Hegin walked out of the kitchen with a fresh bouquet of flowers for Chanyu’s shrine. As Hegin replaced the flowers she spoke to the dead, “My dear brother, we miss you terribly and hope you can forgive us for remaining among the living.” Hegin looked at Chanyu’s picture, his piercing dark eyes, his clear features riding high cheekbones, and his straight black hair. She bowed with knees bent and her hands together in front of her face before she began deliberately and delicately arranging the stems in the vase, pruning leaves and positioning flowers. Hegin thought back to their shared childhood and spoke in a whisper addressing Chanyu’s shrine, “I remember when I was a little girl I’d following you around the house and do what ever you were doing. I adored you. You were my older brother and my mentor growing up with no one higher. I am so happy to grow up and know someone like you exists out there.” She looked again into his picture. “You used to watch over me and Lu going to and from school or out on the town when we got older.” A smile crossed Hegin’s lips. “Dates on motorcycles were my favorite; I’d have my arms strapped around some boy weaving through traffic at mock 2 after midnight and where ever I was heading, you would eventually show up. I would find your face at the edge of a crowd or see your silhouette in the shadow of a doorway and know why you were there. I could count on you my brother. I always felt safe knowing you were nearby to watch over me or to come get me if I needed a ride. I know your spirit will always be with me watching over all of us and hopefully be at peace with what is to come. Know that you are not lost, you are here with us in our hearts and minds forever and it is our honor to guide you to inner peace and your new home. I hope our sister Ji Tun finds you on the other side and can help your passing with the comfort that we all want for you, be at peace.” Hegin lit a stick of incense and placed it in the holder already supporting numerous other burning sticks from other family members good-byes and prayers. The smoke twisted into braids and flowered into a fragrant haze subtly migrating into the parlor creating an inversion layer languidly holding its form where no one dare enter for long. The Won and Cho families mourned Chanyu’s murder and death in their own ways in every other room in the house except where Chanyu last lay. It was out of respect for the dead to give him the finest room in the house and tend to it but not stay in it. Hegin walked into the parlor cutting through the incense smoke as she moved towards the couch. She fluffed the couch pillows and cleaned off all the tabletops removing any orange pollen powder, seeds and pedals that had fallen and straightened the linens before moving back to the shrine to bow again.
Yi and Qi sat quietly playing backgammon with a small group of spectators. Chunwei sat in the living room with the ladies drinking green tea and within reach of the dwindling food trays. Lu, Mother, and some of the Cho daughters were in the kitchen preparing more appetizer trays and steaming meat and vegetable dumplings, a northern Korean delicacy shared on both sides of the imposed DMZ. Won Jie sat at Father’s desk reading family chronicles under a bright desk lamp in the study as Father gathered books and charts for Won Jie to research. Father had begun reciting his fore Father’s names and telling memorized stories about them back into history. Won Jie listened to his father and scanned the pages trying to keep pace with his father’s story but the chronicles were considerably more in depth and he struggled. As the chronicles diverted from Hangul, to Japanese, to Chinese, to various extinct languages, Father explained as the family assimilated into other cultures and family migration evolved. Won Jie didn’t know the other languages before Korean Hangul so Father added more excitement and depth to the stories of his ancestors concentrating on their deeds and how they died whether it be by foe or family. Won Jie recognized the fact that through out the family history there remained a thread of tragic family betrayal where revenge came brutally swift and in some cases sibling bloodlines were erased from the face of the earth in less than humane ways.
When Father’s phone rang he stopped talking and stopped pushing his book cart to reach into his breast pocket to answer it. Reading the in coming call name Father began with a rapid fire approach, “Hello Mr. Madison. How are you? How’s the museum, back to normal I hope? It was good of you to call. What news?”
Won Jie leaned back in his chair and looked after his father listening to his father’s pause waiting for him to respond to the caller but Father said nothing, he just stood there with a phone to his ear. Won Jie took the opportunity to click in his code into his father’s computer and look in on Monica sitting on her bed with two news papers and watching the BBC news coverage of the recent stock market spiral being blamed on the American debt and calling it a ‘market correction’. Won Jie watched her for a few minutes as she flipped through a newspaper until her phone rang in the bathroom. Monica got up and went into the bathroom and answered her phone leaving Rayman’s phone on the bathroom counter out of sight. As she moved back into the bedroom Father Won, pushing his cart, walked up to Won Jie and looked over his shoulder at Monica in her hotel room and said, “I don’t know if that kind of spying is right or wrong. You know where she is so turn it off.”
Won Jie clicked the computer to its home page and swiveled around to face his father. “What did Mr. Madison have to say?”
“Quite a bit. He said that the museum is somewhat back to normal with a lot of speculation and rumors flying loosely around the mysterious murder of your brother and the motive of the assailant. The weather in San Francisco is cold and overcast, threatening to rain, which he says between rumors and rain is bringing in more people. So that’s good news.” Father grabbed another chair and sat down facing his son and continued, “He mentioned that the police found Lyin’s fingerprints on an abandon car on a parallel road behind the Stell ranch house in Driggs. He is suspected of knocking out the policeman with ether, stealing his revolver, burning down Rayman’s house and the possible abduction of Rayman. The policeman’s gun was found on Lyin's body in the ashes. His death was reported as ‘accidental’ for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The police have publically announced that Rayman Stell is presumed alive but his whereabouts are unknown. The police have put his picture in the newspaper and on the television looking for some assistance from the public in locating him. Monica will be contacted soon if not already, that may have been the police on the phone just now calling her.”
