His eyes are big. I guess he has never seen so much money. "What if?"
"Anything will do," I said. "If you need me, just call me, okay? Hey, how did you get my number the first time?"
"This is in my mother's address book."
Goodness, mother. Really? You have been monitoring me for seven years, telling others how proud you are, but you can't even make a phone call
I finally gave him one last hug, surprised at how easy it was to dote on him. I thought he was indifferent? Maybe because he is an orphan, so far away from him.
But the truth is, it's really time to go now. I saw the body. I checked the boy. If I stay here any longer, I will risk being caught, or the risk of an outbreak for those family members that I was worried about from the beginning.
So I left my mother's house because I knew I would never see it again.
I whimpered like a baby back to Nashville. I'm sure that Hvin would have called it years of suppressed anger and frustration, all the way to the surface. To make matters worse, I was immersed in everything Rachel and Brinkley said and saw my brother grow up Chéng Rén, I was the one who turned him into a semi-orphan, and my mother might fall in love with me.
This is too much.
I told Kyra that I remembered things in the woods and ignored the part about Gabriel. "When I hired Ellie, she said that we were friends in high school. I recognized her, but not as a good friend of mine for years. I didn't forget what kind of bastard Eddie was, but I forgot her. It doesn't make sense at all."
"You know you have a brain injury," Keira said. "How many years have you died before you saw Ellie again?"
"Five years."
Keira made a gesture that you can go. "Five years of death. Of course, you will forget."
"But why doesn't Ellie tell me we are best friends?"
Keira shrugged. "If you don't remember, she might know it would be weird to mention it."
Somehow, Ellie found me in Nashville, applied for my assistant position, and pretended that nothing happened.
I fell on the chair. "Oh my God, I feel like a bastard. Why didn't she tell me?"
"I believe she has a good explanation," Keira said. "Talk to her when you come back. If you feel you have to apologize, then apologize. Tell her you are brain dead, but you are fine now."
"I want to sleep, when I wake up, poof. Everything is fine."
Kayla took out a pillow from her back seat and handed it to me without turning. When I thought deeply about my thoughts, we fell into silence. Rachel, Brinkley, Gabriel, Ally, Danny, Eddie, my mother, my father, they all played in my mind looping until I dozed off, exhausted and deprived of sleep.
Keira beat me hard. "Fan Fan, wake up."
My eyes first focused on the clock on the dashboard. A few hours later, the outline of the Nashville Centennial Park appeared. The Jǐng car behind us was shining with rotating lights.
"What do you want me to do?" she asked.
I gestured to the ragged face in the mirror. "Have I had a good plan?"
"Good point," she muttered to herself.
Kayla stopped the car and turned on her emergency flashlight. "Damn it. We used to be so close."
"I think we should accept this. I'm too tired to make up stories."
"Anyway, you can't lie," she said. "If they take you away, I will call Ellie and tell her where you are. She can ask her brother what to do."
Kayla was silent. There was a tap on her window. She pressed it down with a button, and a burst of cold air rushed in. Agent Garrison bent down, wearing his usual half-hearted, half-pained expression.
"Can I ask where you ladies are going?" he asked.
"Breakfast," Kayla said. I think it could have been because it was already noon and we were still wearing the clothes we wore the night before. Of course, we look like we are rolling off someone else’s sofa hungry.
"Yes, before you interrogate me, can I have breakfast?" I asked. This is a sincere request. After we left, I only ate food from the gas station—a glass of orange juice and a snack cake filled with sugar.
His eyes narrowed, as if looking at me more closely—my slender hair, fuzzy makeup, and swollen eyes. "We won't delay you for too long."
"I think it means no." I packed my bag.
After waving to Kyla, I slid into the back seat of the Jǐng car effortlessly, but managed to keep my skirt down so that Agent Garrison’s partner did not get a free peep show. Also, I tried not to let the smell of leather and the fact that my door did not open from the inside scared me. God, Eve left me a lifelong scar.
