by Vivien Chien
I closed the album feeling wistful, daydreaming about the day when things would be right again, and I could do the things I’d always wanted to do.
That feeling didn’t last for long though. When I opened the third album, I found what I’d come looking for. Pictures of the plaza when it first opened.
It spoke of a different and much simpler time. The structure of the building had been plain and looked like any other shopping cluster you’ve seen. It wasn’t until the late eighties that Thomas had added the pagoda façade.
My father had taken tons of photos to capture everything imaginable; the stores and their owners, construction in the moment, and the restaurant as it progressed.
A picture of my young mother and another woman caught my attention. It was Esther, standing in front of her store, her and my mother smiling brilliantly to the camera. It was always odd to see my mother when she was younger. Partially because I realized then how much I looked like her, but also because it seemed like another lifetime. These pictures were taken before Anna May and I were born, and my parents had much left to experience with each other.
I kept flipping through the pictures searching for the mysterious woman in Mr. Feng’s photos. “Dad?”
“Yeah, kiddo,” my dad replied.
“When exactly did you and Mom meet Mr. Feng?”
He scratched the scruff that was beginning to grow on his usually smooth face. “Well, let’s see, we were almost done with college, and he had already begun construction on the plaza, so 1976, maybe?”
“Did you ever see him with another woman? Or did he have any close guy friends?”
My dad’s bushy eyebrows furrowed. “Why do you ask?”
“No reason,” I said, looking back at the photo album.
“Goober, you wouldn’t be sticking your nose into anything you’re not supposed to, are you?”
Avoiding his stare, I said, “Of course not.”
My dad sighed. “This is because I bought you Nancy Drew books when you were a kid, isn’t it?”
“Dad…” I whined.
“Look, I’m going to give you some advice,” my dad said. “Don’t get involved with other people’s circus animals.”
I looked at my dad. “I think you’re saying that wrong.”
He paused and then shook his head as if to clear the thought. “Either way, you just worry about you, and let the police take care of anything that may be going on.” He patted my knee. “Now, how about we look into some of those noodles your mother left behind?”
* * *
When I got home, I didn’t feel any closer to figuring out who the mystery people were. They clearly weren’t people that had worked at the plaza when it first opened, otherwise my dad would have gotten at least one photo of them.
I found Megan at the dining room table with her laptop and a coffee. Kikko was underneath the table with a bone in her mouth and a chew toy lying beside her. “Well, don’t you two look comfy,” I said, shutting the door behind me.
“Oh good, you’re home,” Megan said, looking up at me.
“My parents’ house was a bust,” I said, walking to the fridge.
“Well then, let me give you a little bit of good news,” Megan said cheerily.
I pulled the leftover pizza from the fridge. I’d eaten some noodles with my dad, but research makes me hungry. “What did you find?”
Megan turned the laptop to face me. “This is a career profile that I found online with a list of all the places that Ian worked in Chicago.”
I reviewed the screen and looked back up at her. “So?”
“I happened to call all of these places.”
“You did?”
“Yep, and surprise, he didn’t work at any except one.”
“What?” I set the pizza box down and sat down at the table to review the jobs he had listed. Two were major corporations and one I’d never heard of. In all of the positions, he had listed himself as senior management.
“This one,” she said, pointing at the screen, “is the only one that actually knew who Ian Sung was. And they said he was a janitor.”
“A janitor!”
Megan nodded proudly. “Yep, this guy has virtually no job experience whatsoever.”
“How did you find all this out?” I asked.
“I pretended to be a potential employer that was calling for job verifications.”
“Wow, so he’s a fraud,” I said, sitting back in the chair.
She turned the computer back toward her and nodded. “Yeah, I’m glad you turned him down. If he lied about this, then what else is he lying about?”
“So, what do you think?” I asked.
“I don’t know. From what you’ve told me, he seems pretty adamant about wanting to take over control at the plaza. Maybe he wanted to get Mr. Feng out of the way.”
I thought about what Ian had told me about the relationship with his father, and then what the Mahjong Matrons had told me. “Maybe it’s possible he’s doing all of this to impress his father,” I suggested.
“Daddy issues are nobody’s friend,” Megan replied.
“What about Donna?” I asked, nodding at the computer. “Did you find anything out about her?”
“Nothing exciting,” Megan said, closing the lid to the laptop. “She’s mentioned on a bunch of society pages and all of that, but nothing that isn’t common knowledge. I couldn’t find anything juicy about her anywhere.”
“Nothing at all?” I asked.
She shook her head. “Nope. If you ask me, it’s all a little too clean.”
I agreed with her on that. If there was nothing exciting to find, then why would Mr. Feng have hired a private investigator to follow her around? And what was up with the different birth certificates?
Megan shut the computer down and closed the lid. “You know what I want to know?”
“What?” I asked.
“Are we going to stare at this pizza box all night? Or are we going to eat some?”
CHAPTER
28
I promised Nancy that I wouldn’t be gone long during my lunch break. Business had been steady that morning and we anticipated a long lunch with the amount of people that were roaming around the plaza. Holiday shopping was in full swing.
