The Devil's Assassin (8 page)

Linus smiles and
watches with interest as the attractive woman leaves the reception area walking
down the hall to her office, her heels loudly click clicking.

›

Linus and Mei Yuan, who is near the end of a cigarette, get
out of the small car that Linus had rented at the airport. He locks the door.

“You don’t need to lock the car here,” she says as they
start walking. “This isn’t exactly New York City.”

“Old habits are hard to break,” he says. “I hope this is no
imposition.”

“It’s no problem at all,” she scoffs. “I translate for many
people, not just the police department. It’s a side business, since teaching
isn’t enough to keep me in Manolo Blahnik shoes – a habit that, for me, is hard
to break.”

“They
are
pretty nice,” says Linus taking note of the
woman’s high heels.

As they reach the steps of the police station, she smiles
recognizing that the only shoe brands he’s probably aware of are Nike and
Adidas. “Thanks.”

›

Detective Chin, Linus, and Mei Yuan are standing at the edge
of the forest in
Xiongjiawan looking
across the farm toward the house where the old woman had recently been killed.
The wheat grown here had already been harvested so there was no cover for
anyone approaching the house. The sun is low in the sky.

“Was this woods
searched after you found the old woman’s body?” Miss Yuan translates Linus’s
question for the detective.

Detective Chin
answers and Miss Yuan again translates the Chinese into English for Linus. “Not
right away. At first we thought her death was only from old age.”

Linus had been
looking into the woods but turns to face the house as well. “This creature is
known for its stealth. You probably wouldn’t have seen him even if you had
looked immediately.”

Detective Chin
looks over at Linus and gives him a small smile. “I still have a difficult time
accepting this theory of yours.”

“I know I don’t
have much right now...”

Detective Chin
interrupts him, holding up his hand as he does so. “I am sorry. Don’t worry.
With the other similar deaths that I know of in other provinces we can assign
some credibility to your story.”

Linus looks
surprised. “I hadn’t heard of these.”

“They hadn’t made
the news.”

Linus nods. “Can
we speak with the daughter?”

“Yes, you can.”

The detective
begins to walk toward the house along the dirt tractor path leading from the
edge of the woods to the farmhouse. Despite some mild cursing in English from
Mei Yuan having to do with walking in the dirt in her expensive pumps, the
three of them arrive at the door and the detective knocks.

A woman in her
early thirties answers the door. She is dressed more traditionally than Mei
Yuan and is a factory worker in nearby Neijiang. She is apparently just home
after a long day at work.

“Thank you for
seeing us, Miss Sung,” says Detective Chin.

Miss Sung allows
them to come inside. She appears still depressed at her grandmother’s passing.
“Anything to help, Officer.
Please sit down.”

“We won’t stay
long,” says the detective.

Chin looks over
at Linus indicating that he is ready to listen to his questions to Miss Sung.
Linus looks at Miss Sung and when he has her attention he speaks. As usual Miss
Yuan translates for him.

“I am pleased to
meet you, Miss Sung. I am very sorry about your loss.”

“Xie
xie
ni
,” she says to thank him. “I
understand you are an officer from America.”

“Yes,” says
Linus. “I work in a prison there. After you found your grandmother, did you
notice anything unusual in the house, or out of place?”

She thinks about
it for a moment and then answers. “There was one unusual thing and that was
that the vegetables and fruits were taken from the refrigerator.”

Detective Chin
gets up in surprise. “Why didn’t you say that before?”

“Because you left
before I discovered it. I haven’t seen you again until now!”

Detective Chin is
somewhat chastised but still wishes she had come to him with this information.
“Well, next time call if you have information concerning an investigation. You
never know what will turn out to be important.”

Detective Chin
sits down again.

“Why would that
information be important?” Miss Sung asks Linus.

“The creature
that I observed seemed to favor eating fruits and vegetables.”

After the
translation, Miss Sung looks somewhat baffled. “What do you mean, ‘creature’?”

Detective Chin is
not happy with Linus for bringing up the creature and shows it before he tries
to placate Miss Sung.

“Mr. Hather has
seen something that may have been responsible for your grandmother’s death. It
is an animal. We are investigating the possibility.”

“But I thought
her lung was pierced,” says Miss Sung. “How does an animal do that?”

“We haven’t come
to a conclusion about who the killer is,” says the detective. “However, Mr.
Hather has information that this animal has some sort of retractable lance with
which he pierces his victim.”

Miss Sung is
absolutely quiet; her mouth hangs open in shock. Mei Yuan looks nearly as
incredulous.

Linus decides to
keep moving. “Miss Sung, I understand your grandmother died during a nap. Did
she nap every day?” Mei Yuan, still in shock, doesn’t translate until Linus
bumps her with his elbow.

“Yes,” says Miss
Sung.

“Did she nap at
the same time every day?”

“Yes.”

Linus looks at
the door and thinks of asking her whether the door is always unlocked, but
remembering Miss Yuan’s earlier statement, he figures it probably is.

Detective Chin
gets up.
“Xie
xie
, Miss Sung for
allowing us to speak with you.
Please call me if you come across
something new.”

“I will,
Detective Chin. Please remember the honor of my grandmother.”

The detective
looks a little uncomfortable as she says this, as if his investigation into an
animal killer might dishonor the woman’s grandmother. “Yes, I will honor her.”

He leads the way
to the door and the others follow.

“Xie
xie
ni
, Miss Sung,” says Linus,
trying out his heartfelt thanks in Mandarin.

