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When Cassadines Fall ~ The Detour
Blown
Li glances over at the time on the TV. The morning news shows always have the time running in the lower right hand corner along with the temperature. It had taken awhile to adjust to the Fahrenheit scale of measuring temperature. She’s more used to Celsius. But Cold is cold. She wouldn’t get to use her Valentine’s present right away. Right now time is more important. She has to leave soon to get to school on time. Putting the plastic wrap over the top of Jason’s lunch she slides it into the refrigerator. When she is shutting the door she happens to see the latest news story. “JASON! JASON!”
Jason races into the kitchen wondering if Li has finally managed to chop off a finger with that evil ass cleaver she uses. “What?! Are you okay?”“Look.” Li points at the television. “It’s where I worked, yes?”
Jason turns up the sound on the TV. Li is more interested in the pictures and captions than the sound. He on the other hand has a tough time with the pictures and needs the commentary to figure out what the hell is going on. There had been a raid the night before. “Yeah, looks like it.” He looks over at Li who is watching the scene in horror. All the girls she used to work with are being lead out in handcuffs wearing skimpy clothes and flip-flops in February. “Did Dara tell you this was going to happen?”
“Non.” Li shakes her head. Her English starts falling apart under the stress. “She say nothing. I tell her everything. Last she tell me was FBI make offer to INS? I hear soon?”
“Yeah, that’s the last I remember too. Bitch. F’ing Bitch.”
There is some English Li learned early on. Working in a whore house had a certain vocabulary. She starts shaking her head. “Non. Not Dara. She worthy. It’s the F’ing FBI, oui? They betray me? You warn me they are not to be trusted. They will take what I say and then not give me papers. They will send me back to China.”
Jason comes over to Li and pulls her to him wrapping an arm around her to hold her close. “Hush for a second. I need to hear this and I need to think.”
Li closes her eyes and leans into Jason. She takes a deep breath and calms. He smells like fresh clothes, soap, the shower they’d had earlier. Everything was going to be okay. Some how. Some way. It would be okay. “I have to go school. I will be late. There is a test.”
“I’ll give you a ride to school. You won’t be late.” Jason offers absently.
“I need to go get my books. Your lunch is in the fridge.” Li pats Jason on the back and then pulls back forcing herself to act like it was any other day.
“I’ll be right there.” As soon as Li leaves Jason leans up against the counter and closes his eyes. He can focus better without looking at the screen. The report moves from station reporter to the FBI agent who’d been in charge of the bust. FBI not PCPD. And not Dara’s contact. The guy who owes her isn’t the one talking. Looking more and more like Li isn’t the only one screwed over.
Emily’s secretary comes in with all the mail. “I can’t believe that you worked yesterday.”
“I can’t believe I’m working today!” Em protests. “What happened to Thursday afternoons off? I had them off when I was going to school. Finish school and all of a sudden it’s totally on call. I like having Thursdays off. I can get things done.”
“But yesterday was Valentine’s. Jax took it off. Ned took it off. You ended up working. That’s just cold.”
“Ned is a newlywed; Jax has to have Valentine’s off. It’s in his job description as a romantic hero. We’re just lucky he didn’t fly off for a month in Tuscany or something.”
“You and Johnny just moved in together!” The secretary protests. “That’s like being on a honeymoon too! It’s not fair.”
“Johnny had to work.” Em says absently as she sorts thru the mail. She frowns when she gets to something that looks too official from the State of New York. “We did our Valentine’s before we had to go to work. What the hell is this?”
“Only one way to know.”
“Something this official looking... do you really want to know?” Em quips as she rips open the envelope. “Oh you have got to be freaking kidding me?! There is NO WAY!!” Em looks up from the envelope. “Get my Cousin Justus on the phone. Now. If he’s in court then send a messenger over there with a cell phone waiting for him to get out of court. I need to talk to him NOW!”
