Second Guessing

by K. J. Emrick

  I felt a shiver run up my spine. He described her with such conviction that I could picture Luduan in my own mind. This story was definitely more than myth to Arnie Chen. It was as real as any Christian’s belief in Adam and Eve.

  “The problem came,” he said, continuing his tale, “when Yin Xing Long tried to profess his love to her. Luduan was a seeker of truth. She valued that above all else, even the love of a dragon as magnificent as he. Even though she had feelings for him, she told him that she would only stay with him if he could answer a question. Just one single question. How could that be so hard?”

  “Oh, I don’t know. I think sometimes that simple questions have the hardest answers.”

  His smile touched his eyes. “I knew we were alike, you and I. Luduan loved Yin Xing Long, but still she asked her question. Why do you love me, she asked? It was indeed a question with a thousand answers, and only one that would win her heart. She would not accept his love if it was because she was the only girl around. No. He had to prove his love for her was real.”

  With a heavy sigh, he stands up from his desk, pacing the few short steps from his chair to the bookcase and back again. His gaze was on the floor, but unfocused. He was looking inward at the images of this love story.

  Then he stopped, and he turned to me

  “Do you know what he said, Miss Stone?”

  I shook my head.

  “He said to Luduan, I love you because my heart tells me to, and who am I to deny the heart of a dragon?”

  His voice changed when he told me the last part of the story. An accent slipped into his words this time, not really Chinese or Asian, but something deeper. Sharper, and somehow hotter. I wasn’t sure how to describe it. What I did know was that the profession of love by the dragon Yin Xing Long sounded more like he loved himself than the unicorn. How arrogant, to say she had to accept his love because of who he was. I mean, maybe I’m just jaded?

  Maybe I’ll just have to wait for a guy to say that to me someday and see how I react.

  “All right, Mister Chen, I enjoyed the story, but I don’t see what that has to do with why you called me here.”

  In two steps he’s standing by the little table under the window, pointing a thick finger at the glass disc. “The object that stood here until three days ago, Miss Stone, was a two-foot-tall statue of Yin Xing Long and Luduan, the dragon and his unicorn, circled around each other in an eternal embrace. That is what was stolen from me, and now that you’ve heard my story, I think you understand why it was so valuable to me.”

  Yeah. I guess I do. That speech of his did tell me why he had a personal attachment to the statue. That did not, however, tell me why he called me and not the police. So I’m guessing that’s the part about the statue being possibly illegal, depending on which governmental agency you happen to be speaking to.

  “I want you,” Mister Chen told me, “to find out how the statue was stolen from this office. Whoever took it must have known what it meant to me. No one comes in here except me. That door is always locked and—”

  “Tell me the rest of it first.”

  He stares at me in disbelief, his finger still pointing to the spot where his precious statue used to stand. “Excuse me?”

  “You haven’t told me everything, Mister Chen, and I don’t work in the dark. If you want to hire me, you need to tell me all of it. What’s the real reason you didn’t go to the police?”

  His eyes narrow at me, but his smile returns at the same time. “You know, you remind me of Luduan. You seek the truth, whether or not it is in your best interest. Few people challenge me the way you have, Miss Stone.”

  “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

  “You should. Fine. You are correct. There is one more detail you should know. The dragon in the statue is made of jade. The unicorn, of ivory.”

  I sucked in a breath through my teeth. A two-foot-tall statue carved from ivory and jade? Dear God, that must be worth a fortune. The last I knew, real jade was more expensive than gold, and the import of items made from ivory has been banned by nearly every civilized country for decades. Just to possess that would take tons of special permits and probably lots of bribes to bring it into the country.

  Yeah. I can see why he wants to keep this quiet.

  But I’m not the police, and I’m not obligated to turn him in for something that may have been purchased legally. If it’s a family heirloom, it might have been passed down for centuries, first made back when it was legal to purchase ivory, and when jade was just a pretty stone. All that matters to me, as a private investigator, is that the statue means a lot to him, and he wants me to get it back.