I found Mr. Zhang outside of his shop, pacing back and forth as he normally did. “Hello, Mr. Zhang,” I said, trying not to sound like I was in a rush.
“Good afternoon, Miss Lana.” He bowed his head and continued to pace back and forth.
“I was wondering if you could help me with something.”
He stopped, giving me his full attention. “I am here to help.”
“Donna told me that you recommended yellow jasmine for her migraines. And I’ve been having some migraines myself, do you think it would be good for me?”
“Hmmm…” He looked at me thoughtfully. “Yellow jasmine is becoming more popular but I do not like to tell people to take this. It is very dangerous.”
“You don’t?” That was definitely not what Donna had said. Add a check back to the suspicions column under Donna Feng.
“No, for Donna, it was the last thing to try. She has tried everything else, and nothing works for her. But I told her she must be careful.” He shook his head. “Many people have come to ask me about this. Even Mr. An has come to see me for help. He has never talked to me before.”
“I see.” That stumped me. Who in this plaza didn’t talk to Mr. Zhang? He was the honorary grandfather of almost everyone in the Village.
“Ah, I know!” Mr. Zhang held up his index finger and hobbled into the store. “Come try this, it’s good for you.”
I followed him into the store and watched him as he scanned a shelf covered in miniature brown-tinted bottles. He found the one he was looking for and plucked it off the shelf, unscrewing the cap to expose a liquid dropper.
“Come here,” he said.
I stood inches away from him, and he held the dropper out. “Give me your hand.”
&nb
sp; I did as he instructed and he dropped a bead of liquid in my hand. “What is this?” I asked, sniffing my hand.
“Eucalyptus, it will help your headaches.”
I winced at the smell. “Oh, what do I do with it?”
“Rub it on your temple,” he said, gesturing to his own head.
To be polite, I did as he said, rubbing the liquid on my temple. Immediately my skin started to tingle and I had a flashback to when my mother used to rub Vicks VapoRub under my nose … a fate surely worse than death. “Oh … this is great,” I fibbed.
“I give you this one for free,” he said with a smile, shaking the bottle at me. “If it helps you, you come back for more.”
“Oh, you don’t have to,” I said, holding up my hands in protest. “I appreciate the offer though.”
“No, no, I insist.” He went behind the counter and grabbed a paper bag. He dropped the small bottle in the bag and stapled the top shut. “Now, you will feel better. Mr. Zhang is here to help.”
I thanked him and left with my bag of unnecessary eucalyptus oil.
As I stepped out of Wild Sage, I saw Jasmine out of the corner of my eye. She was standing in the entrance of the salon, waving at me. “Yo, girl!”
I waved back.
“No,” she yelled, and signaled me to come over.
“Hey Jasmine,” I said, walking over. “What’s up?”
She put her hands on her hips. “Aren’t you forgetting something?”
“No?”
“I told—” She wrinkled her nose. “What is that smell?”
I rolled my eyes. “Eucalyptus oil … long story.”
She shook her head dismissively. “Anyway, the other day at the memorial, I told you that I wanted to see you, remember?”
I had completely forgotten after the ordeal with Donna and all the events that took place after. I smacked my forehead. “Ugh! I’m so sorry … I can make an appointment right now.” I touched my hair self-consciously.
She clucked her tongue. “Your hair is fine. I just said that because Peter was standing there listening to us and I didn’t want him to wonder about anything.”
“Wonder about what?”
“About whether or not I saw them talking in the bathroom hallway.”
“Who?” I asked, feeling like I was missing something.
“Peter and Kimmy.”
My eyebrows shot up into my hairline. “Yeah?”
Jasmine pulled me over to the corner and lowered her voice. “Yeah. They were acting pretty strange that night, and I wanted you to know … because … you know.” She gave me a wink.
I looked at her, completely lost.
She leaned in. “Cindy told me that you were asking a lot of questions at the bookstore. I know what you’re up to,” she said, winking again.
“Me?” I asked, looking around to make sure no one could overhear us.
“I know you’re trying to figure out what really happened,” she whispered. “But don’t worry, I won’t tell anybody. I know it’ll fly around this plaza in no time.”
My face reddened. “Oh … well, I just…”
“You don’t need to explain anything to me. I get it.”
“So what did you see?” I asked, suddenly feeling very anxious.
“I was coming out of the bathroom before the memorial started and they were both in the hallway arguing. Kimmy was bawling like a five-year-old.”
“She was?” I didn’t think Kimmy was capable of tears. “What was she crying about?”
“I’m not sure,” Jasmine said. “But I did hear Peter say not to worry so much and that he wouldn’t say anything.”
I thought back to my confrontation with Kimmy and how she’d accused Peter of telling me something I shouldn’t know. “Are you sure that’s what you heard?”
“Yes.” She nodded resolutely. “Also, you probably didn’t see this since you went off with that detective guy, but she and Peter left that night … together. And they were bickering the entire way out the door. I heard her yelling at him and she said something that sounded like ‘you can’t tell anyone no matter what’.”
