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  “Have they made a decision on whether they’re going to ask the DA to charge him for that fight?” he asked.

  “Yeah—that’s one of the things I was going to mention. No charges. They finally admitted it was self-defense. I’m glad the whole thing was caught on video. There’s a good chance they would’ve tried to charge him otherwise.”

  “Excellent news. Yes, the video wasn’t pretty, but it showed what we needed it to show.” Not pretty was an understatement. The clip from the jail’s surveillance camera ended with Brandon covered in blood and screaming at a group of thugs, a wicked handmade knife clutched in his hand. His eyes and teeth gleamed white against the shocking red of his face. He looked like an animal. A demon. The sort of person who should be kept locked up forever. “Remind me to never make Brandon mad,” he added.

  “Yeah, well, that’s the second thing I wanted to talk about.”

  The muscles in Nate’s stomach clenched. “What happened?”

  “Nothing yet, but they think he’s violent—and getting more violent. He hasn’t hit any more human beings, but he spends his days beating the crap out of his mattress. The warden’s office is talking about getting him a psychological evaluation, maybe medicating him.”

  Nate remembered the look on Brandon’s face when he walked into the interview room. “I see. What do you suggest that we do?”

  The line was silent for a moment. “I, uh, was hoping you might have some ideas,” she said. “You know him better than I do.”

  “Will they let him meet with people while he’s in ad-seg?”

  “They’ve tried to get him to talk to a social worker and one of the jailhouse chaplains, but he says he’s not interested.”

  “Could we bring in someone from the outside?”

  “Maybe. He’s not being punished, so he should be able to have visitors. Who were you thinking of? His girlfriend? His friends? Jessica?”

  “Have you told her about this yet?” Nate asked.

  “No, I don’t think anyone has.” She paused. “I’m doing that witness interview with her tomorrow, do you want me to tell her then?”

  Nate sighed. “No, I’ll deliver the news. It’s best if it comes from me. I’ll sit down with her after the interview. Maybe she’s the right one to talk to him, maybe not. They’re very close, but she may not be the best choice to get him to open up about something like this. She might have some thoughts on who to try, though.”

  “I hope so,” Sofia said. “He’s not headed in a good direction.”

  CHAPTER 42

  Jessica and Sofia got out of their Uber and stepped gingerly onto a grimy, cracked curb in San Francisco’s Chinatown. They were at the mouth of a narrow alley between two run-down warehouses. The alley was too narrow for the SUV that brought them, which was why the driver had dropped them off here.

  Jessica eyed the alley dubiously. Jade had insisted that they come here if they wanted to talk to the witness she had found, but this didn’t look like a great place for a meeting. The alley was dark and dotted with oily puddles and garbage. Jessica could see men doing something at the far end of the alley, but the light wasn’t good enough to tell how many there were or what they were doing.

  “Are you sure we’re supposed to go in there?” Jessica asked.

  “Yep,” Sofia replied. “I checked it on Google Maps. Jade said we should avoid being seen if possible, so let’s get going.” She strode off into the shadows. Jessica pushed down her qualms and followed.

  Once they were out of the sunlight, Jessica could see that there were several doors on both sides of the alley. Sofia glanced from side to side, squinting at each door they passed.

  When they were about halfway down, a grimy steel door opened and Jade stepped out, wearing jeans and an oversize UC Berkeley sweatshirt. “This way,” she said, pointing inside.

  One of the men stopped what he was doing—which, Jessica now saw, was carrying sacks of something from pallets into a warehouse door. He shouted something at them in a language Jessica didn’t recognize. Then he gave an ugly grin and grabbed his crotch.

  Jade gave him an acid smile and said something in return. The grin vanished from the man’s face, replaced by a startled look. Jade then looked pointedly at his crotch and followed up with another comment.

  The man’s companions started to laugh. He glared at Jade and the muscles in his shoulders and neck bunched. Jade returned his gaze coolly and slipped her hand underneath her sweatshirt, right where a gun might be concealed in the waist of her jeans.

