If he didn't have the lieutenant's full attention before, he had it now. Mike leaned over the desk, resting on his forearms and lacing his fingers. "She said what?"
Officer Jiang swallowed nervously. "She said it wasn't really an accident, sir."
Mike looked down at the desk, letting the words sink in for a long second, then he raised his head. "Those were her exact words?"
"Yes, sir."
"Do you know what she meant by that?"
"Well, sir, to be honest, I didn't think much about it when she first told me. I mean, she's a very old lady and, well, she's been known to… well, to embroider some of the stories she tells about her family. Not maliciously, mind you, she's just the family storyteller. All Oriental families have them…" He shrugged with a sheepish smile.
Mike allowed himself a soft smile. "Not just Oriental families, believe me."
Jiang chuckled softly. "No, I guess not. But she's also not a liar, and she doesn't make things up."
"Do you know what she meant when she said that? Do you think she meant the car drove at us deliberately?"
"Well, all she really said was that she saw someone throw a ball that the dog chased."
Mike froze, his eyes widening slightly. "She saw someone?"
"Umh-humh. A white woman, she said."
"It still could've been an accident," Mike mumbled under his breath, looking down, then his eyes snapped up again. "Why didn't she tell you about this before now? It's been almost two months."
"Oh, ah, the day after the accident, she left for six weeks in China, visiting her relatives. She does it this time every year, she said. She just got back a couple of days ago. And she asked me about the accident when I saw her today."
Mike's stare had turned inward, trying to digest everything he had just learned. Jiang watched him silently, instinctively realizing it was his position to wait until the lieutenant was ready to engage him again. "Are you working the day shift tomorrow?"
Officer Jiang nodded.
"Good. I want you to meet me on the corner of Grant and Sacramento at 10 and I want you to introduce me to this woman." Jiang nodded. Mike smiled softly. "How's her English?"
"Not as good as her Mandarin, but I can translate for you, sir," the young officer grinned.
"Yeah, that'll help," the older man chuckled then dismissed Jiang with a curt nod. As the foot patrolman started to get to his feet, Mike sat back in the swivel chair and raised his forefinger. Jiang froze. "Have you told anyone else about this?"
The uniformed officer shook his head. "No, sir."
"Good. Don't. Right now I want to keep this just between us, okay?"
"Yes, sir."
"Thank you for bringing this to me, good work, son. I'll see you tomorrow morning."
"Yes, sir," Jiang snapped with professional crispness as he put his cap on, exited the small office and crossed the bullpen without making eye contact with any other member of the Homicide bureau.
Mike was sitting back in his chair, staring into space when Steve opened the door and walked in, gesturing with his chin over his shoulder. "Who was that?" he asked conversationally as he dropped into one of guest chairs, tossing a file folder on the desk.
Drawn back to the present, Mike looked briefly flustered as he sat forward, resting his forearms on the desk. "That? Oh, ah, that was one of the beat cops from Chinatown. Just stopped in to tell me he's fielding congratulations for us about that Chin Han character."
Chuckling, Steve opened the file folder. "Well, I guess that's better than fielding complaints all the time."
"You bet it is," Mike managed a chuckle as he looked pointedly at the file, hoping Steve wouldn't see though his little white lie. There was no point in telling Steve about the old lady just yet, at least not until he'd had a chance to check out her story for himself.
# # # # #
Mike was making his way up Grant on the surprisingly warm and sunny morning. It had rained all night but cleared up early and sun was now shining brightly. The pedestrians he was passing all seemed to have a smile on their faces, hoping that the long, dreary winter was indeed nearly over.
Despite the impending circumstances, even the veteran detective couldn't resist a smile. His daughter would be coming home for spring break in three weeks and that always brightened his mood.
Officer Jiang waiting for him at the corner; the young cop nodded in greeting and pointed further down the street.
Sitting on a small, rickety-looking wooden chair sat an elderly Chinese lady with very few teeth in a very broad smile. Grey hair pulled back in a tight bun, her eyes crinkled with joy when she spotted the young Chinese cop walking towards her and she greeted him warmly in Mandarin. He smiled and bowed slightly and replied in kind. Nodding towards Mike, Jiang made the introductions and Mike leaned forward and extended his right hand. When he said, "Pleased to meet you," in Mandarin, her eyes shot wide and she laughed loudly, slapping her knee.
Jiang looked at the lieutenant in surprise. Chuckling, Mike glanced at the uniformed officer. "Tell her my Mandarin is extremely limited, so I'll use you as my translator."
Jiang nodded and spoke to the woman, who nodded vigorously, still grinning. Mike leaned down towards her. "Xie-xie, nai-nai, for letting me ask you about the accident you witnessed," he began almost formally and she raised a hand to cut him off. She turned her head slightly in the direction of the open store door behind her and yelled something sharply and loudly. A quick reply was yelled back and within seconds, it seemed, a middle-aged Chinese man, who more than likely was her son, appeared at the door with another rickety-looking wooden chair.
He put it down near Mike then scurried back into the shop.
Smiling, Mike nodded his gratitude at the retreating back then slid into the chair. He tried again. "Nai-nai, can you please tell me everything you saw that day?"
