Blood Passage (21 page)

“
Wow, that’s pretty impressive, Taylor.” Karen paused. “What about Gary, who was he?”

Taylor shrugged. “I don’t know. I didn’t know those men before. I heard the other man call him Gary, that’s all.”

“
You heard Shawn call him Gary?”

“
No, the other man.”

“
There was another man there besides Shawn and Gary?”

“
Yes.”

“
Do you know what his name was?”

Taylor shook his head.

“
That’s all right. What’d he look like?”

“
Mean,” Taylor said. “White, like you.”

“
Okay, good. So what did Gary look like?”

“
Not so big.”

“
Not as big as Shawn, you mean.”

“
Yeah. And his skin was white, too.”

“
What color was his hair?”

“
Not like yours,” Taylor said. “Black, like mine.”

“
Okay. What else do you remember about Gary?”

“
Nothing.” He paused. “He was crazy.”

“
Crazy? What do you mean?”

“
He kept yelling at me. I was crying and he kept yelling at me to tell him who I told and I kept saying ‘I didn’t tell anybody’ and he kept yelling ‘you’re a fucking liar, who did you tell?’ and I just kept crying and saying I didn’t tell nobody.”

Karen shivered. She gripped the ropes of the swing tightly. Taylor had lowered his voice to imitate the man and the effect was chilling. Tears slipped down the boy’s plump cheeks. She slid off the swing, took a tissue out of her pocket and knelt beside the boy, dabbing at his tears.

“
That’s all right, Taylor. It’s all right now.”

“
Shawn kept hitting me, and he hit me with his gun, and he kept hitting me with the gun and it went off.”

“
The gun went off while he was hitting you with it.”

The boy sobbed. “He hurt my leg! Gary yelled at him ‘you stupid asshole!’ and Shawn said ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to, it was a accident’ but my leg hurt bad and the blood was coming out and it was awful!”

He came out of the swing and threw himself into her arms, sobbing.

“
Shh!” Karen whispered into his ear, rubbing his shoulder. “There there, Taylor, it’s all right, we don’t have to talk about it any more.”

Behind her she heard the footsteps of Michael and Hank as they came toward them.

Michael took Taylor from her and swung him up into his arms. “That’s enough, Detective. That’s quite enough.”

Karen looked at Hank wordlessly.

Michael turned and began to walk toward the parking lot, swinging Taylor around onto his right hip. Taylor pulled his head up from his father’s shoulder and took hold of his ear.

“
Wait, Daddy, wait. I didn’t tell her about Tommy!”

“
I think we’ve had enough of this for one day, Taylor.”

“
No, wait!” The boy twisted in his father’s arm, looking for Karen.

She moved around beside Michael so that Taylor could see her. “What is it, Taylor?”

Taylor let go of his father’s ear and wiped his tears. “Tommy saw.”

“
You mean Tommy saw them hurt you? He was there?”

The boy nodded. “Tommy told them to.”

Karen nodded. “Thanks, Taylor, for telling me all this stuff.”

“
Okay.”

“
Time to go home now,” Michael said.

“
Okay, Daddy.”

Hank and Karen watched them walk between the parked cars and down the row to their car.

“
Sounds like he talked to you,” Hank said.

Karen exhaled noisily. “Sweet Jesus, Lou.” She looked at him. Her face was pale and her eyes were wide. “I never heard anything like it before in my life. The kid’s only three and a half.”

“
What did he say?”

She shook her head. “In the car. I gotta sit down.”

They walked to the car and got in. Karen put the keys in the ignition but didn’t start the engine. She stared sightlessly out the windshield at the swings. Hank waited patiently.

“
Okay,” Karen said finally, “okay. He repeated the story to me, the one you saw in the video from Duncan or whatever. These guys picked him up and took him some place and started working him over. This Shawn character and Gary. Gary’s all crazy and yelling at him to spill what he knows, and this Shawn is pistol-whipping him until the gun goes off and shoots him in the leg.”

“
Did he say where this happened?”

Karen shook her head. “We didn’t get that far. He was getting real upset, and then Chan came over and it was time to let it go.”

“
All right,” Hank said.

“
There was another guy there, white, some guy whose name Martin, Taylor, whatever, didn’t know. And that fuckin’ Tommy Leung was there, goddammit. He told them to work Martin over.” She paused. “Listen to me. Jesus. I sound like I believe all this stuff.”

Hank looked at her.

“
There’s no way,” she said flatly, cutting the air with the edge of her hand, “no fuckin’ way this kid’s reciting lines somebody’s taught him. No fuckin’ way. It’s something else.” She looked at him with a challenge in her eyes. “I don’t care what you say, that kid genuinely thinks he remembers this stuff. Either the kid’s a complete psychotic lunatic at the age of three and a half, or else. . . .”

She didn’t really want to finish the sentence.

“
Did you try him on the full name, ShonDale Gregg?”

She shook her head. “These things are kinda linear with kids. If you change gears too fast you lose them.”

“
I understand, that’s all right.”

She started the engine. “He said this Shawn character had a tat on the side of his neck, like a gang tat, with an R in it.”

“
R Boyz?”

“
Could be,” she said. She threw the car into reverse and backed out of the parking spot. Most of the parents had already left with their children, and the lot was much quieter than when they had arrived. She accelerated down to the end of the row, swung left, and headed for the exit.

“
Anything else?”

“
How the hell do you get out of this place again? Oh, yeah.” She turned right and gunned away, ignoring the signpost begging her to limit her speed to 20 miles per hour. Hank realized he had forgotten to put on his seat belt and hastily secured it around him.

