Requiem III: The Search for The Truth

By Bonnie Eagan & Alisa Joaquin

Part 7: Photos of the Past

"Pop, what is it? You look like you've seen a ghost."

"This photograph indicates that my friend, Li Pei may be alive."

"Li Pei, you mean your friend from your father's temple who was taken by the soldiers?" Peter did his best to feign ignorance. It wasn't his place to tell his father about Li Pei or the woman in the photographs, but his feelings were coming through too strongly.

"Peter, you know something."

"Me? Why would you think that?" Peter looked down at the photographs and pushed them around the workbench, spreading them out to get a better look at the woman. One photograph that neither of them noticed before stuck out at Peter. 'So, it is true.' Even though his grandfather had told him about his mother and supposed aunt, he had not quite believed him, until now. He quickly pushed that photo underneath all the others.

"Because you know you cannot lie to me. You always try to hide the truth by turning away from me. Tell me what you know."

"The photographs belonged to your wife's sister, Marlene Pei, wife of Li Pei," another very familiar voice entered the room at that moment. "How they came to be here, I do not know."

Kwai Chang Caine's eyes narrowed when he saw that it was his father, Matthew. "What?" The word came out almost like a hiss. "You knew about this, Peter?"

"Do not be angry with your son. It is I who hid the truth from you," Matthew stated as he approached the workbench containing the photographs. "I should have come to you sooner, but I did not know who she was until it was too late."

"What do you mean?"

"Marlene and Laura were separated when they were babies," Matthew stated and held up the photograph of two children just barely a year old having found it where Peter had tried to hide it. "They are identical twins."

"No wonder I was mistaking her for my mother," Peter stated, though his words sounded flat with very little surprise. "You mean I may have sensed my aunt's essence?"

Kwai Chang Caine spotted another photograph. It was of Matthew and Marlene. They were sitting together at a table in a cafe in Paris, enjoying a cup of tea. It was candid and both people seemed unaware of the photographer. Matthew's eyes became wide as he recognized the image.

"This was taken the same day that I took her photograph. But there was no one else with us."

Kwai Chang Caine pulled out the photograph from his top pocket and handed it to his father. "You took this photograph?"

"Yes." Matthew then went on to explain the circumstances of the photograph, how Marlene learned of her sister Laura, whom she had married, and the fact that they had a son. "But when the photograph was taken, Laura had been dead for several years. She wanted to let you both know you had family that still existed, but I came too late to give you that photograph. I was told that you had both perished in the destruction of your temple. I gave the photograph to an old priest. I was about to leave when I was attacked."

Kwai Chang's head snapped up. "Attacked, by whom?"

"It does not matter," Matthew stated. "After my injuries healed, I returned to Paris. Lo Si and Peter know the rest." Matthew turned and Lo Si entered slowly, now unsure whether he was still welcomed into this household.

"Lo Si?" Kwai Chang Caine questioned.

"It is time that you know the full truth, Kwai Chang Caine," Lo Si began. He told Caine of the attack on Matthew by Master Doa's men and how Matthew told him of Merlene and her son and his fear for her safety. Lo Si then told of taking Marlene and her son to Maine and to a Shaolin Priest named Kim Luc. "Kim Luc was to keep me informed until the time was right for you to know. But after six months, I received no word. It was as if they had vanished from this earth."

Peter then added what he knew. "Pop, don't you see, that was at the same time you and I thought the other was dead. That's 20 years."

"I know, my son."

"You can see why I got angry can't you? Lo Si hid the truth from us, or should I say Ping Hai. You are Ping Hai, aren't you?"

"I was," Lo Si confirmed.

"And Ping Hai no longer exists because you made him up, for what reason it's beyond me," Peter said sarcastically.

"Peter! That is enough," Kwai Chang said, his voice raising in anger anew. "We will deal with these issues later. We must find Marlene."

"She is here?" Matthew asked with surprise.

"Apparently. Someone wanted us to see these photographs. But who and why?"

Continues with Part 8