  Sofia quickly walked through the open door and tugged Jessica in after her. Jade brought up the rear and firmly closed the door behind them. There was a heavy bolt on the inside of the door, which she slid home with a clang.

  Jessica turned and found herself in a dingy little office. Her stomach was a tight knot. The encounter with the men outside and the hope of finally meeting someone who might know what really happened to Linc Thomas combined to leave her heart thumping like a trip hammer.

  “Were you followed?” Jade asked, her voice calm and casual.

  “I don’t think so,” Sofia responded. “The only people we saw on our way in were those guys out in the alley. By the way, what did you say to him?”

  Jade gave an impish grin. “He asked whether we were prostitutes here to pleasure them. I told him we were pig castrators. Then I said that we were too late, because he had obviously been castrated already.”

  Sofia laughed. “Thanks. I should take you along the next time I go out clubbing.”

  “My pleasure,” Jade replied. “I’m used to dealing with rude men. Come this way.” She turned and led them through a door into a darkened, windowless room. It held a wobbly table and several unmatched cheap chairs. A translucent, segmented screen surrounded another chair. Behind it, Jessica saw the silhouette of a slender woman, but she couldn’t make out her face.

  “She only speaks Chinese, not English, so I will translate,” Jade said. “Don’t ask her name or try to see her face. If you do, this meeting ends.”

  Sofia nodded her understanding and sat down. Jessica followed suit and took out a notepad and pen. Her main role here was to take notes while Sofia questioned the witness.

  Jade moved around the table to sit next to the mystery woman. “We should begin. She must leave soon.”

  “Okay, let’s get started,” Sofia said. “What does she know about Linc Thomas’s death?”

  Jade translated the question, and the woman responded. Her voice was soft and hesitant, and she sounded young. Jade turned to Sofia and Jessica. “She says she doesn’t know anything about his death, but she did meet him once.”

  Jessica’s excitement ebbed, and the familiar cold sourness of despair began to creep back in. This woman didn’t know anything about Thomas’s death? Then what were they doing here?

  Sofia seemed to have the same questions. “Ah, okay. So, what can she tell us that might be relevant to defending Brandon Ames against charges that he murdered Linc Thomas?” she asked.

  Jade translated the question. A couple of minutes of discussion in Chinese between Jade and the young woman followed. When they finished, Jade turned to Sofia. “She says it’s complicated and has to do with how Lan Long operates. It might be easiest if she simply told you her story.”

  “Go ahead,” Sofia replied.

  Jade nodded and spoke with the woman in the shadows. “She’s giving us her story in pieces so I can translate it. She says she grew up in the Pearl River Delta. Her parents were divorced and both alcoholics, so she left home at sixteen and lived on her own. A couple of years later, she saw an ad for a modeling agency. She went in, and a man and woman took some pictures of her. Then they called her back a couple of weeks later and asked whether she wanted to work in America. She said yes, so they told her to pack and come back in a few days. They would make her travel arrangements. That’s all I’ve got so far.”

  Jessica hastily jotted down notes as Jade and the woman spoke in Chinese again.

>   “She got to the modeling agency with her suitcase and found two other girls there, also with suitcases,” Jade continued. “The woman she met before came in with tea and asked them all to drink it, which they did. The tea tasted funny, and she realized it must be drugged. She tried to get up and leave, but she passed out.”

  Another exchange in Chinese.

  “She woke up in a room somewhere in California, feeling terrible,” Jade said. “Every muscle in her body hurt, she had bed sores, and her skin and hair were dirty and smelled bad. There was a bandage on her arm and needle marks inside her elbow. She thinks she must have been unconscious for weeks.”

  “Huh. So they smuggled the girls in while they were drugged,” Sofia said. “And for it to take that long, it sounds like they used ships. Maybe they put the girls in one of those shipping containers or something.”

