Kate looked at Holly - a quick careless glance that Holly missed. She could use Holly at a cheaper rate than Neil Cooper, instantly discounting her value because she was young - and a girl. Kate laughed a bright high-pitched laugh, her signature. She linked arms with Holly.
"Neil told me all about you. Just always keep in mind that you have to look like you're worth the fees you're charging. Start by getting yourself a proper handbag," Kate turned away, but not before Holly caught a mocking, triumphant smile.
It was in this way that the name Holly H. Park appeared on the door of American Legal Services.
Chapter 7
"Holly, It's the Dumok! He's here!" Mi Rae could not contain the excitement in her voice. A moment later, the Dumok walked in preceded by Mi Rae. Holly looked up with mild interest, then had to try and not react. The man called the Dumok had a mysterious charismatic force, as if the center of the magnetic poles moved with him. Holly felt strong electric currents pulling her to him. Her face reddened.
His eyes were dark, brooding and intelligent, measuring Holly, missing nothing. He had dark thick hair and a determined jaw, decisively European with the slightest hint of exotic in his eyes. His skin was smooth and would have been spotless but for the jagged scar that ran horizontally across his neck giving the appearance that his head had almost been severed, an alarming incongruity to an otherwise polished and flawless image.
Holly flinched. Their eyes momentarily met, but his eyes were impenetrable and silent, refusing to speak of what his telltale skin refused to hide. Holly had never experienced a man like this. His height and the way he loomed in the doorway gave off an aura of impending, tempered danger. He was of an age where elegance and power had replaced youth. He had a patina of style that only taste and experience and substantial wealth could provide - a studied casualness, subtle yet distinct. He seemed utterly detached and alone as he stood, his large frame filling the doorway. If the Dumok noticed her staring, he said nothing.
"Please, won't you have a seat?" Holly asked, gesturing to a client chair.
The Dumok sat easily, crossing his legs.
"How can I help you?" Holly asked in a calm voice even though she wasn't calm at all. Her heart was pounding as she tried to avert her gaze, but it kept going back to the scar. It was an injury that refused to be ignored.
"I have a missing persons case which may require your assistance," he said. His accent was neutral, vaguely French, the product of private tutors, only faded and softened, like he'd been somewhere else for a long time and hadn't needed it. For once, Holly was glad of her Korean upbringing. It provided a formality and a reserve she did not feel.
"Do you have any information about the person you are looking for?" Holly asked carefully. The Dumok's eyes flashed and his gaze was unsettling yet Holly sensed he somehow felt better. She wondered how long he had carried this burden.
"Her name is Nara Song," The Dumok began. "I believed that Nara died many years ago, but rumors have been circulating now that she may be alive. If so, she has been flying under the radar. Trouble follows her, which is why I thought she might seek help in a place like this," the Dumok stopped, his shoulders even sagged ever so slightly. "I don't believe she is alive, but if she is, I want you to find her."
His eyes were piercing but lacked conviction. "Logan Burg referred you," the Dumok added.
"Logan?" Holly asked, surprised.
"Logan and I go back many years. He speaks very highly of you." The Dumok paused. "He believes you are the perfect lawyer for what I need."
"I've never handled a missing persons case," Holly started.
"This is not such a complex case where expertise is needed. Logan says you stand very firm on principle.”
Holly blushed. It seemed the whole world knew she had walked out of her job. It was then the Dumok showed Holly the photo. The girl in the photo held two fingers next to her eyes in the double v-sign as she smiled, her head tilted girlishly to one side. Her large eyes had an artful innocence that gave away nothing. The coloring was unusual for a Korean - light hazel with a gray hue. She wore a necklace around her slender neck, the kind of necklace seen only in very expensive magazines - not a necklace a young girl would wear. She wore an Hermés silk scarf loosely as a halter top as if the slightest touch would make it fall from her slender arms and shoulders. She was a great beauty, flawless, feminine and exotic.
"It is an old photo," the Dumok laughed ruefully. "May I introduce Nara Song? Don't be fooled by the picture. She was a girl of contradictions and fiery impulses," he frowned, his voice contained. His eyes flashed as he glared at the photo. "I was told she died twenty years ago, but if she is alive," he paused, "I want you to find her. " The Dumok's eyes flashed and he handed Holly the photo.
