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“And did they check the son's blood? I mean:Victor Chen's?”
“He's zero-plus.”
“This means… They're not father and son, arethey?”
“This means absolutelynothing. Python said: it depends on what blood type Victor's Mom had. Hestarted mumbling something about genetics and probabilities, Ididn't understand much.”
“Still, it's possible to determine thefather. By the DNA test, right?”
“Yeah! As if our Major is going to sign fora DNA kit! His favorite song: the budget is tight. Well, if we findthe body he may allow the DNA check… On the second thought, if wefind the body today there will be no DNA. We will use the facerecognition software and the fingerprints. The fingerprints arecheap.”
“What did Victor Chen say?”
“Nothing, goddammit! He decided to use theFifth Amendment,” Woxman spits in front of his shiny armyboots.
“Did he ask for an attorney?”
“He wisely refused. Said: for a real lawyerI have no money, but I am ready to give a little to your free shitattorney, so he stays out of this business. As far as possible. Tobe honest, I would say the same. The free pettifoggers are no damngood.”
“So… There may be no dead body at all?”
“Shit if I know. What about the blood? Humanblood? Tom phoned through the private practices and hospitals.Nobody came in with a screwdriver hole. As the matter of fact,nobody of the Chen's age came in with any knife hole or bullet holeyesterday.”
“Too bad.”
“Freaking bad.” He spits again. “If we don'tfind the body, we will have a dead case.”
“And if we find?”
“Also no good. A dead casetoo. The gut-driver has no fingerprints.”
“But Chen himself broughtthe gut-driver tothe Beat!”
“So what? As I said yesterday. If only youand Kate took the written statement! But without it…”
“Kate can state under oath what Victor Chentold her at the Beat.”
“It will not work, Deputy. Shove up your assthe statements of your legless cripple.”
Our Deputy Investigator is very strange. Assoon as you believe you can talk to him in civilized ma
“Hey-yo! Who do ya call a legless cripple?Wa
“Oh, I am so sorry, Deputy,” Woxman backsup.
For a second or two Iponder if I should give him the bloodied nose irrespective of hisapologies. About my ass I'd swallow it with no second thought:we're not at the White House diplomatic reception, and I am not theAmbassador General of the Politically Correct Republic. But why,for God sake, he's called my wife a cripple? Well, Kate has nolegs, so what? The United States are at war with half of the world,so in every third family we have a disabled vet. And talking aboutmy Kate, she is not thatdisabled. On her skateboard she can go fasterthan most people with two good legs. Fetching six gallons of water– on her skate, believe it or not. And all the rest: cleaning,dish-washing, cooking… Well, scratch the last one – the cooking isnot her strong point. But her missing culinary skills have nothingto do with her missing legs. Besides, she is a fellow Policeofficer, Woxman should have some professional respect.
The last hurricane and thefloods – Tan, Kate and I built an improvised raft, and went aroundthe Slum saving kids. Kate got herself the Lifesaving Award instead ofthe Medal of Valor, but only because at that time she was very new to the Police,the second-week trainee, so what. Still, way better than our heroDeputy Woxman, who rescued printers and computers at the Station!And with all the above, my Kate has much better brains that ourbrand-new Deputy Investigator Woxman! Woxman is a damn cripplehimself, no gray matter in the head.
“I can't say how sorry I am, sir,” Woxmanmumbles after an uneasy pause. “I do apologize for my words. It'sso stupid of me to call Kate… legless.”
“For the ‘legless’ you don't need toapologize at all. Kate doesn't mind. How else do you call a personwith no legs? But never ever call her a cripple, OK? Just to besure, could you be so kind to avoid any disability-relateddefinitions in the future? Your apology is accepted.” My tempercools down. We can get by without giving this idiot a bloodiednose.
“I will avoid. No moredisability-related definitions. To be honest, I was a bit upset youtwo did not take the written statement. Unfortunately, Missis KateBowen, with all due respect, could not be the prosecution witness.She could state in the court that Victor Chen appeared at such andsuch time in your Beat office with this particular bloodied rag andthis particular gut-driverin his hand. And whatever Chen was saying to herat that time, any half-competent defense attorney would smash tosmithereens.”
“But Victor Chen told me the same thing, onthe way to his house.”
“The same problem. He told you, he didn'twrite it down. You know what is going to happen? At the trial, Chenwill demand a Mandarin-to-English interpreter. And through theinterpreter he will tell the jury: the Police officers at the Beatmisunderstood me. Due to my poor English! Then the defense willcall you and Kate. Do you speak Mandarin, Deputy Kim? Are youfluent in Mandarin, Missis Bowen? End of the story.”
“And what if Victor Chen did not kill hisfather? What if it was someone else?”
“Who cares? It's a dead case, anyhow.”
Naturally, who cares? Sending an i
So bad there is no cellphone coverage. Would be real nice to call someone and ask foradvice. At the Station they do have some experienced officers: theFBI Special Agent, the Chief Medical Examiner, our sergeants.Even Python Tomwill do. Both Woxman and I have zero experience in the murdercases. It's not like through my five years with the Police I havenot seen any murders, but beat deputies are not to investigate anyserious crimes. Our specialty is armed robberies (strictly with nocasualties), theft, con artists, domestic violence, unlicensedprostitution and drunk misdemeanor. And in the murder cases, ourrole is reduced to mere helpers: to guard the crime scene, tointerview the neighbors, to search for the body – as we do today…Woxman, with his six years of night shifts at the Station, has evenless experience than Tan and I. Presumably, they assigned him tothis case because the case looked like a no-brainer. Two Chinamenhad a family fight. The son stabbed his Dad with a screwdriver andran to the Police with a confession. But the case turned out waymore complicated…
***
The lunch time is approaching, so our searchparty slowly returns to the Patch. We have done everythingimaginable, thoroughly combing the grounds within one and a halfmile radius. The boys look much disappointed: none of them will becleaning my Glock tonight. The body has not been found. As thematter of fact, nothing of importance has been found, despite wehave checked every ditch and every rice paddy, and even poked apole into the communal latrines. As a by-product of the searchexercise, the boys caught two coypu rats and killed one snake. Twofamilies in the Patch-5 will have ‘rabbit’ for di
Woxman stumbles along the dirt path totallydeflated. More than anything he resembles now a ski