Postmortem Appointment

March 1, 2004, clear. I finished my last job of the day, lolled in my office chair with my secretary, Xiao Liu, and poured me a cup of coffee before leaving. The banging on the door pulled my thoughts back from nine days away. It's time to get off work. "Come in." I took a long drag on my cigarette, then dropped it into the ashtray and tried to sit upright in my office chair. The door creaked open. A beautiful woman came in.