Blood Passage (32 page)

“
These shoes are brand new,” Hank said. “When did you get them?”

“
This morning,” Foo replied affably after listening to the translation. “Doesn’t everyone put shoes on when they get dressed in the morning?”

“
He says he put them on this morning,” Hum said.

“
What happened to the shoes you wore Wednesday night? Where are they?”

Foo cackled something and grinned at Hank.

“
He says he got tired of them and threw them out,” Hum said.

Hank stood up and walked around the end of the table. “Tell him to hold up his hands.”

“
Hold up your hands,” Hum said to Foo. “Lieutenant Donaghue wants to look at them.”

“
Fuck that.”

“
Show him your hands, Foo!” Henry Lee snapped.

Foo reluctantly held out his hands, palms down. Hank bent down for a close look. “This small cut here looks sore,” he said, pointing at the middle knuckle of the right hand. “A bit of infection starting. Mostly you used the edges of your hands but here you must have gotten a little angry and punched Gregg in the mouth so that his tooth cut you.” He straightened and looked at Henry Lee. “We’ll swab the cut and his hands and I’d also like a DNA sample.”

Henry Lee turned to Foo. “Put your hands down. He’s going to swab your mouth for your DNA and also swab your hand. Tell him you’ll permit it.”

“
What the fuck does he want to do that for? I’m not letting him touch me.”

“
You’ll do what you’re told, you idiot.”

“
Counselor?” Hank prompted.

“
He says he’ll allow it.”

Hank looked at Hum. “Is that what he said?”

“
Not yet, sir.”

“
Tell him to say the words, Mr. Lee.”

Lee glared at Foo. “Tell them you’ll permit the samples. Mr. Mah expects you to do what you’re told.”

Foo shrugged. “All right. They can do it.”

Hum translated.

Hank patted Hum on the shoulder. “Wait here for a moment. I’ll have a technician come in.”

The last person to be interviewed was Donald Sheng. Hank and Karen grilled him together without generating anything of interest. Afterwards they walked down to the hall toward the bullpen area, tired and frustrated.

“
It’s like the Great fucking Wall of China around here,” Karen groused. “Nobody’s going to give up Peter Mah.”

Hank was forced to agree. “Nor could we get anything solid on Gary. We have to find him before Mah does.”

Tim Byrne and Dennis Waverman were waiting for them. “We’ve got some lab results,” Byrne said.

They went into Martinez’s office and closed the door. “The shoe prints in the alley,” Byrne began, “unfortunately get us nowhere. They don’t match the shoes of anyone interviewed today. The shoes worn when the vic was killed are probably on their way to a landfill site as we speak. The particles found on the vic’s body and clothes are more interesting.”

“
Do they point to a location of the primary scene?” Martinez asked.

“
I’d say so. First of all we found particles of asphalt, so it was a paved area. There were grains of sand typical of what might be blown inland from the shore of the river. Most interesting, though, were the particles of dried bird droppings that point to
Phalacrocorax auritus
, the double-breasted cormorant, which nest under the overpasses and bridges. I think it’s fair to say he was taken down under a bridge along the river and worked over there.”

“
So we need to search those paved areas under the bridges,” Martinez said.

“
There are six bridges,” Hank said.

“
Twice that amount if you count the inland forks,” Waverman said.

Byrne shook his head. “The cormorants tend not to nest that far into the city. I think we’re safe to stick to the six main bridges. We’re already out checking them.”

“
Good, excellent,” Martinez said. “I really want to find that primary scene. What else do you have? Anything to tie one of these characters to the vic?”

“
Yes, but just to finish with the particles, we found more samples in the trunk of the Danati car, transferred from vic, but also in the front on the floor, both driver and passenger sides, from the missing shoes. Plus, traces in the footprints at the scene. So there’s continuity there between the primary and secondary scenes. As well, mixed in with the particles on the vic’s shoes and on the passenger side were particles of ceramics and glaze that match the broken figurine we found in the hallway of the vic’s condo. This establishes another connection between the kidnapping and the stolen car.”

