Dan spoke softly. “I don’t get it, Lee. I don’t know those boys except to maybe see them in the hall during passing period. I’ve never even talked to them before today.”

Bai sat in the front of the car with Jason while Dan and Lee occupied the back. Bai leaned back into the soft leather of her seat to eavesdrop. She knew Dan would open up to Lee. He was her sounding board, her closest friend.

When he replied, his voice held sympathy. “Sometimes, there’s no rational explanation for the way people act. Fear, prejudice, and hate are all part of the same package. It isn’t pleasant, and it doesn’t necessarily make sense. Sometimes, it is what it is—a stupid, senseless act.”

Dan wasn’t so easily mollified. “But those boys aren’t stupid. What makes them want to hurt other people? Why me?”

“Maybe it’s because you’re beautiful and smart and fearless,” he offered. After a short while, he asked, “Have you heard of anyone else being bullied at school?”

“No,” Dan replied. Her voice sounded angry. “But that doesn’t mean anything. If someone gets bullied, they’re not going to talk about it. It’s embarrassing.” Her confession was delivered in a barely audible voice. “I just don’t understand why they acted like such jerks.”

“You shouldn’t be embarrassed,” he counseled. “The behavior of those two boys probably has nothing to do with you. You were likely just a target of opportunity. Their victim might just as easily have been one of your classmates.”

Bai was about to turn around and offer her opinion when Dan spoke up, her voice filled with resentment. “While I was waiting for Mom to pick me up, Mr. Ketchum acted like it was my fault. I tried to explain, but he wouldn’t listen. He’s such a turd.”

Jason pulled up in front of Bai’s building and hit the brakes. The conversation, along with the car, jarred to a halt.

Bai could sense Jason’s anger. She turned in her seat to face him. “Are you coming up?”

He jerked his head once in response but didn’t speak.

Dan made an appeal from the backseat. “Mah Mah will want to see you. Please, Daddy?”

Mah Mah meant “grandma” and referred to Jason’s mother, Elizabeth, who lived with Bai.

Shortly after the death of Bai’s parents, Elizabeth had been employed as her live-in governess. Being a widow, she’d brought her son, Jason, to live with her. In a sense, Bai and Jason shared the same mother.

Jason turned in his seat to speak with his daughter. “Perhaps another time, Dan. There are some things I need to take care of first, things that can’t wait.”

Dan turned to stare at Bai in a silent appeal. The hard set of Jason’s features informed Bai it was a lost cause. He hadn’t visited his mother in two years. Neither Elizabeth nor he would divulge the reason for their breach.

“Let’s agree to let Jason go,” Bai suggested. “He’ll visit soon. Won’t you, Jason?”

“I’ll try to make time,” he said as he smiled reassuringly at Dan. “I promise.”

The promise seemed to appease Dan. She leaned forward to hug her father from behind and plant a kiss on his cheek. Bai glimpsed a brief glimmer of what might have been regret on Jason’s face when Dan unwrapped her arms.

As Dan exited the car through the back door, Jason turned to look directly at Bai. “I’ll call you later.” He then turned his head and spoke over his shoulder to Lee, who had one foot out of the door of the car. “Take care of them.”

“As always,” Lee replied, before stepping out of the sedan and closing the door.

Bai glanced guardedly at Jason as she pushed open the passenger side door. His face remained passive. As soon as she closed the door, he pulled away from the curb. Her arm rose to wave good-bye before she caught herself and dropped her hand to her side. The impulsive gesture embarrassed her. She turned while shaking her head in silent rebuke to walk up the concrete steps of her home.

She stepped through the glass door to the foyer. Lee and Dan waited for her. The entry was small with a white marble floor and walls painted a stark white. Shiny brass doors belonging to the elevator were to the right. Brass mailboxes lined the wall opposite the entry. To the left was a white steel door that led to Lee’s apartment.

The three-story brick building had been gutted by fire. Bai had purchased the burned-out shell and renovated it from the ground up. The top floor was now a luxury apartment shared by Bai, Dan, and Elizabeth. The second story was a private dojo. The bottom floor had a four-car garage facing the back alley and a smaller apartment up front, occupied by Lee.

Bai placed her thumb on the elevator touchpad while shifting around to face Lee. Like all of the security in the building, the elevator lock was a biometric device that scanned her thumbprint. “Shall we meet in the dojo?” She stepped into the elevator and held down the “open” button while she spoke to him. “I could really use a chance to blow off some steam. It’s been a strange day.”

“Why not,” he responded. “A workout might be good for both of us. Can you give me about twenty minutes?”

“Sure, that’ll give me time to explain things to Elizabeth. She won’t like that I called Jason. And since there’s no keeping it a secret, I might as well tell her now and get it over with.”

“Good luck with that.”

He smiled knowingly and turned to step through the door to his apartment. Bai pushed the “close” button on the elevator door and leaned against the dark wood paneling. Dan stood next to her quietly. Bai’s stomach growled, demanding attention. She put her hand on her abdomen to quell the rebellion. Dan gave her a withering look, a reminder her child was turning into a teenager.

“So embarrassing,” sniped Dan.

Bai curled her lip at her daughter and raised her fist in mock anger. Dan rolled her eyes and pretended her mother was invisible. As the doors to the elevator opened, Dan ran past her in the direction of the kitchen. She followed at a more sedate pace, letting her nose lead her. The scent of five-spice pork acted as an irresistible lure.

When she entered the kitchen, she found Dan with her arms wrapped around Elizabeth’s tiny waist. The woman was only slightly taller than her granddaughter but exuded a natural elegance that made her seem larger in stature. In her early fifties, she had shoulder-length hair, still black and lustrous, that framed strong features. Her lips were full and shaped like a cupid’s bow, her eyes large and brown.

