Dead Soon Enough: A Juniper Song Mystery (7 page)

“Not like, hiding in a library carrel. I mean
looking
for her, trying to track her down. Sort of like what I do. Am I right?”

Lusig was silent, but she bit her lip in an expression that looked acquiescent.

“Lu?” Rubina nudged with a suggestion of gentleness.

“Okay,” Lusig said. “I’ve been looking for her.”

Anger spread across Rubina’s face. “You’re eight months pregnant! You shouldn’t even be lifting heavy objects, and you’re running around town, piling on physical and mental stress?”

“This is why I didn’t want to tell you. I’m being safe, okay? I’m not actually running, and I’m definitely not lifting any heavy objects. Plus, you want to talk about mental stress? My best friend has been missing for a month. Have you maybe thought that this is how I’m dealing with that?”

Her speech touched and chilled me. I’d started my career as an amateur sleuth, wrapped up in the problems of people I loved. Those people were all dead or dead to me now, and I knew firsthand that I’d taken beatings in search of bad truths.

“I have thought about it. I’ve thought about it constantly, Lu, of course I have. Which is why I have a proposal,” Rubina said. “For both of you.”

I raised an eyebrow.

“Lu, you can’t keep doing this to yourself. It’s too hard on you, and it’s unfair to me.” Lusig started to object again and Rubina stopped her. “Just hear me out. I just told you, didn’t I? Song here is a private investigator.”

My heart rate jumped. I realized I’d been sitting there, quietly, waiting for this.

“I remember. What’s your point?”

Rubina widened her eyes and slumped her shoulders in mild exasperation. “I’m willing to hire her to find Nora.”

Something like ecstasy coursed through my body, a strong and immediate relief from a tension that had built up inside me for days.

“The police haven’t been able to find her. Why would she?”

“And why would you?” Rubina retorted.

“Because I give a shit and no one else seems to.”

“What a terrible thing to say. We’re
all
worried about Nora.”

“Who’s we all? The Armenian collective? They can take kebabs to Mrs. Mkrtchian all day, but it won’t do anything to help Nora.”

“I’m telling you I care. I want her found. I just don’t think you have to be the one to find her. You’re eight months pregnant, Lu, and the baby you’re endangering isn’t even your own.”

“Jesus, I’m well aware of how pregnant I am. And like I said, I’m not endangering anyone’s baby.”

“Please. For my peace of mind. Isn’t that worth anything to you?”

Lusig bit her upper lip as if to seal it shut.

“I know what that’s like,” I cut in.

“What are you talking about?”

“To lose someone and need answers. I can’t tell you how many people I’ve lost.”

“What do you mean, ‘lost’?”

I hesitated. There was no reason to call attention to the specter of murder when there was no body to confirm the worst. “I wasn’t always a PI. I only got my license after I threw myself into something that turned out to be a case. A really personal, debilitating case. So I speak from experience when I say it’s not worth it. You should let me handle it. I’ll listen to whatever you need to say to me, and I’ll keep you posted. Rubina, does this sound okay to you?”

“I don’t expect Lusig to forget Nora is out there. I only want her out of harm’s way.”

I nodded. “Lusig?”

The sound of an engine floated into the kitchen, followed by the rolling rumble of a garage door opening. Rubina and Lusig grew visibly attentive.

“Someone coming home?” I asked.

“That’ll be Van,” said Rubina. “My husband.”

“Does he know about all this?” Lusig swirled her index finger in a way that indicated something distasteful that encompassed my presence.

Rubina opened her mouth, then looked down with a wry smile I hadn’t seen on her before. “I was going to tell him eventually. This day didn’t go exactly as I’d planned.”

She looked up again and met Lusig’s disbelieving eye, and after a tense moment, the two cousins broke down laughing.

“Oh, shit, Ruby,” said Lusig with a mirthful sigh.

“Honey? Is somebody here?” They fell silent under the disruptive call of this masculine voice, directly followed by the entrance of a man.

Van Gasparian was in his late thirties or early forties, with the tired expression of an older man. He kept his black hair short, but I could see it was sparse and speckled with gray. He was tall and wiry, about six-foot-one, even with bad posture. He had dark eyes, dark brows, and a dark complexion, and in spite of evident wear and tear, he was compelling, if not decidedly attractive. I wondered if my assessment was influenced by the knowledge that he operated on brains for a living—I was raised by a Korean immigrant, after all.

