Authors: Michael J. McCann
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Yes, that’s correct,” Grace said. “My mother, Anna Liu, and Martin’s father, Stephen Liu, were brother and sister.” She frowned. “But he died several years ago, and nothing has happened. Is the case being reopened?”
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We’re taking another look at it,” Hank said. “You and your husband have been consulting with Dr. Walsh from Thomas Gaines University in Memphis and a grad student of hers, Josh Duncan, with regard to your son, Taylor, is that correct?”
She nodded, reluctantly.
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Are you also related to a man named Peter Mah? Another cousin?”
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Yes, his mother was my mother’s sister.”
Karen leaned forward and gave Grace her cop scowl. “Josh Duncan was assaulted two days ago by a couple of men who work for Peter Mah. Any idea why your cousin would want to harm him?”
Grace looked shocked. “No! Assaulted? I don’t understand. What happened?”
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Did you talk to Mah about Duncan?” Karen pressed. “Maybe suggest he was prying into family business that was better left secret?”
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No, of course not!”
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You didn’t suggest that he lean on Duncan to get him to back off and leave your son alone?”
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I resent the direction of these questions!” Grace said, pushing away from the table. “Unless there’s anything else—”
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Hold on a moment, Mrs. Chan,” Hank said. “We understand your son Taylor has been making statements about the death of your cousin Martin. We’d like to ask you a few questions about those statements.”
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They assured me their research would be discreet and confidential. So much for that.”
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As I understand it, you and your husband signed a waiver permitting Dr. Walsh and Mr. Duncan to disclose information about Taylor to the authorities where criminal activity might be involved,” Hank said. “Your cousin Martin was murdered, Josh Duncan was assaulted and they’re both connected to statements your son’s making, so the issue of confidentiality is moot at this point. However, we’re prepared to be as discreet as possible in how we use information directly connected to your son. We’re sensitive to the fact that he’s only three years old and shouldn’t be put in jeopardy by things he’s saying in all innocence.”
Off-balance, Grace opened her mouth and closed it again.
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How close were you to your cousin Martin, Mrs. Chan?” Karen asked.
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Not very. Our families got together once, maybe twice a year. Uncle Stephen and my mother were cordial, but a little distant.”
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What about your other cousin, Peter Mah? Are you close to him?”
She shook her head. “No, when Aunt Mary married Jerome Mah the Liu family was very upset. The Mahs are very . . . traditional, and their business interests are, uh, well, my mother used to use the word ‘unsavory’ to describe them.”
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But Peter comes around to visit you, just the same?”
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Only on Taylor’s birthday. He visited me in the hospital when Taylor was born and was very kind to me. He brings Taylor a present every year.”
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And you told him about the things Taylor was saying about Martin,” Hank said.
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Yes. It was on Taylor’s birthday last November. I was very upset and it just kind of came out.”
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You told Peter that Taylor was claiming to be Martin Liu reincarnated.”
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I know how insane it sounds. But I had just finished fooling around with the video camera, making sure it would work for later in the day, and Taylor said some things that were recorded. I played it for Peter and he wanted to talk to Taylor.”
Hank nodded. “That was unusual for him, I take it? To stay and visit?”
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Yes, he normally just gives Taylor his present and leaves. Peter knows my husband disapproves of him very strongly, and Peter’s considerate in that regard.”
Karen snorted.
Grace looked at her. “He’s a very considerate person, Detective. He’s very polite and well-mannered. It comes from his traditional upbringing.”
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So he stayed and talked to Taylor?” Hank asked.
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Yes. I showed him the video of Taylor saying he was Martin.”
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What was Peter’s reaction to that?”
Grace frowned. “I’m not sure. Whatever he was feeling, he hid it very well. But he became very interested in talking to Taylor, so I made some tea and Peter went into the living room with Taylor.”
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And Taylor spoke to him about being Martin Liu reincarnated?”
Grace grimaced. “I suppose he did. He said something about some kind of game he’d kept secret from Peter or something like that. Then he said that two men hurt him, and Peter seemed very interested in their names.”
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Shawn and Gary?” Karen asked.
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Yes, that’s right.”
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Did those names mean anything to you?”
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No, not at all. I have no idea where Taylor is getting these things.”
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Would your husband know anyone named Shawn or Gary? Anyone that he might talk to you about around the house?”
She shook her head. “No, no. No one. Neither my husband nor I know anyone by those names who would’ve had any contact whatsoever with Taylor.”
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Maybe something he watched on television?” Karen suggested. “Do any of his favorite programs have characters with those names?”
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No. I’m sorry, but my husband and I have wracked our brains and come up empty. We’ve questioned Taylor about this Shawn and Gary and he hasn’t said anything more about them. It’s very strange and upsetting. It’s as though these memories, or whatever they are, come and go. He remembers them, speaks about them, and then seems to forget them again. You must understand how upsetting all this is for us.”
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We do,” Hank said. “I understand that Taylor has two birthmarks on his leg, is that correct?”
Grace nodded.
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Which leg is it, left or right?”
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His left leg.”
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When did these marks appear, Mrs. Chan?”
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He was born with them,” she replied. “That’s the way it normally works with birthmarks, Lieutenant.”
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Of course. We’d like to talk to Taylor, if that’s all right with you.”
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Absolutely not. I won’t have him questioned by the police. He’s only three and a half years old, for God’s sake.”
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It seems he must have overheard something about your cousin Martin,” Karen said, “and it’s very important we try to find out where he heard it. It may lead us to the person who killed Martin.”