  “That makes sense to me too,” Jade said. “Remember that Linc worked in the Port of Oakland.”

  Sofia nodded. “Good point. Okay, sorry for the interruption.”

  Jade and the woman spoke in Chinese again. Then Jade said, “There was a nurse there who checked her and gave her some pills that made her feel better. The nurse wore a mask, and so did everyone else she met at that place. She thinks they were all Chinese, but she isn’t sure. They gave her food and water and let her take a shower. There was also clothing for her. They didn’t treat her badly, but she couldn’t leave the room.”

  “Does she know where the room was?” Sofia asked.

  Jade spoke briefly with the woman, then shook her head. “No windows.”

  “So why does she think she was in California?” Sofia asked.

  After another exchange in Chinese, Jade said, “She spent about a week recovering in that room. Then they gave her makeup, a spandex dress, and high heels. They told her she was going to audition for some Americans. That’s the first time she knew what country she was in. She later learned that she must have been somewhere in the Bay Area the whole time.”

  Sofia nodded. “Okay. I’m not really sure I want to know what happened after that, but why don’t you ask her.”

  Jade sighed. “I think I know what comes next, and it will not be pleasant to hear.”

  Jade turned back to the woman and they talked for several minutes. The woman’s voice started to shake and she stopped for a moment. Jade put a hand on her shoulder and whispered to her. The woman sniffed and went on for another couple of minutes.

  Jade took a deep breath and switched back to English. “They blindfolded her and took her to a vehicle, probably a van or a truck. Then they drove her someplace. It didn’t take more than an hour and she was conscious the whole time, so they couldn’t have gone far. They guided her into a building and took her blindfold off. Then they sent her out onto a stage and turned on some music. There was a bright light on her the whole time and the place was dark, so she didn’t know who was watching her. They told her to walk back and forth on the stage. Then they told her to take off her dress and do the same thing naked, except for the heels. She did it, but she was very scared. Then she heard men talking and realized they were negotiating a price for her. That scared her even more and she started crying. They told her to shut up, but they let her put her dress back on.

  “After that, they told her to leave with another man. He took her to a strip club in Chinatown, which is where she lives now. Some nights, she just dances, but most nights the owner sends men to her room and she has to have sex with them. She and the other girls are only allowed out for an hour once a week. They usually go to buy groceries in the Chinese markets. But today she used her hour to come here, to help you.”

  “Please thank her for us, but . . .” Sofia paused and shook her head “This is terrible. It has to be stopped. What’s the name of that club?”

  “No,” Jade said. “You don’t understand. If the club is raided because of her, she will be punished. Maybe killed. Not right away, but it will happen.”

  Sofia grimaced, but didn’t press the point. “What does any of this have to do with Linc Thomas’s murder?” she asked. “Is the only connection that he worked in the port?”

  Jade spoke with the woman behind the screen. “No. After her first time dancing in the club, the manager came back and told her she would be going on a special date. He gave her a credit card and told her she should pay for everything. He also gave her a nice dress to wear. She understood what a ‘date’ meant by this point, but she was excited because she could get out of the club for the evening and maybe go somewhere nice with an important man. The manager came and got her from her room at around seven o’clock. He took her to the back of the club and introduced her to her date. The man said his name was Linc Thomas. I don’t think she liked him much.”

  Jade questioned the woman for a few minutes, then continued the narrative in English. “No, she didn’t like him. He spoke some Cantonese Chinese, most of it disgusting. He told her he used to be a sailor, and he said he learned the language during trips to Hong Kong and Macau. He took her to a nice Chinese restaurant, where he ate like a pig. Then they went to a bar, where he got drunk and showed her off. After that, he took her back to his apartment. She didn’t go into detail about what happened there, but she never wants to go on a date with someone like him again.”

  Sofia winced. “That’s fine. I don’t want to know the details. I’m sorry she had to go through that. Did she know who was paying for her ‘date’? Whose name was on the credit card, for example?”

