The Antique

by Peter Fang

  By the time Koda dropped Decker off and went to a local sandwich shop, he felt his energy rise even more. The more he thought about the encounter with Blake, the more convinced he was that the man knew something about Manfred. Throughout his career, he could always sense that indescribable feeling of getting very close to the man he was hunting that he could almost taste it in the air. It was almost like his senses were picking up thoughts in the airwaves and he could feel the conversation between Blake and his uncle Manfred taking place as he was driving down the freeway. He was now focusing on scenarios where the case could go sour; these were the external factors that could throw a curve ball at any given moment. When he returned to his apartment it was well after 10 p.m. He threw the keys onto the table, took off his clothes, and fell instantly asleep when his face hit the couch.

  Morning came and Koda’s day was started by a “courtesy” call from Mason. Koda was in the bathroom when his answering machine picked up the call, but Koda could hear the stress in Mason’s voice from across the room. He didn’t pick up the details of the message, but he knew something unpleasant had just happened and it was going to be one of those days.

  Koda clicked on the TV and listened to the morning news, turning the volume down to a whisper and then walking over to the answering machine. His finger hovered over the answering machine’s play button, hesitated, and then pressed down firmly.

  “Damn it, Koda, your cell phone’s voicemail doesn’t work. Get the damn thing fixed! When you hear this message, please stop by my office. I hope your little visit to the pig farm was productive, ‘cause I just got a nice call from the union president and the district attorney’s office.”

  Koda didn’t have to go into the office to know that somehow his visit to the pig farm had sprung a bear trap, and he was standing dead center inside.

  When Koda reached Mason’s office, he could almost feel the stare from him through the glass. He walked into the office and sat down in front of him and waited. Mason was on the phone talking to someone—more like listening to a series of rants. When the call stopped, Mason coolly hung up the phone and smiled at Koda. The smile froze on his face like a tormented paint job.

  “Thanks to you, you son-of-a-bitch, I have been answering calls this morning from concerned Union president, DEA, and everyone’s mom and dad in between. Sounds like you got carried away with your visit to the pig farmer over the weekend?”

  Koda spread his hands. “So I paid him a visit. It was just a routine check-in.”

  “So did you get a goddamn confession out of him? I sure hope you did because looks like you dropped your camera bag in his back yard as well.” Mason pulled the camera bag from under his desk and dropped it in front of Koda. “Apparently this Blake Wu guy is well connected, and he did not appreciate your visit. On top of that, you may have potentially invaded his privacy.”

  “So, it’s a camera bag––how did he make the connection that it’s mine?” Koda decided he might as well find out.

  Mason raised his finger in front of him and nodded. “I’m glad you asked, pupil. Because the clown that left the bag had conveniently left a business card inside. Guess whose name was on it?” Mason pushed a wrinkled and half-torn business card on his desk towards Koda.

  Koda couldn’t recall how that business card ended up in the camera bag; then he realized Blake must have planted that inside the camera bag to get back at him. “The bastard, that’s the business card I gave him. He planted it in the bag.”

  Mason stopped him with his hand. “Don’t tell me anything more that I don’t need to know. Just tell me if this bag is yours. I don’t care if Blake planted the evidence in your bag. If it is your bag, you need to come clean with me.”

  Koda’s knees were jerking, but he didn’t answer.

  “Just what I thought. So, my ‘order’ from the higher up is that you are not to touch Blake from now on; don’t even think about his name in your wet dreams unless you have hard evidence that links him to any of the crime.” Mason looked straight into Koda’s eyes and waited for his answer.

  “But you know me and my instincts. I know Blake’s involved.”

  “I may believe you, but it doesn’t matter right now. Come back with some hard evidence that will stand up in front of a judge, or leave Blake the fuck alone. Is that clear?”

  “Crystal-clear.”

  “By the way, Koda.” Mason paused, hesitated, then let his words out carefully. “I know it is still hard for you, but take it easy.”