Grace sighed and stared at her hands, which were tightly clasped on the table in front of her. “I know. But he was already questioned by the people from the university. Can’t you just talk to them?”
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With all due respect,” Karen said, “they don’t have the kind of training and experience the Lieutenant and I have. This isn’t just a matter of some academic research, Mrs. Chan. It’s a homicide, and anything Taylor may be able to tell us that’d put a killer behind bars would be extremely important.”
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You’d put him in court. A little boy up on the witness stand being attacked by some defense lawyer.” Tears began to form in her eyes.
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Not likely,” Karen said. “The Assistant State’s Attorney decides these things, of course, but I think it’s fair to say that Taylor’s statements, connected as they are to all this theory about reincarnation and so on, wouldn’t play very well in court from a prosecutor’s point of view. I’ve spent several years investigating crimes relating to children, Mrs. Chan, and I can tell you very bluntly that prosecutors don’t like to see children give testimony if it can at all be avoided. If Taylor can point us in the right direction that’d be great, but the ASA would still expect us to establish reasonable grounds based on other sources separate from Taylor before she’d go anywhere near a courtroom with a charge of murder against someone. Do you understand what I mean?”
Grace nodded, brushing at a tear on her cheek. “I think so.”
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We’d like to know why Taylor’s saying these things,” Karen said. “We’d like to hear it for ourselves, if possible.”
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Please,” Grace said, “let me talk to my husband about it first. He’ll be against it.”
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Lieutenant Donaghue and I can meet with you and Dr. Chan before talking to Taylor, if you like. We can set the ground rules beforehand so that y’all will be comfortable with what’ll happen.”
Grace closed her eyes. “Let me talk to him.”
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All right.” Karen stood up. “Here’s my business card. Call any time.”
Grace took the card from Karen and tried to smile.
They left the office and went back down the hallway into the reception area. A middle-aged man with a walrus mustache was sitting there, hands clasped between his knees. Grace Chan’s next appointment, perhaps. Brandi was on the phone but Hank could feel her eyes drilling holes in his back all the way out the front door and down the steps to the parking lot.
They got into the car and Karen started the engine. “Where to now?”
Hank looked at her. “Nicely done.”
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I was going to rough her up a little, but as soon as she started talking about her son I could see it was different. We need to find out where the kid’s hearing this stuff.”
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Yeah.” Hank pushed his hand through his frizzy hair. “She pretty much corroborated what Josh Duncan was saying. Doesn’t mean much, but it’s a start.”
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So what’s next?”
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We need to backtrack on Martin Liu.”
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Whatcha got in mind?”
Hank took out his notebook and flipped through the pages. “I want to talk to Martin’s mother. See if we can nail down the connection to Peter Mah a little more firmly before we go have a word with him about this game the little boy was talking about.”
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Okay. What’s the address?”
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Don’t you mean the fucking address?” When she just stared at him, Hank smiled. “She lives in Midtown but she’s probably still at work, which is up in Granger Park.”
Hank removed his cell phone and called the home phone number written in his notebook. After a few rings he heard the answering machine pick up, so he cut the connection and called her business number. After speaking briefly with Meredith Collier, he closed the phone and nodded at Karen. “Granger Park.”
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Figures. What does she do for a living?”
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Receptionist in a chiropractor’s office.”
Karen backed out of the parking space and floored it, whipping onto the street into a gap in traffic that was more theoretical than actual.
As they raced out Hank caught a glimpse of a black sedan turning into the parking lot behind them. There was a heavy-set driver with Asian features in the front and a passenger in the back that Hank could not see. He looked behind him but in the split-second available was only able to get the last three digits of the license plate: 86H.
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What make of car was that?” Hank asked.
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What car?” Karen glanced in the rear view mirror and switched lanes abruptly.
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The black sedan that turned into the parking lot behind us.”
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Lexus,” Karen said. “New. Year old. Small limo.”
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Catch the plate?”
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Nine-four-six something.”
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Nine-four-six-eight-six H?”
Karen shrugged. “Could be.”
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Catch the passenger’s face?” Hank asked, reaching for the radio.
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In the back? No. Driver was Asian, though.”
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Yeah.” He thumbed the radio and gave the make and plate number to Dispatch. As Karen made her way to the ramp that would take them onto the northbound expressway, Dispatch told Hank that the car was registered to Dicam International Shipping, 11001 Industrial Boulevard in Wilmingford.
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Mean anything to you?” Karen asked, accelerating into the inside lane.
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Not at the moment.”
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Wanna go back?”
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No.”
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Good. Then you won’t need a session with the chiropractor after we’re done talking to his receptionist.”
Another office in another strip mall. In contrast with the expensively-furnished real estate office they had just left, however, this one was cluttered and run down. The waiting room was small and cramped. A row of chairs sat along the wall inside the door beside a corner table covered with magazines and brochure racks. A potted geranium on the corner table was wilted and dust-covered. A plastic basket under the table was filled with toys, a few of which had escaped and lay forgotten under one of the chairs.
A muscular young man sat in the chair closest to the door reading a magazine, his bull neck, thick arms and shaved head suggesting a college football player. On the wall were framed photographs of underwater plant life and tropical fish. It seemed that Dr. Albert Delahunty, the chiropractor, was an avid scuba diver in his spare time.
As Hank walked up to the waist-high counter and made eye contact with the woman sitting there, he felt his pulse jump. Taking a breath, he showed his badge and smiled. “I’m looking for Meredith Collier.”
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That would be me.”