"Hold onto this. I will be in touch in the next day or two." Then the Dumok stood and extended his hand as though Holly had rendered him some profound courtesy.
After he had gone, Holly's office seemed suddenly empty. She picked up the photo of Nara and looked at it for a long time, trying to will Nara to speak to her, but she was as silent as her grave. She left the photo on her desk and walked out to reception to find Kate and Mi Rae in a huddle, gossiping. They quickly straightened up when they saw Holly. Kate's eyes were bright, electric as she marched up and down, unable, in her excitement, to stand still.
"Oh, I wish I had been here to greet the Dumok! Mark my word, he would have felt more confident if he had seen me instead of you," Kate declared in her decisive way.
"The Dumok never uses Korean lawyers. He always hires strong male Jewish lawyers. I don't understand why he would hire you, Holly. You're none of those things!" There was a contained hysteria as she mocked Holly.
"My old boss, Logan Burg, referred him," Holly answered.
Kate laughed her bright, impossible laugh, then paused. There was a slight flicker of jealousy in her tone, but just as quickly, it was instantly supplanted with a perfectly docile expression.
"Did he pay you?" Kate was smiling pleasantly enough but there was a firm faint edge to her voice. Holly shook her head.
"No, but he said he'd come back."
Kate shook her head in frustration.
"You handled it all wrong, Holly," Kate Hong said.
"Mark my words, I could have extracted a sizable retainer. A man like that doesn't walk into a place like this just any day."
Kate Hong put her hands on her hips and shot Holly an imperious look, shaking her head. "I would have promised him everything. Don't you know you should promise the sky even if you can only deliver the dust from the ground?"
"He is searching for a woman from his past," Holly said, wanting to share the details of the new case. Holly couldn't help herself and added, "Who exactly is the Dumok? Do you know anything about him?"
Of course Kate knew of the Dumok. He was the favorite topic of Koreatown.
"Do you want to see the photo of the person he is looking for?" Holly asked, excitedly. Kate's face lit up. Like everyone else, she too had followed the Dumok's activities over the years. But in truth, Kate only knew the same gossip and speculation as everyone else.
"He is the godfather of Koreatown," Kate began. "Even the Korean gangsters protect him. I will tell you more later but we must go. A new client is waiting for us at the JJ Grand Hotel. They like to see the lawyer's face when they are paying."
Collecting fees was always Kate's first priority. Kate and Holly rushed out the door.
Chapter 8
Choi, broker and forger of documents, former operative of the Republic of South Korea’s consular service, was a man of pale appearance, average build, and quick intelligence that carried some authority, though the charm of his youth had been worn away over the years by unrealized ambition and graying ethics.
It was morning rush hour. The southbound 405 freeway was jammed. Choi eyed the temperature gauge climbing towards red. He blasted his horn. The last thing he needed was his car overheating. His eyes darted nervously to the black leather m
essenger bag with the time-worn seal of a foreign government on the passenger seat. His stomach churned. It would just look bad if he got pulled over. He had promised himself this was the very last time. He had promised Kate Hong he would deliver the fake passports first thing and he was officially late.
The pointer on the gauge moved to red. Choi reached over and turned the heat knob to high. As the hot air blasted into his face, the engine cooled and immediately, the pointer began to drop. Rings of sweat formed under his arms as he unrolled the window and cursed at the traffic.
The traffic inched forward. Choi fumbled with the radio knob to find K-JAZZ. It was Slow Train Lexington playing, "I got it bad, and that ain't good." He fiddled with the volume, turning it up. Finally, the traffic began to move.
The flashing red lights came out of nowhere. Choi glanced at the rear view mirror and quickly pushed the black messenger bag onto the floor. He watched the flashing lights through the mirror, and pulled over off the freeway and rolled down the window.
"Hello, officer," Choi said with his best smile as he nervously twisting the signet ring on his finger. "What seems to be the problem?"
