Page 60 of Things We Do in the Dark
“And what does that pay?”
Very direct. “Not as much as I’d like.” Drew keeps his tone light. “But enough to eat and pay my mortgage.”
“Hmmm,” Tranh says. “So it’s more like a monetized hobby, then?”
Drew stiffens but doesn’t reply. It’s not the first time he’s heard it.
“You have a master’s in journalism, right? And then you worked atToronto After Darkfor fifteen years, until it folded?”
Uh-oh. “Yes, I did.”
Tranh nods. “You did a series on all the Chinatown gangs. It was an interesting read. I knew some of those boys when I still lived in that area. You seemed to have a lot of inside information. Who gave it to you?”
Drew smiles. “I never reveal my sources.”
“What if I paid you a hundred grand? Cash? Right now?”
Surprised, Drew laughs. That was a first. “Tempting. But still, I can’t.”
“That’s too bad.” Tranh’s eyes fix on Drew’s. “I would have liked to know who talked to you.”
“So is this your way of confirming that you’re part of the Blood Brothers, one of the gangs I wrote about?”
It’s Tranh’s turn to smile. When he does, he looks like a teenager. “The BB weren’t a gang. More like, you know… a monetized hobby.”
Drew can’t help but laugh.
There’s a knock on the office door, and the same tiny woman from earlier brings in a tray. She sets down a pot of green tea, two teacups, and a plate of brown cookies.
“This is my mother,” Tranh says. “She makes the best cinnamon-sugar cookies, an old family recipe. Try one.”
Drew is not a cookie person and has never had much of a sweet tooth. But both the old woman and Tranh are looking at him expectantly, so he takes a cookie and bites into it.
“Delicious,” he says, and means it.
“C?m on,” she says with a smile, then leaves.
Tranh pours them both tea and settles back into his chair. “So. If I understand correctly, you’re here to talk to me about someoneImight know, who dated a woman that was friends with someoneyouused to know. Do I have that right?”
“I know that’s vague—”
“Exceptionally.”
“A good friend of mine died in a house fire a long time ago,” Drew says. “Her name was Joey. The fire was supposedly accidental, but there are a few things I’ve learned recently that suggest it might not have been an accident at all. But the woman who might know more about it has been missing for nearly twenty years. And this missing woman might have dated someone you know.”
“What’s her name?”
“That, I don’t know. She was a dancer at a strip club called the Golden Cherry. Her stage name was Betty Savage, and her boyfriend was someone in the Blood Brothers.”
If any of this is ringing a bell for Tranh, he’s not letting on. “And you need me to do what, exactly?”
“I’m hoping you’ll tell me whoheis, so I can figure out who Betty Savage is, so I can find out where she is, and talk to her.”
A small smile. “Do you have a photo of this Betty Savage?”
Drew pulls out his phone. He taps on the photo he sent to Sergeant McKinley earlier, and enlarges it so only Betty is showing on the screen. He hands Tranh his phone.
Tranh examines it closely. “Oh yes. I remember her. That’s Mae. I don’t recall if I ever knew her last name, but I did meet her a few times.”