"So, am I finally arrested?"
"It depends on the situation," Garrison said. He stroked his hair with his hand. "About how our discussion at the train station went."
"I solemnly declare that I am a victim here."
They obviously didn't agree with me, and they didn't chat with me before we arrived at the train station. I don't know how anyone can finish their work when there is so much noise. As we passed by, a few Jǐng looked at me. I hope they don’t think I’m a female student, sorry, a worker, a female student with a day-long eyeliner and a bad expression on the face of a female student. Considering that I look very young, they might think that I am a juvenile offender. Except for these few glances, most officers are too busy to even look at them.
Garrison looked at my bag and put my toothbrush in the overhead light, as if that was evidence.
"Have you never been to a club?" I asked. "Girls always bring toothbrushes and underwear in case we go home with others. There is no crime there."
When Garrison returned my bag to me, his partner snorted. He couldn't prove that I left the town, especially because the direction was in Kayla's car, and I gave Danny a large amount of suspicious cash.
Agent Garrison was sitting in the seat opposite me. His big metal table stretched out among us.
He opens a file and clicks his pen once so that the ballpoint pen can be unfolded. That folder is too thick. I leaned over to see who owned it, and he pushed it away.
"Is the entire file on me?" I asked.
He did not answer. But unless I need new eyes, I'm pretty sure that the label above is my name, and some documents are written in Brinkley's handwriting. I have a case. This is what I need to know. Brinkley said he has been monitoring me.
"Where did you go last night, Miss Fan Fan?" Garrison asked.
"When?" I asked.
"Always," his partner said. He is utterly mean, and after that trip, I am not in the mood to hate him.
"Hi, this is Van Van Sullivan," I said, reaching out to him. He jumped back, as if I had burned him. "I am a real person with feelings, so maybe you can treat me as a real person."
Agent Garrison smiled. Wow. It's a pity that I don't have a camera to capture this short-lived miracle. Before his partner could react, his face became calm again.
"Can you give me a cup of coffee?" Garrison asked. His partner walked away without looking at me. I think we disagree that I am a real person.
"Wow, I thought it was too old-fashioned about the good Jǐng chase and bad Jǐng chase," I said. "It's nice to know that some TV shows will tell you this directly."
Garrison put his finger in front of him. "I think humor is your defense mechanism, Ms. Fan Fan."
"I think I already have a therapist issued by Zhèng Fǔ, thank you."
"This conversation will end in one of two ways. Either you cooperate obediently and I will let you out of this building, or if you don't cooperate, I will execute a search warrant."
He tapped a piece of paper next to the document. This certainly caught my attention. Does he really have a search warrant? When they arrested you, weren't they serving them? So what are you waiting for? Or is he bluffing to make me speak
Garrison spoke in a low, cautious tone. "Let me be clear. My only goal is to find out who is responsible for the recent incidents and hold them accountable. However, inter-agency diplomacy is in the final stage. The involvement of detectives like Bob Kings almost Impatient, so I don’t have much time, do you understand?"
I nodded. "Then why do you still work with them? Don't you have your own office?"
"FBRD does not have a Nashville branch," he said. "So I work with what I have. If you refuse to help, we will say lightly that you will not like what happens next."
I tried to recall what Brinkley told me about FBRDFǔBài. If Garrison knew what was going on, why would he feel any pressure
"What do you want? Kill me, get me out? A promotion? A fat check? Why should I believe you want to protect me? How do I know you are not looking for my weakness?"
There was a strange, illegible expression on Garrison's face. "Did Brinkley tell you that FBRD means you will be harmed?"
If I can't lie, there is no need to try.
"What else did he tell you?" He pressed tightly, as if I had already said it. But Bob Kings walked into the main office from the adjacent corridor, holding a Styrofoam cup in his hand.
"You don't want him to hear anything," I said, nodding to Bob Kings.
Garrison's nervous eyes made my skin itchy. I turned my attention to where Bob Kings approached. (To be continued) (End of this chapter)