The Frame-Up (The Golden Arrow #1)(58)
I shrug and sip my beer. “If you don’t pay no tolls, you don’t get no rolls.” And at his baffled look I set down my beer. It’s time to get Matteo out of here before Latifah comes back. “Sorry. Men in Tights reference. And didn’t you have case developments to discuss?”
He shoots a look over my shoulder to Nina, who is clearly involved in counting her money with the rest of the table to figure out how much they have to tip the performers. He scoots in closer to me and bows his head so he’s closer. To anyone else, it would look like a lovers’ tête-à-tête. I shake off another ridiculous pang of longing over our pretend status.
Matteo doesn’t seem likewise conflicted right now. He’s back to business. “It’s about the suspect with the painted rabbit on his hoodie. He didn’t see the person who did it—dressed all in black except for some sort of cape. We ID’d the suspect, but it took a long time to find any reason the Golden Arrow would have marked him as different. We were looking, but nothing stood out. No priors, clean record, not even a parking ticket.”
“That’s it! He must have help on the inside. No one has a clean parking record in LA.”
Matteo rolls his eyes. “Anyhow, I just finished looking through his family’s records, and I came across something interesting. Do you recognize this name? It’s his father.”
I lean over and glance at the phone screen Matteo has pointed in my direction. “Song Yee?” I ponder this. “No, never heard of him. Yee, is that Korean?”
“His family is from China, all legally immigrated in 2012. Midfifties, married, teenage son named Huong.”
The White Rabbit. I told Detective Rideout and Agent Sosa I thought there was a connection to China. My Spidey sense tingles. It’s more than just a coincidence. I don’t understand the drug part; that’s Matteo’s wheelhouse. Maybe this kid isn’t just a drug dealer. Maybe his family produces the drugs. Ships them in to the dad or the son, who deals it. This would certainly fit the White Rabbit’s story line. Maybe the Golden Arrow has tagged the White Rabbit; maybe it’s that cut-and-dried. Over and done.
“Should I have heard of Song Yee?” I ask. There must be a reason Matteo is asking. Some connection to our case other than China.
“Not necessarily . . . except Song just bought into a printing company. He only owns a small portion, all on the up-and-up. Nothing shady about buying in, but I happened to look into the company’s clients, and—”
“A printing company?” I’m confused.
“Marvelous Printing.”
I sit back and think. My gaze meets Matteo’s as it finally dawns on me. “They print some of our comics. They print The Hooded Falcon.”
A beat filled with hooting, hollering, and “Uptown Funk” stretches between us as I absorb the information. I sit back and take a sip of my now warm beer. I bought it only to nurse something while I watched L, but I really wish it was something stiffer at this point.
“Could this be how the Golden Arrow discovered Yee, or as I’d bet, the White Rabbit?” I ask.
“I hoped your creative genius could figure that out.”
“Flattery will get you everywhere.” I pull off my glasses and tap them on the table while I think. “This has to be what the Golden Arrow knew about Yee’s son. Too coincidental. But I’m still puzzled how this ties in to any of the other stuff. Maybe Huong or his father could simply be the White Rabbit we’re looking for. It’s not exactly like the comics, but they could be importing drugs from their family in China and dealing them out of the warehouse. But . . . how could this kid being a drug dealer relate to the printing of The Hooded Falcon?”
“We questioned him this afternoon—Huong Yee, the son. He’s still in custody and had some interesting information to share in exchange for a plea deal. He told us that there was a cop working with his ring. And he’d give the identity in exchange for us dropping his charges. Not only that, he didn’t think the drugs came from Mexico like Sosa’s theory. We’ve arranged to speak with a judge on his behalf. I’d like you present when we question him again, for the plea deal. We’ve asked Agent Sosa to review the tape of the interview and be present for the next one too. She knows these bigger rings better than I do.”
“The dirty-cop thing plays right into the comic book story line, but how could the Golden Arrow have known that?”
Matteo shrugs. “Maybe he didn’t. Maybe you’re right and the Yees are the White Rabbit, and that’s all he meant to show us. But it sure seems more than a coincidence. The Hooded Falcon crops up yet again.”
I tip the half-empty beer to the side, then let it fall back to the table. What I wouldn’t give for my red ball and a desk wall to think right now. “But that doesn’t make any sense. What does a printing press have to do with the drugs?” My mind works a mile a minute, looking for the thread of the story. Even if one of the Yees is the White Rabbit, neither of them seems old enough to be the same White Rabbit Casey Senior was chasing.
“I don’t know, but we’re going to add surveillance to the printing press until we figure it out.”
Matteo jumps slightly as his phone buzzes in his hand. Frown lines crease his brow as he flips through a message. He shoots me a look, then glances back at his phone.