Chapter 8 Questions Without Answers #2
Terrence glanced at him.
"Questions don't answer themselves."
Little Chinatown looked different in the afternoon.
The neighborhood had changed over the years.
Some businesses remained.
Others had been replaced by trendy cafés, new apartment complexes, and storefronts with signs written in both English and Chinese.
Yet certain corners seemed frozen in Tan's memory.
He recognized them without understanding how.
A narrow alley made his stomach tighten.
A red awning gave him an unexpected flash of his mother holding his hand.
The sound of metal shutters rolling downward caused his heart to race.
Terrence noticed everything.
"You want to turn around?"
"No."
"You don't have to prove anything."
"I'm not."
Tan looked through the window.
"I need to know."
Terrence nodded.
They parked near a small market.
The handwritten sign above the door read Golden Harmony Grocery.
"This wasn't here before," Tan said.
"No."
"So why this place?"
"I've talked to the owner twice."
"He knows me?"
"He knows the Lee name."
Tan looked at his father.
"And now he's gonna talk?"
"We're about to find out."
Inside, shelves were packed tightly with vegetables, tea, noodles, spices, dried herbs, and imported candies.
A bell chimed above the door.
An older Asian man stood behind the counter reading a newspaper.
He looked up.
The moment he saw Terrence, his expression hardened.
"Officer."
"Mr. Huang."
The man's eyes moved toward Tan.
He froze.
Terrence noticed.
"This is my son."
Mr. Huang stared.
Tan became uncomfortable.
Finally the older man spoke.
"You look like your mother."
Tan forgot how to breathe.
Terrence stepped forward.
"You knew her?"
Mr. Huang immediately looked away.
"I said too much."
"No."
Tan's voice came quickly.
"You said I look like my mother."
Mr. Huang continued arranging receipts.
"Please leave."
Tan moved toward the counter.
"What was her name?"
"Boy—"
"Was it Mei?"
Mr. Huang's hands stopped.
Tan's heart pounded.
"Mei Chen?"
The older man closed his eyes.
Terrence kept his voice calm.
"We aren't here to cause trouble."
Mr. Huang laughed bitterly.
"You bring police badge and say no trouble."
"I'm not here officially."
"Always police."
"I'm here as his father."
That got his attention.
Mr. Huang looked at Terrence for a long moment.
Then at Tan.
"You adopted him."
"Yes."
"You treat him well?"
Terrence's jaw tightened.
"He's my son."
Mr. Huang nodded slowly.
"Then protect him."
"From what?"
The older man didn't answer.
Tan stepped closer.
"Please."
Something in his voice changed Mr. Huang's expression.
He studied the boy.
"I remember your mother."
Tan's eyes filled.
"What was she like?"
Mr. Huang looked toward the door.
No customers.
He lowered his voice.
"Beautiful."
A tiny smile appeared.
"Very stubborn."
Tan laughed unexpectedly.
"Mom says I'm stubborn."
Mr. Huang almost smiled.
"Then maybe you get from both."
"Both?"
The older man's smile vanished.
Terrence caught it.
"You knew his father too."
Mr. Huang backed away.
"I cannot."
"You just said—"
"No."
His fear returned quickly.
"Your mother worked sometimes in family market."
Tan's heart raced.
"Lee's Golden Dragon?"
Mr. Huang stared.
"You remember?"
"A little."
"Yes."
He nodded.
"Your grandfather owned many businesses."
Terrence frowned.
"How many?"
Mr. Huang ignored him.
Tan continued.
"What was my grandfather's name?"
The older man hesitated.
"Bao Lee."
Tan repeated it.
"Bao."
The name stirred something inside him.
A vague memory.
A stern face.
A powerful voice.
The gold dragon ring.
"Did he have a ring?"
Mr. Huang's face drained of color.
Tan noticed.
"A gold dragon."
The older man stepped backward.
"We finish."
"What?"
"No more."
"Mr. Huang—"
"Go."
Terrence saw panic now.
Not reluctance.
Terror.
"Who are you afraid of?"
Mr. Huang looked toward the security camera mounted above the register.
Then toward the front window.
"Take your son."
Tan became frustrated.
"You knew my mom!"
Mr. Huang whispered sharply,
"And knowing her brought trouble."
Tan froze.
Terrence stepped between them slightly.
"What does that mean?"
Mr. Huang shook his head.
"I say nothing else."
"Is she alive?"
Tan asked.
The question stopped everyone.
Mr. Huang looked at him.
Pain entered his eyes.
"I don't know."
Tan swallowed.
"My dad?"
Silence.
"My brother Jin?"
Mr. Huang's expression changed again.
That reaction was enough.
"You know Jin."
Mr. Huang turned away.
Tan followed.
"Is he alive?"
"I don't know."
"You're lying."
Terrence put a hand on Tan's shoulder.
"Easy."
"No!"
Tan pulled away.
"He knows something!"
Mr. Huang's voice hardened.
"Your brother was different."
Tan stopped.
"Different how?"
The older man regretted the words immediately.
"Tell me."
"He wanted what your father had."
Terrence became completely still.
"What did his father have?"
Mr. Huang looked toward Terrence.
"Power."