The secretary’s eyes go wide, and she starts backing out of the office. She had never seen Emily freak out like this. Even after coming back from being kidnaped she’d been cool as a cucumber. “I’ll find out where he is.” She turns and races back to her desk. She calls over to the DA’s office and not even Em’s name can get thru to Justus’ office since he is not there and the secretary there doesn’t know where he is. Taking Em’s suggestion to heart she calls down to the secretarial pool and gets someone assigned to the find Justus job over at the courthouse.
After she hangs up from that she hesitates and then she reaches for the phone. “Mr Ashton... I think something important, no, DRASTIC just happened. Em is freaking out and she wants to talk to Justus WARD two seconds ago.” The secretary isn’t surprised when she gets a dial tone on the other side of the call. There is the sound of a door slamming open at the far end of the hall and Ned is on his way. She races to make the doorway before Ned does. “I sent a messenger with the cell phone to Justus but I don’t know when you’re going to get the call so I asked Mr Ashton...”Just then Ned walks in. “Why Justus? What the hell is going on?!”
“Read this.” Em hands over the letter that she’d gotten from the State of New York. “It’s impossible right? There is no way! It’s only been two years. A little over two years.” Em corrects herself. It seems just like yesterday.
“Let me call Alexis.” Ned is just as grim. He turns Em’s phone around and quickly dials his wife over at the L&B building. “Alexis? Hon, maybe you can explain to me why Emily just got a letter from the State of New York to tell her that Tom Baker is up for parole? That’s a mistake right?” Ned hangs up the phone. “She’s on her way over. She wants to read the letter. If Dara is there I’m sure she’ll bring Dara too. Dara would have worked on this when she was at the DA’s office.”
“He can’t be getting out, Ned. He raped Elizabeth. He left her to freeze to death in the park. He can’t be getting out.” Em pales. “I suck.”
“Excuse me?”
“I totally suck. Yesterday. Yesterday was the three year... anniversary... I guess of him doing it. Of him raping Elizabeth. And I didn’t call, I didn’t go over. Hell I totally forgot. I came into work yesterday and I just zoned. I knew I didn’t have to be anywhere because Johnny was working. DAMN. I suck.”Justus walks up to Emily’s office. “I guess I’m too late. You received the same letter I did.”
“If you mean Tom Baker getting out of prison. Yeah, I got the letter.”
“He’s not getting out of prison... yet. It’s a parole hearing. After a portion of the sentence is served then he’ll start getting the hearings on a regular basis. You were notified so that you can talk to the parole board.”
“He raped Elizabeth, assaulted her, blackmailed me, locked both of us in a darkroom. We thought for sure he was going to kill us both. And he does two freaking years?! That’s IT?!”
Justus shakes his head. “Em, he was never convicted for what he did to Elizabeth. There was no evidence. He took a plea bargain for what he did to you. Seven years. That means that with good time, trustee time...”
“GOOD TIME?! Elizabeth is going to freak.”
“Elizabeth was the reason we couldn’t get more time!” Justus protests even though he is ticked by the whole situation too. “She caused a mistrial in your case when she lost it on the stand. Totally prejudiced the jury. The plea was a way of getting it over with. You were notified of the plea at the time.”
“I know. But it was supposed to be SEVEN years. If I knew he was going to be out in three I would have done another trial.” Em protests.
“He isn’t out. He’s coming up for a hearing.” Justus says again. “You’ll go down there. I’ll go down. We’ll talk to the parole board.”
“And he may still get out.” Em says bitterly.
“Maybe.” Justus is realistic.
“I have to go. I have to tell Elizabeth. She can’t hear this from anyone else.”
Taggart had been scheduled in for the later shift at work and left orders that he was not to be disturbed for any reason the day before. It was a holiday for him and his lady. Maddy had come thru big time: the heart shaped cheese cake with the curly chocolate shavings on top and the chocolate covered strawberries on the side, a little something from Victoria’s Secret, a little something from Wyndams. He’d woke with a smile on his face and Dara singing in the shower. The day had slid right down the commode about 15 minutes later when Dara got a phone call from Quarterbrain. She’d flipped on the television to see what Jason was talking about, and his day was shot before it even started.
