When Jiro got into his car he took out the papers from the envelope looking everything over one more time. Disregarding the first five dates he had given to Reeve to look further into Jiro found the dates between 2007 January 1 and 2007 June 15 more suspicious.

2007 January 1 - Speeding Ticket, received warning
    ---Officer Hu (speed detector division). Mr. Tian apologized for speeding, said he had spaced out and had not paid attention to the speed the car was going at.

2007 January 5 - Fined $15 for parking on wrong side of road, bailed out Lu Wei Lian
    ---Veteran Li (desk reception in charge of visitors) According to Mr. Tian Lu Wei Lian was a friend   

2007 February 16 - Attempted burglary at pharmacy, released because of misunderstanding
    ---Officer Chen (officer in patrol team) was called. Mr. Tian denied stealing, explained he had bought wrong adult cold medicine and had figured it was alright to take some children medicine in exchange without paying because the adult cold medicine had been more expensive. Officer Chen left him a warning.

2007 June 15 - Warned for suspicious behavior at graveyard
    ---Officer Li (night patrol 4th division) called in when the cemetery janitor noticed two shadows in the dark. When Li arrived only one person was found. Mr. Tian had said he was visiting some of his cousin’s dead children and apologized for the misunderstanding. The janitor reported that Mr. Tian had looked like he was trying to dig something up, Li dismissed this and told the janitor to continue with his job.

If Jiro had a highlighter or a pen he’d wan to take some notes or mark those dates. Jiro hid the envelope in the cartridge in front of the passenger’s seat and drove off. It had taken 15 minutes for him to get to Keven’s place Reeve had marked down for him. It looked more like a dump to Jiro because of where the building was located.

He had to park a block away because the drive had been so narrow it was impossible for his car to make its way through. The building had been molded into shape by cement material. Four windows lined up the building, a set of two overhead on the second floor and another set down below with white curtains blocking  an outsider’s view of the inside. The building was surrounded by dead trees, some to the right, and the rest around it. A large garbage bin sat 8 feet in front of building.

Jiro made his way around the building to find a black gate at the entrance. If he remembered clearly the address Reeve had written down had said Keven lived in apartment number 3. Jiro looked toward the buzzer and pressed on the square white button. No noise came out from it and Jiro wondered if Keven would hear him so he pressed the buzzer two more times. The door finally opened and a round woman with oily hair walked out in a pink running outfit.

“Who are you?” she asked stopping in front of the gate.

“I’m Jiro Wang. Is Keven inside?” Jiro questioned showing his badge just in case.

“There’s no Keven here,” the woman replied, the fat underneath her chin wobbled as she spoke.

Jiro thought for a moment, “Do you know who all lives in this building?”

“What are you nosing around for you smelly cop?” the woman asked.

He was shocked by her sudden spurt of words at him.

“Me and 3 other ladies and their kids.” the woman replied.

Jiro stepped back as if to look at the building more closer then turned to the woman, “May I ask when you moved in?”

The woman seemed to give Jiro a dirty look but replied, “Mid March in 2006.”

Jiro thanked her and apologized for bothering her then headed back to his car. If he had not registered an apartment or house under his name then was Keven living with someone? Jiro sat in his car pondering over the options he had next to choose. Keven was turning 30 in December 6, 2009 which meant he must have moved out of his own home when he had graduated high school or so. Something must have happened 3 or 4 years ago that had made Keven decide he could no longer stay in his apartment. Jiro flipped his phone open and made a quick call.

The door opened and Mr. Tian stood inside welcoming him.

“Sorry for bothering you,” Jiro apologized.

“No problem, come in. My wife is not home right now so I was going to get a drink. Did you want some beer?” Mr. Tian questioned.

“No thanks,” Jiro said.

“Would water be fine then?” asked Mr. Tian.

“Sure.”

Mr. Tian led Jiro into a room with a set of velvet couches and a fireplace in the middle of the wall. This room had pictures of their family. The pictures had come from trips they had taken together and in each one Jiro could see an expressionless girl, Hebe, who was obviously displeased with something.

The home still sent him shivers, but now that he knew those who lived in it better it didn’t feel so cold. Jiro walked toward the window and looked out. The backyard was overgrown with freshly cut grass as the sun shone down upon it. There was a large oak tree in the backyard with a swing tightly tied securely to one of its branches that was hanging out. Jiro could imagine Hebe sitting on the swing when she’d been younger.

