by Peter Fang
“Go ahead and stare…you cocksuckers,” Koda muttered under this breath.
He walked past the gravel pavement leading to the stained-glass front door. White ivory granite pebbles surrounding the front garden crunched under his leather boots. He walked past a white-stone water fountain surrounded by a small garden. Two gardeners were grooming a large red Japanese maple tree; they paused and nodded at Koda and resumed their work. He finally arrived at the front door with intricate wooden carvings and a large smoked glass that looked like made of crystals. Koda was sure that the door alone was worth more than his pickup. The door opened as Koda approached the entrance. A small, skinny, Asian woman in her seventies dressed in a muted gray dress and slippers was waiting for him.
“You must be Koda Xi.” The woman smiled and extended her hand. “Please, come in.”
“Mrs. Bowman, thanks for seeing me on such short notice.”
“Thank you. You are from Mason’s office, right? I’m glad that it’s you instead of Mason.”
Koda was left speechless by the directness of Mrs. Bowman.
“I’m sorry,” Mrs. Bowman said as she vaguely shook her head. “He is June’s cousin. It’s a long-standing family feud. Please, come in.”
The woman led Koda into the grand entrance with marbled floor. The vaulted ceiling made the room very airy. The hallway was open and wide, and there was a large oil painting above a large mirror.
“The study room is over this way. Would you like to have something to drink?”
“No, thanks.” Koda discreetly checked out the surroundings, noting that the entryway alone was worth more than his life’s savings plus his mortgage. He followed her into a large study room. The moment he stepped into the room, it was like he had walked into a sensory therapy session. The room was filled with an expansive aroma; on the facing wall was a large elk head mounted over an equally large executive desk. To one side, hardbound books covered the entire wall. There was a spiral staircase that could reach to the top of the ceiling. Everything in the room was meticulously appointed.
Someone followed them into the room but stopped short at the door. Koda turned and saw a butler astutely standing there and looking at him with a genial smile.
“Would you like to have something to drink, sir?”
“No, thanks.” Koda gestured.
“Ma'am?”
“The usual.” Mrs. Bowman swiftly waved him away. “Mr. Xi, please sit down anywhere you want.”
Koda picked a nearby Eisenhower chair and sank himself into it. Mrs. Bowman sat down next to him in a relatively simple wooden chair with zebra skin upholstery. She sat primly on the chair and gazed at Koda with anticipation. “So, did you…did you?” Her voice broke and her lips quivered.
Koda looked across the coffee table and met her eyes. The fear and anxiety in Mrs. Bowman eyes was fierce, but he could only go with what he had, even though his intuition knew that her daughter was most likely dead. “We believe we have found something that belonged to your daughter. I have brought some photos, and I hope you can help identify the items that may have belonged to your daughter.” He handed over the pictures to her.
Mrs. Bowman reached out with her shaking hand and slowly brought it to her view.
Koda carefully observed her reaction and noticed that her trembling chin broke into a choking sigh. Her eyes welled up, and she held up her hands to cover her mouth.
Koda waited for Mrs. Bowman to say something, but there was only sad silence.
No words were really necessary, yet Koda still needed to ask. “So, this ring belongs to your daughter?” Koda was careful to use present tense.
Mrs. Bowman nodded quietly. Her eyes fixated on the picture, but she refused to put it down. Finally, after a few minutes, Mrs. Bowman spoke, “It’s been so long—where did you find the ring?”
Koda hesitated but answered, “We found it near a crime scene––”
Mrs. Bowman stood up and walked towards the window; her body was rigid and tense, and she was focused on listening to her worst nightmare.
“It’s an ongoing investigation, so I can’t divulge much details. What I am hoping to get from you is information you can give me to help identify your daughter.”
“I can feel it. She’s dead, isn’t she? She was only sixteen when she ran away. She would be forty-nine today.” Mrs. Bowman finally broke down. “I––we have been looking for her for over five years. No one would help us. Everyone thought she was just a runaway, but she was a good girl.”
“Mrs. Bowman, like I said on the phone, this is still an ongoing investigation…”
Mrs. Bowman nodded but waved her hand. “Thanks for your kindness. I know how this works. My husband is an attorney and I worked in a law firm before. I have seen and heard enough of cases to know how the process works.”
Koda searched for the right words during a pause and then resumed his questioning. “I’m sorry about these circumstances, but we don’t have any hard evidence yet about your daughter’s whereabouts. I’m here to gather more information hoping to get a break on this case. I read the police reports and I have some follow-up questions.”
Mrs. Bowman came back from the window and sat down on the chair again. She crossed her legs, cupped her hands on her knees, and then she looked back at Koda. “Please, feel free to ask me anything.”
“The report said that the day she disappeared, she had a fight with the family. Was it with you?”
“No, it was with her dad.”
“Oh, how was her relationship with your husband?”
“Her stepdad. Robert and I got married when she was fourteen at the time. Initially, she and Robert got along, but Robert was very strict, unlike her biological dad. Their relationship deteriorated after a year. Things got worse after her biological dad died of a car accident. She took it really hard. That was also about the time when Robert started his own practice. Work hours were insane, and I was also helping, so no one really paid too much attention to her for a year…One day, they had a falling out, and then she just took off in the middle of the night. Took a cab and went to her friend’s house––”
“She left you a note, right?”