“You’ve got some nerve showing your face around here. What ever happened to agency cooperation?” Taggart demands of Agent Ford who has the nerve to be sitting at his desk, using his pen to be writing something.
“I was just leaving you a note before I went over to throw myself on Dara’s mercy.”
“Take a priest. You’re a dead man. She cut you a lot of slack after what happened with Larkin and you just screwed her again. How many did this little raid of yours drop on the Jail?”
“Twenty...” five or more. Ford under plays because he really doesn’t want his clock cleaned in the middle of the Detective’s Bullpen. The jail has been kicking people lose to make room for what the Raid had brought in. The sheriff isn’t a big fan of theirs right now either. He would have preferred to do a controlled release and have the bed space ready. Hell have the INS ready rather than this haphazard water over the bridge crap.
“Great. Hookers, Pimps, Johns. Happy Valentine’s day. You can notified the news crews to be there at eleven but you don’t call the PCPD who are going to stuck processing these lovely people? Waste of time when it’s all a ticket.”
Ford shakes his head. “They’re illegals. The girls– no bail. They’ll be here until INS clears them. The Johns have been processed and released.”
“Lawyers.”
“We arrested the girl’s lawyers when they arrived this morning to bail them out.” Ford replies.
“My day just improved.”
“I am really sorry about this.” Ford says quietly. “It’s basically still fall out from Larkin. The case was pulled out from under me. I didn’t even know it was going down last night. I was watching it on the news too.”
“Cold.” Taggart shakes his head. “I feel for ya, man. But when it comes to something like this you’re only as good as your sources. And I think some of yours just dried up.”
Even as racked as she is Em remembers to call ahead so Maddy can get a grip on Mir. Cinnamon had gone to school with them at the mansion and played with Annabelle and Raoul but Mir didn’t have any basis for trust. It takes an extra 30 seconds to make sure Mir has the friend message down and to make sure Elizabeth is even there.
Elizabeth and Maddy are in the kitchen of Wyndemere Lite. Even knowing Em is coming over, Elizabeth is surprised when as soon as Em walks in the back door of the kitchen she pulls Elizabeth into a hug. “I suck. I don’t know why you put up with me. I am so sorry. I should have called you yesterday.”
“What did I miss?!” Maddy wonders aloud. “Somebody’s birthday or something?”
Both Elizabeth and Emily wince. Elizabeth is the one that answers. “Not exactly. You know I got… jumped back when I was in high school?” Liz waits for Maddy’s nod. “It happened on Valentine’s day.” Liz pulls away from Emily and takes a seat at the kitchen table.
Maddy resolves to kill Nik then and there. “I had no idea.” What is it with these people? Nobody tells her about Nik getting shot. Just threw it out there in the middle of another conversation and now this. “I mean yes, I knew about you getting jumped. It came up when that frat was planning on moving in across the street.”
“It wasn’t a date rape.” Elizabeth explains. “Once I got into therapy, I found out how rare what happened to me really is. It was someone I didn’t know. I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. He didn’t know me. He wasn’t stalking me. He just… jumped me. I thought I was going to die.”
“He attacked her in the park, left her to freeze to death in some bushes by the side of the trail. And he was only sorta a stranger. Turns out I knew the guy. I trusted the guy. He was the photographer for Brenda Barrett. Back then he did all the work for Deception. He’s the reason why my family never let me go on a job where I’m unchaperoned or I haven’t worked with the people before. After what happened to Elizabeth…. What happened to us… I wouldn’t want to.”
“Happened to us?” Maddy repeats looking from one to the other. “You too?”
“No.” Em replies. “He had other plans for me. I was just breaking into modeling back then. Tom Baker took pictures of me for my portfolio. Course he was also taking the pictures for himself and pasting my head on other women’s bodies. Blackmail. And I was stupid. I paid. Or rather I borrowed the money from Nikolas. He and Lucky started trying to track down the blackmailer. Since he was using the internet Lucky had a head start.”
