by Stacy-Deanne
“How did Dee and I get here?” He let out a loud breath. “Everything was so perfect then Jonathan pops up and ruins it. Why couldn’t things just stay the way they were?”
“Life throws curve balls.” She scratched her shoulder.
“I’ll never accept Jonathan getting immunity.” He balled a fist. “I get up every day and risk my life so people can get justice. Now my girlfriend can’t get any? I still can’t believe Jonathan’s walking around free while Dee and I are the ones suffering.”
“Jonathan has a way of making things work out in his favor. He even has Candra Martel under his spell now. She’s staying at the compound.”
“What? How did that happen?”
“She didn’t have nowhere to go, and she’s so gaga over him it’s sickening. She wants to be a member of The Circle.”
“Goodness.”
“What’s got you so wound up?”
“I keep being an asshole when Dee needs me.” He put his foot on the table. “Now she won’t answer my calls. Our relationship is falling apart.”
“I’m sorry.” She scooted closer, gripping his shoulder. “Anyone can tell how much you love her. I’m sure things will work out.” She grinned. “Though a part of me wishes it doesn’t, so I’d have a shot.”
He chuckled, rubbing his eye.
“I’m back with The Circle.”
“What?”
“This time it’s on my terms, and I made that clear to Jonathan.”
“Why would you want to go back to that craziness? You’re better than that.”
“The Circle is my home.” She half-smiled. “I belong there. Anyway, I wanted to let you know and hope we can be friends.”
His nostrils lifted. “Not if you’re on Jonathan’s side.”
“The only side I’m on is my own.” She rubbed his arm. “Think it over about being my friend,” she whispered in his ear. “You and Dee might need one.”
“What do you mean by that?”
She stood, smirking. “Call me if you need to. I hope the invitation is mutual.”
“Shauna, don’t do this.” He stood. “There’s so much more for you than The Circle. Take time to reconnect with your daughter.”
“My daughter hates me.”
“She doesn’t, I’m sure. Don’t go back there. I’m afraid something might happen if you do.”
“Don’t worry about me.” She pinched his chin. “I can take care of myself and handle Jonathan too.”
“No one can handle Jonathan.” He took her hand, looked at it and let it go. “If you really wanna be my friend you’ll keep an eye on him for me. Tell me if he’s plotting anything concerning Dee?”
“Maybe.” She did a catlike turn and stopped before leaving the room. “Maybe not.”
“I thought you wanted to be friends.”
“On my terms, Winston. See, I’m not putting myself on the line for another man ever again. Not even for one with eyes as beautiful as yours.”
He sat, shaking his head. “You’re something else, Shauna.”
“Glad you noticed. Hey?” She stopped before entering the hallway. “Sure you don’t wanna throw me on the floor and make passionate love to me before I go?”
He watched her, slack-jawed.
“Never hurts to ask.”
She twisted out the room, grinning.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
“Calm down, okay?” Dee stood over the Korean girl in the interrogation room the next day, patting the young woman’s shoulder. “Don’t be nervous.”
Seventeen-year-old Ji-su tapped her feet under the table. “I don’t want my boyfriend to find out I came here.”
Connie walked in with a chocolate bar and soda from the vending machine. “Here you go, sweetie.” She set the snacks in front of Ji-su and sat beside her, smiling. “Think this will calm you down a little?”
“Thank you, Ma’am.” Ji-su bit into the chocolate bar, crunching loud.
Connie touched Ji-su’s hand. “Nothing you tell us will leave this room.”
Dee sat on the other side of the girl. “What’s this about your boyfriend and the Kengs?”
Ji-su sucked chocolate from her paper-thin lips. “I think August knows about the Kengs’ murder.” Her dyed, blonde hair lay over her shoulders in straight strands, the roots black as night. “We went out last night and people were talking about it and he acted weird.”
“How?” Dee wrote on her notepad.
