Chapter 22

Dean Lifante

2:00 PM

"What's he doing here?" Barbie said, pointing to Ivan. "Didn't I kick his ass already?" She stood in front of Dhara's Diner with her hands on her hips. She had a file folder tucked under her arm with an 'S' stamped on the front and a rip in her blouse.

"Yes, you did. You okay?" Dean pointed to her blouse.

"This?" Barbie grabbed the fabric. "No problem. The S-Class Consultants were a little rude, but I stayed polite." She smiled.

"Great to hear," Dean said, pushing his way inside. He'd asked her to meet him here so they could avoid the station. Besides, he was starving. Other than candy, he hadn't eaten anything since lunch the day before. He needed to find that computer, but he would be no good to Ming if he dropped from hunger.

They sat at the booth in the back, and Dean ordered the hashbrowns and coffee. Barbie got a peach pie. Ivan ordered nothing. "Gregory 'loaned' him to us to help find Bobby and his computer," Dean said.

"What do you mean?" Barbie asked. "Bobby's---, Ow! Why'd you kick me?" She rubbed her leg.

"Sorry. My foot slipped. What did you find at the Consultants?" Dean took a bite of his lunch. He hoped Barbie would get the hint and stop talking.

Barbie glared at him, scrunching her nose. "Not much. I did get a list of all the businesses Slazney is involved in." She handed the list to Dean and dug into her pie. Smacking her lips in pleasure, she pointed to Ivan with her fork. "Again, why is he helping us find Bobby? We know--- Ow! You kicked me again."

"Sorry. I'm clumsy today," Dean said. He leaned forward and put his hand on his face, covering his mouth and whispering, "Don't say anything about where Bobby is, please. At least until we find his computer."

"Fine! Ba, if you kick me again, I'm punching you in da face," Barbie said through a mouthful of pie.

Ivan just raised an eyebrow and frowned.

Dean flipped through the list of names Barbie had brought. "A few of these were crossed out in Stanley's files. The squeegee place owner is still the only person we haven't checked out," he said, swallowing his hashbrowns. "These three businesses are out of state."

"Is there anything useful there?"

He flipped a few more pages, stopped, and slammed the folder shut. "This was a waste of time."

"Rake it easy, Detective," Barbie said, spitting food. "Ri'm sure there's womthing."

"Close your mouth when you eat," Dean said. He finally realized how Ming felt. His phone buzzed on the table.

"Dammit! It's Zacoski." Dean flipped the phone over and took a sip of his coffee. "I have to talk to him." He looked at Ivan. "Can you take her to Chester Punk Sr.'s place and talk to the father?"

Ivan nodded.

Dean turned back to Barbie. "Give me my keys back. Go. Question the father and make sure he confirms what the son told us. If he doesn't, ---please don't kill him---, come find me."

"Crazy! I love it." Barbie finished shoving the pie in her mouth and picked up the check. "Rets go big guy."

Dean wolfed down the rest of his hashbrowns and waved to Ivan to follow Barbie.

3:00 PM

"Close the door, Dean," Lieutenant Zacoski said, sitting at his desk. He stared at Dean. There was a closed file on his desk, with Stanley's name on the tab.

Dean looked at his friend and narrowed his eyes. His gut was silent. Despite the file he'd found in Stanley's office, nothing told him Zacoski was out to get him, but he'd been wrong before. Sometimes he wanted something to be the truth so badly, he shoved his gut instinct out the door.

"Why didn't you call in the body the moment you found it, Dean?" he asked, quietly. The muffled sounds of the precinct, even through the door, made it difficult to hear him.

"What did you say?" Dean asked in a louder voice.

Zacoski sneered. "Turn off the recorder and lay it on the desk."

Dean raised his eyebrows. He reached into his jacket pocket and placed the small recorder on the desk. He clicked it off.

Zacoski was silent.

"You know something about the body, don't you, Lieutenant?" Dean asked. Ever since the incident with his wife, he'd taken to recording all his conversations if he could. Zacoski knew that. Usually, he'd turn it off when talking to the man as a sign of trust, but now, he wasn't so sure trusting him had ever been a good idea. Dean glared at his Lieutenant and waited for the man to continue.

"I'm not here to talk about that. Why'd you ignore procedure? And when the first responders looked at the security camera, they said you were with someone, a woman. Who was in it? Where did you go?"

"Some customer from the strip mall, I guess?" Dean said. "I think her name was Jillian. She said she'd smelt something, so I checked it out. I couldn't get into the office, so I called in my suspicions."

Zacoski raised an eyebrow and scoffed. "They checked the inside cameras, Dean. I was expecting a better lie than this."

