The Deepest Cut (14 page)

He brightened with that small gesture. “Good luck to you, too. I’ll keep you informed.”

“Thanks. Stay safe.”

“You too.”

She walked toward the station’s back door, not looking back.

UPSTAIRS, SERGEANT EARLY TOLD HER THAT LIEUTENANT BELTRAN HAD
had a conversation with Pearl Zhang and she’d agreed to stop work on the Hollenbeck building until the PPD investigators were satisfied they’d completed their investigation.

“Wonder how much of a fight she put up.” Vining surveyed the cubicles. “Jones and Sproul take off?”

“I took the liberty of sending them to do knock-and-talks in Old Town. I figured you wanted to interview Marvin Li, Scrappy’s employer, yourself.”

“That’s correct.”

“While you were gone, we found out that Li’s moniker is China Dog.”

“Really?”

“Yolanda pulled Li’s criminal history.” Early was referring to one of the staff assistants. “His rap sheet’s a mile long. Been getting in trouble since he was a teenager in San Francisco. The usual bad guy stuff. Barroom brawls. Assault. Narcotics possession and sale. Most notable was a twenty-year stint he did at Pelican Bay for second-degree murder. Li participated in a big shoot-out at the Golden Lotus restaurant in San Francisco’s Chinatown between Li’s gang, Wah Ching, and the Chinatown Boys.”

Early showed her Li’s mug shot and a current driver’s-license
photo. His upper body was heavily tattooed, his head was shaved, and he had a long Fu Manchu mustache.

Vining asked, “Was the tag that Scrappy painted an outburst from a disgruntled employee or a sign that Asian gangs are moving into Pasadena?”

“We need to know more about Asian street gangs. Corporal Lam’s gone to meet with the Sheriff’s Asian Gang Specialist at the Temple City station. He’ll tell us what he learns at the briefing this afternoon.”

“So Marvin Li is out of prison and running a business in San Gabriel,” Vining said. “Word is that Scrappy was out of the life. Is Li presumably legit?”

“After completing parole for the murder rap, he moved down here from the Bay Area. Owns a house in San Gabriel. Outwardly, he’s an upstanding citizen. He’s founded an organization called Guns Gone. He consults with cities and law-enforcement agencies to help them get gangs and guns off the street. Recruits former gang members to try to knock some sense into current gangbangers. Caspers found Li’s name in several newspaper articles. Guns Gone was awarded a six-figure contract from Los Angeles and smaller contracts from other cities, including a couple in the San Gabriel Valley. Li works with the local parole office, giving jobs to gangbangers in this Aaron’s Aarrows company he has.”

Vining took the packet of information that Early handed her. “Should be an interesting conversation with Mr. Li. I’ll get Caspers and we’ll be on our way.”

“Caspers looks ragged today. Haven’t seen him in a while.”

Vining knew he was getting forty winks in the sleep room. “We’re all working long hours.”

“That we are, but we don’t want anyone getting hurt because they’re overtired.”

Vining read between Early’s words. Sarge was aware that Caspers’s off-duty shenanigans were impacting his job. Caspers was a favorite in the unit. His sense of humor and energy brought a much-needed bright spot, but that would only carry him so far if he continued to shoot himself in the foot.

“Agreed, Sarge. I’ll make sure he understands that.”

“Kissick get everything he needed from you?”

Vining answered truthfully. “Yes.”

TRAFFIC HAD BEEN RELEASED ON THE STREET IN FRONT OF THE HOLLENBECK
Paper building, but yellow barrier tape was still attached to the chain-link fence surrounding the construction site. Arriving workmen carrying lunchboxes were being intercepted by a tall Latino in a white polo shirt embroidered with a Pai Builders logo. They weren’t happy to be told to go home until further notice. PPD vehicles were parked along the curb. A uniformed officer with a clipboard was standing at the building entrance, keeping track of who entered and left the scene.

Vining parked near two PPD sedans marked “Forensics.”

Standing outside the barrier tape, looking more cheerful than Vining would have expected, was Pearl Zhang. She was with Lieutenant George Beltran. Homicide-Assault was one of the detective units under his command. They were standing between two tall steel-protected Canary Island date palms in front of the building.

From the way Zhang and Beltran were leaning toward each other and talking animatedly, it appeared they were flirting.

