Chapter 49
Reilly had CSI show up in unidentified vehicles and civilian clothes. He kept the crew small, and they used generic suitcases to bring their equipment into the building. To further help, Reilly announced a press conference at the B&B to keep the attention there. It even got the two news crews that were outside the tong to pack up and head to Napa. That would help when it came time to remove the bodies. It’s pretty hard to hide a body bag on a gurney.
Timothy Green, the medical examiner, said it wouldn’t be a problem to use an unmarked van for transport. He also said he could wait for an opportunity to move the bodies; forensically, it posed no threat to their portion of the investigation.
From the second floor window, I saw Green park his vehicle outside. I hurried downstairs to meet him at the entrance. “We appreciate your help with this,” I said, holding the front door open.
“It’s gotten worse, hasn’t it?” he said with a lowered voice as he looked up and down the street.
“It has. The bodies are up on the second floor,” I said as I closed and locked the door behind us.
“This has got to be taking a toll on you,” he said, looking back over his shoulder as I followed him up the stairs.
“It’s harder on my family.”
Green stopped at the landing between floors. “What can I do to help? There must be something.”
I smiled at Green. “You’re helping right now.”
“What? The unmarked van?” Green motioned with his head. “I meant outside of my job. What about the family? Where are they now? Do they need a place to stay?”
“It’s very kind of you to ask. My mother-in-law and the kids are moving back home. The Bureau is doubling their security efforts. My entire street will be on lockdown.”
“And you?” he asked as he reached out and placed a hand on my shoulder.
“I’ll be fine, but I appreciate your concern.”
Green held his position on the landing as he peered deeper into my eyes.
“I’m serious. Everything is okay.”
A second later, Green removed his hand. “Well, as long as you’re not relying on the SFPD for your safety.” He turned and continued up the stairs. “You let me know, though. Nothing is out of the question.”
By dusk, we had the tong cleared out, and I could come out from hiding. Knox had asked earlier if I’d wanted the other agents that had been staying at the tong to stick around. I didn’t feel that we were facing the same realities of an attack then as we had before, so we agreed we could do without them.
Kang had Chinese food delivered from the corner restaurant, and we all gathered in the rec room on the second floor. CNN played on the television, and Kang had the food laid out on a table. We all pulled up chairs and sat.
Since I couldn’t go home just yet, and hanging around the tong wasn’t ideal, Kang suggested I stay at his place.
“I’m serious, Abby,” he said as he slurped chow fun into his mouth. “I have plenty of room. It’s no problem. I want you to be there.”
It wasn’t the intrusion part that had me hesitant. “Aren’t you forgetting something?” I dished a helping of oyster chicken and pork fried rice onto my plate.
“What?”
“Suzi. You know, your girlfriend. Doesn’t she live there too?” Kang had mentioned after we got back from Bangkok that Suzi had officially moved in, though she had practically been living there since her return to the Bay Area.
“She’ll have to understand. Plus the guest room is on another floor if that helps you feel better.”
“Hey, I’m fine. She’s the one I’m worried about. We can’t have her running her mouth about me being there. You know, I’m supposed to be dead.”
Kang held up his hand to beat back the sarcasm that had begun to punctuate my replies. “Don’t you worry about Suzi. I can handle her.”
The conversation around the dinner table paused as the four of us focused on shoveling food into our mouths. Kang had done a great job with the spread: pork fried rice, oyster chicken, beef chow fun, spicy tofu, beef and broccoli, kung pao shrimp, stir-fried veggies, steamed carp, and spring rolls. Chilling in the refrigerator was my favorite dessert: almond jelly. Way too much food, but Kang was like me; he always over-ordered.
Between bites, I continually checked Team Balkan’s phone for an update. So far, we had heard nothing regarding our submission.
“How long does it take?” Knox asked as he noisily destroyed a spring roll.
