chapter 173

word count: 1370

buzz hadn’t mentioned to hank and gill that he was planning on stopping in at the tea room owned by mr. gong  yoo’s brother on his way to the precinct.. he also had no idea that the sweet young thing that was currently pouring him a tiny little chinese cup of tea was the daughter of mr. gong yoo himself..  

had he known,, he may have taken her up on her advances, in order to get  a little pillow talk out of her,, above and beyond all the other things he sat there imagining he could get out of her.. 

the proprietor of the shop, mr..hung yoo,, was the younger brother of the notorious fence,  mr. gong yoo.. and as this would not be buzz’s first encounter with the infamous mr. gong yoo,, he had thought it much safer to sneak in the back door so to speak,, and drop in on the tea room as compared to the jewelry shop mr. gong yoo actually used as the front for his fencing operation.. 

as he was sipping on his tea,, and fantasizing about all the indescribable things he would like to do to the sweet young thing that served him his tea,, she was called to the phone by the proprietor,, the conversation was in chinese,, so he had no idea what was being said,, and at this precise moment in time,, given that she was preoccupied and wouldn’t notice as he probed every inch of her firm young body with his eyes,, could really have given a damn who she was talking to or about what.. 

as tiffany hung up the phone,, she consulted with her uncle in chinese of course,, and advised him that her father required her services,, and she needed to leave immediately.. mr. hung yoo,, protested loudly,, as he needed her there,, his regular girl had called off,, and without her there he would be left to service the whole tearoom on his own.. 

little did he know that his brother was deeply involved with the underworld,, and the business at hand was life or death.. in his eyes,, it was just his brother making it even more difficult for him to make a living,, as his older brother took such great pride in being ever so much more successful than he..

buzz watched as tiffany grabbed her coat,, and a black sequined clutch and headed out toward the back door.. 

“hey wait a minute!!” he called out after her, “at least let me give you a tip before you take off..” he stood and reached into his pants pockets for a few crumpled bills.. he found a five,, and handed it off to tiffany,, who proceeded to set her coat and sequined bag on the counter top next to buzz,, as she seductively tucked the fiver in her (as buzz imagined it to be black lace) brassier.. 

for a moment all he could think about was how deliciously warm it must be there,, where she had just tucked the money that had only  moments before been in his pants pocket.. in fact it was not until she slipped on her coat,, and grabbed her black sequined clutch that he realized the sequins on her bag greatly resembled those that had been found at the crime scene just hours before.. 

despite his whole hearted desire to believe there was no way that this luscious little number could have been involved in the murder of steve shingle,, his gut told him he had to follow up on it anyway.. 

he allowed her a few moments to go get in her car,, which was evidently parked out back,, as she took the rear exit,, before he headed out the front door and fired up the crown vic.. he let her get a full four car lengths ahead of him before he began to tail her.. and it was when he saw her turn into the back alley of none other than mr. gong yoo’s jewelry shop that he started to put two and two together.. 

if he could have reached around and patted himself on the back he would have.. “i think i just might have found my way in the back door..” he said to himself as only his self-congratulatory beaming outweighed the bulge that grew ever more prominent in his pants.. yes,, it was true.. nothing quite set buzz off like a volatile mysterious woman.. .

“oh my god!!” he exclaimed out loud as he realized he had forgotten all about leaving trudy alone with mrs. dunn and algernon all night without even calling to make sure they hadn’t killed each other yet..  he found a dark spot on the street across from mr. yoo’s establishment where he could watch the comings and goings even if he could not see what was going on inside the store.. he yanked his cell out of his pocket and placed a call to the house..  

“miller residence winnifred dunn speaking..” winnie immediately assumed her position as housekeeper extraordinaire,, even though she knew that detective miller now knew her true identity as well as her real mission here in the united states.. 

“mrs. dunn, buzz here.. how are things??” he asked hesitantly. quite afraid of what she might have to report.. 

“well all in all i would say tonight has been an unexpected success,, in fact as we speak algie has taken your mrs. hunt over to her home to pick up some more suitable clothing to tide her over while she stays here to accommodate her proximity to her poor ailing son.."

“trudy and algernon in the same car at the same time??” buzz didn’t know whether to laugh or be afraid for algie’s life.. 

“yes, as a matter of fact the two of them seem to get on quite well.. i am in awe myself.. more importantly, detective miller,, any word on priscilla,, i am just on pins and needles here awaiting word.”

“i am afraid i was called out on yet another homicide tonight,, and haven’t had a moment to look into it.. i assure you tho,, it is high on my list of priorities.. i am not at liberty to go into any details of course,, but i have a feeling the case we caught tonight is in some way connected to priscilla’s disappearance…” 

just then,, buzz saw tiffany’s car coming out the alley way,, "gotta go.. tell trudy i will be there as soon as i can..” he said before he abruptly clicked off the call,, and fell in behind tiffany’s car.. the streets were nearly empty.. it was well after midnight,, and he really had to work at staying  out of her rear view mirror.. after all,, if she was who he thought she was,, she was far more adept at losing a tail than the average every day tea room server.. 

***

as algie put the kettle on,, and discovered trudy had nothing but pre-bagged tea to offer,,  she went in her old familiar room to pack a few things to tide her over till buzz could help her move all of her things over to her new abode with him.. 

as the kettle came to a whistle,, trudy emerged with a huge suitcase,, something that resembled an airline carry on, and what could easily have been a hatbox at one time,, all filled to overflowing with clothing, toiletries, and god only knows what else.. 

“well,, i must say you are especially efficient at packing!” algernon complimented her,, even though he noticed stray pieces of garments sticking out from the closures on the bags as if they had been flung together hither, thither, and yon,, and sealed up just as abruptly..

“yeah,, you could say i have done my share of moving in my day.. pretty good at throwing together a few things spur of the moment..” trudy answered as she set her baggage down,, realizing there was  no way she was gonna escape this house without a lecture on her behavior from algie.. 

not looking forward to it,, but realizing that he really was a sweet man at heart,, she sat down as he poured and joined her at the table.. 

“alright” she said, “let ‘er rip!!”