CHAPTER 36

“Take care of the lock,” I said to Scott. Then I stepped back into the shadows of the dark hallway to watch him play.

Instead of reaching into his pocket for his tools, he lifted his right foot and kicked the door in with a thunderous bang.

“Go ahead,” he said. “I’ll be right back.”

I didn’t even hesitate to step inside the apartment alone. My mind was locked in, conscious that the son of a bitch who lived here was complicit in attempting to poison me, and complicit in killing Oksana Sutin and very nearly Audra Karras.

From invoices in his store, I already knew his name.

Zhi Zhu, a middle-aged Chinese man, blew out of a back bedroom dressed in his nightclothes, a dirty white tank top and boxer shorts. When he saw me, he froze, then attempted to retreat.

I rushed him, grabbed him by the shirt, and threw him hard against a living-room wall before he could utter a word. His head snapped back and his eyes temporarily rolled back in their sockets. Then he became fully alert.

“Where is Lok Sun?” I shouted into his face.

He closed his eyes, his mouth contorting into a cry. “No speak,” he muttered. “No speak English.”

“Let’s see if I can’t give you your first language lesson.” I rammed my knee into his groin.

He screamed, tried to go to the ground, but I held him up against the wall.

“Where is Lok Sun?”

“No know,” he cried. “No know no Lok Sun.”

I jabbed him in the mouth with my right fist. “Try again, you piece of shit.”

“No know! No know!” he screamed as blood flowed down his chin. “No know no Lok Sun!”

My right hand went to his throat and held there, my fingers threatening to squeeze. “Who did you sell the strychnine to?”

“No sell strychnine! No sell strychnine!”

I buried my left fist into his gut this time.

“Plea! Plea!” he cried. “No have no strychnine! Never! Never!”

Scott’s voice suddenly boomed from behind me. “Is that so?”

Scott crossed the room, pushed me aside, grabbed Zhi Zhu, and tossed him onto the ancient couch standing lopsided in the living room. I waited for Scott to pull his gun, but he didn’t. Just got right into Zhi Zhu’s face, hovering over him.

“Ten seconds you have to tell us where to find Lok Sun,” Scott said to him.

“I tell your friend, I no know no Lok Sun!”

“One,” Scott said.

“You waste your time!”

“Two.”

“I no know Lok Sun! You crazy man!”

“Three.” Scott reached into his pocket.

“I already call police!”

“Four.” Scott pulled out a small plastic bag.

“Police be here any second.”

“Five,” Scott said, waving the plastic bag in front of Zhi Zhu’s face.

“What! What that?”

“Six.” Scott split the Ziploc with his finger.

“Fuck you!” Zhi Zhu said.

“Seven.” Scott tilted the bag over the man’s mouth.

“Plea no! Plea no!”

“Eight.” The flattened seeds began to descend toward the top of the bag.

“No know! No know no Lok Sun! Plea no!”

“Nine,” Scott said, just as one of the flattened seeds breached the top of the bag.

“All right! All right! I tell! I tell!”

Scott pinched the top of the bag, a seed still dangling over Zhi Zhu’s mouth. With his other hand Scott gripped the man’s jaw, ready to hold his mouth open if necessary.

“Lok Sun,” Zhi Zhu cried. “He stay in abandon building cross the street. Used to be big whorehouse. He no there tonight, but when he there, he protect by men with guns!”

Zhi Zhu continued weeping as Scott carefully rezipped the plastic bag, returning it to his pocket.

Then Scott stared into Zhi Zhu’s red, puffy eyes. “I’m not scared of men with guns. I’m not scared of anything.” Scott stood up and smiled at me. “Except maybe centipedes. Those fucking things are disgusting.”