“Looks like Beltran’s trying to get some tail.” Caspers was more alert than when Vining had first encountered him that morning, but he was somewhat less than his usual effervescent self. This was okay with Vining, who wasn’t up to dealing with full-strength Caspers.

“His magic seems to be working on the Dragon Lady,” Vining said. “At least she’s not in
her friend
the chief’s office, complaining how much the work stoppage is costing her.”

Beltran reached to grab Zhang’s forearm to punctuate a point he was making. She did not retract but leaned even closer. They both broke into laughter.

“Go George,” Caspers remarked with admiration.

Beltran’s glee caused him to twist away and spot Vining and Caspers. He regally waved them over.

Passing the entrance to the building, Vining glanced inside. Sunlight streamed inside the debris-filled hull. Wooden stakes and twine
divided the area into a grid. PPD forensics specialists and a half-dozen uniformed offers were sifting through the rubble.

“Good morning, Detectives.” Beltran’s cheery greeting was more fitting for a surprise encounter across a ballroom at a charity event than standing on the periphery of a murder scene. Rumors about Beltran’s affairs had been grist for the gossip mill for years. Now that he had recently separated from his wife, his much-ballyhooed reputation as a ladies’ man was on open display.

Beltran wasn’t Vining’s type, but she could see why women found him attractive. He was Latino and had a square jaw, strong cheekbones, and thick black hair that was just starting to show silver at the temples, as if by master plan. He likely tweaked it. It was known that he bleached his teeth, so they would stand out better against his perennially tanned olive skin. He was athletic and outdoorsy He wore clothes well.

Cameras loved him and he loved cameras. He enjoyed being the public face of the PPD at press conferences and had garnered female fans who’d sent him e-mails, gushing about how hot he looked in his uniform. He liked to hobnob with the rich and famous. Pasadena had attracted the rich and merely affluent since the early 1900s. Hollywood celebrities were now discovering its small-town charms with big-city features, to the dismay of longtime residents who resented the glitzy influx. But Beltran liked the glitterati just fine. The better to shop around his screenplay
Death in a Blue Uniform.
Rumor had it that his Hollywood ambitions had derailed his upward mobility in the PPD, which had once been his overarching passion.

“Good morning, Lieutenant.” Vining shook his hand and then greeted Pearl Zhang without a handshake. “Mrs. Zhang. You remember Detective Caspers.”

Zhang nodded in greeting. “Good morning, Detectives.” She wore a slim dress with a patent-leather belt around her tiny waist. The style was understated, but the fabric was rich: lustrous royal blue silk. Her hair was still tightly pulled back. Today she was wearing big diamond stud earrings so heavy they bent her earlobes. Around her neck was a round disk of carved apple-green jade set inside gold with a large diamond
at the top. She wore no makeup on her flawless face other than mascara and her trademark deep-red lipstick

In the sunlight, Vining could detect Zhang’s age in the fine lines around her eyes and mouth.

She carried what Vining guessed was a pricey designer handbag. It was a study in understated elegance, with black leather quilted in a distinctive pattern and three dangling gold charms. The handbag didn’t shout its pedigree by having the designer name plastered all over it. It was like a secret handshake between society ladies, as much of an insider symbol as the hand signs thrown up by street-gang members.

Vining could care less about such status symbols, except when it came to firearms. Then she coveted the very best. Her only exposure to luxury clothing and accessories had rubbed off from Emily who had become alarmingly aware of such through the influence of her stepmother,
arriviste
Kaitlyn.

Vining knew that Zhang might well have a dramatic and inspiring up-by-her-bootstraps story. She could have arrived in the States with ten dollars in her pocket, worked hard, saved every penny she’d earned, taken calculated risks, and built an empire. She might think that put her on a pedestal above a lowly cop like Vining, and that she hovered above any requirement to tell all she knew about Scrappy Es-pinoza’s murder. Vining privately relished the thought of yanking her off that pedestal and making her understand that no matter who she was or how much money she had, if she didn’t talk, she was an accessory to murder. And one more thing— Vining didn’t want her son around Emily.

Beltran was cheerful. “Excuse me, Mrs. Zhang, while I talk to my investigators.”

