and discarding them.
Lee leaned forward from the backseat to speak with Bai. âWhat did you find in the basement?â
âIt wasnât a basement. It was a crawl space.â Her voice was raspy from the acid bile. She pulled a stick of gum out of her pocket, unwrapped it, and chewed. âThey were using it for a graveyard.â
Leeâs eyebrows shot up in surprise. âNo way!â
âWe found Mrs. Yan down there,â she added.
Her revelation brought back the image of Mrs. Yan. She lost her train of thought and her heart skipped a beat.
âHoly shit,â he mumbled.
âYeah . . . holy shit,â she replied tiredly.
âWhat else?â
She looked aside at Jason. She wasnât sure how much to divulge. He refused to look at her. âThatâs all there was,â she offered lamely. âIt seemed like enough at the time.â
She turned around in her seat to meet Leeâs gaze. His disbelieving stare questioned her. He always seemed to know when she was lying.
âIt would seem that things are about to get interesting,â Lee said. âWhat do you think will happen when the fire department puts out the flames and discovers a body in the rubble?â
She wanted to correct him: bodies . Instead, she kept her mouth shut, turned around, and closed her eyes until Jasonâs voice interrupted her jumbled thoughts.
âMrs. Yanâs body will be burned beyond recognition. It will take weeks, if not months, to identify the remains. If they start digging, theyâll find more bodies. Itâll become apparent the deaths are gang related. At which point, the police will make things very difficult for Sammy Tu and the Wah Ching .â
When Bai opened her eyes, she saw that Jason was smiling, happy at the thought of Sammy Tuâs problems.
Lee posed a question to Bai. âAnd what about the girl?â
She couldnât tell him that Jia had been smuggled out of the country without revealing how sheâd gotten the information. He would see through any lie she told. Instead, she shook her head and covered her face with her hands. She wasnât prepared to deal with the callous murders in the crawl space. She was still trying to get her head wrapped around the needless violence.
Jason spoke without turning to look at her. âTell him, Bai.â
She turned to look at Jason. He continued to ignore her. She spoke softly. âTwo Wah Ching were in the basement burying Mrs. Yan. They told us that Sammy Tu has taken Jia to Vancouver to sell overseas.â
Lee put his face between the seats again to stare at her in surprise. âYou left two men in the basement to burn alive?â
âNo,â she replied tiredly, leaving it at that.
Lee was silent as he mulled over the information. He turned to Jason. âNo prisoners?â
Jasonâs reply was indifferent. âNo prisoners.â
Lee sat slowly back in his seat. After a short while, he asked, âWhy Vancouver? And why sell the girl overseas?â
âSimple,â explained Jason. âSheâs too close to home in Oakland. She might escape and find help. In Vancouver, theyâll sell her off to Asia or the Middle East. Thereâs always a market for young girls. Sheâll end up somewhere she doesnât speak the language and has no friendsâa slave.â
âAre we going after her?â asked Lee.
Bai wasnât sure how to respond. She wanted to go after the girl, but she found herself momentarily overwhelmed. Her cases typically involved finding someone who didnât want to be foundâa runaway or a deadbeat dad. This was her first foray into the slave trade. It wasnât going well.
Her answer was feeble and she knew it. âWe need to talk about it.â
She stalled for time, trying to figure out what to do.
Ignoring her indecision, Lee plowed on. âI think we should go after her. âFailure is not falling down but refusing
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