The iron gate of Ginkgo Garden Cemetery stood ajar. The moment Li Jie pushed it open, a gust of stale, damp air hit him in the face, as though the cemetery had exhaled the last breath it had stored for three hundred years.
He parked at the entrance and left the headlights on. Two beams stabbed straight into the cemetery's depths, illuminating crooked headstones and fairly lush grassy slopes. Otis climbed out of the passenger seat, hunched his shoulders, and stuffed his hands into his pockets.
"Sheriff, coming to a cemetery in the middle of the night..."
"Call me Police Lieutenant."
Li Jie tossed him a can of Energy Drink and jumped out of the car. "Some people got lost. I'll need your help finding them. Thanks for the effort."
"Huh?"
Otis looked around, trembling a little. "Lieutenant... sir, I can talk to rats, but I can't commune with spirits..."
"This isn't about spirits."
Li Jie waved a hand and headed straight into the cemetery. Otis had no choice but to follow, dry grass snapping softly beneath their feet. Moonlight spilled through gaps in the clouds, casting pale patches on the headstones. Those Victoria Era monuments stood at crooked angles, like a crowd of giants slowly sinking to their knees.
"Batman went down to dig up graves and got lost in there."
They stopped before a mausoleum in the center of the cemetery. Several broken stone pillars stood on its granite portico, and the doorway was pitch-black, like an open mouth.
"Right here." Li Jie pointed inside. "Batman and the others went down through here. Now I need you to help find them."
"Oh, that..." Otis breathed a sigh of relief. "No problem, then."
He pursed his lips and gave a low whistle. In moments, more than a dozen tiny