Aces and Knaves

wall.
    The door at the top of the stairs opened, letting out welcome light from the room beyond. In the doorway stood a small woman with short, dark hair and bangs, wearing a skirt and blouse. I couldn't see her face clearly because her back was to the light, but it was round and could be Asian. The sound of opera emanated from beyond the doorway, featuring a man and woman dueling with their exquisite voices.
    "How did you find me?" the woman asked as I climbed the steps toward her.
    "Uh, it's a long story," I said, "but James didn't give me your name, if that's what you're thinking."
    "I wouldn't expect him to," the woman said, holding the door open so I could precede her inside. "He wouldn't want to identify anyone who could bring him into this."
    That was an interesting statement. I walked into a beautifully decorated room, with expensive furniture and trappings. The voices of the opera singers filled the parts of the room not occupied by furniture.
    "I'll turn that down," the woman said, going over to a cabinet and twisting a button on an amplifier. "Would you like some tea, Mr. umm..."
    "Patterson. Yes, if it's no trouble. And you are Flora Sung?"
    "I am she." She gave me a smile that lit up her face and then disappeared into the next room. Her small size tempted one to describe her as cute, a word that is overused, but in her case it fit. I guessed that her age placed her in the same generation with Ned and James.
    When she returned she caught me looking at a somewhat abstract painting on the wall.
    "That's a Joan Miro original," she said. "I bought it one time when I was feeling giddy."
    She ushered me to a seat on a large sofa, sat down beside me and poured tea into china cups.
    "So, do the police know about me?" she asked.
    "No...that is, I don't think so."
    "Are you going to tell them?"
    That was a stumper. "I...don't expect to," I said, hedging a little.
    "Well, you're a nice looking boy so I hope I can trust you. Tell me how you knew Ned." Her voice had a musical sound now that she had accepted me.
    "He worked with my father, Richard Patterson."
    "Oh, that Patterson. I thought your name sounded familiar." She looked at my face with her dark eyes. "Yes, you do resemble your father."
    "So you know him."
    "I've met him a couple of times. And I own some stock in Dionysus. Tell me, has he recovered from his stroke?"
    "Er, yes," I said, caught off guard. "He's back at work. Ms. Sung, I wanted to ask you about the night Ned died. I heard that he might have come here before he was shot, to get a gun."
    "My, you're just a fountain of information, aren't you?" Ms. Sung said, looking at me with surprise. "Tell me what else you know."
    "That's all."
    "That's a relief. For a minute there I thought you were going to tell me my life story. The gun actually belonged to Ned. He insisted that I keep it to defend myself because I live alone. But I can't picture myself ever shooting anyone."
    Ms. Sung stopped talking and sipped her tea. I didn't say anything, hoping she'd continue.
    "I don't think Ned intended to take the gun when he first arrived," she said, and then apparently rethinking the way that sounded, continued, "I've known Ned almost forever. James, too. Anyway, the phone rang and I answered it. It was a woman who said she had a message for Ned from James, or Mr. Buchanan, as she called him. I thought that was strange because, as you know if you know James at all, he surrounds himself with young, good-looking men like yourself."
    "But he does have a woman receptionist."
    "Anyway, I gave the phone to Ned. He talked for a minute, then hung up and asked me for the gun. Naturally, I was concerned so I asked him why he wanted it. He said James wanted to meet him in a questionable part of town so he felt safer carrying the gun. He said he would return it later in the evening." Her voice faltered when she said the last.
    "But you didn't see him again."
    "No." Softly.
    "Do you know what time that was?"
    "A little before nine, I think."
    "Did Ned say why he was meeting James?"
    "They had been talking together about a possible takeover of Dionysus by Tartan, James' company. Ned would have become CEO of Dionysus. Your father would have been out but he would have been left financially well off so I didn't feel too sorry for him. But then Ned had a change of heart and decided he didn't want to team up with James again. I think he was going to tell James this."
    "You know more about what Ned was doing than his wife," I