Chapter Four: The Drawer at 3:17

Shen’s own badge hung from his chest. He parked before Zhou Jiming’s compartment and lifted the sheet. Beneath it was not a body but a portable projector, its lens aimed at the gap in the drawer. “Don’t move,” Lin said, drawing her weapon. The man raised his head. He had Shen’s younger face and a faint scar over his left eyebrow, absent from Shen’s face now. He nodded as if greeting a late colleague. “You came anyway,” he said. “I thought you would listen to Professor Zhou.” “Who are you?” “The part you cut away.” He switched on the projector. The drawer flew open. Zhou lay inside, uninjured, gripping the closed-eye tie clip. As the machine turned, the overhead lights blinked and reality was chopped into black frames.