An hour later and very late, Choi pushed open the door to American Legal Services. There was no one at the reception desk, Mi Rae's Cosmopolitan magazine was on her chair and her purse was gone.
"Hello?" Choi called out but nobody answered. He peeked into the conference room, but it was empty and there was no sound. Kate's office was empty too, and her purse was gone. Choi thought of just leaving the package on Kate's desk, but he wanted to get paid. Maybe she was down the hall. He walked past what used to be an unoccupied office, but now there was a stack of files on the desk, a coffee cup and a cardigan on the back of the chair. Curious, he stuck his head in. The nameplate on the desk said "Holly H. Park" but nobody was there. He glanced casually at the desk while trying to decide what to do.
Then he saw it. His heart skipped a beat. His face drained of color as he looked again. There was no question. Choi drew a sharp breath as his eyes grew dark and flat as he picked up the photo the Dumok had left. Choi's blood ran cold as he realized with absolute certainty why the Dumok had come calling. There was no mistake. The Dumok was looking for Nara Song. Choi crumpled the photo into a wad and flung it on the floor.
"Holly H. Park!" Choi roared at the top of his voice storming down the hall, his eyes bulging wildly. But the office was empty and nobody answered. Wildly, he stormed back into the office and picked up the wadded-up the photo off the floor. He hesitated, nervously flattened the photo on his knee, then jammed it into his briefcase, walked down the hallway briskly and stormed out slamming the door.
Choi broke into a sweat as he searched, wild-eyed, for the emergency exit. He would take the stairs nine floors down to the parking garage. He was not about to take any chances of running into Kate Hong now.
In his car Choi sat, thinking, cracking his knuckles and clenching his hands into fists. He had hidden in the shadows for twenty years in dread of this day. The day the Dumok would come looking for Nara Song.
Chapter 9
An hour later Kate Hong and Holly sailed back into American Legal Services, happy with the fees collected and the client’s anxieties assuaged. "Mi Rae must have gone to eat," Kate mused. “She should have locked up.”
"Let me show you the photo of Nara Song now!" Holly interrupted excitedly. "It's in my office." Kate Hong followed Holly down the hall. Once inside her office, Holly went to her desk, and stopped. “Was – someone in my office?” she asked, slowly.
"I don’t think so. Why?" Kate asked.
"It's… gone. Someone took the photo!" Holly said, with a shadow in her voice. Her face paled. Something was wrong. The envelope was there, but the photo was gone. Holly pushed the papers aside on her desk, searching frantically. "It was here before we left!" Holly exclaimed as panic started rising. “Do you think the Dumok came while we were gone and took it?” she asked, frantically.
"Oh, I'm sure it's there and you just misplaced it," Kate said, her condescending tone rising and falling in playful inflection. "You really should put important papers in a safe, you know," she clucked, in her bright voice.
Then, the phone rang. Mi Rae was still not back, so Holly picked it up, taking a deep breath to sound professional and calm. It was a Kendall Taylor, a new referral from Logan Burg.
"Can you please ask Mi Rae about the photo, Kate?" Holly pleaded as she grabbed her purse. "I have a potential new client who wants to meet right now, but I have to find that photo!"
Kate smiled. She liked Holly, no mistake, but she had to admit that she enjoyed watching her squirm.
Chapter 10
The name Kendall Taylor was no stranger to the Four Seasons Hotel spa in Beverly Hills. Disrobing, she lay down in the private treatment room and closed her sea-green eyes slowly. The lawyer she had been referred to sounded so young, she thought to herself. But she trusted Logan, so she would meet with her.
Soon, the scent of the mint lotion being massaged into her scalp relaxed her. She was naturally blonde, her hair the texture and color of corn silk. She loved the coolness tingling her scalp. She tilted her head back just a little, and closed her eyes as the warm water rinsed through her hair. Spa workers loved to work on Kendall's body, which was pale like she had never known the sun, though in fact she loved the outdoors and was an avid equestrian.
She closed her eyes. An hour later, she loosely wrapped a big, fluffy white towel over her petite body and made her way to the dressing room. She dropped the towel at her feet before daintily stepping on the scale to weigh her self. The number never changed but in her mind she was convinced she had put on a few pounds.