“But Lucky was distracted by what had happened to me. It brought up a lot of family issues. And I was no help, I was jumping at shadows. Stabbed one of my high school teachers because I thought he was the one who attacked jumped me. Poor Mr Murty. He didn’t do anything wrong and ended up moving from Port Charles because of what I did to him.”
“Eventually we figured out who was doing it. Course we figured it out while we were in Tom’s darkroom.”
“With him in it.” Elizabeth rolls her eyes. It is always something with them. There is no doubt. “He was planning a little workplace accident to cover his tracks and get out of Port Charles.”
“Long story short—caught, trial, mistrial, plea bargain, prison.”
“And they all lived happily ever after?” Maddy quirks a brow. Somehow she doesn’t think so.
“He might not have gone to prison for what he did to me but as long as he is in prison being somebody’s bitch… I can live with that.”
“Elizabeth….” Em’s face tells Maddy and Liz both that what she has to say is bad news. “The State of New York sent me a letter. He’s coming up for parole.”
Ricky Robideau looks out his front window at the very plain, dark sedan parked at the curb. He winces then looks further down the street. Sure enough there is another down the corner and a ConEd truck on the opposite side of the street. “Note to self. Do not call father right now.” He mutters. “Don’t call Morgan or Corinthos. Sure as hell don’t get the Judge messed up in this. Just a poor college student minding his own business. Not of any interest to the FBI.” Unable to resist though he does pick up the phone and makes a quick call. “Time for you and the Watch Commander to be taking a little stroll around the neighborhood.” Even though Maddy had answered the phone Ricky hangs up before giving Maddy time to answer. The call takes less than ten seconds.
Within five minutes, Maddy is taking a stroll with Mir taking the lead around the neighborhood but Cassidy isn’t with her. Emily Quartermaine and Elizabeth Webber are. The look is casual. Maddy had looked both ways as they had come to the front gate and then purposively walked the opposite direction toward the corner store. The pace is leisurely. The first of the vehicles they pass is the ConEd truck. There is no sign of activity other than the motor running. There is nobody in the driver’s seat or passenger either. The girls keep walking.
As soon as they are a distance away, Emily hits the Arrow Security panic button Carly had given her after the kidnaping and gives the license number of the vehicle and asks them to contact Nikolas Cassadine at General Hospital. “There are two more suspicious vehicles. We’ll be getting the plate numbers soon.”
Elizabeth shakes her head. “You know that they are going to be rolling like WWIII now. Carly’s sister in law? Edward’s Granddaughter?”
“I’m okay with that.” Maddy shrugs. The cross the street and come up on the other side. As they near the undercover cop car, Emily says aloud the license plate knowing that the mike on her medallion is sensitive enough to pick it up. Maddy goes up to the passenger side window and raps on the glass. The occupants are making no effort to hide what they are– off the rack suits, ties, polished shoes. The clue to whom they are after is sitting in the back seat of the agent’s car. “Y’all lost? I know everyone who lives around here. Maybe I could give y’all some directions on where to go?” She offers sweetly.
Em and Liz crack up at that but then put on their oh so serious and helpful faces.
“FBI business; please return to your residence.”
“You got it. Don’t want any problem with the FBI.” Maddy agrees. She nods in the direction of the girls and they cross the street right in front of the agent’s car and head back to the house. While Liz grabs the towel to wipe Mir’s feet, Maddy is already on the phone with Taggart. The only phone number she wants coming out of this house while the FBI are monitoring the neighborhood is a call to the police station. “Marcus? It’s Maddy. I’ve got two plain clothes cars and a... command center truck or something parked out on the front of my street. I asked them their business and one of them said that the were FBI but who the hell knows these days. And I know I’m jumping to all kinds of conclusions but since there was an Asian guy sitting in the back seat of the car... do you think maybe something is going on with the Chows? If there was a problem with the Chows they would have called Dara Jensen right?” Maddy hangs up.
“Now what?” Em asks.
“Wait for Marcus to handle it. We can’t call anyone else. They’d know we called.”
