Stephen Knight - White Tiger

It was Ryoko.

“Gee thanks, sergeant, but I’m not sure this belongs to me,” he said, a little awestruck. Ryoko smiled down at him as she stopped by the side of the bed and touched his face gently.

“If I were you Manning, I wouldn’t protest too much. Not only does she speak English, she’s picking up your medical bills.” And with that, Ryker left. The door closed soundlessly behind him.

“Mitake-san…why are you here?” Manning asked. He found the Japanese came to him with only great difficulty. And he was getting fatigued again. His eyelids felt heavy.

She leaned forward and kissed his forehead. “I’m here…because this time, you need me .”

Manning tried to come back with something witty, but his consciousness was shutting down. But he felt Ryoko’s soft lips alight on his, and he thought if he never woke up again, this could not have been a better send off.

It was raining by the time Ryker got to the house in Sea Cliff. It was mostly dark; light emanated from only a few windows, and the dwelling looked as cold and forbidding to Ryker as the weather. He hadn’t heard from Valerie for days, and while he’d been busy tying up the Lin case and trying to find out what had happened to Chee Wei, she hadn’t returned his calls. Given the passion they had shared, he wondered what that was about, but he hadn’t pushed too hard. Despite everything, she had lost her husband; even if she hadn’t loved him, Danny Lin’s sudden absence would have left a void.

But eventually, Ryker got tired of waiting.

A maid opened the door and looked at him as Ryker shook off his rain coat on the front porch.

“I’m Ryker, from-”

“I know who you are,” the maid said. “Mrs. Lin is gone.”

Ryker frowned. “Okay. When will she be back?”

“Never.”

“What?”

“Never. She returned to China. Lin Dan’s father insisted. She obeyed. He owns the house. Mrs. Lin had no choice.” The maid spoke with almost no accent, and her face was a blank mask. But Ryker thought he saw something in her eyes, something down deep. Pity?

“Why would she do that?”

“I don’t know, Mister Ryker.”

“Was it because she wants the money? Or because Lin hates me for trying to prosecute his son before?” Ryker took a step toward the maid, his temper rising. The maid held her ground and looked at him with her mostly-expressionless eyes. “Or was it just a game all along, something she and Lin cooked up?”

“I don’t know, Mister Ryker. And you never will, either.” The maid hesitated, then sighed slightly. “I’m sorry. She left no forwarding address-Lin Industries will take care of everything. I don’t know what to tell you, other than she won’t be back.”

And with that, she gently closed the door.

Ryker slowly turned and walked back to his car. The rain fell harder, and the night grew colder. He left the Sea Cliff mansion the same way he’d arrived.

Alone.