His eyes found Lusig and widened in startled surprise, before turning to me with some puzzlement. “What’s going on here?” he asked.

“Hi,” I said, in my second awkward first encounter of the hour. “Juniper Song. You must be Mr. Gasparian.”

“Doctor,” he said.

I smiled. “Sorry, my mistake, Dr. Gasparian.”

“It’s all right. Reflexive, I suppose. It’s just that ‘Mr.’ is inaccurate. Anyway, how do you know my wife and cousin?”

I looked at Rubina. I felt like the voyeuristic producer of some soapy reality show.

“I’m hiring Song to find Nora,” she said. “For the safety of our child, Van.”

Van blinked at his wife, and his face twisted into an incredulous smile. “You’re what?”

“She’s a private detective. She’s been very devoted so far.”

“Let’s talk upstairs,” he said. “Nice to meet you,” he added curtly, glancing back at me. Then he turned around and left the kitchen.

Rubina followed him, leaving me and Lusig sitting at the table. I decided I’d help myself to more coffee.

I walked to the machine and asked, across the kitchen, “Do you want any?”

“No thanks.” She scowled. “No caffeine.”

“Right.” I smiled tightly and walked slowly back to my seat.

She watched me intently while I drank, trying not to avert my eyes. It was another minute before she spoke.

“So you think you can find her, huh?”

“I can’t make any promises,” I said. “I can’t say I’m smarter than the entire LAPD.”

“I sure hope you are. They’re a bunch of fucking losers.”

I shrugged. I didn’t particularly care for the police. Every month it seemed like a cop was Tasering, or pepper-spraying, or raping someone or another. They were definitely frisking minorities every day, sometimes killing them for nothing. But the one police officer I’d ever really dealt with seemed decent enough, and was definitely sharp enough to inspire some confidence. I made a note to call her later, though I doubted she’d want to hear from me.

“What I can tell you is that I’ll stick to the case and it’ll eat me alive if I can’t get to the end of it. I’ll give it every ounce of my attention. No cop can do that. And honestly, no pregnant woman should.”

She grimaced. “Just so you know, I do care about this kid. Ruby’s like a sister to me. Pain in my ass, but I do love her. I wouldn’t endanger her baby. I’m not a monster.”

“You don’t have to be a monster to underestimate your limitations.”

“I know my limitations fine, thanks.”

I shook my head. “Take it from someone who’s lived a bit past where you are. You have no idea what this shit can do to you.”

“What are you, like five minutes older than me?”

“I’ve been down more roads. Look, your best friend is missing. That is fucking awful, and I’m sure you think you’re suffering as much as humanly possible. Want to know what happened to my best friend?”

“What?”

“He was murdered. In cold blood. Trying to help me.”

“Jesus.”

“And I needed to know who did it. That’s kind of how I got into this job.”

“So what happened?”

“I found out.”

“Was it satisfying?”

“Yeah, in a way, but it didn’t bring him back. What it did do, is it almost got me killed.”

“How did it almost get you killed?”

I smirked. “I got kidnapped at gunpoint, so there’s one way. And then instead of waiting around to get clipped, I forced a car crash. I was wrecked, but you should’ve seen the other guy.”

“What happened to him?”

“I stilettoed him in the nuts to get him to lose control, and then the crash kind of brained him. He survived, but not really. He’ll never miss his nuts.”

She stared at me and blinked twice. “If you’re trying to impress me, I guess I’m impressed.”

“Not the point,” I said. “What I’m telling you is that if I’d been pregnant while looking for answers, that baby would’ve left me like a log going over a waterfall.”

“You went after a murderer.”

I nodded. “That’s true. I knew he was dangerous. But honestly, Lusig, what are you looking for here? Do you think it’s likely that Nora is just on a secret vacation?”

She closed her eyes tight. “I don’t know.”

“As long as she’s out there, she could be alive. But we have to acknowledge that she could be dead, or at the very least, in pretty grave danger.”

A bright tear seeped out of her left eye and rested, without falling, at its corner. “I want to find out she’s okay.”

