Read Online Ghosts of Chinatown by Wesley Robert Lowe - Free Book Online
Authors: Wesley Robert Lowe
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takes every ounce of willpower to keep him from spitting it out. “Tastes worse than paint thinner.”
“But it works.”
Susan reaches under the counter and retrieves another bottle of Fen Jiu and puts it into a plastic bag.
“Ten bucks. This is the only place in Chinatown that sells this and I don’t sell to everyone. You want it?”
“If it’s so special, why are you selling to me?”
“Because you know Liang and if there’s anybody that I feel for, it’s that crazy old Chinaman.”
“He drinks this rat piss?”
“Drink it? Absolutely. He’s my best customer. Top shelf. He too has a past that he doesn’t want to remember.”
“Hard to figure anything out about that weird duck.”
“Honor. Future. Loss. Who knows?” Susan hands the bag to Todd. “Ten dollars. You want it?”
“I’ll take three.” Todd reaches into his pocket, pulls out his wallet and forks over thirty dollars while Susan pulls out two more bottles from below the counter. “Can you tell Angela I have to see her again?”
“You think I can be bought for thirty bucks?”
“I’m not trying to buy her.” Todd looks out the window. “I know her pain.”
Todd swings around back to Susan but there’s no one there.
His eyes widen in terror. “Hello! Hello!”
But there is no response.
He quickly leaves.
Chapter 14
A battered and bleeding Jasmine sits at the grand piano, massaging the keys into the discordant, unnerving melody of single notes that was heard earlier in the empty room. She’s not a talented pianist. The movement of her fingers shows a stiffness in the motions. However, that doesn’t stop the mood from coming through—the simple tune embodies Jasmine’s pain, something that no one living or dead can truly understand.
The blood from her wounds seeps onto the keys as she piano plays—it was her blood that flowed onto the keys earlier.
The door opens. Jasmine stops abruptly.
Todd enters and closes the door, then looks at the room. His nerves unbend.
There is no Jasmine but the place has been ransacked. A complete shambles. All the furniture is capsized, his laptop is gone, his music books strewn throughout the room, but most horrifically, he sees blood smeared across the ivory keys of the piano and oozing over the edges.
Mysteriously, the porcelain statues of the old Chinese men, including the two that exploded, are intact.
***
Liang and Cam watch Todd in rapt attention on the television in the gallery but that is all they have in common. Inside, their emotions couldn’t have been more different.
Liang’s thoughts are only of Jasmine and of revenge on Todd. He knows that he is right, that Todd butchered his beloved daughter, and it is only a question of time before he can provide the definitive proof that Jasmine wants so that he can accomplish the only thing that matters to him—a mission of revenge.
Cam, on the other hand, is scheming away like the lowlife he is. How much longer do I have to put up with this crazy Chinaman? When I am going to get some real action and snuff that miserable piano player? And most importantly, how can I screw Angela?
Liang pulls out the Tibetan dagger imbedded in his desk and hands it to Cam. Cam holds it up and examines the glinting blade. Cam gets up and starts walking toward the door.
“Doesn’t it slay you, Liang, to have me to do your dirty work? A proud guy like you having to rely on a scumbag like me.”
“Results are all I care about.” The older man glares at Cam as he swaggers out.
“Then I got a job to do.” Without turning around, Cam gives a mock salute and is out the door.
Chapter 15
Todd rubs vigorously, trying to clean the blood off the piano with a rag and cleanser. No success and he looks up in despair. Liang’s going to kill me. It makes him rub even harder that the stains refuse to be removed.
He goes to the kitchen and grabs a scouring pad, one of those with a yellow sponge that is topped with a green scouring
“But it works.”
Susan reaches under the counter and retrieves another bottle of Fen Jiu and puts it into a plastic bag.
“Ten bucks. This is the only place in Chinatown that sells this and I don’t sell to everyone. You want it?”
“If it’s so special, why are you selling to me?”
“Because you know Liang and if there’s anybody that I feel for, it’s that crazy old Chinaman.”
“He drinks this rat piss?”
“Drink it? Absolutely. He’s my best customer. Top shelf. He too has a past that he doesn’t want to remember.”
“Hard to figure anything out about that weird duck.”
“Honor. Future. Loss. Who knows?” Susan hands the bag to Todd. “Ten dollars. You want it?”
“I’ll take three.” Todd reaches into his pocket, pulls out his wallet and forks over thirty dollars while Susan pulls out two more bottles from below the counter. “Can you tell Angela I have to see her again?”
“You think I can be bought for thirty bucks?”
“I’m not trying to buy her.” Todd looks out the window. “I know her pain.”
Todd swings around back to Susan but there’s no one there.
His eyes widen in terror. “Hello! Hello!”
But there is no response.
He quickly leaves.
Chapter 14
A battered and bleeding Jasmine sits at the grand piano, massaging the keys into the discordant, unnerving melody of single notes that was heard earlier in the empty room. She’s not a talented pianist. The movement of her fingers shows a stiffness in the motions. However, that doesn’t stop the mood from coming through—the simple tune embodies Jasmine’s pain, something that no one living or dead can truly understand.
The blood from her wounds seeps onto the keys as she piano plays—it was her blood that flowed onto the keys earlier.
The door opens. Jasmine stops abruptly.
Todd enters and closes the door, then looks at the room. His nerves unbend.
There is no Jasmine but the place has been ransacked. A complete shambles. All the furniture is capsized, his laptop is gone, his music books strewn throughout the room, but most horrifically, he sees blood smeared across the ivory keys of the piano and oozing over the edges.
Mysteriously, the porcelain statues of the old Chinese men, including the two that exploded, are intact.
***
Liang and Cam watch Todd in rapt attention on the television in the gallery but that is all they have in common. Inside, their emotions couldn’t have been more different.
Liang’s thoughts are only of Jasmine and of revenge on Todd. He knows that he is right, that Todd butchered his beloved daughter, and it is only a question of time before he can provide the definitive proof that Jasmine wants so that he can accomplish the only thing that matters to him—a mission of revenge.
Cam, on the other hand, is scheming away like the lowlife he is. How much longer do I have to put up with this crazy Chinaman? When I am going to get some real action and snuff that miserable piano player? And most importantly, how can I screw Angela?
Liang pulls out the Tibetan dagger imbedded in his desk and hands it to Cam. Cam holds it up and examines the glinting blade. Cam gets up and starts walking toward the door.
“Doesn’t it slay you, Liang, to have me to do your dirty work? A proud guy like you having to rely on a scumbag like me.”
“Results are all I care about.” The older man glares at Cam as he swaggers out.
“Then I got a job to do.” Without turning around, Cam gives a mock salute and is out the door.
Chapter 15
Todd rubs vigorously, trying to clean the blood off the piano with a rag and cleanser. No success and he looks up in despair. Liang’s going to kill me. It makes him rub even harder that the stains refuse to be removed.
He goes to the kitchen and grabs a scouring pad, one of those with a yellow sponge that is topped with a green scouring
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