“Yes, she said she was going to stay at her friend’s house near Seattle University, but she never made it—you probably read everything in the police report already. The police interviewed all of her friends and all of her close friends had an alibi; no one saw her that night. Robert and I didn’t find out until the next morning. When I called Julia, her best friend, we found out she was not with her. That was when I panicked.” She clenched her fists as she retold the story.
“Her diary you shared with the investigator before had a last entry on Feb 2nd, 1979. She mentioned that she was seeing someone.”
Mrs. Boman’s voice tensed. “They were not serious, I can tell you that. They were just close friends. The cops also interviewed him extensively. He was at a movie with his friends. All checked out. We tried everything. Robert and I were interviewed, and all of our backgrounds and stories checked. We both took polygraph tests just to get that out of the way. Even after the case went cold and the cops gave up, we hired private investigators and continued with the case; I even looked into psychics. We followed all the leads, but they all came up dead ends. When you called, I could tell you had something just from your voice. Hope. I have a good feeling that you will find out what happened to my June.”
The butler knocked on the door and came in carrying a backpack and a tray of English teas. He carefully laid the tray next to Mrs. Bowman and then gave the backpack to her.
Koda was starting to regret that he didn’t ask for something to drink, but he was starting to feel very stuffy inside the aromatic study room. “I don’t know about cracking the case, but I’ll do my best. Sometimes a fresh set of eyes will spot something.”
Mrs. Bowman lifted the backpack and handed it to Koda. “Here, please take this with you. It’s a copy of all the materials about my daughter.” Her eyes glistened. “I
went through her diary so many times I think I memorized it. I was hoping something in her diary would reveal something about who may know where she is. One thing she was very good at was keeping a detailed diary.”
“I am truly thankful for your information, Mrs. Bowman. By the way, where is Mr. Bowman?”
“It is unfortunate that he couldn’t make it.” Mrs. Bowman knotted her brows. “He really wanted to be here, but he is on a plane to Germany for a client’s meeting.”
“That’s okay; I’m sure I have all I need from your generous material.” Koda stood up slowly, stretching his shirt. He noticed a picture frame near the mantelpiece above the fireplace.
“Is that her?” He walked over to get a closer look. Mrs. Bowman followed him closely behind.
“Yes, that is my favorite picture of her. I took that picture of her and my husband. It was before their relationship soured. Robert insisted on keeping that picture, so we will always...” Mrs. Bowman’s voice trailed off.
“She is beautiful.” Koda nodded reassuringly. “I’ll do my best to find out what happened to her.”
He stopped by a Starbucks on his way back and grabbed a tall French roast. The shop was full of students hogging the seats, so he begrudgingly went back into his pickup. The backpack’s zipper from Mrs. Bowman was open, so he rummaged through the items inside. He spread the contents out on the passenger’s seat and fanned out the material. He fingered through the pictures and letters, then sifted through the newspaper clippings. He was just letting his intuition guide him, and the intuition guided him to a bundle of diary Xerox copies. It was not a complete set of diary entries, but rather about a month’s worth before June became a runaway. He sipped his coffee and flipped through the diary copies chronologically. It was clear that she missed her biological dad, and her relationship with her parents were going in a downward spiral. There was a lot of fighting and shouting. In one of the entries she mentioned that she was tired of fighting and she was losing sleep. There were no clues of her seeing someone that was not in her immediate circle. There was no new boyfriend, no strangers in her life. Back then, social media was still not too popular, and there were no real smart phones. The police had already gone through her phone records and came up with nothing. Similarly, there were no bank account or credit card activities the night of her disappearance––she simply vanished. Her red BMW was later found on a street in Chinatown with the doors locked. No one saw who dropped off that car.
The weather was calm and sunny, around fifty-five degrees. It was a perfect day to sit outside and enjoy some rare Seattle sun rays, yet Koda felt a little dejected after the meeting. He’d rather just sit inside his truck and let the sun hit him through the window. He put the diary away and went through some old photos, happy shots of daddy and daughter when times were better. Life rarely turned out the way you planned, Koda knew, and he was sure that the girl and her family would have never guessed that their lives would turn out this way. Even though the lab results might take a few weeks, his gut already knew that the girl’s body would show up in that pile of corpses they found in the mountain. Where to go from here, Koda wasn’t sure, but he was not going to give up––he never did. The challenge of a cold case had its charms; something about solving a mystery that no one else could was a reminder of why he had chosen this career, and it sure beats dealing with the office morons and their petty, soul-sucking politics.
Koda looked through the rest of the contents inside the backpack but didn’t see anything enlightening. All the leads had been investigated, and the suspects had been questioned. The obvious theories had all been tested and ruled out. This case needed a new angle, and Koda knew just the right person to talk to. His old mentor always preached the idea of going back to the basics when you were stuck in a case, and that meant a visit to his friend, the profiler.
