“And you didn’t press it.”
“Forensics said to look for a crossbow or a compound bow, the kind with all the pulleys. Said the distance was too great, the shot too hard for anyone to make with a regular bow and arrow.”
“I wasn’t the only one that guy tried to kill,” said Cape, realizing too late he was sounding defensive. He took a deep breath before continuing. “And he’d already killed someone right here in the city-your city.”
Beau held up his hands, palms out. “I’m not saying he didn’t deserve it,” he said. “And I’m not saying me and Vinnie looked real hard for his killer. The fact of the matter is that once the Russian wound up dead, the case was closed as far as the city was concerned. All the bad guys accounted for.”
“So what are you saying, Beau?”
“You’ve taken on some heavy cases over the years and have managed to not get yourself killed.”
“Thanks to Sally watching my back,” said Cape, finishing the thought. There was no denying it.
“Yeah,” said Beau. “And as your friend, I’m grateful to her.”
Cape nodded. “But as a cop…”
“I’ve always wondered.”
“But Sally’s never even had a ticket for jaywalking,” said Cape, knowing that wasn’t really the point but wanting to say it anyway.
“Neither have you,” replied Beau. “Doesn’t mean you didn’t cross against the light when no one was looking.”
“You think the ship’s a different story.”
Beau nodded. “I don’t know jack shit about the crew, the refugees, or the dead Chinese. And I can’t move around Chinatown like an Asian cop could.”
“And there’s a rumor of corruption among the Chinese cops on the force,” said Cape, understanding now where this was going. “So the feds are cut off from that angle.”
“Right.”
“And you think I should ask Sally to help?”
“To start, I’d just ask her a few questions,” replied Beau, sounding like a cop again. “Sally grew up in Hong Kong? Moved here maybe ten years ago?”
“Yeah, as far as I know.”
“The ship came from Hong Kong.”
Cape studied Beau carefully before responding.
“Sally’s one of the good guys.”
“Then I’m on her side,” said Beau. “But I think like a cop. Everybody’s a suspect till proven otherwise.”
“I thought it was innocent until proven guilty.”
Beau shook his head. “Nah, that’s the courts. You know the system. It’s like catch-and-release fishing-we catch them, and the courts let them go.”
“There must be some leads,” Cape insisted.
“After the feds and SFPD finish interviewing the crew, the refugees, the shipping company, and the port authority, they’ll have enough leads to keep this investigation going for the next ten years.”
“So?”
“This isn’t a lead,” said Beau. “It’s a hunch.”
Cape nodded. “Thanks for coming to me first.”
Beau looked at his watch. “Like I said, after six it’s not my problem. But if I go see Sally, then it’s official-gotta fill out paperwork, her name goes in a file. You know the drill.”
“Thanks just the same.”
Beau smiled. “Besides, paying a surprise visit to Sally didn’t seem like a big idea.”
“For what it’s worth,” said Cape. “I trust her completely.”
“I don’t doubt it,” replied Beau. “But how well do you know her?”
Cape started to respond but caught himself, realizing he didn’t have an answer that would satisfy either one of them.
Chapter Eight
Tokyo, 21 years ago
“Sally, your parents are dead.”
Just like that. No preamble. Nothing to soften the delivery. Li Mei’s face was a mass of wrinkles that seemed to crack open as she delivered the news. The old woman looked at the five year old with an expression that begged no questions.
When Sally just stood there, Li Mei spoke again, this time in Cantonese.
“They’ve gone from this place, Sally.” Li Mei’s dark brown eyes were kind but unblinking. “And now we must leave.” She turned the small girl around with a gentle shove. “Go and pack your things.”
Your parents are dead.
Go and pack your things.
Everything happening at once. Even at five, Sally sensed her nanny was trying to distract her, keep her off balance before shock could set in. Push her away before reality could touch her.
It was an old trick. Don’t look at the cut on your knee, look at me.
Sally dug her heel into the carpet and stared at Li Mei as if she didn’t recognize her, the five year old looking in that instant as old and jaded as her ancient Chinese caretaker. Sally had her Japanese mother’s jade green eyes and lustrous black hair, but her cheeks were painted with freckles, a genetic gift from her Irish-American father. These and other telltale traits she got from her parents, but her will was all her own.
“Tell me,” she demanded, looking as if she would know if any details were omitted.
So the old woman sat down on the floor and took the little girl in her arms. Sally’s father had left the Army base around four and drove to Shinjuku station in downtown Tokyo, where he picked up her mother every day after she finished work. Most Japanese did not drive if they could avoid it, preferring to take the trains and skip the traffic, but her father was so very American. He said he preferred doing things himself; he liked being in control. Likewise, many Japanese women didn’t work, but the family’s rent was expensive since they moved off the Army base. And like Sally’s father, her mother was independent in spirit.
Traffic was heavy that time of day, and it was dark by the time they headed home. That meant they probably never saw the truck that killed them. The driver was drunk and had neglected to turn on his headlights. The police said the only warning might have been a brief flash of sparks from the undercarriage as the truck jumped the median and struck their car in a head-on collision. They were both killed instantly.
“They did not suffer,” added Li Mei, tears flowing freely down her cheeks. She said something else but Sally couldn’t hear it over the roar of blood rushing in her ears. She searched Li Mei’s face for something else, a happy ending the old woman had forgotten, a story within the story that only Sally could hear. But now there were spots before her eyes, and her heart convulsed as if it had stopped. As she gasped for breath, she saw Li Mei’s face dissolve in a waterfall of tears, replaced by the smiling faces of her mother and father.
That was the last thing Sally saw before she blacked out.
The trip to Hong Kong was a blur, along with everything else about the next week. Li Mei explained that Sally had no surviving relatives, either in Japan or the United States, so the old woman was adopting Sally herself and taking her to Hong Kong. That was where Li Mei had grown up. She just knew Sally would feel at home there.
Even at five, Sally could sense a lie. Not a single official-looking person had come to the house to talk with her, bringing official-looking papers for Li Mei to sign. Li Mei and Sally had simply left Japan, boarding a ferry in Osaka that would take them to Hong Kong. Along the way, no one asked any questions that Li Mei couldn’t answer. Sally didn’t really care one way or the other, so she didn’t say anything about it to Li Mei.
In fact, she had said very little over the past week, and Li Mei noticed that Sally was speaking less each day. She looked at her young charge and wondered what she must be thinking, now that her world had turned black.