  I’m sure I can make that happen. Remember, I’m just as good as I think I am.

  Rule number one, always settle on payment up front.

  “All right, Mister Chen. I charge two hundred dollars a day plus—”

  “I will pay you ten thousand dollars if you find my statue. That should cover your expenses, as well as your discretion, yes?”

  I nearly choked. Ten thousand dollars? I’ve never made ten thousand on a single case. Ever. This statue must be even more important to Chen than I thought. Then again, he struck me as the kind of guy who dropped ten thousand dollars on a new pair of shoes. Where he got his money might be questionable, at best, but once it got into my bank account it all spent the same.

  So what am I supposed to say? No Mister Chen, that’s way too much money? Let’s negotiate that down a little?

  Yeah… no. I’m a private investigator, not a saint.

  “That sounds, um, perfectly fine,” is what I tell him. “I’ll need a picture of the statue, and a list of anyone you think might have stolen it, and… I’m guessing there’s no video surveillance inside this office? No? All right. Then I’ll need surveillance from the dining area for the day the statue was stolen. When was that?”

  “A few days ago. The day before you and I met in my alley, to be precise. As soon as my statue was stolen and I needed a private investigator, you arrived literally on my doorstep. Our meeting must be mìngyùn, Miss Stone. What you would call fate.” His face beams with satisfaction. “I knew once you heard my explanation you would take the case. I was certain of it. I can get you everything you ask for. I’ll send it to your email address.”

  “How do you know my… never mind.” He knew my name when I met him in the back alley. Tonight he had my phone number even though I didn’t give it to him. Why shouldn’t he know my email? “Okay. Well, let’s see what we have here.”

  I look around for more clues. A lot of P.I.s will immediately go to their list of suspects, tracking down where those people were at the time of the crime, finding out if they had motive, maybe even breaking into their homes to search for whatever was stolen. They often forget the most essential first step which is to scrutinize the crime scene itself. So. The door to this office is always locked, Mister Chen said. That doesn’t necessarily mean the thief didn’t come through there. They wouldn’t have done it when the restaurant was open, sure, but if someone came in here at night, with no one around, then they could take their time breaking into the office. Guy picks the lock, grabs the statue, leaves again… it’s a classic.

  Only, they certainly didn’t pick this lock. Kneeling down to inspect it, I come to that conclusion real quick. This is one of the most unpickable locks in the world. An HYT Chain Lock. Wow. Mister Chen really doesn’t want anyone getting in here. I’ve only seen these in magazines, never in real life. They’re insanely expensive but they have every right to be. The keyway is curved like a snake’s back to only accept a key that wiggles its way inside like a loose chain. There’s no way to get past this lock, and I don’t see any signs that the door was jimmied.

  “You’re the only one with a key to this room?”

  “Yes, Miss Stone.”

  “That’s what I thought.”

  So. They didn’t get in through here. No way.

  He’s watching me carefully, evaluating everything I do
with a sharp eye. That’s fine with me. I don’t mind an audience. At least, not much. This guy still creeps me out, and I haven’t forgotten what he did to his employee after I proved he was a thief right behind this office wall, in the back alleyway. And I sure wish Harry was here with me like he promised he would be. But that isn’t going to stop me from working this job. I’m a big girl, and I’m carrying a big gun, and I can take care of myself. Every Marine can—or in my case, every ex-Marine.

  So. Next. If the thief didn’t come in through the door then they had to get in through that window. Only, it isn’t big enough for an adult to climb through. I doubt a child came in here to steal this statue. There’s not a lot of twelve-year-old master thieves running around Detroit. Maybe a dwarf… little person… not sure what the correct term is but you know what I’m getting at. Not a lot of master thieves who never made it over four-foot-five, either. I think it’s doubtful anyone came in through that window.

  Still, a thief doesn’t actually have to come inside a room to take something.

  “Mister Chen, do you mind if I get up on that table for a minute?”

  “Hmm? The table?”