His friend Decker was with the CSI unit and semi-retired. A little bit reclusive, but he still was great at what he did. He told Koda that working with animals was always a more civilized and rewarding experience. And that was what he needed in his life at the time when he partially retired. He loved his animals, especially dogs, and he took them out for a walk every day. He invited Koda to join him for the daily stroll to chat about the case. That part of him never changed; he always liked to think about the case while he was on the go. He preached the whole mind, body, spirit thing.
Koda drove all the way over to his house out in a farm near Monroe. The drive was a good two hours away from the city on a bad day. Koda was amazed that there was still wireless signal when he reached his house.
He arrived at Decker’s house right on time. If there was one thing he remembered about Decker, it was important to be punctual. You didn’t get a second chance with Decker when you needed his help. He walked up the driveway and was greeted by several hens roaming around the front yard. There was a large rooster standing on top of the house observing Koda as he reached the front door. He rang the doorbell once, then waited. Casual, but purposeful footsteps soon approached the front door. A brief flash of someone looking out from the side window acknowledged Koda as friendly. The door swung open slowly and a familiar face emerged.
“Koda! Welcome.” Decker had to look up to get a full view of Koda. He exuded a contagious energy and wore a bright, friendly smile. His freckled face nestled inside a full beard and curly red hair. His round, wired framed glasses seemed to reflect all lights, making it hard to see his eyes. At five-foot-five, he was not tall, but he was full of energy.
“Decker! Long time no see. How are you?”
“I’m well. Come on in.” Decker led Koda through the front door. There was an instant calm as Koda walked into the main hallway. The place was not grand, but it had a sense of serenity to the atmosphere.
“Before you get down to business, I want to show you something.” Decker waved his hand at Koda and led him down the hall.
“So, what keeps you busy now?” Koda asked as he followed Decker down the long hallway.
“I’m partially retired from the department, but not retired from life. There are plenty of animal cases to keep me busy. It’s easier for me to deal with animals nowadays than humans. You being the exception, of course.” He winked. They reached near the end of the hallway; then Decker stopped.
“Now, we are going to see someone going through rehab, just like me. Trying to learn to cope with humans again.” They walked past a green room and entered the back yard. Koda could instantly hear the grunting of a pig.
“Calm down, girl; it’s just a visitor.” Decker walked over to a fenced cage where a miniature furry pig stood in front of a large dog house. “You have to excuse her manners. She doesn’t trust strangers, especially men. I do rehabs for dogs, but I’ve never treated a pig before. She is not the kind of animal that gets adopted every day, so I’m keeping her.”
“What is her name?” asked Koda.
“Beti, with an ‘i.’”
“So, what’s Beti’s story? Why is she so furry—and skinny? She looks like a sheep.”
“She is a special breed of pig called the Mangalitsa pig. They don’t grow big, and originally from Hungry. Her ‘skinniness’ is nothing special. Pigs are naturally lean until humans fatten them. Apparently this breed of pig is highly sought after in the business. But Beti has some birth defects and was about to be culled. I went down there and just saw her and knew she was special. She also took an instant liking to me.”
“You said she has defects?” Koda observed Beti and couldn’t tell anything wrong with her.
“She’s Polydactyl. She has an extra toe on one of her hind legs.”
Koda squinted to see, but it was hard to spot.
“Yeah, I know. It’s really hard to see. To me she is perfect, and the extra toe doesn’t affect her.” Decker leaned in to pet her on her furry back. She grunted affectionately back at him. Decker continued, “I normally let her out, but since you are coming, I don’t want to take any chances. She will either like you or she won’t.”<
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“What happens if she doesn’t like someone?”
Decker paused and eyed him curiously. “You want to find out? The last visitor went to the hospital for ten stitches. She may be a small pig, but she’s still got one hell of a bite.”
Koda looked into Beti's dark eyes, trying to read her, but he couldn’t decipher if those inky eyes were friendly or not. He walked closer and squatted next to Beti. She grunted at him but did not charge. He looked up at Decker and smiled. “I’ll bet she is profiling me right now, and you are betting whether I have the nerve to pet her.”
Decker smiled. “Don’t do it. I know what you are thinking. Come on, why don’t you show me your case? Isn’t that why you’re here?”
“Thought you’d never ask.” Koda stood up and wiped his hands. “It’s a cold case with multiple bodies. Here are the details.” He pulled out a manila envelope and handed it over to Decker.
Decker flipped through the material and said, “Looks like decades-old bones. Every one suffered trauma, many with broken ribs and femurs. A few have missing limbs. I can’t imagine the pain and suffering they went through.”
“Serial killer? I also found a ring that belonged to a missing girl. She was a runaway that split about five years ago.”
Decker looked through the pictures and the autopsy and toxicology reports. He absently walked back to the house and then sat down in the dining table in front of his computer.
“I have been working on a deep-learning AI model with a professor at MIT. He’s an old colleague of mine. I will need to work on this a bit today. Can you stay?”
Koda snickered. “If you have beer, I’ll buy dinner. We have all night.”
Koda knew that Decker had a taste for unusual cases. They were like drugs to him. He might be partially retired, but nothing was more attractive to Decker than a cold case he could sink his teeth into.