“Well, in the past, feedback ranged from almost immediate to a few hours, but that’s just based on our own interactions. I think if after a day or two we don’t have an answer, we can safely assume the mastermind wasn’t fooled. I think at that point we go public about taking down another team and how we’re a step closer to shutting down the game.”
“Yeah, spin this thing in our favor,” Copeland managed to say while chewing.
We sat around discussing the case a bit more after dinner. Ethel still hadn’t been located, which wasn’t a good sign. Agents had been dispatched to both her home and the CCBA. They were now following up on known associates of hers. Kang had also placed numerous calls to her but got voicemail each time.
“Anything useful come back from NYPD on Yee?” I asked Kang.
He shook his head. “Nothing.”
“I got the same result with our Tribeca office. They have no knowledge of him.”
“Honestly, I’m worried.” He leaned back in his chair and loosened his belt a notch. “This isn’t in Ethel’s character to just up and disappear. She’s usually the center of attention, the one who is out socializing almost every night.”
“Do you think maybe she’s a little spooked by the investigation and our suspicions of Yee?” I asked.
“Probably. Most people would be.” Kang checked his watch. “You ready to head back to my place?”
“Yeah. Just let me grab a few things. I’ll be back down.”
As I packed an overnight bag, I thought about how staying at Kang’s place had dashed my hopes of receiving another nightly visit from Sei. For some reason, I’d just had it in my head that she would come back that night. The instinct wasn’t based on anything concrete; I just wanted answers.
I thought briefly about leaving a note but decided not to. One, it would amount to inviting a dangerous person into Kang’s place. Two, I had to stop thinking I had a friendly relationship with this woman. She hadn’t come to me because she had thought we could become BFFs. There had been a reason, and it probably hadn’t been a positive one. I shut the window and locked it. Not tonight.
Chapter 50
Knox and Copeland remained at the tong to help carry out our ruse. It was business as usual, except any requests for an interview with me were denied. The story they put out was that I had a sore throat and needed to refrain from any nonessential talking.
On the way over to Kang’s place, I realized I had actually never been inside. I had met him outside numerous times, but that was about as far as I had ever gotten. He lived in an old Victorian with two floors instead of three like mine.
Kang held the front door open. “After you.”
While neat and orderly, the décor was heavy on utilitarian and light on color and design. Blacks, whites, and blues dominated. Though there were signs of Suziness infiltrating his manly look: fresh flowers on a table near the entrance and a framed publicity photo of her hanging on the wall were two examples that stuck out.
“Come on, let me give you the tour.”
The guest room, with its own bath, was located on the first floor. Suzi’s influence continued with lavender walls and a matching floral duvet on the bed. A large, decorative mirror adorned a wall along with a collage of framed pictures and cute quotes. A light green wingback chair sat in the corner, and an antique dresser stood against another wall with a matching vanity next to it.
The bathroom smelled of fresh flowers and had the same light tones. White tiled floors and a dark, gray-and-black-tile
d, step-in shower gave the bathroom that luxurious appeal associated with five-star hotels. It even had a rain showerhead. On a wooden ladder shelf sat various toiletries, white fluffy towels, and a few decorative vases. A single white oval vessel sink sat on top of a light gray countertop. I wanted very badly to hate everything, but I found myself loving it all and knew I would be very comfortable there. Ugh!
“I see Suzi has already redecorated.”
“Uh, yeah. But the fixtures were my doing. She just repainted and put flowers all over the place.”
She did more than that.
Kang’s bedroom and office were on the second floor, as was another small bedroom that Suzi had taken over. “She uses it as a closet,” Kang mentioned as we passed by.
“By the way, what time does she usually get back from the station, and does she know I’m staying here?”
“She knows, and she’s staying at her mother’s tonight. She thought it was best that she not be here since we would most likely be discussing the case.”
“Oh?”
“You see? She can be thoughtful.”