  “Thanks, Captain, but I’m fine. Best thing for me is to keep busy.”

  “Okay, then. Class dismissed.” Mason nodded. “Oh, by the way, I’m giving the case to Matt.”

  Koda paused and turned. “Matt Wheelman?”

  Mason winked. “Officially I can’t have you on the case after the stunt you pulled. I know you and Matt are close, so work through him. You are my best man in cold cases, but this is off the record.”

  Koda sighed. “Great!”

  That night, Koda stayed up late and searched thoroughly for criminal records on Blake but came up empty. The guy appeared to be a legitimate pig farmer. He thought perhaps he was overthinking this, but there was a period between when Manfred died and the last victim. Someone was still killing people even after Manfred died. Could it be a friend of Manfred’s? Blake was hiding something from him. It was brief, but Koda had caught the surprised and panicked look on Blake’s face. Either Blake was involved in the killings, or he knew who was involved with Manfred.

  After a long search on different sources, Koda dozed off. In his dream, he saw Manfred walking away from him. He gave chase, but Manfred was running faster. Manfred tossed Koda a wicked smile with his right hand holding his son’s back. His skin peeled away, exposing raw muscles and tissues. Koda screamed and woke up in a cold sweat.

  Koda stumbled into the shower and turned on the water. He let the steam fill up the room and then sat down on the tile floor. Koda whispered, “Blake, I think you know where the killer is. If I have to beat the shit out of you to get my answer, then that’s the last thing I will do.”

  The phone rang. Koda turned off the shower head and listened. The phone rang again, so he grabbed a towel, got out of the shower, and answered the call. It was a number that he didn’t recognize. There was a long silence on the other end at first.

  “This is Koda. Who’s this?”

  “Hi….I can tell you where Manfred is,” a woman’s voice spoke.

  “Did you say Manfred?” Koda sat down on his wet towel, butt naked.

  “I can’t tell you who I am, but I know the person you are looking for is still alive.”

  “You mean Manfred? Where is he?”

  The woman started to weep. “I—I just want my husband to stay alive. Manfred told us that he could keep Blake safe from this, but I saw Manfred do terrible things.”

  “Lady, please calm down. Can you tell me where I might find Manfred? I just need a location.”

  “He does different things, but I think he has an antique shop in Chinatown. I believe it is somewhere between King Hay Park and 6th Ave South.” The line went dead.

  Who just called me? Was it Blake’s wife? He flipped back and looked at the call log on his phone and saw a number. He dialed back and let it ring; the phone kept ringing but no one answered. Just when Koda was about to hang up, someone answered the phone.

  “Hello?” The voice sounded cranky and drunk.

  “Hello? This is detective Koda with the FBI. Who’s this?”

  “F––who? Who the hell is this? Are you selling?” The voice on the phone sounded deranged and incoherent. “I’m sitting here sleeping on the street and you fuckin woke me up! You asshole!” There was a loud click and the phone went dead.

  Koda realized the lady was using a public phone, and he just woke up a drunk. He held the phone in his hand, still speechless. Manfred? Could he still be alive? Could this be a prank call from one of the union members?

  True or false, it was too imp
ortant to ignore. He had to check out the antique shop.

  19

  The Mystery Thickens

  To generate more leads, Koda was reading through all of the old murder cases that had occurred around Seattle. Besides the usual stolen cars and drug dealer cases, nothing seemed unusual. Then he came across a recent crime bust near Chinatown: A burglar ring targeted elderly homes in the Seattle’s Chinatown district. There was an arrest of the ring leader and several other accomplices that broke into a basement, and when he cross-referenced the basement, the basement was leased to a guy named Manfred, and the lease date was only a year old. Bingo!

  Koda followed up on the lead and talked to the investigator Matt Wheelman on the case. Matt was Koda’s best friend on the force. They both went to college together and had attended the same police academy.