Jiang, standing between them, translated. The old lady nodded sharply then began to speak rapidly and enthusiastically, pointing towards the corner, which was clearly visible from where they were sitting. Jiang translated as she spoke, trying to keep up, as was Mike.
"She said she saw you and a young man walk to the corner and stop - she knew you were police because of the way you are dressed," Jiang shrugged almost apologetically as Mike frowned briefly, "and she wondered why you were there. There was a lot of traffic and people walking on the sidewalk. There was a woman sitting on the stoop of the store on the corner," he pointed to the shop across the street at the intersection, "playing with this small dog. She had a ball and she kept bouncing it on the sidewalk and catching it before the dog could get it and the little dog was getting more and more excited."
Mike was nodding slowly, watching the woman closely as he listened to Jiang.
"This was making me mad," Jiang said, continuing to translate verbatim, "I like dogs and I thought this woman was behaving very badly. The streetlight changed and the woman threw the ball," the old lady mimed tossing a ball underhanded, "into the street and the little dog ran after it. I heard the squeal of the tires and I closed my eyes - I didn't want to see the little dog get killed. When I heard the big bang, I opened my eyes and saw a car had driven into the building. I didn't see the little dog anywhere so I was happy it got away."
The woman smiled in relief as she stared at Mike. His brow was knit and he nodded firmly. "Xie-xie, xie-xie…. Can I ask you some questions?" he asked, glancing at Jiang. The old woman nodded. "Thank you. You said you saw the woman throw the ball… did it look like she threw the ball deliberately, or was it maybe an accident?"
The woman's rheumy eyes fixated on Jiang as he spoke then she looked at Mike. She raised her right hand and mimed throwing a ball again as she answered. "It was deliberate," Jiang said, "she threw it on purpose."
Mike nodded. "Okay. This woman, the woman who threw the ball… do you remember what she looked like?"
The old woman shook her head and shrugged slightly as she spoke. "No," Jiang translated, "she was jus a white woman." The woman laughed as she spoke again and Jiang smiled, looking down briefly and clearing his throat before he looked up at Mike. "She says all white people look alike to her."
The older cop's face split into a broad grin and he laughed. "Fair enough. Does she remember anything she was wearing? Even that might help."
"No, sorry," Jiang said after the woman answered but Mike knew from the head shake what the answer was before he heard it.
"Had she seen the woman before?"
"No."
"After the big bang, did you see the woman again?"
"No, I was looking at the accident, but I didn't see her afterwards, I am sure of that."
"Had she seen the dog before?" Mike asked, grasping at straws.
"No."
Frustrated, the Homicide lieutenant looked at Jiang with a quiet sigh then he smiled at the old woman again and got to his feet. He reached out to take her hand. "Xie-Xie, nai-nai," he said formally then glanced at Jiang. "Please tell her thank you for the information. It was very helpful," he lied cordially.
Jiang translated and the woman nodded enthusiastically, pumping Mike's hand. When they stepped away from the storefront, the detective pointed across the street. "I want to go talk to that store owner, see if they remember a woman sitting on their stoop playing with a dog."
They walked to the corner to cross with the light. Traffic was inexplicably busy, but considering the weather was getting warmer, locals and tourists were obviously taking advantage of the nice day. The front door to the corner grocery was open, and there were a lot of customers browsing the fresh fruits and vegetables, and an impressive line-up of people at the meat and fish counters at the back. Mike tried, without much success, to figure out which one of the white-aproned staff could be the owner. He turned to Jiang with a frustrated frown; the uniformed cop chuckled and approached the cash, speaking to the young woman who was ringing up sales in Mandarin. She turned around and pointed at a middle-aged man behind the meat counter.
Taking his badge and I.D. out of his pocket, Mike approached the counter. "Excuse me," he said loudly, holding the badge out for everyone to see, "I'd like to talk to the owner."
The middle-aged man glanced over his shoulder at an elderly man standing behind the fish counter then raised his head. "That would be me," he said in a loud voice and, wiping his hands on the apron, came to the open end of the counter where Mike moved to meet him. He held out his hand, which Mike took without hesitation. "Henry Leong."
"Lieutenant Stone," Mike said with a smile and a nod. "I'd like to ask you if you can remember back to the day of the traffic accident out there," he nodded over his shoulder towards the intersection, "about seven weeks ago."
Frowning, Leong pursed his lips. "You mean the one where those two cops almost got run down?" he asked, then his eyebrows shot up and he pointed a forefinger. "Hey, that was you, wasn't it?"
Mike shrugged with an ironic smile and bobbed his head. "Yeah, it was me… and my partner."
"You guys both okay now?" The store owner sounded both shocked and impressed.
"Yeah, we're both fine and back on the job," Mike said quickly, hoping to move things along. "I was just wondering if you remember a woman sitting on your stoop that day, tossing a ball around with a small dog?"
The lines in his forehead getting deeper, Leong almost spat out, "You bet I remember her. She was blocking my door, my customers couldn't get in. I tried to get her to move along for about ten minutes until she finally left. Why?"