“He got irritable and said he wanted to leave. When he was taking me home, I asked what was wrong, but he didn’t talk to me. This isn’t the first time he’s acted funny about this.” Ji-su ate another piece of the candy bar and spoke while chewing, “I hung out with him and his friends the other day and they talked about the murder. When August and I were alone, he acted as if he wanted to tell me something but he didn’t. I had a feeling it had something to do with the Kengs.”
“Does August know the Kengs?” Connie asked.
“I don’t think so.”
Dee nodded, straightening her back. “What’s August’s last name?”
“Pickler.”
“Pickler?” Dee studied Ji-su. “He isn’t Korean?”
“No, he’s white.” Ji-su sighed. “That’s a long story.”
Connie shrugged with her hand on the table. “Why?”
“My parents don’t like August and forbad me to see him because he’s not Korean and not a Jehovah’s Witness. We don’t care. We love each other and gonna get married when I finish school.”
“You mind giving us his contact information?” Connie asked. “We’ll call him in—”
“Please,” Ji-su squealed. “Don’t tell him I came here. He didn’t kill anyone. I didn’t mean to imply that.” She covered her mouth. “I love August. Please, don’t tell him or he’ll hate me.”
“Relax, honey.” Dee patted Ji-su’s back. “We won’t tell him you came but if he knows something this is more serious than what happens to your relationship.”
Winston trudged into the room and stopped when he saw Ji-su. “Excuse me. I didn’t know you were still talking.”
“What did you think we were doing?” Dee wiggled her neck. “Planning a party? What do you want?”
“I’d like to speak to you,” he told Dee while smiling at Ji-su. “Hello.” He extended his hand to her. “I’m Detective Lewis.”
“Ji-su.”
“That’s a pretty name.” Winston shook her hand. “It’s almost as pretty as you are.”
“Thank you.” Ji-su dipped her head, giggling. “You have beautiful eyes.”
“Thank you.” Winston smiled. “Dee, I’ll be in my office if you want to talk—”
“It’s okay.” Connie stood. “I think we’re done here. Ji-su, why don’t I walk you out?”
“Thanks.” She smiled and exited behind Connie.
“You can’t keep avoiding me, Dee.” Winston marched to the table. “We have to talk about the baby.”
“You didn’t want to talk last night.” She leaned back in the chair. “All you wanted to do was rant.”
“I was shocked.” He touched his chest. “I’m human. I’m allowed to have emotions, aren’t I? The point is I’m here and I always will be.”
“Does that mean you want the baby?”
“I want you.” He knelt in front of her, grabbing her waist. “I love you.” He tried to kiss her, but she moved. “Don’t be like this, Dee.”
“You don’t want the baby.” She pushed him away and stood. “You’ve abandoned me when I needed you the most.”
“I haven’t abandoned you, woman.” He chased her to the door and seized her. “I’ve always been here.”
“I’m having this baby whether or not you wanna be a part of it.”
“Course I wanna be a part of it!” He wrapped his arms around her, making her forget for a second how upset he’d made her. “You’re all that matters.”
“Answer the question, Winston.”
“What question?”
She forced away tears. “Do you want this baby?”
“I...” He fidgeted, putting his hands in his pockets. “I need time to get used to...”
She walked out the door.
“Dee!”
****
Two hours later, a tall, pastel woman with red streaks running through her flaxen hair, hurried toward the interrogation room.
“Come on, August,” she shouted back.
A young white man with a huge hook nose and fuzzy yellow hair, slumped in behind the woman.
“Dee.” Connie nudged Dee as she stood from the wall outside the room. “That’s the boy who was with Priti Yi and her friends.”
Dee squinted. “This should be interesting.”
The pale woman made an abrupt stop in front of the cops. “Are you Detectives Wilks and Quarter?”
Connie nodded.
“This is August.” The woman shoved him forward. “I’m Savannah Pickler, his mother.”
“Nice to meet you.” Dee shook Savannah’s hand.