The single word changed the room.
Tan stared.
"My dad had power?"
Mr. Huang sighed.
"Your family was not poor."
"But we lived over a market."
"People with money sometimes live where they choose."
Terrence stepped closer.
"Was the Lee family involved in organized crime?"
Mr. Huang's eyes sharpened.
"I did not say that."
"You didn't have to."
"I said nothing."
"You said his grandfather owned multiple businesses. His father had power. People are terrified of the family name."
Mr. Huang pointed toward the door.
"Leave."
Tan didn't move.
"What did Jin want?"
Mr. Huang looked at him.
Then whispered,
"To be chosen."
"Chosen for what?"
"I don't know."
"You're lying again."
"Tan."
Terrence's voice was firmer this time.
His son looked at him.
"Enough."
"But—"
"We got more today than we've gotten in eight years."
Tan clenched his jaw.
Terrence looked toward Mr. Huang.
"Thank you."
The older man didn't answer.
Terrence started walking toward the door.
Tan reluctantly followed.
Just before they reached it—
"Officer."
Terrence turned.
Mr. Huang stood behind the counter.
"If you love boy..."
He looked directly at Tan.
"...do not let Lee family know where he is."
A chill moved through Terrence.
"Why?"
Mr. Huang shook his head.
"Because some families search for lost children from love."
His voice became almost inaudible.
"Others search because of what the child owns."
Then he disappeared through a doorway behind the counter.
Tan didn't speak until they reached the car.
He slammed the passenger door.
"What does that mean?"
Terrence started the engine.
"I don't know."
"He said what I own."
"I heard him."
"I don't own anything."
"I know."
"I'm thirteen."
"I know."
Tan pulled at the seat belt angrily.
"So what was he talking about?"
"Tan, I don't know."
"There it is again."
Terrence looked at him.
"What?"
"I don't know."
Tan laughed bitterly.
"Everybody don't know."
"The government don't know."
"CPS didn't know."
"You don't know."
"That man knows but he ain't telling."
His voice cracked.
"How can my whole life be everybody not knowing?"
Terrence turned off the car.
Tan stared straight ahead.
Terrence waited.
Then quietly said,
"I know one thing."
Tan didn't answer.
"I know the day I found you."
"You were five years old."
"You were hungry, scared, and standing in the middle of traffic."
"I know I carried you to safety."
"I know your mother—Eva—sat beside you in that hospital until CPS arrived."
"I know Travis made you share a bedroom fort three days after you moved in."
A reluctant smile twitched at Tan's mouth.
Terrence continued.
"I know Ella cried when you started kindergarten because she thought you weren't coming home."
Tan looked down.
"I know Grandma still hides extra cobbler for you."
"I know Grandpa tells everybody you're the only grandkid who knows how to hold a flashlight correctly."
Tan laughed quietly.
"And I know..."
Terrence's voice softened.
"...you are my son."
Tan looked at him.
"Everything else?"
He shrugged.
"We'll find what we can."
"But never let the answers you don't have convince you that the life you do have isn't real."
Tan's anger weakened.
"I just wanna know who I am."
Terrence reached over and touched the back of his neck.
"I understand."
"No, you don't."
Terrence paused.
Tan immediately regretted saying it.
"Dad—"
"No."
Terrence nodded.
"You're right."
Tan looked surprised.
"I don't know what it's like to lose your first family."
"I don't know what it's like to be raised by people who don't look like me."
"I don't know what it feels like to wonder whether your brother abandoned you or died trying to get back to you."
Tan's eyes lowered.
"So you're right."
"I can't understand all of it."
He squeezed his son's shoulder.
"But I can stand beside you while you figure it out."
Tan wiped his face.
"Even if my family really was criminals?"
Terrence didn't hesitate.
"Especially then."
"Why?"
"Because that's when you'd need me most."
That night, the David dining room became an unofficial investigation room.
Eva wasn't pleased.
"You two went where?"
"Little Chinatown."
"Without telling me?"
Terrence raised both hands.
"I told you we were going out."
"You said field trip."
"It was technically accurate."
Eva stared at him.
Tan tried not to laugh.
"This is not funny."
"Sorry, Mama."
Her expression softened slightly.
Terrence gave Tan a grateful look.
Coward.
Tan's smile said he knew exactly what he'd done.
Travis came downstairs.
"Why is everybody sitting at the table?"
"Family meeting," Eva said.
"Am I in trouble?"
"No."
"Then I'm going back upstairs."
"Sit down."
Travis sighed.
Ella wandered in behind him.
"What's happening?"
Soon all five Davids sat around the table.
Terrence told them what Mr. Huang had revealed.
Bao Lee.
The family businesses.
The suggestion that Tan's biological father had influence.
Jin's desire to be "chosen."
And the warning about whatever Tan supposedly owned.
Travis looked fascinated.
"Hold up."
He pointed at Tan.
"You might be rich?"
Eva immediately looked at him.
"That's what you got from this?"
"I'm fourteen."
"Fair point," Terrence muttered.
Eva glared at her husband.
Tan laughed.
Ella looked at Tan.
"If you're rich, can I have a horse?"
"No."
"Why?"
"Because I don't know if I'm rich."