Tess Gerritsen - The Silent Girl

Jane gave Frost a sympathetic pat on the back and finally stood up. “Happy viewing. Call me if you spot anything.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

She was almost out the door when she heard Frost suck in a sharp breath. She turned. “What?”

“It went by so fast!”

“I didn’t see a thing,” said Tam.

Jane moved back to the monitor and watched as Frost rewound and hit Play again. The same static image reappeared. The same dimly lit alley with the chain-link fence at the far end.

“There.” said Frost.

The figure seemed to materialize out of darkness, its back to the camera as it moved in a blur down the alley. In one swift leap it launched itself up and over the fence and landed in a crouch on the other side. There it paused and straightened to its full height.

Frost froze the image.

It was garbed head-to-toe in black. They could not see a face, but the figure clearly stood out in silhouette, revealing a slender waist and the unmistakable curve of hips.

“It’s a woman,” said Frost.

BELLA LI STRODE into Boston PD’s Schroeder Plaza wearing low-slung blue jeans, tall boots, and a black leather jacket. Before stepping through the metal detector, she made a grand show of peeling off that jacket, a strip tease for all the cops who were watching, and revealed a skintight T-shirt that hugged every curve of her braless breasts. She returned their stares with a lethal smile and swaggered through security to meet Jane, who was waiting for her on the other side.

“Didn’t know I’d have to pass inspection,” Bella said.

“Everyone does. Even the mayor.” Jane waved her toward the elevator. “We’re going upstairs.”

As they rode up to the second floor, Bella stood with hip cocked, leather jacket slung over her shoulder. Her short hair stood up even spikier than usual, like the fur of a cat that’s been riled and is ready to fight. And this is one gal who could probably take me down, Jane thought. Bella might not be big, but she was all muscle and as lithe as a panther. Staring at her, Jane wondered: Are you the creature I saw perched on the rooftop? Are you the one who saved my life in that alley?

On the second floor, Jane escorted Bella to the interview room. “Make yourself comfortable. I’ll let Detective Frost know you’re here,” she said, and left the young woman alone.

In the adjoining room, Jane joined Frost, who was watching Bella through the one-way mirror. Their guest appeared not in the least nervous, and was leaning back in her chair, boots propped up on the table. Head tipped back, Bella stared at the ceiling, looking bored.

“Did she say anything interesting on the way up?” asked Frost.

Jane shook her head. “Never even asked why we called her in.”

“That’s interesting. You think she knows that we know?”

“I think she’s trying to show us that she doesn’t give a damn.”

In the next room, Bella looked straight at the mirror and arched one eyebrow, her expression unmistakable: Can we get this over with?

“Okay.” Jane sighed. “Let’s go rattle her cage.”

As Jane and Frost walked into the interview room, Bella dropped her feet from the table but remained slouched in her chair, arms crossed, as she answered Jane’s questions in a monotone. The deceptively easy queries came first: Name? Bella Li. Date of birth? May 18. Occupation? Martial arts instructor. Bella sighed loudly, the picture of disinterest. But the next question made the muscles in her forearm twitch.

“Where were you last night, between the hours of six PM and nine PM?” Jane asked.

Bella shrugged. “I was home.”

“Alone?”

“Why do you want to know?”

“We want to verify your whereabouts.”

“I consider my love life private. I don’t see why I should have to share names with anyone.”

“So someone was with you that night?” asked Frost. “Could you tell us his name?”

“Why do you assume I’m interested in men? Do you really think a woman can’t do better?” She shot a provocative smile at Jane.

“Okay,” Jane said with a sigh. “What was her name, then?”

Bella looked down at her own hands, studying her close-clipped fingernails. “There was no one. I was home alone.”

“You could’ve said that earlier.”

“You could have told me why you asked me here.”

“So you were home by yourself. Did you leave your residence at any time?”

“I don’t remember.”

“Maybe if we showed you a photo, you would remember.”

“What photo?”

Frost said, “From a security camera on Jeffries Point. You’re very good at eluding surveillance cameras, Ms. Li. But you didn’t spot all of them.”

For the first time, Bella didn’t have a ready response, though her expression did not change and her eyes remained as unperturbed as forest ponds.

“We know it’s you in the video,” Jane lied. Leaning in closer, she saw the girl’s pupils twitch, a reaction that was both involuntary and telling. Bella might appear calm, but her internal fight-or-flight instincts were on full alert. “We know you were there at the warehouse. The question is, why?”

The girl laughed, an impressive rally of nerves in someone so clearly at a disadvantage. “You tell me. Since you seem to know everything.”

“You went there to scare Kevin Donohue.”

“Why would I?”

“First you placed a threatening note on his windshield. Then you broke into his warehouse. Disabled his security system and his phone line.”

“I did that all by myself?”

“You have extensive martial arts training. You were taught at one of the best academies in the world, in Taiwan.” Jane slapped a folder on the table. “The file on your travel records for the past five years.”

Bella cocked her head. “I have a file?”

“You do now.”

Bella opened the folder and flipped through the pages with feigned disinterest. “So I’ve been in and out of the country. Aren’t we Americans free to travel where we want?”

“Not many Americans spend five years in a Taiwan monastery, studying an ancient art like wushu.”

“Different strokes for different folks.”

“And here’s the interesting part. You were sponsored by Mrs. Fang. She’s not wealthy, yet she paid for those years of training. Paid for your plane flights, your tuition. Why?”

“She saw that I had talent.”

“When did she recognize that?”

“I was seventeen and living on the streets when she found me. She dusted me off and took me on, maybe because I reminded her of her daughter.”

“Is that what you’re doing in Boston? Playing her surrogate daughter?”

“I teach at her studio. We practice the same style of martial arts. And we share the same philosophy.”

“What philosophy would that be?”

Bella looked her in the eye. “That justice is a responsibility shared by all.”

“Justice? Or vengeance?”

“Some would say that vengeance is simply another word for justice.”

Jane stared at Bella, trying to read her. Trying to decide if this was the same creature who’d saved her life in the alley, who’d perched on the warehouse roof. Bella was flesh and blood, like any other twenty-four-year-old, but she was definitely not ordinary. Looking into those eyes, Jane glimpsed a strangeness, a wildness. An animal spirit that made her suddenly draw back, a chill raising the hairs on her arms. As if she’d glimpsed something in those eyes that was not quite human.

Frost broke the silence. “Ms. Li, it’s time to tell us the truth.”

Bella gave him a dismissive look. “Which part isn’t the truth?”

“The part about why Iris Fang chose you in particular.”