  Koda told Matt about the Manfred case and wanted to cross-reference evidences from the burglary ring. Matt normally didn’t like to share his reports with nosy investigators, but Koda was a special case for him. Koda’s family tragedy was well known now, but no one really talked about it openly. The incident that killed Koda’s son and his ex-wife had changed Koda. For over a year, Koda had been trying to pore through all of the available incidents to find the driver that killed his boy, but there were no leads. It certainly was not the first time that Koda had nosed into a case in which Matt was involved. But his past experience with Koda taught him that the best way to let Koda move on to someone else’s case was just to share information. Koda’s nickname, Honey Badger, was true to form. Of all the cases that he spent time on, there was only one that he did not crack, and that remained unsolved to this day. And by the way Koda looked at him during his office visit, it certainly looked like Koda was determined to solve this case.

  Koda looked through the pictures of the evidence, and one item caught his attention––it was a woman’s necklace. The necklace had the initials of M.W.

  Koda had the necklace picture run through the police’s search database but came up empty. Feeling that it was a dead end, Koda decided to take a different approach. The necklace had a unique design with a lion’s head. He went to one of his friends at the station to see if anyone had seen this design before, but no one had. He then went to visit his connection at the pawn shop, and luckily, the shop owner recognized it. He showed him a ring that was pawned at his shop by an investment banker. The design was the same, except it was a man-sized ring rather than a necklace. After several calls to the company’s point of contacts, he managed to get hold of an acquaintance inside the company to find out who in the company might have the initials on the ring. He found several possible candidates and called each contact in the company for information, but no one was willing to talk to him on or off record.

  Koda cursed that the place near the Chinatown’s basement building didn’t have any security cameras and there was no evidence of any kind of a break-in. The crime scene investigators didn’t find any murder weapons or anything that made sense. There were multiple fractures in Manfred’s arms, and the primary cause of death was a broken neck. He reviewed the interrogation reports of the burglars, and the initial report from one of the criminals was very telling. The man was delirious and in shock right after the arrest. The burglars were actually running towards the police for help rather than running away; something had really spooked them. The report said one of their team members was “dragged” away, but when the police arrived, Manfred’s body was lying on the ground. One of the burglars said they saw the man who was dead suddenly stand up and attack them. The burglars tried to fight him off, but he was unbelievably strong. Two of the burglars got out, but one didn't, and he was still missing. Unfortunately for the two burglars that got out, they ran into a police patrol car right outside the alley. Both men were caught and booked into county jail, and now they were charged with possible manslaughter.

  Manfred’s body lay flat in the autopsy’s room. He was just one of the dozens of cold stiffs that needed to be examined. There was something different about the body when they received it. Normally the corpse would have stiffened by the time they reached the hospital, but Manfred’s body was still malleable—no onset of rigor mortis and no signs of decomposition. It was as if someone had “broken” the rigor mortis process by stretching every fiber of Manfred’s muscle shortly after death. They checked his pulse and even hooked him up to the heart monitor but there was no pulse. It would be several weeks before the toxicology would come back.

  Outside the hospital, Baobao followed the emergency ambulance to the building. As he approached the hospital, his form took on a girl’s shape. He watched with insect-like compound eyes with eagerness. Baobao was not acting based on a plan, but more with an animal instinct. He knew what to do. There was only one goal, and it was to bring Dad’s body back to the antique store. It was not about love, nor out of any kind of respect; it was just part of who he was.

  He waited until it was dark. Instinctively, Baobao knew that regular humans could not see as well at night as he could. He also knew once Manfred was dead, his own survival was in doubt. Like all living things, he had the desire to survive, and his priority was to get his father’s body back for Mom.

  When the group of thieves got too close to Manfred’s body, Baobao lunged at the closest intruder and dragged the screaming body into the dark corner. It took only two swipes at the man’s throat to quiet the struggling man. Balboa hadn’t eaten for two days, and he was hungry. He devoured the man’s organs and then dragged it into an underground hole and stored it as meat.