Bai walked over to sit on a stool at the breakfast bar while Dan regaled her grandmother with her adventures at school. Elizabeth listened attentively, providing exclamations of surprise and sounds of approval at the appropriate times. Watching them, Bai recalled her grandfather’s house and how Elizabeth had listened to Bai’s exploits with the same gentle enthusiasm. It seemed like only yesterday.

When her daughter grew quiet, Bai intervened. “Perhaps you could do your homework before dinner. I need to speak with Mah Mah alone.”

Dan nodded her head in reluctant acceptance and gave her grandmother a final hug before departing.

Elizabeth waited until Dan was out of earshot before speaking. “So, I hear Jason is involved.”

Her implied rebuke came without preamble.

Bai braced herself. “What have you heard?”

“The aunties have been calling all day. Is it true that you got into a fight at the Far East Café? Everybody’s saying you assaulted a bunch of young hoodlums and had to call on Sun Yee On to bail you out. What’s gotten into you?”

“I’m looking for a missing girl, one of Mrs. Yan’s children. Her brother sold her to the Wah Ching, who took her to Canada to sell overseas. It’s possible I’ll be leaving tonight for Vancouver.”

“And the fight at the café?”

“They started it!”

Even to her, her voice sounded defensive, a juvenile response. It was the same excuse she’d used as a child. Caught off-guard by Bai’s spontaneous reaction, Elizabeth laughed. Bai could feel the heat of embarrassment on her face as she tried to shrug off the feeble justification.

“Some things never change,” Elizabeth chided.

Elizabeth turned away to tend something on the stove.

Bai addressed her back. “Jason’s helping me.”

Elizabeth didn’t turn around. “Is he well?”

“He appears to be well,” Bai said, “but I have no way of really knowing. He only lets me see what he wants me to see.”

The back of Elizabeth’s head nodded to let Bai know she’d heard.

“I asked him to help me get the girl back.”

Elizabeth ignored Bai’s remark, moving on to another topic. “Was he with you at the school today?”

Bai hesitated. “Yes.”

“Reason with him. Don’t let him take matters into his own hands.”

“I’m handling it. I promise.”

Elizabeth turned around. She looked skeptical, one side of her mouth drawing up as she gazed at Bai. “The way you ‘handle’ him is to bribe him with sex. ‘You don’t punish a dog by hitting him with a meat bun.’”

Elizabeth huffed out a breath of frustration before turning back to busy herself with dinner, shoving pans around the stovetop as if they’d somehow offended her. Bai waited patiently, aware that Elizabeth wasn’t finished with her. When Elizabeth spoke again, her words were more tempered. “He’s changed. He’s become like his father.”

“In what way?” Bai asked.

Elizabeth stopped punishing kitchen utensils long enough to turn and face her. “His father was handsome and dangerous. He didn’t know when to be afraid. Or perhaps it was fear that drove him.” Her voice sounded distracted as she continued. “Sometimes I think that man rushed toward death as if he were impatient with life and in a hurry to get it over with. It makes me angry. He gave no thought to his wife or son. And now, I see the same man in Jason.”

Bai mulled over Elizabeth’s words. “He does seem to live for the thrill.”

“Yes, just like his father. That’s why I don’t want you around him, Bai. It isn’t safe.”

The day’s events had shown that to be true. But, in Bai’s mind, Jason was still the boy she’d fallen in love with. She didn’t want to believe he was lost to her forever. Besides, she rationalized, she still needed his help to find Jia Yan.

“If I leave Lee here with you, can you manage for a day or two?”

Elizabeth stared sadly at her before shrugging. “Don’t worry about us. Dan and I will be fine. Do what you need to do.” A resigned smile settled onto her face. “I hope you get the girl back safely. I really do.”

“I hope so, too. It won’t be easy finding her in Vancouver. Jason’s working on locating her now.”

Elizabeth’s voice held a note of reluctant pride. “If anyone can find her, Jason will.”

Bai changed the subject. “It might be a good idea to keep Dan home tomorrow.”

“Why?”

“I want her safe until I have time to sort out the matter at school. I no longer trust the security at Darryl Hopkins to protect her.”

Elizabeth nodded in agreement. “I’m sure she’ll enjoy a holiday. And since Lee will be here, she’ll be well entertained.”

Bai flinched at the thought. “Not too well entertained, I hope. The last time those two went out together they ended up with matching outfits. I think Lee is living out his second childhood with Dan.”

Elizabeth chuckled. “Well, we both know there’s no controlling Lee.”

“I’m going down to the gym to work off some of my frustration. Is Lee invited to dinner?”

“Yes. Tell him I’ve steamed fresh shumai.”

The mention of shumai got Bai’s attention. “Any chance I might get a small sample? I haven’t eaten today.”

Elizabeth smiled knowingly and turned to open a steamer on the counter. She placed two of the fatty, noodle-wrapped pork dumplings on a napkin and handed them to Bai. “Don’t be too long. Dinner will be ready in less than an hour. And be careful. Those are hot.”

Bai bit into the first dumpling. The hot pork burned her tongue and the roof of her mouth as the seasoned meat inundated her senses. She sucked cool air into her mouth and chortled in painful pleasure as she turned to leave.

Elizabeth scolded at her back, “You never take my warnings seriously.”

It wasn’t true. Bai did take Elizabeth’s warnings seriously. But in the case of Jason, a little girl’s life was at stake. She needed his help. If getting burned again was the price of finding Jia Yan, she’d willingly pay it.