“
The kid said Tommy was playing some kind of game where he stole people’s money,” Karen said, gripping the steering wheel with both hands, “only he shared it with other people instead of his father. He used some kind of Chinese word, I forget what it was, meaning white people. Sounds like Tommy was thumbing his nose at the Triad, probably using outside help like ShonDale and this white guy Gary and some other white guy to run some kind of business. Gambling, maybe? Hard to say. Except Uncle Peter was going to be pissed off when he found out.”

“
According to Chan,” Hank said, “Taylor said that Peter would have trusted him to tell him about something like that, and he didn’t.”

“
And from what the kid just told me, Tommy and these guys grabbed him and pounded on him because they thought he
did
tell someone. One thing led to another, Martin got shot, started to bleed out, and they took him to the alley and dumped him. Some fuckin’ friend Tommy was.”

“
So Tommy’s running some kind of business behind the Triad’s back,” Hank said. “My CI told me Asians have been showing up at the En R-G Club, where ShonDale still works from time to time. Could be Tommy and his muscle.”

“
So we got ShonDale, a white guy named Gary, Tommy and another white guy.” She reached the main gates of the campus and accelerated around the corner onto Youland Boulevard. “I say we go with this. I say the kid’s connecting some dots for us and we go with this, Lou.”

“
You sure?” Hank asked. “You comfortable with that?”

“
No, I’m not fuckin’ comfortable,” she retorted, “not by a long shot. But it’s making that funny sound, know what I mean? The sound of pieces fitting together.”

“
Yeah,” Hank sighed, “I think it is. It wouldn’t hurt to do some follow up.”

“
All right, then.” Karen said. “Let’s go have another palaver with that goddamned Tommy Leung.”

Tommy, however, was nowhere to be found. They went back to the warehouse but were told by the floor supervisor that he’d left abruptly after their visit yesterday and hadn’t been seen since. When pressed, the man led them to Tommy’s reserved parking space. It was empty.

“
He usually calls me if he’s not coming in,” he said. “He always has a list of stuff he wants me to do before he gets here. He didn’t call. No list.”

“
Has he done this before?” Karen asked.

The man shook his head. “He’s a workaholic. And a fanatic about efficiency. Very, very focused.”

They went to his condominium and pounded on the door, but there was no answer. They convinced the building superintendent to let them in, but there was no sign of Tommy. It was a beautiful condo, expensively furnished, and nothing looked out of place. Nothing seemed missing from the bathroom and there were no empty hangers in the closet to suggest that Tommy had packed for a trip somewhere.

It was getting late so they went to
The Brass Pump, where Karen had arranged to meet Sandy before
dinner. They ordered beer and took a booth near the back.

“
D’you think Mah’s old man is connected to this?” Karen asked.

“
Jerome Mah?” Hank shrugged. “Can’t see how.”

“
Well, you just never know with these organized crime dudes.”

“
I met him once,” Hank said.

“
Who, Jerome Mah?”

Hank nodded. “When I was working in the Chief’s office, I attended a charity event and met him there.”

“
Oh yeah, I heard you were a golden boy at one time. On your way to becoming Chief until you stepped on the wrong toes.”

“
You heard wrong,” Hank said.

Karen scoffed. “That’s probably why I like you so much. The toe-steppin’ part, I mean.”

Hank said nothing.

“
What’s old man Mah like?”

“
He’s nice enough. Modest, polite.”

“
And yet there he is, with a punk for a son.”

“
Who’s a punk?” Sandy Alexander asked, sitting down at their table.

“
Hey, baby,” Karen said, leaning forward to kiss him. “How was your day? Bust any asses?”

“
Nah, not today,” Sandy said. “Sorry I’m late. How’re you doing, Hank?”

Hank shook his hand. “Not bad, thanks.”

“
Who’s a punk?” Sandy repeated, looking from Hank to Karen.

“
Peter Mah,” Karen said.

Sandy’s eyebrows shot up. “You guys looking at him for something?” He snapped his mouth shut as the server approached to take his order. When she had brought him a beer and left again, he held up a hand. “Don’t answer that question. But if you want a Bureau perspective on the local Triad, you could call Marie Louise Roubidoux or Will Martin.”

“
Sleaze,” Karen muttered.

Sandy grinned at Hank. “We had a Christmas thing at the Four Seasons last year. “Will was new in town. He tried to pick her up before he knew she was already spoken for.”

“
Spoken for
, ferfucksakes.”

“
She broke one of his fingers before I could get over there to straighten it out,” Sandy said. “He’s still scared to death of her.”

Hank laughed.

“
Yuk it up, funny boy,” Karen snapped. “He was reaching straight for my 36 Cs.”

“
He was reaching past her to get his drink off the bar,” Sandy explained, “and she misinterpreted the gesture.”

Hank’s cell phone rang. He took it out. “Donaghue.”

“
Oh, hello, Lieutenant Donaghue, it’s Meredith Collier.”

“
Hello, Ms. Collier,” Hank said, “how are you this evening?”

“
Am I calling at a bad time? I can hear that you’re out somewhere.”

“
No, it’s fine,” Hank said. “Is there a problem?”

“
I just got a call from Peter Mah and I thought I should let you know about it.”

“
Did he threaten you?”

Karen leaned over to Sandy. “The Lou’s new sweetie.”

“
No, but I should discuss it with you,” Meredith Collier replied. “I can hear you’re with someone; perhaps I should call back another time.”

“
No, that’s all right, it’s just Detective Stainer.” Hank looked at Karen, who made a face.

Just Detective Stainer
, she silently mocked.

“
If you like we could meet and you could tell me about it.”

“
Did you want me to come downtown?” Meredith asked.

“
I can come up there right now if you like.”

“
There’s no emergency or anything,” she said.

“
Whatever you think is appropriate.”