“
What about the video?” Hank prompted.

“
Right. The digital feed from the surveillance system of the building where the vic lived that shows us two perps. We see them in the front foyer where they were buzzed up to the vic’s condo, and we actually have audio for that as well. They have a pretty good system in there. You can hear the vic answer the buzzer. He asks, ‘what do you want?’ and then one of the perps leans forward and says, ‘Tommy sent us. We have something for you.’ The vic says, ‘What is it?’ and the perp says, ‘money.’ That was good enough for the vic to buzz them in.”

“
Nice one,” Karen remarked. “Way to go, ShonDale.”

Hank shook his head. Now he understood how ShonDale had allowed his attackers to get the drop on him.

“
Can we identify anyone from the video?” Martinez asked.

“
Not directly, Byrne replied. “They wore masks. A clown face and a dog mask. We also have footage of them approaching the vic’s condo down the hallway, forcing their way inside when he opens the door, then shortly after, marching him down the hall onto the elevator. We’ve been able to determine that one of them was five foot ten, one hundred and sixty to one-sixty-five and the other was five foot eight, one hundred and forty to one-forty-five. Donald Sheng and Foo Yee fit the bill. We’re matching samples of their voices to the audio to see if either of them was the speaker.”

“
Probably Sheng,” Hank said. “I don’t think Foo speaks English.”

“
I like our chances,” Karen said.

“
So do I,” Byrne agreed. “But we don’t have anything that puts the victim’s gun in their hand. It was definitely the murder weapon. Ballistics confirms that the two rounds taken from his head were fired from his own gun, but we don’t have either of those two goofballs pulling the trigger. The packet of heroin and the syringe were clean. The gun was clean and both Sheng and Foo tested negative for GSR. Oh, and did I mention that we took a hair from the car that’s a match to Foo Yee?”

“
You didn’t mention that,” Karen grinned.

“
So we have them as accessories at a minimum,” Martinez said.

“
Yes. And we’re waiting for the blood swabs taken at the autopsy to be processed. I’m willing to bet we’ll find that Foo donated a sample when he cut his knuckle on the vic’s teeth.”

“
So let’s process them,” Martinez said. “Then we’ll pressure them to give us Mah as the shooter.”

“
I should mention,” Byrne went on, turning to Dennis Waverman, “that I have something for you too, Detective.”

“
Me?” Waverman looked confused.

“
I had them process your evidence on the Liu cold case because of the possible connection. It’s amazing the advances that have been made in forensic technology in only four years. For example–”

“
The point being?” Martinez interrupted.

“
The point being that we found a workable print on one of the packets of heroin found at the scene of the Liu homicide four years ago that matches our current vic.”

“
You mean ShonDale Gregg’s print was on one of the bags of heroin used to stage the Liu secondary crime scene?” Hank said.

“
That’s what I’m saying, Lieutenant. He obviously helped dress the alley scene four years ago. Your theory of a revenge killing is getting a lot stronger.”

Martinez stood up. “Tim, I’m sure you understand how important the voice comparison analysis and the autopsy blood samples are to making our case right now in the Gregg homicide.”

Byrne nodded. “We’ll get on it right away.”

“
The computer from Gregg’s condo,” Hank said. “We need to know if there’s a Gary in there somewhere. A Facebook friend, e-mail. Something. We have to find this guy before Peter Mah does.”

“
I understand,” Byrne said.

“
Thanks, Tim, we appreciate it.” Martinez looked at Hank. “I want to squeeze those two jackasses, Foo and Sheng, until they give up Mah. Understand?”

“
Absolutely,” Hank said. He turned to Karen. “Let’s go knock them off the goddamned wall.”

Peter Mah walked through the lobby of the office complex in Midtown with Jimmy Yung on his left and Billy Fung on his right. Benny Hu and Tang Lei waited outside in the limo.

