Cold Silence (A High Stakes Thriller) by Danielle Girard Read Free Book Online Page A

a lot to me." She glanced up at Travis, who nodded.
    "You guys sit down and I'll go make that hot chocolate."
    Cody sat on the stair beside Peter and crossed her hands in her lap. Her every hope was vested in the wide-eyed eight-year-old sitting across from her.
    God help Ryan.

 
     
     
    Chapter 6

     
    It was late on Friday night when Mei Ling answered her line at the Bureau. "Computer Intrusion Squad, this is Mei Ling."
    "Such a mean name," her mother said to her in Cantonese. She meant the name of her squad at the Bureau. Mei couldn't remember a time when her mother called without starting with that same comment. It had been even worse when she'd been in the special Virus Squad. In Chinese custom, speaking about illness was like asking it to strike.
    "Hello, Mother," she responded in English.
    "Why do you talk to your mother that way?"
    Her mother meant in English. "Just busy." She wasn't sure how or why the ritual had started, but with her family she always tried to speak English as much as possible. Each of them spoke some English. Her father spoke the most because he had been an alderman representing their district in the local Chicago government. But they all refused to speak English to her.
    Also, it was awkward to speak Cantonese in the office, especially around Jennifer. Coworkers had told her more than once that it was unnerving when she spoke Cantonese, because it seemed like she was talking about them so they couldn't understand. At least they had told her. Jennifer just complained to their manager every time it happened.
    Her mother was sullen and silent, and Mei knew she could sit on the other end this way forever. It was a no-win situation.
    "How is Baba?" she asked about her father.
    "Mah mai dei la," her mother answered in Cantonese, meaning "so-so."
    Her father would be "so-so" if he were planning to run a marathon the next day. Mei wasn't sure how she'd ever know if they were really sick, the way her mother exaggerated.
    "Is it worse?"
    "Always bad. Always very bad," her mother lamented.
    "Can I bring him something?"
    Her mother harrumphed as though Mei had insulted her ability to care for her husband. "You come to red egg and ginger party for Lai Ching. We're having it this Sunday. Two o'clock."
    It wasn't the first time Mei's mother was throwing a red egg and ginger party, the traditional party for a new mother with a one-month-old baby. Mei could appreciate the party despite the fact that it originally had been celebrated only for boys. The smooth, round shape of the egg represented tranquility and was a symbol of fertility. The ginger, representing yang, warded off evil spirits and complemented the yin of the new mother. Red-tinted hard-boiled eggs and sliced sweet pickled ginger were served at the celebration as symbols of rebirth, good luck, and happiness.
    The party was supposed to mark the first time the mother and child left the home since coming back from the hospital. Lai Ching had wanted to keep with the tradition and had refused to take the baby to her doctor appointments. So Mei had to drag her sister and the baby to her three-day and two-week appointments.
    Like many of the Chinese traditions, keeping a baby at home for a full month struck Mei as ridiculous when it could jeopardize the baby's health.
    "You coming?" Her mother's tone told her this was not a point of negotiation.
    "I plan to come. As long as I don't have a work emergency."
    "You always work. You have no life. You need to stop work and find a good man before it's too late." There was a brief pause, but Mei knew better than to think her mother was finished. "You at work now, you work middle of the night," she added in broken English, as though that might somehow get through to her daughter. "This is your family. Your niece. You must come."
    "Hou a. I'll do my best," she whispered in Cantonese with her hand carefully cupped over the receiver.
    "Perfect. I'll make your favorite— ham yu yok bing."
    Mei wrinkled her nose. The