| Fan Fiction |
by DTLCT
Gallen unlocks the door and lets everyone in. He makes sure that the door is locked before he goes to the living room to join them.
“Pull the curtains,” Jacky instructed.
He gets up himself also to help Gallen and Kevin with checking around the apartment in the process, making sure every window is closed.
“Aren’t you guys taking it a bit too far?” Ray asked when they returned. “I mean okay, we’re here to discuss the murder, but you’re creeping me out. Not that I wasn’t before.”
Jacky sits down next to Jan on the sofa. “We can never be too careful.”
“Okay,” Gallen said. “Let’s start since we all have work tomorrow and shouldn’t waste time.”
“Sounds good,” Kevin agreed.
“Miss Man, when was the last time you seen Mr. Lam?” Jacky inquired.
“What?” Annie asked, confused.
“I know I sound all scary and creepy to all of you guys. So before Miss Man decides to answer, I’ll explain myself. My name is Jacky Chu Fan Gang. I’m a cop. You guys already know that. I was sent here to make sure Miss Man is safe and also to solve the murder. I didn’t expect things to turn out this way with how I’m revealing my identity right now. But that’s the only way I can gain your trust since I’d been here a week now, but only the Cho siblings trust me. I haven’t made that much progress either so I thought if we all join forces, it’s better to unveil the whole murder case and...” He gestures in a circular motion with his right hand real quick. “…what with that.”
“Wow!” Ray said, amazed. “And you say you haven’t made progress? You practically know us from the inside out.”
“Your profile, I could get easily from records on file. Your habits, I could know by observing you all. But I couldn’t get you to trust me.”
“But you figured out that Annie’s the target and about the elevators being the secret passage or whatever.”
“A dumb, blind bat could figure out Annie’s the target. Nothing’s a secret in this building. And about the elevators, I did some snoopy around. But it wasn’t clever since Tim could have figured that out in minutes.”
“I did some snooping around since last week too,” Gallen confessed.
“Okay, since we already know who I am, should we focus on helping Miss Man now?
“How would you know we agree to be involved in this?” Ray asked.
“You would have objected when I said we’re going to Tim’s apartment to discuss this matter. Besides, you can’t help but be involved. Miss Man’s old apartment already got ransacked. They’re looking for some valuables or documents or both. They’ll come back until they find it. So that leads to Ray and Kevin’s own safety also. You’re all friends, you can’t help but agree.”
“What does Tim have to do with all of this though?” Wallace asked, crossing his hands together. “He just moved in and doesn’t know us that well.”
Everyone’s surprised that the person who asked the question is Wallace and not Ray. But after they think about it, it’s reasonable because Tim isn’t really their friend yet. They barely know him. Wallace is the only one that made the connection while they’re worried about something else. Maybe because Wallace saw Gallen snooping around different places and how he heard of his whereabouts these past days.
“You’re clever, Mr. Huo,” Jacky complimented. “Have anyone ever told you that you could be a cop?”
Wallace smiles. “Only the cop who I’m helping now.”
“Kenneth Ma?”
“You’re quite knowledgeable.”
“I have to be. I’m here for serious matters, right? That brings us back to Miss Man.”
Wallace realizes that every time they talk about Tim or bring a subject about him up, Jacky skips the subject or defends him. What is going on here? He saw them having some hostility before, how could their attitudes towards each other changed in a day?
While Wallace’s lost in his suspicions, the others are looking at Annie for an answer.
“I….” Annie managed.
“Remember, we’re here to help,” Jacky reminded her.
“Wait a minute,” Ray jumped in.
“What?” Kevin asked impatiently.
“You haven’t answer Wallace’s question yet,” Ray said, turning to Jacky.
Wallace smiles at that. Finally someone’s bringing the subject to the surface again.
“Do I have to?” Jacky asked. “Tim had been with us this last incident. He might become the target.”
“That’s kind of far-fetch though,” Ray said, unconvinced.
“If I’m not mistaken, one of the guys that was working with the elevators before could be on the same side as the ones that committed the murder, meaning the ones still in this building.”
“Okay, I’ll buy that. Go on.”
Since Ray’s satisfied, Jacky turns back to Annie. “Miss Man.”
“I….” Annie stuttered once more.
“For god’s sake, girl!” Ray blurted out impatiently. “Say it! We’re trying to help you here.”
“Ray!” Kevin and Mandy yelled out at the same time.
“Miss Man, you can’t hide it forever,” Jacky said in a calm tone – contrary to Ray’s anxiousness. “Your relationship with Mr. Lam had caused you trouble. There might be some misunderstandings when they go after you so could you please give us some more information?”
“Last time I saw Frankie was at his office two months ago,” Annie said finally. “We had some disagreements so I left. He tried to look for me and told me that we could work it out with a different plan but I didn’t want to stay at that company anymore. He gave me some time to think about it if I ever want to come back and work for him.”