  Jade spoke briefly with the woman, then said, “She doesn’t speak English, so she doesn’t know whose name was on the card. She just handed it to the server whenever there was a bill.”

  “We should get the receipts from those places,” Jessica said. “I’ll put that in my notes.”

  “Ooo—good idea!” Sofia said. “Does she remember where they went?”

  After another Chinese chat, Jade said, “She doesn’t know the names, but she remembers what they looked like. They ate dinner at a place with white tablecloths and red china. It had a view of the water, and the decor included the word fa and the number eight. By the way, eight is a lucky number and fa means prosperity. It also sounds like the word for eight in Cantonese. The restaurant had good tea. The bar was American and not as nice. It had a ship theme—pictures of ships on the wall, anchors and ropes on the menu, and things like that.”

  “Thanks, I think I know the place,” Sofia said. “Was the restaurant far from the bar?”

  Jade asked and the woman answered. “About a five-minute drive on city streets.”

  “That should help. Anything else?” Sofia asked. “Anything that might help explain why someone might want to kill him—someone other than one of his ‘dates,’ that is?”

  Jade spoke to the woman again. “While they were driving from the strip club to the restaurant, someone called Linc’s cell phone. He got very angry and yelled at whoever was on the other end of the line. The conversation was in English, so she didn’t understand it, but she did pick out a name: Billy.”

  CHAPTER 43

  Nate sat outside the Inklings café with Jessica, enjoying the spring sunshine. He wore a dark-green shirt, and the sun warmed his back and shoulders, relaxing them like a gentle massage. He also appreciated how the sun brought out the blonde highlights in Jessica’s auburn hair, turning them into glowing gold. And the way her smile gleamed in the fresh light. He liked making her smile.

  Not a bad way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

  “How did the witness interview go?” he asked, turning to business.

  “Pretty well,” she said. “I’m going to type up my notes, but she gave us some good leads. She also helped us understand what we’re up against. It sounds like Linc Thomas was mixed up with some really bad people. Human traffickers. I’ll bet people like that wouldn’t think twice about killing someone.”

  “I don’t doubt it,” he said. “There’s a whole other world full of people like that—and it’s usually invisible to people like
us.”

  She nodded. “I’ve been in San Francisco hundreds of times, and I know Chinatown pretty well—the restaurants, the shops, some of the people who live there. Before yesterday, I never would have guessed that there was an underground sex-slave market there.” She shivered despite the warm sun. “Like you said, it’s an invisible world—but I’m glad I caught a glimpse of it. That girl shouldn’t be invisible. None of them should.” She shook her head. “She sounded young, probably younger than Brandon. I lie awake every night worrying about what’s happening to him—but what she faces each day is much worse than jail.”

  Her compassion moved him. It was one of the many reasons he admired her. “If we find anything the police can use against these traffickers, we’ll turn it over to them. I promise.”

  “Is there any news about the case?” she asked.

  “Not yet. I’ve been focusing on the DNA front while you and Sofia handle the witness interviews. We’re looking at it from all angles. If there’s something there, we’ll find it—and you’ll know as soon as I do.”

  “Thanks, Nate. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your making me part of the team.”

  “You don’t have to—you’ve more than pulled your weight. Though I should be careful about saying that sort of thing or I’ll talk myself out of a free house staging.”

  There was that smile again, warm and vibrant. “Not a chance,” she said. “By the way, how did your meeting with the realtor go? Is that why you’re out in Pleasanton today?”

  That was one of the reasons. He was having trouble bringing himself to talk about the other. “The meeting with the realtor went very well. Thank you for the recommendation.”

  “My pleasure. Amy Winn is terrific. I’ve worked with her at least a dozen times.”

  Might as well bite the bullet. “Say, when was the last time you saw Brandon?”

  “On Sunday. I always stop by the jail after church.”

  “You’ll be seeing him tomorrow, then?” he asked.