Peace Hotel: The Button in the Laundry Room

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On a winter night in 1936, the laundry room at the Peace Hotel smelled of disinfectant. Chen Jiaying wore rubber gloves, holding a horn button between her fingertips as she turned it beneath an ultraviolet lamp. A dark-red fiber, like dried blood, was caught in a crack on the back of the button. "The suit from Room 307 needs to be ready for tomorrow morning." Old Zhang, the laundryman, hung the freshly pressed formalwear on a rack. Beneath the sharp clink of the brass hook, he lowered his voice deliberately. "The Japanese Special Higher Police just checked into the hotel. They say they're here to arrest Communists." Chen Jiaying's gloved hand paused over the button. Room 307 was occupied by the American journalist Robert...