“Do I need a lawyer?” August chewed gum, tilting his head and rolling his eyes.
“Are we boring you?” Connie asked.
His lips were a weird purple tone perhaps from smoking too much. “How long is this shit gonna take?”
“August.” Savannah nudged him. “Please excuse his behavior.”
“It’s fine.” Dee smirked. “We got a taste of it when we met before.”
“What?” Savannah jerked her head toward August. “You didn’t tell me you spoke to the detectives before.”
He munched, shrugging one shoulder. “Does it matter?”
“My god, can you ever be honest?” Savannah scowled. “Just once?” She turned to the officers. “Does he need a lawyer or something?”
“Not unless he’s done something.” Dee opened the door of the interrogation room. “You can come in while we talk to him since he’s a minor.”
“I ain’t no minor.” August flicked his nose. “I just turned twenty two.”
“Oh.” Connie raised her head. “We assumed you were a teenager since you were hanging around Priti Yi.”
“You assumed wrong.” He shoved his way between Connie and Dee and entered the room. “I don’t need her breathing down my neck while I’m in here,” he said, referring to his mother.
Savannah stepped back, her purse strap falling off her shoulder. “I apologize for his behavior.”
Connie gestured to the bench by the water fountain. “You can wait out here. This shouldn’t take long.” She and Dee joined August inside the room.
“Wow, you’re a charmer, aren’t you, August?” Dee stood over him. “This tough guy act won’t work with us.”
“Nope.” Connie touched her gun. “It isn’t cute or impressive either so drop the attitude.”
“Spit out the gum.” Dee got the trashcan and brought it to him. “Do it.”
“What’s with you?” He spit out the green blob of lime. “Last time you didn’t want me smoking and now I can’t chew gum?”
“Cut the shit.” Dee slammed the wastebasket on the floor and sat at the table. “Do you know anything about the Keng murder?”
“What?” He jerked, grabbing the table. “Fuck, no.”
“You sure?” Connie rocked from side to side. “We heard you might.”
“From who?” He jumped up and got in Connie’s face. “Whoever told you this, is a liar. I’m gonna go in someone’s house and shoot three people by myself?”
“It’s happens,” Dee said.
“Momma,” August shouted. “Ma!”
She opened the door. “What’s going on?”
“They’re trying to say I killed the Kengs.”
She gasped, gaping at the officers. “What?”
“No, we’re not,” Connie said.
“My son didn’t kill that family.” Savannah teetered inside the room. “God knows he’s no angel, but he’d never murder anyone. He doesn’t even own a gun.”
“Time out.” Dee did the time out signal with her hands. “No one is saying August killed anyone. We asked him a question, and he flipped.”
“I don’t have to tell you nothing.” August passed his mother, ignoring her glare on his way to the door.
“August.” Savannah grabbed his shirt before he crossed the threshold. “If you did nothing wrong, then tell them where you were.”
Although he played the tough guy, he melted when he looked in his mother’s eyes.
“I was in Little Korea,” he mumbled. “I was at the Shims’ house.”
“Hyeon and Sora?” Connie asked.
“Yeah, I was there for hours the night the murders happened.” He clasped his wrist in the opposite hand. “I’m thinking of becoming a Jehovah’s Witness and Mr. Shim’s been teaching me about the religion.”
Savannah’s shoulders dropped. “For Ji-su?”
He looked away, face turning red.
“Wow.” A pleasant glow came over Savannah’s face. “You really love her, don’t you?”
August pointed out the door. “Can I go now?”
Dee nodded. “We’ll contact you if we need anything else.”
“Don’t bother because there’s nothing else to tell you.” August and Savannah left as uniform officer Lucian Stavropoulos walked in. “Dee, this just came for you.” He handed her a slender gold box with no identification on it. “The delivery guy didn’t say who it’s from.”
“I bet it’s from Winston.” Connie chuckled. “Open it, Dee.”
“Yeah, open it,” Lucian said.