  Inside Baobao’s head, he could hear Meredith. He could feel her injury by the queen. The pain made him jittery, but he could still track down his father’s body. He followed the scent to the hospital, then waited in the corner for his chance to get inside.

  He waited until the emergency room entrance’s crowd thinned and then blended his way into the emergency room. Baobao walked past a security guard that was talking to a technician. The police gave him only a passing glance as he walked by. He looked at himself in the mirror as he passed by the nurse station and saw his reflection mimicked the female intern he saw on his way in. It was not the first time he visited the hospital, so he knew exactly where he needed to go. He used to break into the hospital’s morgue to collect fluids for Manfred, so he knew his way around.

  On his way to the morgue, he swiped a doctor’s badge so he could use it to get through more security zones. He finally arrived outside the morgue and waited in a corner. He listened and could tell that there was no one there. His bat-like sonar could work around the room and get a view of the interior. The sonar bounced around the room, and it detected no moving objects inside, so he quietly entered the room. There was a body bag on a gurney near the center of the room. He gingerly moved it over and touched it with his hands, instantly identifying Manfred’s cold and lifeless body. He vaguely understood the meaning of death; to him, Manfred’s body was just something Meredith needed. A long, rigid hand reached out from under his coat; one of his fingers had a long nail that bent forward into a needle and pierced into Manfred’s body. The nail grew until it reached Manfred’s spinal cord. The tip drilled in and touched the nervous system. Then he retracted the nail and stepped back a few feet. He started a chant with his ultrasound voice. The nearby clock’s second hand ticked away and when it struck fifty-nine seconds, Manfred’s body jerked, spasmed and sat up on the gurney. He sensed someone was coming, so he pushed Manfred’s body down and then walked out of the room. A morgue assistant came in with a notepad, bumping into Baobao.

  “Oh, excuse me, Claire, what are you doing down here? I thought you were late for Gil’s birthday party.”

  Baobao ignored the assistant and walked out of the room.

  “What’s gotten into her!” The assistant looked around and didn’t see anything was amiss. “Why the hell was she down here?” He shrugged and then went to a nearby laptop and typed away at the keyboard. He soon forgot about the body behind him and the strange vis
it by the nurse. Then he felt a prick on his neck.

  “Damn it!” He slapped his hand behind his neck and felt something wet. He pulled his hand back and saw blood. In the middle of his palm was an odd-looking insect. It was much bigger than a mosquito, almost resembling a rubber fly. He heard footsteps behind him, so he turned around. There was a blur, and he was knocked unconscious.

  Outside of the morgue, Baobao hid behind an alley where no one was around. He unhinged his jaws and in a string of ultrasound clicks, he called on Manfred.

  Manfred slowly wrapped his arms around the technician, crushing his bones. He tugged the man inside his shirt and left the room. As he opened the door, he took on the technician’s appearance but twice the girth.

  Baobao remotely led Manfred away from the room, then took an exit door. The two escaped under the cloak of the night sky.

  It was around 9 p.m. when Matt called. Koda was watching a rerun of a sitcom.

  “Koda, I’ve got some bad news.”

  Koda sat up from his computer screen and clicked off the TV sound. “Yeah?”

  “Well...I got a call from the crime lab. They say Manfred’s body is missing. They don’t know where it went.”

  Koda sat up from his couch and ran his hands through his hair. “How did it disappear? Maybe it got shipped to the wrong hospital.”

  “No, it was there at the hospital; they have a record of it, but it is now misplaced.”

  “Really? Anything on the security camera that could tell us what happened?”

  “We are checking with the security to go back and look at the tapes, but I’m down here with the security team. Nothing useful so far, and they have to get some permission doc signed before I can go through it more thoroughly.”

  Koda shook his head in disbelief. “Thanks for telling me. Let me know if you know anything. Wait––I’m coming over to take a look. I may find something.”