“Of course. I have to be on my way. Thank you very much, Lieutenant, for your time. And please call me Pearl.”

“Pearl, I’ll let you know the minute we release the scene. I’ve committed maximum resources to processing it as quickly as possible, to not only give us the information we need but to put your crew back to work. You have my cell-phone number if you have any questions or concerns.”

“Yes, I do. Thank you, Lieutenant.”

“George.” He extended his hand.

“George,” she replied, returning his handshake with a smile and a bow.

He bowed as well.

Vining had to admit that Beltran excelled at spreading the royal jelly.

He was still smiling when he turned to Vining and Caspers.

Vining was waiting for the right time to tell him that Zhang was holding back on what she knew about China Dog when he beat her to the punch.

“China Dog is the street moniker of Marvin Li.” Beltran watched Zhang getting into her spotlessly polished Mercedes. “Li owns a business in San Gabriel that employed Scrappy Espinoza and has been in and out of jail most of his life.”

Vining already knew this and was about to voice her concerns about Pearl Zhang’s integrity when Beltran added, “Marvin Li is Pearl Zhang’s cousin on her mother’s side. Pearl was forthcoming about Li’s criminal history. She insists he’s stepped into the light and is one of the good guys now. He’s dedicated his life to keeping gangbangers employed and out of the life. Pearl apologized for not revealing this when you spoke last night. She was upset about the murder and afraid that her cousin’s former life was splashing onto her business and reputation, a fear she’s had since Li moved into her part of town. Pearl contacted Li early this morning and told him about the murder. She said he was shocked and knows nothing about it. Pearl believes him.”

He took a business card from his pocket and handed it to Vining. It was for Aaron’s Aarrows and had a handwritten cell-phone number on it. “Li will be at his place of business all day and looks forward to talking with you.”

Beltran’s success with Pearl Zhang brought home a truth that Vining’s grandmother often reminded her about and that Vining often forgot: You can catch more flies with honey than vinegar.

“Thank you, Lieutenant.” Vining slipped the card into her jacket pocket. “You got a lot more from her than I did last night.”

He looked at the large placard on the chain-link fence with the rendering of the completed condominium and retail complex, developed by Red Pearl Enterprises.

Vining looked at it, too, and privately conceded that the finished project would be impressive. She glanced at Caspers, who was listening attentively, respectfully silent.

Beltran added, “Pearl confessed that not many people in her professional life know that Marvin Li is her cousin. He was once a very bad guy.”

Vining nodded. “I saw his criminal history. We found out that he was Scrappy’s employer last night.”

“You have to appreciate her concerns about maintaining her reputation with the many civic and charitable organizations she’s involved with and all the citizens who have a certain image of her. People who trusted her enough to invest money in her business.”

Vining was familiar with the destructiveness of a hidden life. One could try to bury it, yank it out by the roots, douse it with poison, but, like a pernicious weed, it kept sending shoots to the surface, often in a different place, where one would least expect it. She and Pearl Zhang had that much in common.

FOURTEEN

V
INING AND CASPERS WALKED TO A WHITE MODULAR BUILDING IN
the adjacent parking lot where Pai Builders had their on-site office. On their way, Detective Louis Jones called Vining on her cell phone. He and Detective Doug Sproul had learned that the brother and cousin of Titus Clifford, who had been murdered in a shooting attributed to the NLK, had been seen at the Volcano restaurant in Old Town around the time Scrappy was murdered. Jones had issued a BOLO— Be On the LookOut for— the brother and cousin who were sought for questioning.

Vining led the way up the steps to the Pai Builders office, opened the flimsy door, and stepped onto thin indoor-outdoor carpeting that was tracked with dirt. Desks and filing cabinets were arranged along the walls. A plump young woman with chin-length two-toned hair— platinum on top and raven-black beneath— sat at the desk closest to the door. Both ears were lined with pierced earrings, including a small gold squiggle through the cartilage at the top of her right ear. Cleavage overflowed her snug and partially unbuttoned blouse. Her face was reminiscent of a Kewpie doll.

She asked, “Can I help you?”

“Detectives Nan Vining and Alex Caspers to speak with Joey Pai.” She moved her jacket to show her shield.

Caspers was behind her, but she could tell by the look in the woman’s eyes that he was showing her more than professional interest and she was not immune to it.