“Well I’m going to go watch.” Liz says cheerfully. The situation is awful but it is also exciting. This was better than Brenda Barrett’s non wedding or anything in the Intruder. “Lulu’s room will have the perfect angle down on the action.” She races up the stairs to the turret room that Nikolas had converted into room fit for a princess.
Em says into her pendent. “Safe back at the house. I’ll give a ring if there is trouble.” She tucks the pendent back a layer of clothes trusting that those guys will hang up the connection.
“That is handy.” Maddy looks at the medallion. She hadn’t seen it on Em before this. “I have something similar for the kiosks. They dial 911.”
“Mine calls Arrow Security. Carly got it for me after the kidnaping. Rita has one too. It’s the first time I’ve had to use it. But I’m glad to have it especially if Tom Baker is getting out.”
“There has got to be a way to make sure that doesn’t happen.” Maddy protests.
Em pats her medallion. She would be giving Jason a call but she wouldn’t be talking about it. “At least this is a distraction for Elizabeth. I hated telling her about Baker. But I would have hated it worse if the situation were flipped and nobody told me.”
“This is blown.” The driver of the lead FBI car tells his partner.
“Damn. We were hoping that the daughter would show up. She’s the one with all the information on the Snakeheads. Ford claimed it was an anonymous source but he’s been compromised being up here too long.”
“As far as we know.” The bilingual agent sitting in the back of the car suggests. He’d been called in from Los Angeles for this since that is where the Snakeheads had started before moving their operation to New York. It had been his case back there. He’d been the one to open up the container that had been abandoned by the “importers” and found the dead and dying. They’d known he was on to them and cut their losses and moved on to greener pastures abandoning their shipment. “We don’t know what they know.” He climbs out of the car and starts heading toward the building. The other two agents join him.
Up the stairs, they position themselves carefully to make sure there is no possible ambush. It appears to be an elderly Chinese couple but appearances can be deceiving. The lead FBI agent knocks on the door. “FBI open up!”
The door across the hall opens. “What’s going on?”
“Please go back in your apartment, sir.”
“They don’t speak English. You start pounding on the door and shouting jibberish... I wouldn’t be opening the door either.” Ricky suggests helpfully.
The bilingual agent steps up and calls out in Chinese for them to open the door. That they have information about Li Chow.
The door is quickly opened by Yuen. “You know where my daughter is?!” She demands in chinese.
“You need to practice your English, Mrs Chow.” Ricky demands before Yuen can say any more.
“Ricky, they say they know where Li is.” Mrs Chow speaks English with a Hawaiian pidgeon accent. Its where she learned what English she knows afterall.
“That’s great news.” Ricky smiles. Mrs Chow can see that Ricky’s eyes are suspicious and that puts her on guard too. She begins to realize that these are police. Like the same police that took her husband and his congregation away. Who had locked him up and broke his arm. Who had set her and Li underground and running.
“Who are you?” One of the agents demands.
“Richard Robideau.” Ricky waits for his name to sink in and sure enough the interest shifts from the Chows to him. It gives Mrs Chow time to go and get Harry and bring him out to the living room to talk to the agents.
“Lets Go.” Taggart hits a preset on his phone but he is waiting for the other party to answer when he makes the demand of Ford.
“Go where?” Ford asks getting a really bad feeling.
“The Feds are staking out the Chows.”
Ford winces as he realizes Taggart has already separated him from the FBI. The Feds are now them and he is not a part. “How did they get onto the Chows. I kept Dara’s client’s name out of it.”
Taggart shrugs. Dara had kept him out of it too. “Probably the same way you did when you had that old Chinese Grandmother and her granddaughter arrested. The Chows are connected to Sonny Corinthos and Corinthos is connected to crime.”
Ford groans he remembers how well that went over before. “Damn it. If they had just listened to me!”
