The Pendulum by Larry Darter

Author:Larry Darter [Larry Darter]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Larry Darter
Published: 2022-03-07T00:00:00+00:00

After merging onto the 101, it took less than fifteen minutes for the detectives to travel from the Boyle Heights neighborhood to Nguyen’s apartment on North Hill Place in Chinatown.

The greater Los Angeles area is home to the largest population of Vietnamese outside of Vietnam. About two-thirds of the metropolis’s population lives in Orange County—home to the nation’s oldest and largest enclave, Little Saigon. On the other hand, Los Angeles County is home to a Vietnamese-American population less than half that of Orange County. With the waves of Vietnamese migration to the United States following passage of the United States Refugee Act of 1980, Chinatown became a magnet for Vietnamese refugees, particularly those of Chinese extraction.

The building was a plain beige four-story concrete structure. There was no fence for the detectives to deal with this time, but the front door had a security lock. Before Ruiz punched buttons on the call box beside to door to get them buzzed inside, a young Asian woman came out the door. Drew grabbed the door before it closed. The woman immediately glanced at him with suspicion and disapproval, but then seemed to recognize from their manner and dress that Drew and Ruiz were cops. She dropped her eyes and hurried away as the detectives entered the lobby. They took the elevator to the third floor and quickly located Nguyen’s apartment.

Drew knocked on the door. A few moments later, a smiling young Asian male of average height opened the door. He wore a dark blue sweatshirt over denim jeans. His medium-length fade haircut had a long top that was brushed to the side and extremely short sides. A silver curved barbell hung from the man’s pierced septum. Drew immediately recognized Billy Nguyen from the driver’s license photo image on his phone.

Maybe to avoid a repeat of Drew’s behavior with Delgado, Ruiz took the lead.

“Mr. Nguyen, I’m Detective Ruiz, and this is my partner, Detective Drew,” she said quickly. “We’d like to ask you a few questions. May we come in?”

Nguyen’s smile had quickly vanished after he had opened the door, a frown replacing it.

“What’s this about?” Nguyen said, without inviting the detectives inside.

“We understand you may know someone we’re looking for in connection with a case we’re working,” Ruiz said. “We won’t take more than five minutes of your time.”

“What kind of case?”

“If we can step inside, we’ll explain everything,” Ruiz said.

“I do not snitch,” Nguyen said, prompting Drew to take a more direct approach.

“Mr. Nguyen, we’re homicide detectives from West Bureau,” Drew said. “We know you’re acquainted with the person we’re looking for, a Russian guy with very pale skin. If you tell us what we need to know, we can take care of this in five minutes right here and leave you alone. Otherwise, we’ll haul you across town to West Bureau, and we’ll talk there. When we’re finished with you, then you can find your own way back here.”

Nguyen stared at Drew for a long moment, then with reluctance, opened the door wider and stepped back, allowing the detectives to enter.

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