Stephen Knight - White Tiger

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, of course. So…are you doing well?”

She thought about it for a moment. “I’m…doing as well as can be expected. I’m wondering why Lin Yubo invited you here, however. You’re not really…not really his type of person.”

But am I yours? he wanted to ask. But of course, he didn’t. One drink wasn’t enough to make him lose all control, and saying such a thing would be the next best thing to suicide as far as this woman went.

“I suspect he wanted me to have a look at the rest of the guests. He didn’t say any such thing to me, but that’s really the only reason I can think of that Danny Lin’s father would allow me to even get close to this place.” He looked up at the mansion that towered over them. “As you said, I’m not really this kind of guy.”

She looked at him with her flat, expressionless eyes for a long moment. “I would like to ask you a question. Was my husband responsible for the death of the Young woman?”

The question came out of left field and Ryker bobbled it for several moments, not sure what to do with it. He decided to catch it and play ball.

“I believe he had more than just something to do with it, yes.”

“And my father-in-law made that go away.”

“Same answer. Why are you interested in this now?”

She shrugged. “When I married Lin Dan, I was still…an innocent girl. But over the years, I grew to know him quite well. He was not someone I admired.” She looked around the courtyard, at the beautiful people, the rich and shameless, as they mingled and spoke and smoked and drank and ignored both her and Ryker. “I just wanted to know the truth of the matter, but I think I always did.”

Ryker said nothing.

Valerie looked around the courtyard once again. “I don’t want to be here. I want to leave.”

Ryker nodded.

She looked at him significantly. “Do you want me to leave, Sergeant Ryker?”

“I…” It took a moment, but Ryker figured it out. “Yes, if you want to leave, you-”

She turned and walked into the house without saying anything further. Ryker watched her go for a moment, then straightened his jacket and looked around. Lin still watched him, and Ryker was torn. How to play this?

Only one way.

Ryker stepped into the house and followed Valerie Lin’s wake as keenly as a Great White shark would follow a ribbon of blood in a dark sea.

“Manning.” Baluyevsky’s voice was just as brittle and intrusive as ever. Manning sighed and turned away from Maggie. The big Russian stood at the end of the hall, and his body language said it all: Come with me .

“Will you excuse me for a moment?” he said to Maggie in Mandarin.

“Of course.”

Manning nodded his thanks and walked toward Baluyevsky. The Russian faded back into the security center, and Manning followed him inside. The same operator sat facing the monitors, and Baluyevsky pointed to the one that showed the main dining area.

“Mr. Lin and his primary guests are sitting down to dinner, and the rest of the guests will begin their departures. You are no longer required. Mr. Lin wants you to go to the police station tomorrow and get another update from Ryker.”

“Very well.”

“Did you notice Sergeant Ryker left immediately after Lin Dan’s wife?” Baluyevsky asked. He strove for a conversational tone, but failed miserably.

“I noticed no such thing, nor is it at all relevant to what I’m here to do. Unless you feel Mrs. Lin is a potential method for Ryker to use to expose the murderer?”

“That is why I bring it up. Is she?”

“I don’t know, Alexsey. My job is to look after the law enforcement side. I’d thought that you and Lin had the family relations angle under control?”

“I leave nothing to chance. I do not think she is involved in her husband’s murder. But she may have some information. And now it looks as if she has left with the policeman.”

Manning spread his hands. “So?”

“So? So we expect you to find out from Ryker what he was talking about with Mrs. Lin.” Baluyevsky pointed to a monitor. Manning hadn’t noticed it was a freeze frame of Ryker and Valerie Lin, apparently speaking on the back patio. He looked at the image and sighed.

“You recorded them?”

“Video only. We have no audio pickups there.”

“I’ll see what I can find out during tomorrow’s meeting with Ryker. But if it’s not in the murder book, he’s not going to tell me anything about it.”

Baluyevsky wasn’t impressed. “You must find a way.”

“I’ll see what I can do.”

“Then you may start now. Your services are no longer needed for the rest of this evening.”

That brightened Manning’s day. “And to think I thought you were just another Russian ass. Thanks, Alexsey.”

Baluyevsky’s face darkened, and he drew closer to Manning, towering over him. Most men would have been intimidated. Manning was not most men. “Do not try and ‘press my buttons’, Manning. You will not like what happens.”

“You better remember who came to who, Baluyevsky. And don’t ever walk up on me, unless you want to take this to the next level.”

Baluyevsky thought about that for a moment, then turned and opened the door. “You may leave.”

“Thanks, don’t mind if I do.”

Manning returned to the hallway. Maggie had disappeared, and he spent several minutes winding his way through the mansion, looking for her. He finally found her stepping in from the courtyard.

“I wanted to get another look at the city,” she explained.

“Feel like getting a close up?” Manning asked.

She smiled slightly, her eyes fixed on his. Something flickered in them, and Manning wondered what it was. Desire? Anticipation? He could only hope to find out.

“I would like that very much,” she said.

Manning led her to the front door.

Maggie Shi had no idea what she was doing.

She allowed Manning to lead her to his car, and buckled herself into the passenger seat while he started the vehicle and pulled away from the Lin estate. As the tremendous mansion faded from view behind them, the car glided through the darkness, heading toward the Golden Gate Bridge. Manning didn’t make much small talk, and neither did she. Not that he needed to. She knew what he did, and she knew who he was after.

So why am I with him? she asked herself. What am I doing here?

She couldn’t find her answer, no matter how deeply she searched for it.

Or, more realistically, she couldn’t find an answer she liked.

Like Manning, she had seen Danny Lin’s wife depart with the police detective hot on her heels. She knew how to read body language, and while the cues from non-Asians were slightly more difficult for her to interpret, there was no mistaking what she saw. Both Lin Dan’s wife and the policeman Ryker were aroused by each other.

Maggie was thankful. Not just for the fact that the detective had been lured away from Lin estate. While she had been as careful as humanly possible to avoid all security during her murder of Lin Dan, the American police were very good at reassembling puzzles even when several pieces were missing. Not having Ryker on hand was better than having him underfoot. She was also thankful the Lin widow had someone to occupy her time, now that her vile husband was gone forever. She hoped that Ryker would bring her much pleasure.

She had left with Manning for the same reason as the Lin woman had lured away the detective. But there was a difference in their circumstances. Valerie Lin was doubtless emerging from behind a thick shell of repression and needed to experience the sensations of being desired again. This was something Maggie understood; in fact, as she glanced sidelong at Manning beside her, she felt much the same thing. Unlike Valerie Lin, this would be the final time Maggie would be made to feel desirable. It was unlikely that she would have the opportunity ever again.