By the time I had finished my long, relaxing shower, it was ten thirty. Kang had already retired to his room. I guess we were both beat from not having any sleep the night before. I definitely had my eye on that pillow-top bed.
I checked Team Balkan’s phone once more. Still no message from the mastermind. I started to think my plan wasn’t faring so well. It might have been a long shot, but I had been hopeful.
I had just finished brushing my teeth when I heard a knock on my door.
“Abby, it’s Kyle.” His voice sounded hurried.
I opened the door and saw that he had jeans and a T-shirt on. “What’s going on?”
“It’s Ethel. I just got a call from her.”
“Where is she? Is everything okay?”
“She’s at a friend’s house over in the East Bay, hiding. Not from us though, from Yee.”
“Wait, why is she hiding from him?”
“Long story short, she got a strange call from him telling her to quit talking about him or else. She said his voice was low and menacing, nothing like the man she knew. That’s what sent her running and why your agents were having trouble tracking her down.”
“So he threatened her?”
“I’m not sure. She seemed frazzled over the call. She wants me to come get her. She doesn’t trust anyone else. I’ll bring her back here. I have a sleeper sofa.”
“Nonsense. I’ll take the sleeper sofa. She can have the guest room. Do you want me to come with you?”
“Nah, I’m just picking her up and coming straight back. It’ll take forty minutes tops. I’ll text you if anything changes, but it shouldn’t.”
“All right. I’ll let Reilly know that we’ve located her.”
Chapter 51
After Kang left, I locked the front door and walked over to the sofa. Time to face my new foe. I removed the fabric-lined pillows, and there staring back at me was the metal framing, cold and unforgiving. I pulled back on the strap and unfolded the creaking, wannabe bed. I had really been looking forward to a good night’s sleep, but given that Ethel was older, it just didn’t seem right for her to be sleeping out here. Oh, the sacrifices I make.
I sat on the edge of the bed and felt a bar push up against my thigh. Suck it up, Abby. To be honest, the mattress wasn’t in bad shape, though I doubted the bed had entertained many overnight guests since Kang had purchased it. I stood and went in search of Kang’s linen closet. I found it on the second floor between his bedroom and Suzi’s gigantic closet.
There were a sheet and a comforter tucked away, but no pillows. I figured I would just grab one off the bed in the guest room. If I had to make do with a sofa bed, Ethel could live with three pillows instead of four.
I returned to the living room and threw the sheet over the bed like a fisherman’s net, except my sheet didn’t spiral out into a perfect circle. More like a crooked triangle. As I fitted the sheet around the corners of the bed, the proximity of my nose to the mattress allowed me to pick up a musty scent. Kang wasn’t the type to use softener in his wash, so the sheet was devoid of anything that could counteract the noticeable odor.
I unfolded the blanket and fluffed up the pillow, hoping my nose would get used to it, but it just seemed that the smell had gotten stronger. Maybe I was the first to use the sleeper sofa and had unleashed years of pent-up stink.
When I finished, I debated if I should crawl into bed or wait up for Kang to return. I figured I had better wait, as I would probably be woken anyway when they returned.
I walked over to a small sitting area in a nook that was enclosed by three bay windows. It was located just opposite the narrow hall that led to the kitchen and washroom at the rear of his place.
I drew the drapes closed and shut off the main light, opting for the Tiffany lamp that sat on a table separating the two leather armchairs. A brass magazine stand stood at the base of the table. My options: Cosmo, Self, Vogue, Entertainment Weekly, and Vanity Fair. I grabbed the EW and settled in.
I had been engrossed with the new fall lineup of sitcoms when my nose twitched. I could still smell that damn bed. Or was it the magazine? I shoved my face between the pages and inhaled. Nope, not the magazine. I couldn’t understand why the smell still lingered.