Dean was silent. This was his best friend. What would Ming do? She'd go for the jugular.

"Why was your name in the doctor's records, Bart? Did you know him?"

Zacoski stood up and paced behind his desk. There was a window, hidden by blinds, behind him. Zacoski paused and opened the slats, brightening the room.

"You're stalling, Bart. Why?"

"I don't have to tell you anything, Dean. Why I went to see Dr. Stanley is my business," Zacoski said. He sat, interlocking his fingers in front of him. "We're here for your fuck-up."

Dean stared at his friend. Zacoski was sweating. Small beads rolled down his forehead and disappeared under his collar. His eyes darted around the room, but the rest of him was stiff. Dean stared at Bart's hands. They were clenched, trembling. Something was wrong. Dean glanced up at the window. A small sliver of sunlight peeked through the blinds and hit a picture of his wife and daughter. Zacoski glanced at the picture and back to Dean's face. It was there, deep in his heart; someone was targeting Zacoski. His gut wasn't wrong.

"Yes. I fucked up. I'm sorry, Lieutenant. I was looking for evidence to tie the Shujing murders in a bow. I'd received a tip that the window washer had been seen at the doctor's office, and went to check it out. When I got there, it was locked, but I noticed a suspicious smell and someone coming out of the back door. He escaped before I could pursue him, and I needed to check on the scene. The body was long dead, so I didn't think the person who'd left had anything to do with it, but I needed to track him down before he got too far."

Zacoski relaxed and unclenched his hands. He tilted to the side and picked up a picture of his family. "That's not for you to say. You should have chased the perp."

"My gut told me to check out the office first," Dean replied.

"Ah, yes. Your famous gut." Zacoski shook his head and put the picture down on his desk. In it, Zacoski's wife and daughter were smiling while he stood, looking serious, behind them. "You're like an uncle to my daughter, Dean. She misses seeing you. When are you coming around?"

"After I finish this case. I have a good lead, Lieutenant."

"What's your gut saying now, Dean?" he asked.

Dean stared at his friend. He was connected to Slazney, the evidence said as much. But it wasn't a body-hopping type of deal. After Stanley, Dean had Barbie point out the smell. Dean had taken a good sniff when he entered the office, and that distinctive scent wasn't here. He was convinced the mystery man had something on the Lieutenant. Glancing at the family picture, Dean was certain what it was. Bart would do anything for his daughter. What he didn't know was why.

"That I should trust you and continue with my investigation."

Zacoski nodded. "Don't forget to call in anything you find, detective. No matter how small."

Dean nodded. He picked up his recorder and left the office.

Heading back to his desk, Dean ignored the banter around him. The rookie was talking with Starfield. The older woman was pointing at him, punctuating her speech with her finger. Ortiz's eyes widened as she turned and avoided staring in his direction. Another person who probably believed the rumours. He sighed and focused on his seat. There was no reason for Zacoski to take such an interest in the Stanley case and no reason for Dean to tell him everything he'd found so quickly. Except for the computer, Dean knew where everything was.

He sat up in his chair. The computer. Slazney didn't have the computer. That's why he needed Zacoski now, but not why he got in touch in the first place. That was a mystery for another day. Dean pulled up the recording he'd taken of the Russian voice on his computer and listened to it again.

"Petor, Petor, Petor. Yesli by ty prisoyedinilsya ko mne, mne ne prishlos' by etogo delat'. Nadeyus', ty menya prostish'."

After running it through a program to remove the voice and isolate the sounds, Dean realized that whoever had said the phrase didn't do anything else. Nothing was taken from the room, and there was no noise beyond his snoring.

"Someone else took the computer," he mumbled. There were two hours of recordings to go through. He didn't have that kind of time.

"What was that, Detective?" the rookie said.

"Ortiz, right?" Dean asked and was rewarded with a nod. "Nothing important. What can I do for you?"

"There are two Asians at reception asking for you," she said.

"Thank you." Dean got up and brushed past her. She must have heard the stories about him by now, but she was still willing to talk to him. It was refreshing. Dean wondered if there was an ulterior motive.

"No! I can't live my life like this. I have to trust what I'm feeling is right," he mumbled. He would trust her on spec until something happened to prove otherwise.

"I'm Detective Lifante," he said, stepping up to the front counter and facing the couple. "How can I help you?" They were short, not much higher than his chin. They looked to be in their early sixties but without grey hair. The man looked familiar. He'd seen him before, but couldn't quite place the face. "Have we met before?" he asked as he sniffed the air. He couldn't smell anything but a standard perfume. However, something was off.