“Dara? It’s Marcus. Maddy just called me. The Feds are doing a raid on the Chows.” He hangs up the phone. But he isn’t hanging up on Dara. She’s already hung up on him. Taggart looks over at Ford. “This is the way this is going to go down. We’re going to be the good guys, the reasonable guys. And we’re going to make the rest of your brothers look like **** for keeping you out of the loop because you are the guy with all the answers. Sound good to you?”
“Couldn’t hurt.”
Marcus slides into the driver’s side of the car and unlocks the door for Ford to climb in. “The Chows are not going to be interviewed anywhere but their house. No trips to the station. No trips in the back of police cars.”
“I remember.” Ford nods. “Dara’s niece is involved in this. Mr Chow was incarcerated in China for whatever they charge people with for running a church. Corinthos church sponsored this guy in the US on a religious persecution ticket. It’s not about crime its about the guy’s church.” Then he holds on as Marcus hits the siren and the gas at the same time. They’d be cross town in no time.
“I’m going with you.” Jason says flatly.
“No, you’re not.” Dara reaches for her keys from her bag. She’d received the call from Jason bright and early and met him over at the motorcycle shop after he dropped Li off at school. “You being there will only make the situation worse. It’s bad enough your name is all over the papers for the Chow’s store. You show up now after they busted the massage parlor and it’s a direct link back to Li. Let me do my job.”
“Li trusts you but even she figured out that the FBI ****ed you both over.”
“I watched the morning news thanks. I already got that part. That makes it that much more important that you stay the hell away from the Chows. It’s looking like Li’s deal is blown. They get their hands on her and I can argue like the dickens and postpone things a bit but they’ll save face by deporting somebody. It’s not going to be my client.” Dara points off to the work area. “Just keep working on...what the hell is that thing anyway?”
“It’s Li’s Valentine’s present. It’s going to be a little late.” Jason shrugs. “Her father said she rode a motorcycle back in China.” Jason looks at the scooter. It’s smaller than a real motorcycle but with a bigger engine than anything Li would have ridden back in China. It would be good for around town.
Dara shakes her head. “I’ll call as soon as I know anything. You and Sonny need to stay away from the Chows. Now if you want to send Father Frank around? That would be fine.” Dara lets the door shut behind her.
The apartment is getting crowded. Ricky played deaf when he’d been invited to leave the apartment. Harry is seated in the most comfortable chair in the living room. Yuen has already gotten the cakes out and has the kettle on for tea. The FBI hadn’t been thrilled when Ford and Taggart showed up. Then Dara had shown up. But the party really didn’t start jumping when Father Frank, Jerry and Mei-Mei all showed up.
Everyone is ducking and dodging. The FBI had gotten their foot in the door by saying they knew where Li was and now they are avoiding that question as they try to get answers to their own. The offer to take it all down town to clear this up had been shot down by every corner but the Chows. Robideau, Dara, Taggart and Jerry Jacks had all had something to say on that one.
Taggart looks over at Mei. It’s a risk. The kid is tight with Maddy. But she is also tight with Rita Porter. He’d seen the two of them often enough together coming out of Judge Porter’s chambers at the courthouse. A couple of links down the chain but it might still work. “Mei, do you know who I am? I’m Lt Marcus Taggart of the PCPD.”
Most of the people in the room are looking at Marcus like he has lost his mind. The introductions are long over... and speaking to the little girl. What is he doing?
Mei slowly nods her head. She turns to her Uncle and Aunt and announces in Chinese. “He is Lt Marcus Taggart of the PCPD. He is the only police man you should talk to. You shouldn’t talk to anyone else. Just him... and Miss Dara.”
Jerry groans. He should have expected this. Carly and her damn speeddial strikes again.
“What just happened?” Ford mutters to Taggart.
“Like I told you. You’re only as good as your sources.” Taggart says smugly. He didn’t know what Mei had told her relatives exactly but the look on Jerry Jacks face said it worked. “Now I’m thinking that there are a few too many people in this room. Dara, who do you want to have translating for the Chows?”
It kills her to say it but there are things about the situation that a little girl shouldn’t know. “Jerry.”
