chapter 187

word count: 1153

hank brought the crown vic to an abrupt halt directly in front of yoo’s fine jewelry,, causing marisa to bring her hand down hard on the  dashboard in effort to ensure her own safety.. oblivious to her dismay with his driving,, hank jumped out of the car,, and peered through the roll out security door into the still dark shop..

marisa glanced at the posted hours in the front window as she made her way to hanks side..

“they were supposed to open at ten.. you don’t think??”

“let’s check it out!” hank barked at her, as he withdrew his gun from it's holster,, and proceeded into the adjacent stairwell that lead presumably up to the yoo’s apartment.. marisa followed suit, unholstering her weapon,, and following a few paces behind hank,, as they approached the door at the top of the steps..

bam! bam! bam! hank pounded on the door as he announced, “new albany police department!! open up!! open the door!!”

after a very brief silence,, they heard the chain lock slide.. both hank and marisa leveled their weapons at the door,, as it opened just a crack..

“get away from the door!!” hank barked, as he used the full weight of his body to push it open,, keeping his weapon at the ready..

“no shoot!! no shoot!!” begged the diminutive woman on the other side of the door,, clearly terrified.. as hank held her at gunpoint,, marisa did a sweep of the apartment..

“clear!!” she yelled back to hank,, who slowly lowered his gun, as he watched the petite chinese woman melt down the wall and into a tearful heap on the floor just in front of him..

marisa reappeared and knelt down beside the woman..

“we are looking for mr. yoo.. the jeweler.. downstairs. are you his wife?” she inquired,, her tone hushed and non-threatening..

“msa yoo no coming home yas night. no msa yoo. no da-ta.” the timid woman spoke in her very best broken english..

marisa offered her hand,, which mrs. yoo clung to, as she helped her from the floor and into a nearby kitchen chair.. marisa took a seat with mrs. yoo,, as hank did his own run through of the apartment looking for any evidence that might be helpful in putting the finger on mr. yoo..

“mrs. yoo,” marisa spoke softly, “do you know where your husband is? did he tell you where he was going when he left?”

a still fearful mrs. yoo shook her head no.. “two day. msa yoo, da-ta, no come home two day.”

“two days? your husband and your daughter?” asked marisa, wanting to verify she was interpreting mrs. yoo correctly. as mrs. yoo shook her head in agreement, marisa filled hank in..

“she says her husband and her daughter have both been missing for two days.”

hank, still pissed off at gil for even sending him over here, was curt as he questioned mrs. yoo further.

“so, your husband and your daughter are missing for two days and you don’t even call the police?? you don’t file a missing persons report?? you just sit here and wait for them to come back?? is that what you’re trying to say?” hank leaned in and stared hard,, trying to intimidate the already broken woman..

marisa exhaled loudly and shot hank a steely glance.. “mrs yoo,, what detective bowers is trying to say, is why didn't you inform the police when your husband and your daughter went missing?”

“no purice!! no purice!!” mrs yoo said as she shook her head signifying a definite ‘no’.. “msa yoo say many time, no purice!”

“and why would that be, mrs yoo?” hank leaned in close, as if his proximity would cause mrs. yoo to come forth with something,, anything that would help him put the finger on her husbands alleged illegal activities.

“no purice!!” shouted mrs. yoo,, clearly empowered by hanks harsh manner of speaking and not in the least intimidated..

hank took a step back.. “you wanna tell her or should i?”

“i will.”  marisa answered sternly, unafraid of showing her distaste for hanks interrogation techniques..

“mrs yoo,” marisa started gently, as hank hovered over them, eager to see her expression when marisa delivered the news of her daughter’s death..

“mrs. yoo, we have reason to believe your daughter, tiffany, has been murdered.. we need you to..”

“no!! no, no, no!!” cried out mrs. yoo as if someone was ripping her heart from her chest..

“mrs. yoo!!” marisa tried to regain the woman’s attention by heightening her tone of voice..

“mrs. yoo!! we need you to come with us.. we need you to identify the body.. we need to know for sure if it is your daughter tiffany..”

mrs yoo didn’t even look up.. she rocked herself gently against the kitchen chair,, and carried on a visually emotional conversation with herself in chinese..

hank just shook his head,, and disappeared though the apartment door.. marisa waited until his footfalls could no longer be heard in the stairwell before she wrapped her arm around the grief stricken mrs. yoo..

“i’m sorry.. “ she said genuinely.. “i am so sorry to have to be the one to tell you this mrs. yoo.. i’m sorry. so sorry..”

***

winifred sat impatiently in the emergency department’s outer lounge as she waited to see trudy reemerge from the triage unit.. just as she went to check her watch for the umpteenth time since trudy had disappeared into the back of the unit,, she heard trudy’s overwhelmingly loud voice calling out to her from across the room..

“get me outta here!!” trudy wailed. “get me outta here before i do something we'll all be sorry for!! these idiots won't take me to see my buzz!!”

winifred quickly made her way over to trudy,, not so much to fulfill her demand as to get her to tone down her voice..

“there, there now mrs. hunt.. i have just come from detec…”

“oh!! so you will let his housekeeper in and you won’t let me?? i happen to be his girlfriend!! i am the one buzz needs right now!! me!! you hear that?? me!! not this…”

two members of the security team could be seen clearly making a slow steady approach..

“mrs. hunt, if we don’t leave right now i fear security will take further measures.. you don’t want that do you??” winifred pleaded, trying to appeal to trudy’s sense of decency.. that is,, if she had one..

“oh jesus!!!” trudy bellowed as she stormed the exit doors before the security officers could get any closer,, a grateful winifred fast on her heels..

halfway to the car,, winnies cell began to ring.. ‘not now!!’ she pleaded unsuccessfully with the powers that be, while she extracted the phone from her purse and looked at the display.. it was algie.. he should be at the miller house awaiting their return.. whatever it was he wanted, surely it could wait until they got there..