The woman scowled. She placed her hands on her hips and thrust her face up into his. "Where's our daughter, Lifante? I know you've seen her."

Dean stared, and something clicked. The woman had a sharp face, while the man was rounder. "Ming's parents! Nice to meet you." He smiled and stuck out his hand to cover his nervousness. "She looks like you. What can I do for you? Your daughter. I haven't seen her since yesterday."

"Don't screw with me, Lifante," she said, poking his chest with her finger. "I know she was here last night. Her work called, and she hasn't been answering her phone. It was turned off."

She stepped forward, forcing Dean to take a step back. "What did you do to her, Loser?"

He grabbed her hand and removed it from his chest. "I know we used to live in the same building, Mrs. Liu, but that doesn't give you the right to insult me. I've never met you before in my life."

She scoffed and threw her hands in the air. "See, I told you he'd deny it. He's nothing but a useless liar." She turned to her husband. "You should have had the owner kick his family out when he stood up to Hong. He broke his jaw. Because he did that, Ming missed her chance to get married before twenty-five."

Her husband just nodded and said nothing.

"I remember that incident," Dean said, slapping his head. "I was going home, and a stuck-up prick was hurting a girl in the stairwell." He was silent for a moment, his mouth dropping. "That was Ming?!"

"Yes, that was Ming, you animal." Mrs. Liu slapped him in the face. "You stay away from our daughter. I won't have you ruining her like you did your own life." She huffed and stormed out.

Dean rubbed his face and listened to the silence around him. If they hated him before, this would give them more than enough fodder to extend the gossip a hundredfold.

"I'm very sorry about my wife. She gets overworked and tends to lose her filter," Mr. Liu said. "She's usually a very kind person."

"I'll believe that when I see it," Dean said, betraying nothing on his face. His eye twitched, and he forced it to settle. He nodded to the man and watched him leave.

"What was that all about?" Zacoski said, stepping out of his office. "Who were they?"

"My next lead," Dean said, rushing to his desk and popping some antacids. His gut had been screaming at him from the moment those two walked in, but went into freefall when Mr. Liu started talking to him. Slipping on his coat, he ran after the couple before they could get too far.

Barbie

3:00

"Why'd I have to be stuck with a mute? Can't you say anything?" Barbie asked Ivan. She was sitting in the passenger seat of his car. She had a map to the Vegas strip open on her lap, and she was following the path to Chester Punk Sr.'s house with her finger.

"This place will really change in the future." She pointed to the right. "That's where the Heavy Metal Hall of Fame will be built. Over there is the New White House. After the President sold Washington along with Alaska to Russia, the government had to move. I like the new place. It has an amusement park."

A hint of a smile appeared on Ivan's face. He nodded and continued driving.

Yichen

3:00

"What are they doing?" Yichen yelled into the phone. "No, keep following them. I have to get ahead of Slazney before they do." He slammed the phone on the desk and winced at the crack.

"It's hard to replace the older-style phones, sir. Please stop breaking them," Wu said. She was still following a live video with her tablet.

"Are you watching the Liu's?" he asked, pouring himself a drink.

"Yes. They've just left the police station, and the Detective is following them," she said.

"Good. Let me know when they arrive home," Yichen said. He was pacing back and forth in front of his desk.

Wu raised an eyebrow and switched to the feed following the girl. "The girl and the Russian will soon arrive at Chester Punk's place."

Yichen threw his drink at the wall. "God Dammit! What is Slazney doing?" He went to his desk and flopped into his chair. Yanking on a desk drawer, he pulled out a picture of a family with a young girl around three years old in it. He ran his finger over the woman's face and stopped on the child.

"She's grown up well, hasn't she?" he asked Wu.

"As well as can be expected."

"To think she's become interested in a police detective?" he said, smiling. "I thought she'd have better taste." He raised his head. "Do you think she knows what Slazney did to her father?"

The secretary shook her head. "She doesn't trust magic and relies too much on what she sees."

"Have you found her yet?"

"No. When Shazad removed the computer, they were all passed out. He heard someone coming and had to leave before he could check on them. Given that Mr. Lifante and the pink girl are moving around without her, we can assume something bad happened to Ming." She continued to scroll through the feeds on her tablet. "Harley is checking out the Detective's place now, but there are too many people in the neighbourhood watching it. He's having trouble getting access."

"Tell him to hurry. We need to find her." Yichen grimaced and put the picture atop a black computer with a Motley Crue logo. He shut the drawer and moved away from his desk. "The moment you find anything that connects me to Slazney or where Ming is, let me know. We can't let another mistake like Stanley get away from us."

"Yes, sir," she said, not moving from the tablet.