“Do you want me to check?” asked Won Jie.
“No. I want you to call her after you get more information and tell her the honest truth. We don’t want to loose whatever trust we’ve built with her. At the end tell her Rayman is here in Seoul.”
“Is he?”
“Yes. Last time I checked he was at the Grand Hyatt. There’s a ‘do not disturb’ sign hanging on his door so we don’t have a visual conformation. It’s possible he’s gone, but he’s still close.”
“Do you want me to send someone to go check on him or pick him up?”
“No, he’s all taken care of. I spoke with him yesterday in the Goreyo Hotel lobby. He was waiting for Monica but they didn’t get to talk because I intercepted them.”
“Why didn’t you take him? If we have both Rayman and Monica, John is sure to make contact.” Won Jie paused thinking and continued, “Wait. I was with you all day yesterday.”
“No you weren’t. Not all day. It doesn’t matter right now, back to your point; we do have them. They are both here in Seoul under surveillance and John will come to Seoul to negotiate for their freedom and life or they will have neither. Rayman is under the impression that John Stell framed him for Chanyu’s murder by leaving the Moguk rubies found at the museum scene as the detective, what’s his name, Dixon, saw at Rayman’s house, which are now missing, as is Rayman. The San Francisco police want Rayman for questioning on the Cho museum murder case and the Idaho police want him for questioning for the activities at his own house in Driggs. What we don’t want is anybody on either side going to jail or prison, they all know too much and they will talk to someone at some time. Part of this plan is your mother’s, she wants a meeting and a truce with the Stell’s; and part of the plan is Rayman’s and mine. Rayman wants to be cleared, Monica wants answers, John wants his family offspring to live, and I want our family keys back from John. Everybody wants something, everybody. The choice has been made, he just has to show up.”
“What do we do in the mean time?”
“I think we have to discuss your future.”
“My future, why?”
“Because Mr. Madison believes that the police are looking for you. You are apparently wanted for questioning for the two technicians murders at the Cho museum. You were seen there by Dixon when he brought the Un Jangdo in for further analysis. They recently questioned Mr. Madison for a second time on his relationship with you and of course our family ties to the museum. He fears an audit. He said this time he was questioned be a detective named Hanna. Madison said he met him when the case started.”
Won Jie nodded and agreed, “Yeah, he’s the cop I spoke to before I identified Chanyu’s body at the morgue before shipping arrangements could be made.”
“Okay, so we are familiar with him.” Father nodded slowly and continued, “In a way, that is good because when it’s time to clean this up there won’t be so many people to deal with. All of this leads me to what I now feel is the right time to explain and warn you. Your loyalty and position with our family is very important. It’s all about secrecy, it’s important to us because there are people looking for the tombs for different reasons, ancient family members, searching for continuity of bloodlines, wealth, even fame. It doesn’t matter the reason.” Father looked into his son eyes trying to emphasize his point and continued, “All this police activity so near to us is bad, it attracts unwanted attention and our enemies are close. I can feel them coming and I need you, all of you, to help me fend them off. Be on your guard at all times. You have to change your methods and lead us back into the shadows.”
“Yes, I know Father.”
“There’s something I want you to do for us.” Father leaned forward, glancing at the entrance of the study and spoke quietly to Won Jie. “After Won Chanyu’s death and all this police business began to unfold and unravel I decided to explain it to the Cho and they set out and smuggled all their keys out of South Korea and locked them in a tunnel vault on their property in North Korea. The keys may actually be in a tomb vault. I say that because the Cho didn’t parted with that one property for hundreds of years until the country was divided. It’s where Grandmother Cho used to live as a child and her grandmother before lived there as well. It would be nice to know why that property is so sacred to them and how they seem to still have some control over it.”
“After all these years, why don’t you just ask them?”
“I don’t want to make them suspicious and I certainly don’t want anything to happen to any of them, I just want to know. I’d think it would be mentioned in their chronicles before we conquered them but I haven’t found anything.”
Won Jie nodded and replied, “I’ll keep an eye out for it.”
“Good, that will keep you busy and out of trouble while we wait for John Stell to arrive. I’m going to get a drink. Do you want one?”
“Yeah, thanks.”
“Scotch and water?”
“No water thanks. Can you make it a double?”
“I’ll bring the bottle. I’ll bring the bar trolley if it’s not being used for something else. I think I’ll invite Qi in to hear about your little legal problem with the San Francisco police.” Father walked out of the study towards the kitchen.
Won Jie slid his fingers through his thick black straight hair and glanced sideways at the computer and groaned out a sigh before going on-line to scour the news coverage in San Francisco of the Moguk Murders and in Driggs Idaho for the latest on the infamous Stell ranch house. Won Jie knew all too well the history of the Stell family was bound to the ranch house and property forever. The ignorant town rumors and suspicions that sprouted and spread over more than a decade had been a steady source of amusement for the Won. Now Rayman had disappeared from the same house and then the house disappeared. At that, Won Jie smiled in disbelief at the thought of the local reporters banging their drums to bring attention to the last twenty years of the Stell Ranch house disappearances and now splashing the story on National television as an ongoing mystery. Won Jie thought of the ramifications of the publicity and knew his father to be of sound mind and intent. The mention of Moguk rubies will bend ears and turn heads. He watched the screen and waited for the best of the worst, when a woman reporter walked up to some random local to get their perspective; he knew it was like calling the ‘hearsay hotline’ and listened to every theory from alien harvesting to the notion that the Stell family owes the devil. The Stell’s were always prayed for at church.
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