Dee examined the box. “Don’t you have something better to do, Lucian?”
He crossed his arms, curiosity radiating throughout his rugged, Greek features. “Nope.”
Dee released the lid of the box, and a lonely yet gorgeous pink azalea lay wrapped in thin paper. “It’s an azalea.” She sniffed it, the perfume scent straddling her senses. “Why would Winston give me an azalea? It’s not his style. He’d give me roses or something.”
“He’s extending an olive branch.” Connie took the flower and sniffed. “Appreciate it.”
Lucian rocked on his heels, holding his hands behind his back.
Dee glared at him. “You need anything else?”
“Nope.” His dimples appeared when he smiled.
Dee waved. “Then bye.”
He grinned as he left.
“Hold on.” Dee smelled the flower again, a more sinister aroma overtaking it’s natural scent. “Jonathan sent this.”
“Are you sure?”
“I smell his cologne.” She threw the flower in the box. “This means something.”
“It means he wants you.”
“No, he sent this to me as a warning that it isn’t over.” Dee rested her elbow on the table. “He’s planning his next move as we speak, and I got to be ready for whatever it is.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
“Arnie Pickler is a misguided young man, but he’s not a bad person.” Hyeon sat with Dee and Connie on the Shims’ cement patio. “You’ve got it all wrong if you think he had something to do with the Kengs’ murder.”
Sora walked out the double sliding doors with two glasses of iced tea. “Here you go.” She served Dee and Connie.
“Thank you.” Dee drank the crisp refreshment. “Hits the spot.”
Connie sipped and set her glass on the aluminum table. “We respect your opinion of August, Mr. Shim, but we found him suspicious.”
“Why would that boy want the Kengs dead?” Shim asked. “It makes no sense.”
“Someone told us he’s uptight about the murder,” Dee said. “Why would he be if he weren’t involved or at least knew something about it?”
“The K-Town Crips did it.” Sora sat by her husband. “There’s no other explanation. Normand was selling drugs for them because he owed them money. Isn’t that the obvious reason?”
Connie and Dee looked at each other.
“Besides, August was here the night the Kengs w
ere killed,” Hyeon, said. “We were talking about him converting to our faith just like he told you.”
Sora stuck out her neck. “What about Donn Cho?”
“We’re keeping an eye on him,” Connie said. “But, we can’t ignore the feeling we have about August either.”
“Detectives.” Hyeon looked at them with a sincere expression. “I’m a good judge of character and you’re wrong about August. I swear it.”
****
“Wow.” Candra glided into Jonathan’s lab, ogling the box of test tubes on the stainless steel table.
He typed formulas from his notebook and onto his laptop. “Is there something you need?”
“I need you to bring me into The Circle.” She smiled, the summer dress swallowing her slender shape.
He chuckled, taking off his reading glasses. “No one looks at me the way you do.”
She cocked her head to the side, pulling the strings on the front of her dress. “How do I look at you?”
“Like I’m a God or something.” He set his glasses beside the microscope. “You have such devotion and admiration for me. I don’t deserve it.”
“Jonathan, you saved my life.”
“No, you saved your own life when you got away.”
Her petite breasts rose through the material as she took a deep breath. “What you did is the sweetest thing a man’s ever done for me.” Her intense eyes oozed sadness. “All my life men have used and abused me. My dad, my uncle, my boyfriend and now Ro Chavis.”
“I’m sorry you went through those horrible things.”
“It’s like I’m a magnet for being treated like shit.” She held her breath and a tear trickled from her eye. “Your touch was the gentlest one I ever got from a man.”
“Don’t cry. You’re so beautiful.” He wiped her tear with his thumb. “You’re so young and full of life. You don’t need a man to do anything. If they can’t treat you right, then fuck them.”
She smiled.
“You’re the gift, Candra.” He tapped the tip of her nose. “Until you realize that, you’ll keep being abused and used. I want you to see how important you are and that you deserve happiness with a man who loves you.”