The three walk
outside. When they get near the car the detective speaks. “I wish you hadn’t
mentioned the creature. She thinks I dishonor her grandmother.”

“I am sorry,
Detective,” says Linus. “But listen. This animal has an MO and I’m beginning to
discern it. For one thing it appears to watch for routine.”

Detective Chin
nods thoughtfully and climbs into the driver’s seat of the police car. Miss
Yuan and Linus do the same.

“I wish I had
more to give you about this creature than I have,” says Linus
regretfully.  “I’m on my way to Argentina where another of these deaths
has occurred. I’ll let you know what I find there.”

Detective Chin
looks very serious. “People eat fruits and vegetables as well, you know. I will
appreciate hearing from you about what you find. In the meantime, I will follow
any important leads.”

Linus smiles and
reaches across the car to shake the man’s hand. It is a gesture of promise and
comradeship. The car leaves the farm as night begins to fall on the “middle
country.”

›

After a
refreshing nap on the two and a half hour train ride to
Chengdu
Shuangliu International Airport, Linus is on a pay phone in the airport waiting
for his flight to Argentina. He is hoping to get more sleep on that flight and
lucky for him he sleeps well in moving vehicles.

“Hey, Jay, hope you didn’t mind me using you as a
reference,” says Linus into the phone. “I had to find a way to get these
detectives to believe me without involving the government.”

“They told us not to tell anyone about the creature,” says
Jay, “not just that
the government
had one.”

“The hell with that!
People are dying. Maybe I
should
mention the government.... Anyway,
listen, the creature appears to have taken a bunch of fruits and vegetables
from the old woman victim in China’s house. Went into the refrigerator took
them. Do you believe that?”

“Well,” says Jay,
unimpressed. “He’s smart enough. I think we suspected that. And I don’t see
what’s so important about him taking veggies.”

“It puts the
focus on the creature. Like, what human would walk into the house, kill someone
and then make off with the vegetables?”

“A hungry one?”

“It’s not likely,
Jay. What about the DNA? They get any results back yet?”

“No.”

“And the hunt?”

“That’s a negative,
too,” says Jay.

“Whole
lotta
nothing
goin
’
on.”

“I took a lot of
data that night,” says Jay, “and I’ve been extrapolating from it. You want to
hear?”

“Sure,” says
Linus, his mood improving. “What kind of extrapolating?”

“Well, I assume
we share a common history with this creature. A few hundred thousand years ago
there was perhaps a fierce competition between Homo sapiens and them. After a
while this creature’s ancestors evolved this lance as a way to get the upper
hand. It evolved into a man killer to reduce the competition for food.”

“Nice theory,
Jay. I bet it turns out to be something like that. Keep up the analysis.”

“Where are you
going now?” asks Jay.

“Argentina,” says
Linus. “I’m going to follow up on another killing there.”

“Argentina!”
exclaims Jay. “I hope you have a frequent flyer card!”

“I’ll look into
it. I’ve got to catch my plane.”

“Call collect
next time,” says Jay.

“Thanks. Keep on
them about the DNA results
will
you?”

“Okay. Adios.”

“Tsai jian.”

Linus lays
sprawled on a queen-sized bed in a darkened hotel room. The quilt he is under
is reminiscent of the American Southwest and is matched by the window’s drapes,
which are closed. The carpet is a light rust color and a lamp sits unlit on
each nightstand. A scenic picture of the Argentine Pampas hangs on the wall
over the bed. Linus’ clothes are tossed on the easy chair in front of the
window.

At the room’s
closed door, light leaks into the room through a space at the bottom of the
door. A shadow moves in that light. The doorknob slowly begins to move. Linus
remains undisturbed in his bed. Soon the knob stops turning and is followed
immediately by a hard knock. Slowly, Linus wakes, not recognizing where he is.
The knock comes again.

He throws off the
covers and shuffles to the door in just his boxers. He stands next to it. There
is no peek hole.

“Who is it?”

There is silence
for a moment and then an answer.
“Pizza delivery.”

“I didn’t order
pizza.”

“Government
agent,” says the female voice. Now he recognizes the voice and opens the door.

He is just as
surprised as he can be when he sees June Dituro standing in the hallway.
Sitting next to her in the hallway is a small overnight bag. She notices his
disarray and lack of clothes with wide brown eyes, quickly looking away.

“I’m sorry to
wake you. I had to knock five times before you heard.”

“You’ve come a
long way to deliver me your government pizza, Agent Dituro. I hope it’s still
warm.”

“I couldn’t help
myself and ate it hours ago.”

“Then what are
you doing here?”

June bends over
and picks up her bag and then squeezes past Linus to enter the room. Linus
follows her in and grabs his pants off the nearby chair, putting them on.

“I’m here to help
you on your self-appointed quest,” says June. “I didn’t check in cause I wasn’t
sure you’d be staying another night.”

“What about the
DNA test?” queries a still groggy Linus.
“Any results?”

“It’s done.
Ninety-eight percent of his DNA is the same as ours. He’s a close cousin of
Homo sapiens.”

“Not a cousin I
want to be close to,” scoffs Linus. “At least you can go public now.”

His pants are on
and he grabs a shirt, putting it on, though not buttoning it. “Speaking of
which, now that you’re here, can you send a couple of e-mails? Detective Chin
in China and Hanson in Canada need some official corroboration so they can
start hunts for these creatures. They’d get more support if a U.S. government
agency could back up my claims.”