“That’s cruel and unusual.”
“Who gives a shit? The creep is sitting in that chair because he killed somebody’s kid, or wife, or whatever. Why should we make it easy on them?”
Jace tuned them out. He couldn’t have cared less about Rob Cole. The guy was a loser. He couldn’t act, and what was up with the lame bowling shirts?
He polished off the burger, then slid off the stool and went outside to a pay phone. He plugged in a quarter and punched in Abby Lowell’s phone number. She answered on the third ring.
“Hello?”
“Ms. Lowell. You know me from yesterday in your apartment.”
Silence. Then finally, “Yes?”
“I have something I think you might want. A package with some negatives in it.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Let’s not play games,” Jace said. “I’ve got the negatives your dad was using to blackmail someone.”
She said nothing to that, but the silence seemed charged and heavy.
“I don’t want them,” Jace said. “They’re nothing but trouble to me.”
“What makes you think I want them?” she asked.
“Maybe you don’t. Maybe I should give them to the cops.”
Silence.
“They’re worth money to somebody. I’m giving you first crack.”
Another long silence passed. Finally, she said, “How much?”
“Ten thousand.”
“That’s a lot of money.”
“No, it isn’t. But I want out of this, and that’s what I’ll take for it.”
Jace waited.
“Where and when?”
“Meet me at Pershing Square at five-fifteen. Come alone.”
Jace hung up the phone and stood there, staring at nothing. The sun beat down on daily life in this nothing part of town. Cars drove past. People walked up and down. Signs in store windows advertised sales in two languages.
He had just set the stage for himself to commit extortion.
If Abby Lowell was in on the blackmail, she would pay to get the negatives and buy his silence. If he played it right, Jace could take her money—payback for Eta’s family, and maybe a little insurance for himself and Tyler in case they had to get out of town. He could turn the cops on Abby; through her, the cops could get to Predator and that would be the end of it. He hoped.
All he needed was a little luck.
Lenny Lowell’s voice echoed in the back of his mind:
34
Tyler ran straight to the fish market after his escape from Detective Parker. He found Madame Chen in her office, crying silently. When she saw his face peering into the room from behind the door, she swiped a tissue beneath her eyes and pulled herself together. Tyler had never seen her cry. It made him feel even more afraid than he already was.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, creeping farther and farther into the room.
“I’m fine, little mouse. A moment of weakness only makes us see how strong we really are.”
“Jace left,” Tyler said.
“I know. We spoke for a long time last night.”
Tyler didn’t tell her that he’d heard most of it because he had been hiding in the broom closet. He knew Madame Chen would disapprove.
“I asked him not to go,” Madame Chen said. “He thinks it is better his way. He wants to protect us, to solve his problem on his own.”
“I don’t like his way,” Tyler said. He perched himself on the straight chair beside the desk, his knees tucked up against his chest. “What if he never comes back?”
“He will come back for you.”
“Not if something bad happens and he gets killed or goes to jail or something.”
“This is true,” she said. “But bad things can happen anywhere, Tyler. We have no control of such things. We can only pray for good things.”
“I don’t believe in praying,” Tyler said. “I’ve prayed lots of times, and nothing I ever asked for came true. I don’t think God was listening.”
“We must think positive thoughts, then,” Madame Chen said. “We must center ourselves and think of gathering our chi into a ball and holding it tight in the center of us. Perhaps we can make a light so brilliant, it will guide JayCee back to us safely.”
Tyler thought about that. He was more comfortable with the idea of the positive energy of chi. He had researched it in articles on the Internet, and had spoken about it at length with Grandfather Chen. It seemed a much more tangible, logical, scientific thing than believing in an invisible man who lived in the clouds and never answered any of Tyler’s prayers. Chi was within him, he could control it. He found it ironic that Madame Chen’s sour, angry nephew was called Chi. There was nothing positive about him.
It was the negative forces of energy in the world that frightened Tyler. No one could control anyone else’s energy, particularly a little kid. Not even if he did have an IQ of 168.
“What are you thinking, little mouse?”
Tyler looked at her for a moment, trying to decide what he wanted to say. He had so many feelings swirling around inside of him, and he didn’t know how to control all of them at once. If he tried to corral his fear for his brother, then his fear of Children and Family Services popped up. If he tried to conquer the anger he felt at Jace for leaving him, the fear of the uncertainty of his future popped up.
Finally, he simply said in a shaky voice, “I’m scared.”
And then he was angry with himself for being such a baby.
“I know,” Madame Chen said. “I am frightened too. We must all get through this together. Your brother is a good person. He has a good heart. True and brave. He will do the right thing, and he will come home to us. That is the only thing we should believe, Tyler. To worry about things that have not yet happened is to waste our energy for nothing.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Tyler said, wondering how he was supposed to do that. There was a small garden on the roof of the building, tended to by Grandfather Chen. This was where he and Grandfather Chen went through the movements of tai chi every morning. Maybe, Tyler thought, he would go up there and Grandfather Chen would sit with him and they could meditate together.
A knock sounded at the office door, and Chi stuck his ugly head in without invitation. Tyler wondered if he had been listening in like he had the night before. Madame Chen gave him her sternest look.
“Chi, I know your mother taught you manners. What have you done with them? Thrown them out with the old fish heads? I should not have to scold you like a child when you are a grown man. Never open a door until you are asked in.”
“I’m sorry, Aunt,” he said without remorse. “There are more police detectives here to see you.”
“Tell them I will be right out.”
“Actually, they’re right here behind me.”
Madame Chen glared at her nephew, and said in Chinese, “Sometimes I think you are an apple full of worms, Chi.”
The door swung fully open then, and Chi was herded into the room by the two men behind him. One was very large and frightening, with a flattop haircut and black-framed glasses. The other one looked like any businessman, except that his suit coat was a little too big in the shoulders. Like maybe he had borrowed it from a larger man.