  “Yeah, see the table’s right under the window, and I didn’t bring a stepladder with me, so…”

  “Ah, I see. By all means, Miss Stone. It’s made from red oak. It will hold your… slender weight. Continue.”

  I think that was a compliment. I’ll take it.

  It’s a narrow table but those legs are just as sturdy as he promised, and I take my time getting up on my knees, straddling the glass disc. Once I’ve got my balance I’m up at eye level with the window. It’s one of those ones with a hinge along the top, and it swings inward. It would give some airflow on a hot day but other than that it’s pretty much just decorative. Probably, it was only here to let sunlight shine down on the statue right below it.

  The first thing I notice is that the lock is undone. It’s just a simple twist lock, only meant to hold the window in place from the inside. Anyone with a butter knife and a few minutes could have opened that. At the same time, no one would notice which way the lock was facing unless they got up here on the table like me. Obviously, Mister Chen wasn’t worried about putting a better lock on the window which means he must have had other security measures in place. Yup. There are the wires for an alarm system. They go all around the frame, and then over to a number pad alarm box up on the wall to my right. No need to worry about someone getting in with that system in place.

  Except, the second thing I notice is that the wires to the alarm have been cut.

  Up near the corner of the window, the break in the wire is hardly noticeable. I have to twist my body and crane my neck to see it, but there it is. That wasn’t done with a butter knife. Someone with a lot of skill had to use a sharp, thin blade to slip inside the seam around the window, and then slowly saw through the wire. They also had to know which wire to cut. I’m pretty sure cutting the other wire would have set the alarm off immediately. Time and patience beat this security system.

  People have way too much faith in alarm systems. Install a car alarm, you figure your car’s never going to get stolen. Put an alarm system on your place of business, you figure you’re secure from anybody coming in from the outside. Only, as any insurance agent will tell you, that’s not always the case. I’m sure the alarm on the window was just as state-of-the-art as that complicated lock on the office door, but that lock is foolproof and this fancy electrical alarm system… not so much. Snip the right wire, and you’re done. Sometimes electrical systems like this one are easier to beat than mechanical ones.

  So what I’m thinking is someone stood on a ladder on the other side of this wall, cut the alarm, opened the window. Then they lowered something down like a simple lasso rope, slipped it around the statue, tightened it up…and just took their time pulling the statue up and out. Close the window, and it’s a clean getaway. Chen didn’t have any surveillance cameras in here because he was so sure of his security. The thief had all the time in the world.

  Yeah. Sometimes crime really is that simple.

  Just to be sure, I open the window myself, pulling it back my way and locking the folding struts in place. No alarm. Just like I thought, it’s been disabled…

  The table is too narrow, and the angle of the window is too severe, and the next thing I know I’ve overbalanced myself and I’m falling backward and I’m very sure that my pretty head isn’t going to survive bouncing off that hard tile floor.

  Mister Chen’s hand is there, on my back, steadying me so I don’t fall.

  I didn’t see it coming.

  That thought is like a lightning bolt inside my brain. I always see what’s going to happen next. I see the next three seconds of my life all the time.

  I didn’t see me losing my balance.

  I didn’t see me falling.

  Didn’t see me hitting the floor.

  Did not see Chen’s hand catching me…

  I.

  Did not.

  See this one.

  Coming.

  If I was justifiably scared of Mister Chen and his possible criminal affiliations before, I was terrified of him now. Magic tends to cancel out magic. That’s what Harry told me. The reason my future-sense doesn’t work around him is because he’s a genie, a magical being, and somehow my special talent qualifies as magic in his mind. Magic cancels out magic.

  So then… what kind of magical being is Mister Chen, if my own ‘magic’ doesn’t work around him?

  I think it’s time for me to go. Definitely.

  Like, right now.

  “Uh, thanks for catching me,” I tell him. “That would have been a nasty fall. So, uh.” I get my feet back on the floor and start backing toward the open door of his office. “I’ll be waiting for that information in my email.” I bump into the wall and then adjust my position to go through the door instead. “Thank you for the job, Mister Chen. Really. I’ll do everything I can to find your statue.” Then I turn on my heel and walk straight through the dining room tables to the front door. “Keep in touch!”

