“One of my sources for the article on the private money lenders called. I couldn’t give you her name before, but when she contacted me, I asked if it was okay. Stephanie Kwan’s ex-husband owed money to Nguyen’s people and Nguyen used the debt in an attempt to get her to sign over the property. But she knew nothing about the loan. She says she’s received threatening phone calls from Nguyen’s secretary and one from someone claiming to be Nguyen himself but nothing for the past week. On the phone he’d said the next time he spoke with her he’d bring his friends with him. It was an explicit threat. Today her landscaper called while she was at work—she’s a chemist—and said some guys had driven by the house a few times and slowed down specifically to get a look at her property.”

“You think it’s Nguyen?”

“Maybe you should talk to her. She’s called the police, and they said they sent a car over but saw nothing.”

“She’s alright with speaking to me about him?”

“Yes,” says Krista, after a moment.

“I’m not sure I understand why you’d be giving me one of your sources.”

“Usually these guys prey on newcomers and exploit their fears to extort them out of money and their homes. But Stephanie is a force to be reckoned with. She doesn’t take lightly to anyone threatening her, so she was pissed. That previous time, and today, too, when she called to give me the update. I explained to her that you’re looking for some information about a threat to your own safety. Maybe she remembers something she hadn’t before in her conversation with me, I don’t know. I would run this down myself, but—”

“You’re on deadline.”

“That’s right.”

“How did you know there’s a threat to my safety?”

She laughs, but it’s a knowing laugh, one without the least bit of humor. “Nora, I pay attention. It’s my job. You don’t have any obvious tells, but I could see some part of you was worried. Scared, even.” Then she grows serious. “And besides, why else would you be looking into an old gangster like Jimmy Fang? Or trying to use an equally old gangster like Nguyen to get to him? You must be desperate.”

After I take down the address, we end the call. Whisper and I get into the Corolla. There’s no denying that Krista Dennings is right. I am desperate.

I arrive just moments before Stephanie Kwan does. I’m barely out of the car with Whisper when a sensible Subaru Forester rolls up. A middle-aged woman with blondish streaks in her dark hair gets out of the car, hoisting the largest handbag I have ever seen out of the back seat.