“OK, I will not torture you any longer. Today I went to the China-Five myself. Spied for half a day and bought this rabbit.”
“No offense. Is it a rabbit? Or a coypu?”
“How do you call it? Co-oypu-u? Texans are funny. Coypu. Must remember. Yes, dear, the stew is a river rat. You must know that our family budget can't support a rabbit-habit. But the rat is perfectly fresh – from your all-agricultural teenager volunteers. Just don't pretend you haven't eaten rats before.”
“No, Runner, nothing wrong the rat-meat. When we moved here, rats were on the menu at least once a week. And not even the river rats. The gray city rats too. But I must admit, your stew tastes nothing like a coypu. My compliments to the chef.”
“Your Mom is a chef. I am not even a sou-chef. A mere scullion.”
“Put me more of your rabbit, scullion… But wait… How come we did not see you in the China Patch?”
“Kha-kha-ah… Twice a day – no such Rule!”
“What did you say? Oh, shit! That beggar! Wait, wait. The guy was not like you. He had knees!”
“Our two Korean pillows fulfilled the role. Two below-knee stumps – two pillows.”
“And where did you get the wheelchair?”
“Went to the local market and asked the military vets to help the Police. Being without legs myself, I didn't even need to do much convincing. In ten minutes the fellow vets provided everything: the uniform, the medals, the sun-glasses. Easy…”
“And the girl who pushed the wheelchair?”
“You didn't recognize her? Good I convinced the little beauty to dress in rags and smear herself with ash.”
“So who is she?”
“Our neighbor. From the Korean-Two. Remember, how I pulled her on our raft? During the hurricane? She kept asking me where her Teddy Bear was.”
“Oh! Right. I even thought: why did she look so familiar?”
“You have natural observation skills, Watson.”
“OK, stop being silly again. Better tell me why you needed all this masquerade. For sure, you unearthed something Python, Woxman and I didn't even look at.”
“Let's do it this way. First, I am going to ask you two or three questions, and then I will tell you my theory.”
“It's a deal, partner.”
“Are we finishing the rabbit stew?”
“Is this your first question?”
“No, this is my proposal.”
I pass Kate my plate.
“OK, my first question. In your search team, you had four adults, is that right?”
“No. I had five. One man left a little earlier, you probably had not seen him.”
“Can you describe these five adults, briefly?”
“You know, the people in the China-Five, I don't know them that well. OK, listen in. Mister Duong-senior. He is the elected Patch Representative, so must help the Police. About sixty-five, but very active little man.”
“Little man?”
“Yeah, he's a shorty. I'm not tall, but he's only to about my shoulder. With thin gray beard like Comrade Ho Chi Minh.”
“I didn't see the man. Was he the one who ran way?”
“He didn't run away. As a Patch Rep, he had a good excuse. A land dispute: someone wanted to re-measure the rice paddies.”
“OK. Comrade Ho Chi Minh we can skip for now. Next?”
“Mister Duong-junior, the Rep's son. About forty years old. Tall and bony.”
“In a straw rain-hat? With little mustache?”
“That's him. The next is Missis Lim, a widow. About thirty or thirty-five, a veggie lady. But the main calling in her life – is to spy on her neighbors. If there is a good gossip to deliver, who cares about the veggies! She would not miss the search for the missing neighbor, not in her life.”
“I've seen her too. She does look like a scandalous person. The others?”
“The last two, I don't know them at all. A young man by the western name of Na-Na-Nathan, he didn't tell me his Chinese name, and I didn't ask.”
“Na-Na-Nathan?”
“Yeah. The guy is shell-shocked, just from the Army. He was in Romania. In Ploiesti, some freaking Ukrainians hit his platoon with Russian 122 mil Grad. So the guy was sent home to recover. I decided to assign the vet to an easy duty, but he was doing fine. Ran no worse than the boys.”
“Some people say shell-shocked is for life. Personally, I'd rather lose my legs. Who was the last person in your search team?”
“Mister Lee. Fifty-five years old, approximately. Solidly built, medium height, gray hair. His shack is next to the Chen's, right across the path.”
“Excellent description. I withdraw my statement about your observation skills. About this Mister Lee, can you tell me some more? Did you come to his shack in the morning?”
“No. Lee came to me. Said: I just learned my neighbor gone missing, Deputy. Would you mind if I help with the search? Strange question: if I mind! Woxman was pissing steam that I hadn't got two hundred volunteers.”
“Do you know what this Mister Lee is doing for living?”
“I believe he is a scrap-catcher. Goes to the 'Fill, buys good finds from the scavengers. Repairs and sells.”
“Does he live alone?”
“I have no idea.”
“After lunch, when you and Woxman went to the Chen's… The shack on the other side of the path was locked.”
“Well, maybe Lee went to see his suppliers at the 'Fill. That's what many scrap-catchers do in the afternoon.”
“OK. The second question. That Mister Lee of yours. By any chance, does he have a Chinese Calligraphy hobby?”
“How the hell would I know?”
“Never mind. I have enough information already. Do you like the rabbit stew?”
“Why do you even ask? This stew is a pinnacle of your cooking career. My Mom must be jealous. Get ready for more ‘just-in-case’ food containers. They will come with double intensity.”
“Ouch! Now I'm in panic! A Category-10 hurricane our little shack will not hold for sure. I must give up cooking.”
“Give up? Hey! You have just started!”
“Just kidding. Coffee?”
“You promised to enlighten me why you went through the China Patches on the wheelchair.”
“Let's sit at the porch. Holmes has to smoke his pipe. How about you, doctor Watson? Brave enough to share a To-Ma-Gochi?”
“Doctor Watson will be smoking his tobacco,” I say, reaching for my box. “Stop teasing me. I know you come up some cool idea.”
But Kate never misses an opportunity to tease me few minutes more. Without saying a word, she gets her bag, crawls through the door, ledges herself comfortably on the second tread of the stair, using the third tread as an arm-rest. Now she slowly, thoughtfully rolls her cigarette. Not until her famous Gunner Mermaid lighter clicks closed she starts talking.
“My dear Watson! Yesterday, we completely ignored the testimony of two key witnesses in our case.” The puff of sweat-smelling smoke dissipates in the cool evening air.
“Who exactly?” I sit at the lower tread and start rolling a cigarette of my own.
“You and Tan, of course.”
“What do you mean: ignored? Tan said there were specks of dried blood at the floor. Python checked the floor with his Luminol. He was confident somebody wiped the blood, right? You concluded that Victor Chen had an accomplice. Right conclusion. Tan saw the blood, and later the blood was gone.”
“That's it! The blood was gone. But instead of the blood something else suddenly appeared in the shack.”
“What?”
“Look carefully,” Kate reaches her bag and draws the cell phone, “This morning, I called Tom and convinced him to send me his first photo of the room. The view from the front door.”
“It's against the procedures. Tom is not supposed to send the scene photos left and right.”