"Let's go play basketball, let's go play basketball." As he spoke, he pushed Marcus Hamilton aside.

Marcus Hamilton dribbled the ball back to the basketball court, muttering as he left, "Blow, blow, blow, blowing so much that people can't even play basketball in peace."

Frank Bishop apologized, "Bad pass, bad pass, hope I didn't scare you guys, I'm really sorry."

Fiona Bennett's eyes turned red from Marcus Hamilton's earlier "police lady" comment. Frank Bishop also made a point to apologize to her. He stared at Fiona Bennett as if he had something else to say, but in the end, he didn't, and turned to run back.

Susan Wright stood up, getting ready to leave. Fiona Bennett, indignant, said they couldn't just leave like this, that she played so beautifully, and these rough men just didn't know how to appreciate it.

Susan Wright shook her head and said, "It's not because of them, I just ran out of breath."

Fiona Bennett didn't quite understand at first. Susan Wright patted her head, raised the flute in her hand, and said, "Playing this takes a lot of effort too."

A strange flush crept across her gently smiling face, and Fiona Bennett almost burst into tears at the sight.

4

Sunday brought another beautiful day, with a high of sixteen degrees—hard to believe it would be December in just one more day. But the weather forecast said this might be the last warm day in Shanghai in 1997; after this, it would rain for a while and the temperature would quickly drop to near freezing. The two of them rode their bikes along Sichuan Road to Yan'an Road, where a newly built overpass stood ahead, just opened to traffic on Friday. Susan Wright suggested they ride up onto it. This bold idea startled Fiona Bennett for a moment; she voiced concerns about whether the police would catch them, but inside she was excited. Still, she had another worry: the long ramps of the overpass would be hard to climb, and along the way, Susan Wright had already needed to stop and rest once, unable to keep up her strength.

"Hurry up, hurry up! Imagine there's a police car chasing us from behind," Susan Wright shouted, pedaling furiously, just like she did when she was at her healthiest, making Fiona Bennett work hard to keep up. Cars passed them one after another, some honking, some men smiling at them through their windows.

Both bikes climbed to the highest point, and the Hongqiao Bridge stretched out ahead, carrying them forward as if straight into the middle of the river. Directly ahead was the yellow river water, several newly built high-rises on the opposite bank, and the TV tower, all reflecting the light. The river wind, carrying a fishy smell, blew over, but it was the scent of the sea. At the end of the ride, they saw a graceful arc curving left; their bikes followed the curve downward, and the Bund rushed up to meet them.

"It's so beautiful!" Fiona Bennett shouted. "I can see the Waibaidu Bridge!"

Up ahead, Susan Wright suddenly let go of the handlebars and spread her arms wide.

"I'm flying down!" she said, turning her head to look at Fiona Bennett.

"Careful, careful, don't do that," Fiona Bennett was frightened by her actions.

Susan Wright turned her head back, still riding hands-free, the river wind holding her steady, sunlight enveloping her whole figure.

All of a sudden, Fiona Bennett stopped worrying about her. She wanted to try flying like that herself, but as soon as she let go with one hand, the handlebars started to wobble. She quickly grabbed on with both hands again, watching Susan Wright's back with envy. In her mind, only wild boys would do tricks like riding hands-free, and she never expected a good girl from such a privileged family like Susan Wright to know this move.

She started ringing her bike bell—ding-ling-ling-ling. Susan Wright finally grabbed the handlebars again and rang her bell too. The two bikes, trailing a string of bell sounds, in the blink of an eye, sped into the bright light of the Bund.

They tossed their bikes aside and sat by the Lovers' Wall. Susan Wright was still out of breath, sweating twice as much as Fiona Bennett, her hair soaked and plastered in thin strands to her scalp, making it look even thinner.

"A lot of people say the Oriental Pearl Tower is hideous, but I think it's okay," Fiona Bennett said.

"Mm."

"In a few years, when there are more tall buildings across the river, lining the bank, with new buildings on one side, old ones on the other, and the ferry blowing its whistle in between, the Bund will look even better."

"Mm."

They sat quietly for a while longer, then Fiona Bennett asked, "Does your family know?"

"My family... it's a bit complicated." After a moment of silence, Susan Wright replied.

"So right now it's just the two of us?"

Susan Wright nodded.

Things are going to get more and more dangerous, Fiona Bennett thought. Susan Wright should ask for help, not be so hesitant. Family, teachers, the police—she needs more people to protect her.

"I'll be fine," Susan Wright said. She didn't look at Fiona Bennett, but it was as if she could guess what she was thinking. Her hands rested quietly on her knees, her voice carrying a sense of calm certainty. It was a certainty Fiona Bennett had never possessed; she thought there must be a reason for it, and that this was how Susan Wright was meant to be, so she relaxed as well.