I turned my nose up and took another whiff. I certainly wasn’t imagining it. I could smell it, but something about it bugged me. The more I sniffed, the more I realized it wasn’t really a musty scent. And then it dawned on me. When my father broke out the good Irish whiskey, usually accompanied by his thigh-slapping rendition of “Rocky Road to Dublin,” he would often light up a cigar. That was what I smelled, but why?
Before I had time to ponder my own question, my eyes caught sight of something in the dim hallway: a glowing cherry that grew bright, followed by a figure stepping out of the darkness through a puff of smoke.
Chapter 52
“Ethel?” I lowered the magazine into my lap. My eyes were focused, but I was clearly dumbfounded by who had just walked out of the dark and into the warm light of the lamp. I tilted my head slightly as I worked to make sense of things.
Ethel didn’t have the broad smile I recalled seeing that first day we had met. Nor was she wearing a blouse with vibrant colors or an elaborate necklace draped over her chest. No, the Ethel standing in front of me was completely different.
Her eyes were concentrated and narrowed through her black-framed glasses. Her wardrobe consisted of a dark coat with equally dark pants. She brought the cigar up to her mouth once again and gave it a few puffs. A cloud of gray masked her stone-like face. “Didn’t your mother ever warn you that if you frown too much, your face would stick like that?”
“What are you doing here? I thought Kyle…” I could feel a dull pain emanating from my concentrated brow.
“You haven’t figured it out yet, have you? Come on, Abby. Up until a few seconds ago, I thought you were pretty smart. Wait, I take that back. Up until you sent me that picture…”
I shook my head. “It can’t be…”
“Is it staring to set in?”
I had made a grave mistake. I had never once considered that the mastermind could be a woman. In that instant, my confusion cleared, and a deep hatred rose from my gut and into my chest. She was the person who had put a hit on my family. My jaw tightened, and blood engorged every muscle in my body, readying them to explode into action. Right then, I wanted nothing more than to impart great physical pain on the woman who dared to threaten my family with death.
I pressed both hands on the arms of the chair, but before I could stand, Ethel raised her right arm and pointed a gun at me. It looked like a .38 special. I didn’t care. I could probably take one or two hits if she missed vital organs, but if she pulled the trigger enough, she could bring me down. Twenty feet separated us. I figured I had a fifty-fifty chance of reaching her before she pulled the trigger three times. Still, I didn’t care. I had to assume
she had the experience to fire it. I had to take the threat seriously, even if she was a short, unassuming woman in her fifties with graying hair. She might even surprise me by having similar skills to Sei. Still, I didn’t care.
She brought the cigar up to her mouth and clamped down on the nub, holding it there, chewing it slowly. Her double chin jiggled as she puffed and chewed. Her eyes squinted even more as the developing cloud of smoke thickened. “I know you find it hard to believe that I’m behind the game,” she grunted. “Most people do. Usually when they’re dying, they come to grips with reality, but at that point, it’s too late.”
“What about Yee, the Triads, Jing Woo?”
She let out a short laugh. “Charles? I’m Charles, you idiot. Do you always lose your brain when you take your suit off?” Ethel shook her head disapprovingly. “For someone who spent years in Hong Kong, I expected you to have a better understanding of Triads. I don’t blame you. There aren’t many who do. Anonymity is how they retain their strength. It’s why they’ll never be defeated. Jing is easily replaceable, as are all members. It’s a sacrifice each and every one of them is willing to make.”
It took all I had to restrain myself. I wanted her dead, but I also wanted answers. “The Triads, women don’t have a position of power within the organization,” I said through gritted teeth.
“I’m not a Triad gang member. That’s where you got it wrong, but Kyle”—she removed the cigar from her mouth, waving it to make her point—“he started to figure it out.”
“You’re talking about Vagabond Kung Fu?”
“I see he filled you in.”
“He said it was folklore, overactive imaginations trumping up what is really just a band of two-bit thieves and killers.”
Coit Tower (Abby Kane FBI Thriller - Chasing Chinatown Trilogy Book 3) Page 17