  My foot hit a chair leg, stinging my toe. I can’t remember the last time I stubbed my toe. My future-sense always stopped me before. I could always see it coming before.

  Not this time. Not in this restaurant of Mister Arnie Chen.

  Being normal kind of sucks.

  Outside I draw a deep breath, but I don’t stop. My car is right there, and I power walk to it. I don’t run, because I don’t want Mister Chen to realize how worried I am. I keep expecting him to grab me by my shoulder and pull me back inside or shoot me in the back. I mean, how am I supposed to know what he’s going to do? If my future-sense isn’t working how am I supposed to know anything?

  I’ll get it back, I keep telling myself. It will come back. Just get away from Chen and it will come back…

  In my teenage years, when my gift set me apart from the friends I used to hang out with all the time, I would spend nights crying in my bed, wishing this ‘gift’ would go away. I remember wondering once if I could just figure out where the gift was inside of me so I could cut it out. I never tried, because that would mean hacking my body apart and no matter how depressed I got I knew that was stupid. The gift is a part of me, like my vision and my hearing, and so gradually I accepted it. Even embraced it. I couldn’t picture my life without it.

  Now, the thought of losing it for good kind of scares me.

  I look back over my shoulder, but Chen isn’t following me. The door to the restaurant is closed again, and now the lights are off. The sign in the window flashes C-L-O-S-E-D. I guess that means I’m safe.

  Still, I keep my eyes on the restaurant until I get to Roxy and fumble my hand onto her door.

  And there’s Harry, sitting in the passenger seat, staring at me blankly.

  “Where the hell have you been?” I demand, my voice loud and cranky. No, cranky’s not the word. Angry. Furious. No, worse than that I am truly ticked off. Throwing open the door I get
inside and slam it closed again. “You were supposed to be in there with me in case anything went wrong and you just bail on me? What’s up with that Harry, huh? What’s up with that?”

  “My lady, are you all right?” He takes my wrists and examines my hands and my arms and I swear if I hadn’t pulled away from him, he would have done a complete body check-over to see if I’d been branded or shot or whipped with a lo mein noodle. “Did he hurt you?”

  “What do you care, buddy? Huh? Some friend you are, you just disappeared! Where’d you go?”

  “Here. I was right here.”

  “I know that! I can see that! What I want to know is why? Why’d you leave me alone in there with a guy you don’t trust?”

  He looked truly horrified at my accusation. “I didn’t. You must believe me, my lady. I did not leave you. I stepped into the restaurant and I was… I was bounced away and back into my rug. Deep, deep into my rug, past places I had forgotten even existed. I only just now got out again. There is some sort of powerful magic around that restaurant. With my first step inside it simply pushed me away, back into my rug. Please forgive me, my lady. I would never leave you alone!”

  I stare at him. “Are you telling me… are you trying to blame the fact that you left me in there alone… on magic?”

  “Yes. Yes! It’s the truth, I promise you on my heart and soul that this is not a lie. I would never abandon you. Never.”

  “No, I believe you.”

  “My lady, please, if ever you had any sort of belief in me you have to trust that I—” His eyes blinked hard enough to wiggle his eyebrows. “You… you believe me?”

  “Yeah, actually I do. I was in there and my future-sense stopped working altogether. I thought it was just around Arnie Chen but now I see…”

  It was the whole time I was in the restaurant.

  Sure, I’d been close to Chen the whole time but what if it wasn’t him, but the restaurant itself? I’d bumped into that wall on the way out because I didn’t see myself hitting it. I stubbed my toe on a table for the same reason. Come to think of it when I first went in and Chen was there, behind me, I didn’t know it until he spoke. I’m so used to not seeing any part of the future where Harry’s involved, I guess. It wasn’t until I nearly fell off that table and Chen had to save me that I noticed anything was wrong.