Kendall helped herself to lime and strawberry flavored water before going to the mirrors to scrutinize her face. She stroked her forehead with one finger and pulled the skin back. Perhaps it was that time again? Kendall's focus shifted to the corners of her eyes. She was beginning to notice the ever so slight droop to her eyelids. Maybe this is why people have been asking me lately if I'm tired, she mused. She took a carefully manicured fingernail and prodded her eyelid. She let the towel drop again and pulled the towel wrapped on her head and let her hair tumble around her shoulders. She stood naked.
Yes, I'm still beautiful, Kendall thought to herself. Her attention fell to her stomach, flat and taut. She had been wise not to let her belly swell with child. Now older and childless, she had regrets. Perhaps things would have been different if she had had a child with Wolf. Wolf. Not a good choice for going down memory lane. Kendall looked at the time. She should not keep Holly Park waiting too much longer.
A process server had knocked on her door late one night and Kendall had been carrying the papers around ever since, which weighed heavily on her. Luckily, Logan Burg had recommended Holly Park, a lawyer who had gone solo recently. That was all right, Kendall thought. She had gone solo, too.
The Four Seasons lobby was lush with beautiful, large flower arrangements and a calm, air-conditioned hum. Holly took the elevator to the 4th Floor and followed a sign towards the spa to find Kendall Taylor reclined on a chaise for a cabana pedicure. She had chosen a magnificent pink, perhaps coral, something that reminded her of flamingos and happier times. Kendall sipped a fruit drink and flipped through Town & Country magazine while a spa attendant packed up her pedicure tools and slipped away.
Kendall lay down her magazine and pulled the towel off her head and shook out her long golden hair that tumbled in waves down her shoulders. Her eyes flashed green as she looked up at Holly Park, giving her the once over with a smile that gave away nothing.
“I’m Kendall,” she said with a quick smile. Holly was intrigued instantly by the glamorous husky-voiced woman who held out her hand. Holly didn't know whether she should shake it or bend to kiss it. Kendall motioned for Holly to sit down.
"How old are you?" Kendall inquired, kindly.
"Twenty-seven," Holly answered.
"You look sixteen."
; It was a statement of fact and not a question, but Kendall was amused by Holly and took an immediate liking to her but her eyes remained neutral.
"How is it that you are a lawyer? Most girls your age are out partying or planning a wedding.”
There was a genuine curiosity which Holly didn't mind.
"After college, my father said I should get married or go to law school, and I’m not married,” Holly laughed.
"Did you have a suitor?"
"No," Holly laughed again, embarrassed. "Not a real one. But through match- making there were several candidates."
"Match-making? I should have tried that," Kendall smiled. "Anyone suitable?"
Holly shook her head at the memory. "It's not so easy.”
The glamorous woman suddenly brightened up and tossed her main of golden hair and laughed, the light scent of coconut filling the air. After a moment, Holly smiled, too, both laughing easily at the common thread found.
"I had my share, too," Kendall admitted. The first two times I married older, very wealthy men who wanted me. The third one I wanted and loved the most. That was my biggest mistake!" She laughed. "Never marry for love."
There was a frank honesty to this woman that was appealing and her laugh was infectious and disarming.
"You are so beautiful, I can see men fighting over you." Holly said simply, with the utter graciousness of truth.
Kendall Taylor accepted the compliment for the sincerity with which it was extended. She had the burnished look of a woman who, no matter what she had done to her previous husbands, and no matter how many millions she cost them, would still stop to take her call and take her to dinner and grant whatever favor she had come to ask.
“Logan said you are Korean?” Kendall asked.
“Yes.”
“Good. I need a Korean lawyer.” Kendall said settling into the chaise. “Wolf Linser is my husband," Kendall said in a tone which assumed Holly would know the social significance of the name. "Wolf Linser - husband number three - has spent the last seven years in prison - and he's still there now," Kendall said it casually, like he was in a villa on Lake Cuomo for the season.
The Virgin Whore Trial: A Holly Park Legal Thriller Page 3