9 Dragons

Miami Beach Garden Estates.
    “The address is on the sixth floor,” Sun said after double-checking the Chungking Mansions registration form.
    “Park it and we’ll go up.”
    Sun nodded and pulled past the building. At the next intersection he made a U-turn and drove back, pulling to the curb in front of a playground that was surrounded by a ten-foot fence and crowded inside with children and their mothers. Bosch knew he had parked there as an edge against having the car stolen or vandalized while they left it alone.
    They got out and walked along the fence line until turning left toward the entrance to the building.
    The tunnel was lined on both sides with mailboxes, most of which had popped locks and small graffiti insignias scrawled on them. The passageway led to a bank of elevators where two women holding the hands of small children waited. They paid no mind to Sun and Bosch. A security guard sat behind a tiny counter but never looked up from his newspaper.
    Bosch and Sun followed the women onto the elevator. One of the women inserted a key at the bottom of the control board and then pushed two buttons. Before she pulled the key Sun quickly reached over and hit the 6 button.
    The first stop was on six. Sun and Bosch moved down the walkway to the third door on the left side of the building. Bosch noticed that against the railing in front of the door of the next apartment down was a small altar with an ash can that was still smoking following a sacrifice to the hungry ghosts. The odor of burnt plastic was in the air.
    Bosch took a position to the right of the door where Sun had stopped. He swung his arm back underneath his coat and gripped the handgun but didn’t pull it. He felt the clotted blood in the wound on his arm break free with the movement. He was going to start bleeding again.
    Sun looked at him and Bosch nodded that he was ready. Sun knocked on the door and they waited.
    No one answered.
    He knocked again. This time louder.
    They waited again. Bosch glanced out over the playground to the Mercedes and saw that so far it had been left alone.
    No one answered.
    Sun finally stepped back away from the door.
    “What do you wish to do?”
    Bosch looked down at the smoking ash can thirty feet away.
    “There’s somebody home next door. Let’s ask them if they’ve seen this guy around.”
    Sun led the way and knocked on the next door. This time it was opened. A small woman of about sixty peeked out. Sun nodded and smiled and spoke to her in Chinese. Soon the woman relaxed and opened the door a little bit wider. Sun kept talking and soon after that she opened it all the way and stood aside so they could enter.
    As Bosch stepped over the threshold Sun whispered to him.
    “Five hundred Hong Kong dollars. I promised her.”
    “No problem.”
    It was a small two-room apartment. The first room served as kitchen, dining room and living room. It was sparely furnished and smelled like hot cooking oil. Bosch peeled five hundred-dollar bills off his roll without taking it out of his pocket. He put the bills under a dish of salt that was on the kitchen table. He then pulled out a chair and sat down.
    Sun remained standing and so did the woman. He continued his conversation in Chinese, pointing at Bosch for a moment. Bosch nodded and smiled and acted like he knew what was being said.
    Three minutes went by and then Sun broke off the interview so he could summarize for Bosch.
    “She is Fengyi Mai. She lives here alone. She said she has not seen Peng Qingcai since yesterday morning. He lives next door with his mother and his younger sister. She has not seen them either. But she heard them yesterday afternoon. Through the wall.”
    “How old is Peng Qingcai?”
    Sun communicated the question and then translated the response.
    “She thinks he is eighteen. He doesn’t go to school anymore.”
    “What’s his sister’s name?”
    Another back and forth and then Sun reported that the sister’s name was He. But he didn’t pronounce it the way Harry’s daughter had.
    Bosch thought about all of this for a few moments before asking the next question.
    “She’s sure it was yesterday that she saw him? Saturday morning? What was he doing?”
    While Bosch waited for the translation he watched the woman closely. She had maintained good eye contact with Sun during the earlier questions but she began looking away while answering the latest questions.
    “She is sure,” Sun said. “She heard a sound outside her door