8 June 2019
Carlisle residence
Thousand Oaks, California, United States of America
In Chang’s mind, Kiara hadn’t changed since that day in 1989 when they last saw each other.
Once it was a reasonable hour of the morning, Halls had called her on the cell phone number provided by her sergeant. Kiara said she was home, and that it was best to talk now, as she had appointments all afternoon. Chang had been able to hear her voice a bit, albeit quiet and tinny, over the speaker of Halls’s phone. Even distorted as it was, though, it sounded the same as it did all those years ago. The three decades fell away, and he imagined he heard her saying the same words she’d said at the airport in Shanghai.
When they arrived at Kiara’s house, Chang hesitated before approaching. This was a much more modest home than the palatial Bhatnagar estate in Shanghai, though still quite a large one. The yard was well-landscaped, with artfully arranged hedges and flower beds.
Chang looked around and was severely disappointed at the lack of violas.
Finally, he forced himself to follow Halls to the front door.
Much as he imagined it otherwise, the woman who answered the door had changed since he’d said his goodbyes to her at Hongqiao Airport all those years ago—but surprisingly little given the time frame. Her dark hair was thinner, and speckled with the occasional strand of silver, she wore makeup today that she had never bothered with—or needed, truly—as a young woman, and she wore a suit for this meeting with Halls and Chang. Though he supposed whatever engagement she had this afternoon may have required the suit and she put it on now to save time later.
“Ms. Carlisle,” Halls said, flashing her badge as Kiara opened the door, “I’m Detective Halls, we spoke on the phone?”
“Yes, of course, Detective.”
Stepping aside, Halls said, “And I believe you already know Inspector Chang of Interpol.”
“You look as beautiful as ever, Kiara.” His voice broke as he said it. Had that happened with anyone else, he would have felt shame at so emotional a response.
But now, he felt joy at seeing her. Remorse at it being so long. And disappointment at the reason why.
Kiara smiled, then, and Chang found himself transported back to the university when they were both young and in love. “And you look like absolute hell, An.”
Halls chuckled. “I can’t tell you how glad I am to hear that he didn’t always look like crap.”
“No,” Kiara said mischievously. “Once upon a time, An was actually attractive.”
The good-natured teasing only made Chang feel the agonizing pull of thirty-year-old memories more strongly.
Halls smirked. “I’ll have to take your word for it.” Then she grew serious. “Unfortunately, our business here isn’t to reminisce about old times—exactly. This involves your brother. May we come in?”
Nodding solemnly, Kiara said, “Of course.”
They walked through a well-appointed foyer, with a curved staircase leading up to the second floor. They moved past that, through a living room filled with lush furniture to a kitchen with a sliding glass door to a back patio that had a lovely view of the Santa Monica Mountains. A pitcher and three glasses sat on the patio table.
As she sat in one chair, Kiara said, “I hope you like iced tea. Aside from water, it’s all I can offer you to drink, since I assume you cannot consume alcohol while on duty.”
“Thank you,” Halls said as she sat next to her.
Chang took the other chair and poured iced tea first for Kiara, then for Halls, before pouring for himself.
“Still the gentleman, eh, An?” Kiara asked.
He simply inclined his head.
“Ms. Carlisle,” Halls said after sipping her tea, “when did you last speak to Chanan?”
She chuckled. “It’s funny, as a boy, he always hated that name. As an adult, he took to it, but I always thought of him as Kai. And Father, of course, kept calling him Colin, because that was what he wanted to name him. Mother wouldn’t allow it, of course, and our parents—” She blew out a breath. “They seemed to exist in a perpetual impasse. There were never arguments, only tense disagreements.”
“Not much love lost there?” Halls said.
“No.” Kiara took another sip of tea. “I’m afraid I may not be of much help with regards to my family, Detective. I stopped talking to my mother and my brother shortly after our father died.”
“That was in 1993, yes?”
Nodding, Kiara said, “Mother wished to return to India after that. She tended to make decisions and expected the universe to go along with them. She was very cross when Kai and I refused to move with her, as we wished to stay in America. I moved here to California, while Kai moved to New York. Kai and I lost touch with each other after a time, and Mother refused to even speak to me. I only found out that she died when a lawyer contacted me with regard to my inheritance.”
“All right,” Halls said, “but you and Chanan lived together with your parents prior to your father’s death, yes?”
