Mei Ling sat beside me on a hassock, her knees neatly together. She was perfectly quiet. The only light was the green-shaded desk lamp behind Eddie Lee. I felt like somewhere there ought to be a guy playing a gong.
'And the cops?'
Eddie spoke to Mei Ling.
'He says this is not police business. He says it is Kwan Chang business,' she said.
'It's my business too,' I said.
Mei Ling translated. Eddie listened and then looked at me again.
'No,' he said.
'Chinese business.'
'I understand how you feel,' I said.
'It's not only Chinese, it's family.'
Mei Ling translated.
'But you need to understand me. I am a detective. It's what I do, and what I do is pretty much who I am.'
I waited for Mei Ling. Eddie listened without any response.
'So somebody gets shot in front of me, and me being a detective and all, I figure I should find out who did it.'
Mei Ling translated. Fast Eddie listened. He was in no hurry. As far as I could tell he had forever.
'And I can't. I get threatened, and shot at, and lied to, and bamboozled. There are stalkers and not stalkers and connections I don't know about. There's a kidnapping that maybe isn't, and all I get is bewitched, bothered, and bewildered.'
I paused for Mei Ling.
'I do not know how to translate bamboozled,' she said.
'Hoodwinked,' I said.
She translated. Fast Eddie smiled. With his thinning white hair and placid bearing, he looked like a pleasant old man. I knew he wasn't. He spoke to Mei Ling.
'He says he feels sorry for you. He understands how frustrating it must be. He thanks you for helping his sister.'
I nodded.
Fast Eddie spoke again.
'But you would do well to leave the killing of Mr. Wu to him,' Mei Ling said.
I shook my head.
'No,' I said.
'I'm going to find out what's going on here.'
Mei Ling and Fast Eddie talked for a moment.
'He says you appear to be a hard man.'
'Tell him it takes one to know one,' I said.
Mei Ling spoke. Eddie Lee listened and smiled. He looked at me.
'Yes,' he said.
'It does.'
Eddie took a package of Lucky Strikes out of his shirt pocket and shook one loose from the pack and stuck it in his mouth. He lit it with a Zippo lighter. Then he put his hands back on his knees and looked at me. He would take an occasional drag on the cigarette and exhale without taking the cigarette from his mouth. Otherwise he was motionless.
'I know about the immigrant smuggling,' I said.
Mei Ling translated. Eddie took the news calmly.
'So?' he said.
'So here's the deal.' I said.
'You stop smuggling the people in.
I don't say anything to the INS. I keep rummaging around until I know what the hell is going on down here. You put a lid on the Death Dragons. I keep you informed.'
Mei Ling translated. Fast Eddie sucked in some cigarette smoke and let it out. The ash was growing long on his cigarette.
'Why should I deal?' he said to me.
'Because it's a lot easier than trying to take me out.'
Mei Ling translated. Eddie Lee smiled again, one eye squinting as the smoke from his cigarette drifted