Consisting of two towers joined by a mall and concourse that covered half a block of prime downtown real estate, the complex was busy throughout the day and Peter had to wait for an elevator at the bottom of the north tower. He didn’t mind, however. He felt calm and relaxed.

He stepped into the elevator and Jimmy pressed the button for the twentieth floor. The elevator car quickly filled, but Peter didn’t mind that it was crowded. No one paid him the slightest attention. As far as the people around him were concerned, he was just another anonymous businessman in a building crammed with anonymous businessmen.

When they reached their floor, Peter left the elevator and went through a set of glass doors into the office space leased by Thatcher Enterprises. The reception area was very well-appointed, featuring a lot of dark wood and burgundy-colored walls, and the women working behind the crescent-shaped counter were very beautiful. The atmosphere was one of success, wealth and importance.

Billy stepped forward and caught the attention of a blond woman who might have been a former Playmate of the Year. The gold sign in front of her said that her name was Ms. Davis.

“
Mr. Mah is here to see Gary Thatcher.”

Ms. Davis smiled and frowned at the same time. “Mr. Mah?” She checked the computer in front of her. “Do you have an appointment?”

“
No appointment,” Billy said, “but Thatcher will see Mr. Mah.”

Ms. Davis studied the computer for another moment as the smile faded. “I’m sorry, but Mr. Thatcher isn’t here right now and his calendar doesn’t show anything.”

“
We’ll take a look around to be sure,” Jimmy said, walking around the desk toward another set of glass doors that led back to where the main offices were located.

“
You can’t go back there,” Ms. Davis said.

Another woman stepped up, raising a hand. “Just a minute, sir, you can’t go back there. If you don’t have an appointment I’ll have to ask you to leave.” She was shorter and older, with grey hair. The name plate on her desk identified her as Mrs. Forrest.

Billy stepped between Jimmy and Mrs. Forrest. “Move back and don’t interfere with Mr. Mah’s business.”

“
Interfere?” Mrs. Forrest glared at Jimmy. “Just who does Mr. Mah think he is, anyway?”

Billy chuckled. “That’s not Mr. Mah.
H
e’s
Mr. Mah.”

Mrs. Forrest followed the direction of Billy’s nod and locked eyes with Peter. She saw the flat, cold, passionless gaze of a killer and decided to cooperate.

“
I’m calling security,” Ms. Davis called out.

“
No.” Mrs. Forrest raised a hand. “That won’t be necessary.”

“
Smart woman,” Billy murmured.

She stepped up to Peter. “Mr. Thatcher’s out of the office, but I’ll show you around the suite if you like so you can see for yourself.”

“
Thank you,” Peter said.

“
This way.” She walked around Jimmy with a look and opened the glass doors, leading them into a short corridor. She stopped at the first door on the right. “Washroom.”

Billy opened the door and turned on the light. The washroom was empty.

Mrs. Forrest stared at him with a disdainful expression, then glanced at Peter and continued down the hall. The next door, on the left, was actually a set of double doors that led into a boardroom. Dominated by a large oval table and leather chairs, it was also empty, as was the next room on the right, a break-off room with a square table and six chairs.

They passed through another set of glass doors into an inner reception area. Mrs. Forrest pointed to the right. “Down there are our administrative and research people.”

“
How many people?” Peter asked.

“
Twelve. I think everyone’s in today.”

Peter nodded at Billy, who set off to check out the offices down there. He turned to the left. “And here?”

“
The offices of our senior executives, Mr. Payne, Ms. Lerner, Ms. Foley and, of course, Mr. Thatcher.”

Peter raised an eyebrow, looking around. “What do you people do here?”

“
Government contracting,” Mrs. Forrest replied. “Mostly city contracts. Waste disposal, recycling, demolition, site clean-ups. Mr. Thatcher used to work for the city.”