai's smile, Chen thought, even when they knew she was trying to pull something. That demon-glamour . . . It didn't hurt that Jhai was beautiful, and (currently) wearing a silk jacket of silver-shot purple that outlined a modest, but appealing, cleavage.

Go was clearly smitten, even after a rough night. Chen wondered whether he would, on reflection, recognize Jhai for what she was: he must be one of the few people in the city to have wittingly encountered a tiger demon before, and Go might be reckless, but he wasn't entirely stupid. "My name's Pauleng Go," the young man said. "I write for the movies."

"Really? Which ones?"

Go named a few.

"Oh, I loved the first one. I thought it had a really interesting undercurrent of post-modernism and combined with the background of—"

"Maybe," Chen said mildly, "we could save the film reviews until later? We have a bit of a problem here, Jhai."

"Sorry, Detective. You must be wondering what the hell I'm doing here at this hour of the morning."

"Yes, since you ask."

"I just got back from Beijing; I was going to pick up Zhu Irzh. He said he was coming off shift first thing."

Chen sighed. "Mr Go, would you excuse us for a moment?" He ushered Jhai through the door, then went on, "He would have been, but he's gone missing."

"What?"

Chen explained.

"Oh, great," Jhai said. "I know this is trivial, but I wanted him to come and look at wedding dresses with me."

Wherever Zhu Irzh might be, Chen thought, he might be considered to have got off lightly.

"Zhu Irzh isn't the only one to go astray. Inari's badger's AWOL as well—the two are almost certainly connected."

"Do you think this is anything to do with me?" Jhai asked.

Jhai's habit of assuming that the world revolved around her was less arrogance than pragmatism: it frequently did. "It's a distinct possibility," Chen said. "Ever since your engagement was announced, Zhu Irzh's public profile has been prominent. Frankly, I wouldn't rule out kidnapping."

At least she wasn't the hysterical type. Jhai's eyes narrowed in an expression that Chen had come to know well, and she caught her bottom lip between her teeth.

"I can't just go home and sit there, after this. Is there anything I can do? Miss Qi's not here, unfortunately—visiting family back in Heaven."

A pity, Chen thought. Jhai's Celestial bodyguard would have come in handy right now.

"I doubt you'd just sit, Jhai. You have a company to run, after all. But put your own security on it—it can't hurt. We're overstretched."

"All right. But I don't want to get under your feet, Chen."

Oddly enough, Chen thought he could trust her not to. He said so. Then he added, "Could you come in here a moment? I don't want—" he gestured toward the interrogation room.

"Sure." Chen led her into one of the other empty rooms.

"That young man in there. I wasn't interrogating him, as such. He's in there to keep him safe. He says there's a tiger demon after him."

He had the pleasure of seeing Jhai look genuinely startled.

"Two shocks in five minutes, Chen. I don't know how you manage to stay so calm."

"Inside, I'm like Munch's Scream. Get ready for another one. That film you liked so much? This girl starred in it."

"You're joking. Lara Chowdijharee's a tigress? I knew there was a reason I identified with the protagonist."

"The thing is," Chen said, "do you actually know her?"

"The surname's assumed, obviously. But—yeah, I do. Didn't recognize her on film, though—I've only ever met her in her more demonic aspect, and on screen and under make-up . . . This lot are all my distant cousins, you see. Mother left Hell—our Hell—under a bit of a cloud. Fell in love with someone. A young lady. A very rich young lady, whose father owned a small pharmaceutical corporation, among other things. Had me by artificial means. Grand-dad, if one can call him that, died, and one of the things that got passed over to Mother was the pharmaceutical side of things—that's where Paugeng comes from."

"And of course your mother never returned to Hell."

"No reason to. Besides, our side of the family comes from Kerala—there's a long history of matriarchy in the region. Go-ahead women are nothing new there, but in other bits of India and Hell, things are rather more backward. Mother never really took to Hell. Thinks it's a bit—well, a bit Bollywood, I suppose."

"But this demon—Lara—she's a relation?"

"A cousin. She's one of nine sisters who live in a palace called the Hunting Lodge. It's in a region of Hell ruled by my cousin—another cousin—called Agni, who's really more of a demigod than a demon. Father was a fire deity. Great combination genetically, with all that tiger blood. Nice enough bloke, actually. Bit smarmy. He's been up here a couple of times. Can't say the same for Lara, which is probably why she's never looked me up."

"You don't get along?"

"I'm okay with strong women," Jhai said. "Which may surprise you. I respect them. But Lara's just a bitch and she's also really quite thick."

"Oh dear," Chen said, inadequately. "Go thinks she's actually unstable."

"It wouldn't surprise me. But all of them are a bit nuts. Agni's the sanest of them and even he's had his moments. What's Lara doing here?"

Jhai wouldn't be winning any Least Psychotic awards any time soon, Chen thought, but he kept that to himself.

"Go summoned her up," he explained. "Thought it was a good idea."

"Jesus."

"He's now realized the error of his ways, I think. Tried to send her back where she came from and it didn't work—he admits he's no expert in magic. She killed his business partner and burned his house down."

"Yeah, that sounds like Lara. What are you going to do about this, Chen? Try and find her, or what?"

"I have rather a lot on my plate," Chen said. "I know this is a substantial favor, but I was wondering if you could take charge of Mr Go? At least keep him safe."

"Don't take this the wrong way," Jhai remarked, "but Paugeng's got quite a number of secure units. He'll be safe enough with us and even if Lara shows up, I might be able to talk her out of doing anything too violent. I wouldn't count on it, though. But you can't keep him here. She comes from the Hunting Lodge, remember? There's a reason for that name. Good sense of smell, that side of the family. And if she shows up here and there's resistance, she's likely to do a lot of collateral damage. Paugeng's safer."

"Thank you," Chen said. "I'll leave it up to you whether or not you divulge the family relationship."

"Hmm," Jhai replied. "Best not. He seems freaked out enough already."

Any questions Chen might have had as to whether Go recognized Jhai for what she was, even subliminally, seemed irrelevant. Go was clearly delighted to be in Jhai's company, pathetically grateful for such a powerful champion, and offered as much help as he could to Chen in tracking Lara down.

"We're going to have to find her," Chen said in an undertone to Jhai as she led Go out of the building. "I can't guarantee she'll survive it."

"I should have more family loyalty," Jhai said, "but I won't blame you if you have to put her down."

"It'll be a SWAT unit, not a vet!"

"You know what I mean. Try and trank her—I'll send you some stuff, if you want. It's a difficult one, Chen. If we catch her and send her back dead, she'll be really pissed off. But so will the family. I know dead isn't really dead in our case, but it's the principal of the thing. Whereas if she's sent back alive, at least they can't get all uppity on that score."

"We'll do our best," Chen said. "But we'll have to make sure she stays where she's supposed to be."

"There are extradition agreements for that sort of thing." Jhai looked doubtful. "Don't always work, though."

And on that less than reassuring note, Chen had to be content.

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Framed