“Did he give you something that made these guys go after you?”
“No.”
“Personal question, but I have to ask. Did you two date? It could be possible that because of your relationship that these people are going after you.”
“No. We have a lot of lunch meetings though. There were also other people in the company going with us so it’s not like we’re alone or there could be suspicions.”
“What about that one night he drove you home?”
Annie stands up abruptly. “How did you know that?”
Jacky smiles. “I’m a cop.”
“But no one knew. I meant….” Annie stops and looks around the room before continuing. “Nothing happened. He was just driving me home because my car broke down.”
“Did he ever say or hint something to you that might be important? Like he was involved with a certain group of people?”
“No. Not that I know of.” Then she pauses before going on. “Why don’t you ask him? I mean he probably would know what this is all about if they had mistaken me as someone close to him.”
“If we could, we already did.”
Annie has on an alarmed look. “What happened?”
“He disappeared. You’re the only lead we have.”
Annie sits back down in her chair.
Jacky clears his throat. “Since we don’t have any new leads, we might as well wait for them to make the next move to see what’s going on.”
“You know that they’re using the elevators as a passage to go back and forth to the building, why don’t you just bust them?” Ray asked.
“We can’t do that,” Gallen answered in Jacky’s place. “These guys are great mechanics. In fact, beyond expert level. They messed with the elevators twice already. What makes you think they don’t have traps inside the passage? We can’t just tear this building apart to bust them.”
“Tim’s right,” Jacky said. “We have to inspect the foundation and structure first before we can go in. Or we can wait for them to come out and get them.”
“Why don’t we call Joey for help?” Wallace asked. “I heard Kenneth say that she’s fully working on this case now.”
“That reminds me I need to pay Miss Meng a visit soon.”
“You know her?”
“She’s a legend. How could I not know her? I’m surprised you all don’t know her. Or you’re just so used to having legends around here that you couldn’t be any more surprised than this?”
“We work too hard around here to read the newspapers,” Ray said.
Jacky laughs. “She’s not in the newspaper or media. Not directly.”
“And you say that we’re supposed to know it’s her?”
“No. I heard people talking about her in this building a lot. I thought you guys know it’s her already.”
“She’s the White Rose Beauty?” Wallace asked, wrinkling his face.
“She is?” Ray asked, mirroring Wallace’s surprised tone.
“See?” Jacky said. “I told you, you know her.”
“It’s top secret about cops’ identity,” Gallen said. “You just broke the code, Jacky.”
“'Tim', I haven’t. We’re all on the same team here, which means I can confide in these guys.”
“What code?” Ray jumped in. “And how do you know?”
“He’s a reporter,” Jacky said.
“I’m a reporter,” Gallen said at the same time as Jacky.
“Jess doesn’t know half of the stuffs that you know,” Ray pointed out.
“She’s the regular kind, I’m the crime related reporter,” Gallen explained.
“Okay,” Jacky interfered. “Let’s wrap this up since we’re all tired. Starting tomorrow, we’ll have to travel in pairs whenever we’re here in this building. And charge all your phones or we wouldn’t be able to keep in contact or call for help if something happens. I know it sounds dumb but someone forgot before and it cost his life.”
They all agree.
“And we have to all stay here tonight. For whatever happens, we’re all safe here for the night if they decide to make a move.”
They agree also.
“Okay, goodnight, everyone. Let’s get ready for bed.”
Jacky seems to be the leader of the group now. As he says that, everyone knows that they’re excused. Each – excluding Jacky, Jan, and Gallen – goes to their own apartment to do their night routine and come back into Gallen’s apartment to sleep. Of course they bring their own pillow, etc. Jacky, Jan, and Gallen take turns showering at Gallen’s place. Lucky for Jacky, not having return to his apartment for his clothes, because Jan still has some of his old ones in her bag. Also lucky for everyone that Gallen’s living room is bigger than theirs so they could gather around and sleep right there. The girls take Gallen’s room and guest room since it seems awkward sleeping around there.
Jacky and Jan take a corner of the sofa. They’re just sitting there in the dark, looking outside towards the moon. Jacky had opened the curtain an inch before Ray turned off the light to see outside. Jacky can’t seem to shut his eyes. Jan talks to him softly until he finally falls asleep.
Wallace’s on the floor, with his eyes still open, looking outside also. He feels strange and seems like, what Kevin said earlier, to be in the Twilight Zone. This isn’t real. He needs to wake up. He blinks several times before falling asleep, thinking of Cyndi. He hasn’t thought of her since last week or was it two weeks ago? There had been too much to endure that he almost forgot about her. But how could he? Is all of this getting to him? He decides to check on her later tomorrow.
© Saturday, June 2nd, 2007
Re-posted: Sunday, October 11th, 2009