An energetic morning rain drowned the patio outside my apartment, giving my view of the trees beyond the fence a gauzy texture. I phoned Sonia and didn’t get through. I wondered if she was blocking my calls or all calls or if something had happened.
I dressed and wrapped my coat around me. Walked to Cambie Street and over the bridge, through Coopers’ Park, to the high-rise where Sonia lived. I saw scattered boats on the turbulent water, a few drenched hobos milling about the park. Shivering under the awning, I hit the buzzer.
Her voice on the intercom, guarded and interrogatory. “Who is it?”
“Delivery.”
“Please leave it by the door.”
“It’s me.”
“Why would you—”
“You’re not answering my calls,” I said. “Can I come up?”
“Rather you didn’t.”
“It’s goddamn cold out here,” I said. “At least make me a cup of tea.”
Up in her apartment I took off my coat and wrung out my shirt. A large stainless steel espresso machine dominated her tiny kitchen. Sonia tamped and frothed and put together two cappuccinos.
She was wearing her gym pants and a threadbare off-the-shoulder sweater. Her cop gear was laid out on her living room table—sidearm, handcuffs, stun gun, baton. A white Kevlar vest was draped over one arm of the couch.
We drank standing on opposite sides of her kitchen. I waited for her to speak.
After a while she said, “I should’ve told you not to come.”
“You could tell me what’s going on.”
“I can’t,” she said. “I’m sorry I got you involved.”
“So we’re done then?”
“There’s nothing you can do,” she said.
I wiped my mouth. “Almond milk doesn’t froth for shit, does it?”
She didn’t respond.
“Are you in danger?”
Sonia sighed. Put down her cup. Her hands went to her hips.
“You love to help people,” she said. “Especially women. Nothing makes you happier. But did it occur to you, Dave, not everyone wants your help?”
“You asked me—”
“Yes. And now I’m asking you to stop.”
“It occur to you, Sonia, I want to help because I can see you’re in trouble?”
She took deep breaths and stared at her feet. “I’m being followed,” she said.
“You too?” When she looked up, I added, “Why do you think I’ve been trying to contact you?”
“Were you followed here?” she asked.
“No.”
“You’re certain?”
“I walked here,” I said. “Halfway over the bridge I paused to look down at the water. No one was around.”
“No one else would be dumb enough to do it in the rain,” she said.
“Do you know who followed you?”
I nodded. “Guy named Nagy, works for Anthony Qiu. He did a craptastic job, too—which may have been the point.”
“Intimidation,” she said.
I nodded. Like I’d tried to explain to Jeff, people like the Hayes brothers and Anthony Qiu trafficked in fear, along with whatever else they were involved in.
“Your partner works for Qiu,” I said. “After I visited his restaurant, he sent Chambers to suss me out. Chambers all but interrogated me on my plans for Qiu.”
“Does Chris sense that you know they’re connected?”
“I don’t think so,” I said. “Did you recognize your tail?”
“No,” she said, “but I got a license number. The car was registered to a Wong Jian Ye, also known as Winslow Wong. A couple charges for receiving stolen goods.”
“Well dressed, slender build, acne scars?”
Sonia nodded.
“He’s another of Qiu’s. I saw him with Nagy when I paid my visit.”
“They could be watching my place,” she said. “That’s why I didn’t want you coming up.”
“Might be sheer egotism,” I said, “but I think they’re tailing you to find out what’s motivating me. They’re confused about why I dropped in on Qiu’s restaurant.”
“So am I,” Sonia said. “I wish you hadn’t.”
“Seemed like a good idea at the time.”
“Which is what they’ll put on your tombstone, Wakeland.”
Sonia bussed our empty cups to her sink and collapsed on the couch with a sigh.
“When I started riding with Chris,” she said, “I lied to him. Well, he assumed you and I were still a couple, and I didn’t correct him.”
“A girl’s allowed to dream.”
“You don’t understand. When I partner up with someone, half the time they think I don’t belong. That I didn’t get here on merit, that I can’t do the job the way they can, that I’ll put them in danger. I don’t get the assumption of competence their privileged white male asses do. But Chris seemed to know you, and that made him more comfortable with me.”
She sat forward on her couch, hunched with her chin on her fist.
“I’m so fucking tired of having to prove myself,” she said. “Chris is part of that old boys’ club. What he thinks of me matters to others, it affects my career. If he tells someone I’m good police, or ‘she’s all right for a girl, I guess,’ that distinction matters. I hate that it matters but it does. I want to make rank, but I don’t want to be one of those paper bosses that none of the rank and file respect. I want people to know I earned it.”
“I don’t know why Chambers would remember me,” I said.
“You’re white. You’re male.”
I thought about it. “Maybe he thinks I’m bent like him. He heard I was forced off the job. That’s the rumor around the cop shop, isn’t it?”
No answer. Which was its own answer.
“Chambers is dirty,” I continued. “He sees me as being the same. And if you’re with me—”
“—then he can trust me.” Sonia’s eyes widened.
“What?”
“Nothing, not important.”
“You have to tell me,” I said.
She laughed mirthlessly. “Only you, Dave, could demand someone open up to you completely at the same time you dance around your own guilt.”
“My guilt’s not the issue,” I said.
“The last time we spoke you said you hoped there’d be a time we could be totally honest with each other. Hold nothing back.”
“Right.”
“I hope that comes soon,” she said.