“You can’t control the outcome, Lusig. And you can’t go after it prepared for nothing but the best-case scenario.”

She looked up at me again, and I hoped my expression was as earnest as I felt.

“Let me help,” I said.

The sound of a door opening reached us from upstairs. Whatever argument had taken place behind those doors had been resolved, for now, anyway. Rubina came down alone, looking tired but resolute.

“You’re hired,” she said to me. “On one condition.”

I crossed my arms. “Yes?”

“Not for you, for Lusig.”

Lusig crossed her arms. “What now?”

“You have one more month until delivery. That’s no time at all, but it’s crucial to my baby’s health and safety.”

“And?”

“I want you to live here,” she said. “Until that baby is born, I don’t want you out of my sight.”

Lusig looked like she’d been slapped, and for a second, I thought she was gearing up to let out a scream. Instead, she bolted up, grabbed her purse, and exited the house without another word.

I excused myself after that, and Rubina was shaken enough that she didn’t mind seeing me go. She told me to hold off on my assignment for now, but the admonition wasn’t too strong. I wasn’t about to bill her for legwork, but she couldn’t stop me from continuing the research I’d started on my own time.

Four

I spent the whole weekend watching my phone, waiting for word from Rubina. I tried to keep myself occupied, but my mind went around the case in tight circles. Chaz invited me over for dinner with his family on Saturday night, and Sunday afternoon I took a long walk, looping around the Echo Park Lake and reading about genocide while sitting on a series of benches.

When I came home, I opened my apartment door to a full-on assault of intricate, spicy, mouthwatering smells. Lori was cooking, and I could tell right away that she’d been at it for a while.

I heard the clatter of a wood spoon on the cooktop, and Lori came around and smiled at me while I took off my shoes. “I’m making a lot of stuff,
unni
. I hope you didn’t eat a big lunch.”

“It smells amazing in here. Do you need any help?”

She laughed. “Maybe you can wash the rice? Don’t touch anything else.”

I felt a little bit like the bumbling husband in an outdated sitcom, but it was true that cooking was not one of my talents. Lori had tried to teach me, but she was in the unfortunate position of having to eat whatever I made. It didn’t take too long for her to abandon her zeal for instruction.

Washing rice I could handle. No discretion, no chopping, no real room for error. Just cold water and a lot of rinsing, letting whatever impurities clung to the grains fall off, turning the pot water a murky off-white.

I set to work and watched her cast her eyes over several active pots with intense concentration. I could tell she felt me looking at her, and I knew right away that she was pretending not to notice. She had something to say to me.

I put the washed rice in the cooker and opened the fridge. “Do you want a beer?” I asked.

She shook her head. “I got some chardonnay. We can open that if you want.”

I scrunched my lips and nodded. I’d offered her beer as a formality; Lori didn’t drink casually at home.

I poured out two glasses of wine and handed one to her. She took a big sip and smiled at me when she saw me looking.

I laughed. “What’s going on, Lori?”

“Nothing,” she said. “Do I need a special reason to make all of your favorite foods?”

I looked at the stovetop and saw that every pot held one of Lori’s greatest hits. She was a master chef of Korean comfort food, and she must have been standing there for hours, braising beef and prepping stews.

“Is it something bad?” I asked, sitting down at the kitchen table. “Should I get out the hard stuff?”

“No, nothing bad,” she said quickly. “Here, dinner will be ready in like half an hour. You can relax until I’m ready.”

I shrugged and went to my room, where I read in bed with my drink in hand. I finished the glass and picked up a refill.

When I wandered back out, she was setting the table, and I helped her carry a dozen plates and pots from the kitchen. There was enough food for a dorm full of Korean girls, and it crowded the table until I worried it might collapse.

I handed Lori a pair of chopsticks, and she took it with a sad smile.

“Okay, Lori, I can’t take this. What do you need to tell me?”

She shook her head and raised her left hand to her head, tucking her hair behind her ear with a slow, delicate movement. A movement that showed off the glint of a diamond.

I put my chopsticks down. “Oh my God.”

Her smile widened into a blushing grin. “I was wondering when you were going to notice.”

“When did this happen?”

“Last night. He took me to dinner and proposed at the restaurant.”