Again, Kiara nodded. “After he lost his diplomatic post, Father became a lobbyist, so we lived near Washington, DC. Chanan attended school there, and he got excellent grades, though he didn’t seem to make any friends. He spent a lot of time volunteering at the National Zoo, and also studying martial arts, although he never stuck with any art for very long. Six months doing kung fu, a year doing aikido, three months doing karate, another year doing kendo. He never really talked about it much. In fact, the only thing he did talk about was the animals he worked with at the zoo.”
“Do you think that was because of what happened to his dog?” Halls asked.
Kiara looked at Chang. “You told her about Nandita?”
Chang nodded.
Halls said, “There have been a series of incidents involving cruelty to animals over the past two decades, and we think Chanan may know something about them. We need to question him, but we don’t really have any idea where to find him.”
“Wait—does this have something to do with what happened to Jean-Pierre?”
Chang blinked. “You know Jean-Pierre Caspari?”
“I work with many charities, and d’Artagnan has donated food for fundraisers I’ve been involved with. I’ve known Jean-Pierre and Hélène for years. She called me this morning and told me about what happened to her husband.” She shook her head and stared at Chang. “You’re saying Kai might know something about that?”
Chang hesitated. “We do not know if he does or not. That is why we wish to question him.”
Kiara shook her head. “My brother is a suspect, is he not?”
“Like the inspector said—” Halls started, but Kiara cut her off.
“You do not need to prevaricate with me, Detective. I have not spoken to my brother in very long, but I do know him. Or, at the very least, know who he was.” She put her head in her hands, then wiped the tears that were forming. “Kai had so much anger in him. I had hoped that the Sifu at Hé Ping would give him a way to channel his anger positively, but it seems he failed at that.”
“We don’t know what he’s succeeded or failed at,” Halls said.
“Perhaps.” Kiara sipped more iced tea. “The only time I ever saw him even show an emotion after he came back from the monastery was related to animals. He was only ever angry when someone mistreated the animals at the zoo, and he only ever smiled when he was volunteering there.”
“You said you and he lost touch,” Halls said. “Why is that?”
“We were on opposite sides of the country, and the attempts were all one way. I would call him, but on those rare occasions when he answered the phone, he said almost nothing, and when he didn’t answer, he never returned my messages. After a time, I simply gave up.”
“I am sorry,” Chang said. “I remember how close you were.”
“Emphasis on the past tense, An.” Kiara smiled. “I love my brother, but I have had no contact with him in over twenty-five years. I don’t know what might have happened to him in that time, and I have no means of contacting him. My life has almost nothing to do with my parents or my brother anymore. Mother and Father are long dead, and Kai and I have no connection. I focus my time and money on helping people. I’m on the board of several charities, and I do a great deal of outreach to the less fortunate.”
Halls frowned. “You said ‘almost nothing’.”
With a chuckle, Kiara said, “Well, the money I am spending is my inheritance. My father had considerable wealth, and that is as nothing compared to the Bhatnagar fortune. Even with Kai receiving half, I came into a considerable sum after my parents died, and I have tried to put that to the best possible use.”
They spoke for a bit longer, though Chang remembered nothing of what was said from that point until they left.
As they walked back through the house toward the front door, Halls handed Kiara a business card. “I know it’s a long shot, but if you do hear from Chanan, please call me right away, okay?”
“Of course, Detective. And An?”
Chang had already made it to the front door, but he stopped. He did not turn, for he felt that if he faced his former love, he would break.
“When this is over, please get back in touch? I would very much like to catch up.”
“I would like that as well,” he said without turning around, and he continued out the door.
As they headed to Halls’s car, the detective smacked his arm.
“What is that for?”
“Lying. You don’t have any intention of calling and getting together, do you?”
“What would be the point? When this is over, I will have captured and incarcerated her brother. She will hate me.”
“I doubt that. She isn’t the twenty-year-old girl you knew back then who loved her brother. She’s moved on.”
Chang stared at her incredulously. “Did you not see her tears?”
Halls waved that off. “That was for her childhood memories. And maybe for the fact that, when we arrest him for these murders, she’ll become known as the sister of a serial killer. But emotionally? She has no connection to him anymore.”
Now Chang smirked, forcing himself back into the here-and-now instead of allowing his mind to be mired in the past. “When we arrest him?”
“Oh yeah. We’re going back to Monrovia and we’re gonna comb through every bit of the world wide web and we’re going to figure out who his next victim is.”
“You believe he is using the internet to find his targets?”
“Why not? It’s the most efficient way to do it. And he’s obviously going after as many people in southern California as he can, so we’ll focus on that. Let’s go.”
They got into the car, and Halls gunned the motor and drove out of Kiara’s driveway at a faster-than-was-truly-safe speed.