“Mei, why don’t you take Robideau back over to his place and search it. Find out if there is anything the Judge or his wife should know.”
Ricky gives him a dirty look but plays along. “Father Frank, Why don’t you come with us. Rita been yammering about something about a van for Church of Angels?”
As soon as they clear out, Taggart then turns on the FBI. “And since Ford here is the only one who hasn’t stepped on his dick in the last two days. He’s staying. He can fill you in later. Buh Bye.”
“Who do you think you are?!” The Lead FBI agent demands. “You have no say in this.”
“I don’t see what your problem is.” Taggart snarks. “We’re going to have this fine FBI agent here to hear the whole interview. You got a problem with the way Ford and I are handling this-- you’re more than welcome to go downtown and file a complaint. Fact is why don’t you do that right now.”
“I’ll be staying– for the translations.” The bilingual agent asserts quietly. Taggart can’t think of a good reason to say no.
“You’ll be hearing about this.” The FBI agent threatens Taggart.
“Oh I’m shaking. Put it in writing. I’ll have my attorney look it over.”
Ford winces but he walks the FBI to the door and shuts it after they leave. He comes back to the living room and takes a seat. The room is much more manageable now that it’s just the seven of them.
“Where is my daughter?” Harry Chow asks the Asian FBI agent.
He answers in chinese keeping a close eye on the elderly man and his wife to see their reaction. “We thought you would know considering the people who brought her to this country set her up in a whore house here in Port Charles until she was sold to some round eye. At least that is what the other whores told us.”
Harry pales. Jerry starts swearing. Yuen collapses in a keening wail. Dara has no idea what was said but knows it isn’t good. “This interview is over.” She declares. She hugs Yuen to her supporting her as she carries her back to the back bedroom and lays her down. She has to trust Marcus and Jerry would take care of what is going on in the living room.
And arrives back in the living room in time to see Jerry and Marcus assisting the Asian FBI agent from the apartment.
“What in the hell did he say?” Ford asks bewildered by the quick turn around of the situation.
“He called my daughter a prostitute.” Harry informs Agent Ford. Harry sees Dara’s wince. “You know more than what you say.”
Jerry answers before Dara can duck. “She can’t discuss it. It’s a Perry Mason thing. You have questions. Ask me.”
“Is it true? Do you know where my Li is?”
Jerry is not going to answer that question. “I went to China after you were arrested to look for Li and Yuen. I found Yuen. She told me she used the gold she’d hidden to buy passage for Li. I got a bad feeling then.” Jerry says it in both English and Chinese.
Ford leans forward in his chair and takes up the story so that Jerry just has to translate into Chinese for Harry. “The people running the boats lie. They lied to your wife. However much money is paid for passage to the US it’s never enough and the people are put to work. People like your daughter don’t get a say in what work they do.”
“So he was telling the truth. My daughter is a whore.”
Now Dara is ticked. “No. A whore has a choice. Your daughter was a slave. She had no choice. And the reason you know she was a slave was because the whore house SOLD her. That is against the law in this country. Coming to this country without papers is the ONLY thing that your daughter is guilty of and even then there were circumstances. You want to jump all over her for that well then I hope you get the chance. But your daughter is NOT a whore.” Dara bites her tongue. She’s already said too much really.
Jerry does the translation of what Dara had said.
From the hallway, Yuen says tearfully in chinese. “It’s all my fault. I bought her ticket. If she had stayed with me. You would have taken her to Hawaii when you took me. I thought I was keeping her safe. It’s all my fault.”
Jerry translates the bits about buying the ticket and feeling guilty but leaves off the part about Hawaii.
Taggart asks quietly. “Can you describe the person you gave the money to? We really want to stop this before it happens to another parents’ daughter.”
“It’s been so long. And I was so scared.” Yuen looks guiltily at her husband. Would he blame her for this? “I could try.”
Taggart flips open his phone and goes back thru the call log. He clicks on Maddy’s number. “Maddy, it’s Taggart. Is Elizabeth home? We need someone to do a sketch.”