“Do you like the scenery?” Mr. Tian asked coming into the room with a cup of water for Jiro and a can of beer for himself.

“It’s nice,” Jiro complimented.

“Hebe would often play by herself in the backyard. Her brother was too absorbed in his own life to even look at her,” Mr. Tian explained.

Jiro took a seat to couch on the left from Mr. Tian. Hebe and her parents seem to express themselves so willingly to him, he began wondering if his presence somehow made them feel comfortable. 

“Since you called earlier I suspect you have some questions for me?” asked Mr. Tian.

Jiro pressed his lips together and nodded, “You’ve described to me before that your son is an aggressive person, but not overly aggressive.”

Mr. Tian nodded, “He’s had troubles since he was young often getting into fights at school because he’s a short tempered boy. He’s not a very patient person.”

Jiro nodded, “I’ve started looking into him and found that he has numerous cases in his records. But I just want to ask you about when he first moved out and 3 years ago.”

Mr. Tian remained very composed and calm, very unlike Hebe.

“He moved out when he was 20. He’d got into an argument with my wife and moved out that night to go stay with a friend.”

“Do you know which friend?”

The lamp in the middle of the room was the only light in the room making everything else so dim Jiro felt as if he was in an interrogation room with the chief.

“No. He had so many friends that he never talked about so I don’t know. He left home that night and never came back.”

“He never did? He didn’t even come back to see his mother?”

“No.” Mr. Tian replied with a solid voice. “But 4 years ago my wife’s mother passed away. I got a hold of him and asked him to return. He did.”

“Nothing happened then?”

“Grandmother left a will,” Mr. Tian explained, “she was a rich woman, but her husband died young. She adored Hebe and because Keven was always so impolite she never had much affection for him. So in her will she gave 75% of her money to her daughter, 20% of her money went to Hebe, and the 5% she gave to Keven. He threw a fit and threatened to rip apart the will, but of course the lawyer was there and he couldn’t do anything about it but take the money. He left and I don’t know where he is anymore. My wife seems to have given up on him.”

So Keven only inherited 5% of the money left behind, but that had nothing to do with why he moved out of his apartment 3 years ago. If Jiro saw him at the wedding the other day then was he still in touch with a family member? 

“Do you know if he is close with any of his cousins?” Jiro questioned. “Or if he’d gone to the wedding this past weekend?”

Mr. Tian shook his head, “He’s changed his phone number so many times I can’t even contact him, so I don’t think he knew about the wedding. But he may be close to Ivan, my wife’s friend’s son. They went to the same school and gained up on a few kids together when they were younger. They’re still in town if you’d like to see them.”

“That’d be very helpful.”

The sun was beginning to drop from where it had been earlier in the sky. Jiro stopped by a shop for some food then headed downtown to where the Zhuo family lived. It was as Mr. Tian had described. The house was at the corner and nobody would pass the house without taking notice of it. Its exteriors were yellow and the front yard was filled with flowers. There was a drive to the left where the garage was located.

Jiro walked toward the white stairs leading to the front door and rang the doorbell. A short woman with a white apron on answered the door. Her curled hair bounced on her shoulders as she looked up at him.

“Is there something wrong? Did my son do anything?” she asked quickly.

“No, that’s not what I came here for,” Jiro said. “By saying that your son isn’t home is he?”

“He’s been out for a week now.” the woman answered.

“Do you have any idea when he’ll be back?” Jiro questioned.

“I’m not sure. He usually comes and goes as he wishes now.”

Jiro thought for a moment, “I’m going to leave you my number so will you please call me if he comes back? I have some very important questions for him.”

The woman nodded as Jiro handed her his number and left.

||||||||

Hebe set down her cup of tea she’d just made and walked toward the door. Was Jiro visiting her? She hadn’t seen him since Saturday. Hebe pulled open the door to find Aaron standing there in a handsom jacket. It’d been a year since she’d last seen him and he still looked the same. His brown hair lying up on his head neatly and his awkward smile. Was she supposed to smile back? All feelings came flushing at her like crazy. Anger, sadness, and love. She had forgotten about him all this while. What place would Jiro take in her heart if Aaron was still there?