My mind was swimming with thoughts. “Thanks for telling me,” I said. “I really appreciate it.”
“No problem,” she replied. “Just do me a favor.”
“What’s that?”
“If you’re seriously going to do this, watch your back,” she said, staring me in the eye. “Because that girl is crazy.”
I rushed to the restaurant, realizing I’d been gone longer than intended. My mother and Nancy both stood hanging around the hostess booth. When she saw me come through the door, she crossed her arms over her chest with a disapproving look. “Where have you been? I had to come help Nancy and now my soap opera is over.”
“Sorry, Mom, Jasmine stopped me on my way back,” I said, trying to catch my breath. I tucked my paper bag from Wild Sage under the counter and grabbed my apron, tying it back around my waist. “I’m sure Esther can tell you all about your soap opera.”
My mom sniffed the air. “What is that smell?”
“Eucalyptus…” I said, hoping she wouldn’t ask why I had it on.
She nodded with satisfaction. “This is very good for you, but it will not help you catch a boyfriend.”
Nancy nodded in agreement. “Your mother is right. This smell is not attractive to men.”
I groaned. “Thanks, I’ll try to remember that.”
* * *
Megan had left work early and agreed to meet me in the plaza parking lot. I’d called to tell her about the conversation I’d had with Jasmine and that we had some more investigating to do.
My car was parked in the last possible parking spot and I had the lights off. I drummed my fingers against the steering wheel, feeling restless. I looked at the clock for what felt like the thirteenth time. Five minutes had passed. “Great,” I mumbled to myself.
Finally I saw Megan’s car pull up. She parked a few spaces away from me and jumped into the car. “Sorry I took so long, I had some tabs to close out.” She sniffed the air. “What the heck is that smell? Did you open a Vicks bottle in here?”
I released a heavy sigh and told her the story about Mr. Zhang and the eucalyptus oil that he’d made me put on my temples.
She rolled down the window, leaning toward the open air. “And you didn’t try and wash it off?”
“I did,” I said, leaning my head on the steering wheel. “It won’t come off.”
“Did you find anything out while you were there?” she asked, covering her nose.
I told her about the conversation I’d had and his comments about Mr. An stopping in.
“That’s weird, right? And you said he gives you the heebies.”
I nodded. “He does. I feel like he’s always lurking around too.”
“He’s already on our list, but we haven’t paid much attention to him. Maybe we should.”
“No one seems to know much about him either. I tried asking Kimmy some questions the same day she flipped out on me about a second job, but she didn’t say anything useful.”
Megan groaned, waving a hand in front of her face. “Ugh, I can’t take it anymore. That stuff is nuclear. Please don’t use it at home, I’ll have to move out.”
“Would you get serious?” I said a little bit more harshly than I meant to.
“Geez, sorry.”
“No, I’m sorry,” I said, pulling the car out of the plaza parking lot. “I just want to get this going already.”
“What exactly are we doing again?” Megan asked.
“We’re going with your idea and we’re going to sit outside of Peter’s apartment to see where he goes…”
She nodded. “It’s about time. My money is on Peter and Kimmy … or Ian … but mostly Kimmy because she’s an evil hell spawn.”
I gawked at her.
Megan shrugged in return. “Okay, so sue me, I don’t like the girl.”
“Clearly.”
“What if he’s not at h
is apartment?” she asked.
“Then we’ll have to try again another night, but I’m hoping that’s not the case,” I said, stopping at a red light.
She turned to me. “What if you don’t like what we find?”
I watched traffic pass, wondering if anyone else had to follow their friends around to find out their darkest secrets. “I guess we’ll burn that bridge when we get to it.”
Fifteen minutes later, we were in Lakewood, sitting a few buildings down from Peter’s apartment building. The light was on in his apartment and that was a good sign.
While we waited, Megan filled me in on her work drama to help pass the time. We talked about the other bartenders and some of the regulars, but even though we had plenty to talk about, it felt like we’d been sitting in the car for an eternity. In reality, it had only been fifteen minutes. Along with my poker face, I made a mental note to work on my patience.
“I don’t know what’s taking him so long,” I blurted out.
“Just relax, we haven’t been here that long.” Megan looked at her cell phone, checking the time.
I drummed the steering wheel. “I think I have to pee.”
“You always have to pee,” Megan replied.
Another five minutes went by and then the light in Peter’s apartment went out. My heartbeat picked up. He was either leaving his apartment or going to sleep. Since it wasn’t that late yet, my money was on him leaving.
Sure enough, a few minutes later, Peter came walking out. He moved with purpose as if he needed to be somewhere and my stomach did a little flip-flop. Where was Peter going to take us?
He got in his car, taking his time getting started. Finally he turned on his lights and pulled into traffic. We stayed a car length behind him to remain out of sight. I’d watched it a million times in the movies, so I felt I had some experience.
We followed him onto the freeway all the way to Brookpark Road. The area he took us to was well-known for its smattering of strip clubs and adult video stores.
He pulled into the parking lot of the Black Garter and parked. We pulled in behind him, passing his car, and found a space toward the back where we had some cover from the entrance.