The sun shone everywhere, with not a trace of gloom left. Under such sunlight, all you wanted to do was sit quietly. Tourists passed by, and in the distance, a few seagulls appeared in the background. Things will get better, Fiona Bennett thought. Don't waste such a beautiful day—maybe it's the last one this year. Unhappy things can wait until tomorrow.

5

The next day, the temperature dropped, and the rain came and went, continuing until Wednesday without stopping.

Fiona Bennett was reading in the self-study classroom, the rain pattering coldly against the window.

She couldn't focus on her book at all; there were still fifty minutes until nine o'clock.

She secretly counted the number of people in the classroom again. Besides Susan Wright, Christopher Brooks, Matthew Mitchell, Frank Bishop, and Selena Adams were all absent.

She wasn't sure what that meant. She wasn't a detective, she didn't even like reading mystery novels. So she couldn't figure out whether that person should be here right now or not.

So all she could do was wait for nine o'clock.

She was restless, and then she sensed something strange. The discomfort came from her left, but there was nothing there—just the wall and the window. Even though she knew this, she couldn't help glancing over. Through the rain-blurred glass, a face was looking at her. It was Selena Adams.

Selena Adams knocked on the glass, signaling her to come out. When Fiona Bennett opened the window to ask what was up, she had already walked away with her umbrella.

Fiona Bennett put her book into the desk compartment and went out. Selena Adams was at the entrance of the teaching building, making a call on her much-flaunted Nokia slider phone—probably the only one in the entire medical school. When she saw Fiona Bennett come out, Selena Adams snapped the phone shut with her palm and walked out with her umbrella.

"What is it?" Fiona Bennett called after her.

"Do what you like," Selena Adams replied from ahead, her tone unfriendly.

"What?" Fiona Bennett was confused. Selena Adams walked quickly; Fiona Bennett asked several times, but Selena Adams wouldn't explain, only telling her to keep up.

Once it rained, the path through the pine woods disappeared, and they stepped through the mud into the grove. It was very dark, with no lights in the woods; Fiona Bennett could barely see Selena Adams's silhouette, as if she had melted into the darkness, only the sound of footsteps to follow, making Fiona Bennett feel afraid.

"Where are we going?" she asked again.

Selena Adams didn't answer. She hurried a few steps ahead and entered a pavilion.

This pavilion in the pine woods was famous, with all sorts of stories circulating about it, most of them centered around this very spot. During the day, Fiona Bennett hadn't thought much of it, but now, with Selena Adams standing there in silence, she felt a chill.

After a rustling sound, a small flame flared up—Selena Adams lit a cigarette. She took a drag and asked Fiona Bennett, "Here we are. Satisfied?"

"Huh?"

"Don't play dumb. Monday at noon, you had a heart-to-heart with Crystal Mitchell by the big lawn." Selena Adams deliberately dragged out the last two words.

"Monday after dinner, you had another heart-to-heart with Winnie Wright in the corridor of Building Four. Yesterday afternoon it was Queenie Adams, and today at noon it was Lily. You love heart-to-hearts so much, going down the list one by one, I guess it's finally my turn. I'll pick the spot for you—this dead man's pavilion is perfect for a heart-to-heart."

Selena Adams said sarcastically.

There was no plaque on this pavilion; it was originally nameless. But the most widely told story was that one night, a student ran into someone sitting against a pillar in the pavilion. Thinking it was a professor, he went up to greet him, only to find it was a corpse that had gone missing from the anatomy building days before. There were more stories like this—dead bodies, male and female, old and young, making their way from the anatomy building to the pavilion. So students privately called it the "dead man's pavilion." A pavilion with more dead than living, or perhaps one the dead preferred over the living.

Selena Adams said the dead man's pavilion was perfect for a heart-to-heart—clearly, there was a hidden meaning.

Because the "heart" Fiona Bennett wanted to talk about was about murder.

Of course, Fiona Bennett wasn't that direct; she was evasive, roundabout, and dodged the topic. But everyone who got into medical school was smart, especially in the elite training class. When Fiona Bennett awkwardly tried to steer the conversation toward Susan Wright, who wouldn't connect it to her calling the police last Friday, saying someone wanted to poison Susan Wright?

Crystal Nelson was the first, and there wasn't much resistance. But by the time she chatted with Winnie Hayes, she could feel obvious impatience. Queenie Adams was polite as always, but Fiona Bennett guessed she wasn't happy inside. At noon today, Lily Carter was the most direct, throwing out, "Come question me again when you're a cop," before turning and leaving, leaving Fiona Bennett in tears. She knew her relationships had dropped to freezing point.

Fiona Bennett had planned to talk to Selena Adams next, but Selena Adams came to her first.