Stealing Time

N

anci Hua knew Lin's boss was lying to her, and she had her suspicions why. But whatever the story, she had to find Lin. She walked around the neighborhood asking people she knew, old friends and shopkeepers, if they'd seen Lin. Nobody had seen her since yesterday, when she'd been observed by many people, sitting on the curb with her pink laundry basket filled with clothes. After her brief encounter with Nancy and Milton, she'd disappeared. Nanci figured Lin must have gone home. Much as she hated to do it, she broke down and went to the apartment on Essex Street where Lin lived.

Only one ignorant Lao woman was there, and she seemed surprised to see Nanci at the door.

"Where's my cousin?" Nanci tried to go inside, but the Lao woman blocked the door. Not very polite.

"Not here."

"Where is she?"

"Hospital."

Nanci's eyes popped. "What hospital?"

The woman looked at her pretty jacket and skirt and didn't answer.

"What's wrong with her?" Nanci demanded.

"She has a cold." The woman looked at the diamond engagement ring on Nanci's finger, at her gold watch.

"She went to the hospital for a cold? You mean she went to the clinic." Nanci calmed herself. The clinic. She could find her there. "What time did she go?"

"Yesterday."

Nanci thought she must have misunderstood. The woman's speech was slurred, and she looked frightened as she repeated herself.

"You mean today. She went today, this morning."

"Okay, today. She maybe very sick," the woman offered shyly.

"Oh, my God. What hospital, Beekman?" Now Nanci was upset because she was being made to stand out in the hall. The woman wouldn't let her come into the apartment and wouldn't tell her what hospital Lin had gone to. She'd dealt with people like this many times before and never gotten angry. Anger was not helpful when people were ignorant and frightened. Nanci usually had a lot of patience, but not now. Her voice shook with fury. "Why didn't you call me? I'm her only relative. You should know better," she scolded. The woman kept looking stupidly at Nanci's ring finger. Nanci wondered if there was something wrong with her. "Who took her to the hospital? You?"

The silence was thick; then the Lao woman shook her head.

"Well, who then? Her boyfriend?"

"No have boyfriend."

"Yes, she did." But Nanci didn't want to argue the point. The talking going on inside the apartment got louder. Suddenly the Lao woman turned around to join in the conversation behind her. Something about her placating tone of voice made Nanci think she had a boyfriend, too.

"A lady came and took her to the hospital," she said after some discussion.

"What lady?" Nanci demanded. She didn't believe a word of it.

"I don't know her name. Nice lady."

"Why?" Nanci was losing it.

The woman turned around again, conferred with someone behind her.

"Who was the lady? A young lady, an old lady, a social worker, a friend, who?"

"Yes, friend."

"What did she say?"

"Lin was sick at work again. Went home early yesterday. Nice lady. She want to take Lin to hospital."

"So she took Lin to the hospital?" The light went on. This must be Annie Lee the woman was talking about.

"Yes. Second time." Lao seemed to be nervous about this.

"She went to the hospital before?" Nanci was angry at herself for not knowing this. But there were a lot of things she didn't know. Of course, Lin had gone to the hospital. Nanci felt worse and worse. "She has more than a cold, doesn't she?"

"Just bad cold," the woman insisted.

"Okay, that's fine. You're not a help."

"Yes, I help. I took good care of her, save her life many times," the woman said indignantly.

"Then why didn't

you

take her to the hospital?" Nanci demanded.

"She had her friend. Her friend take."

"Okay, okay, and you don't even know if Beekman is where she went." Nanci was very angry. "And this is the second time. That's not taking good care."

"How can I find Lin? I don't speak English." Now the woman was ashamed. She hung her head. "Maybe you find," she said, hopefully.

"I'll find her," Nanci said angrily. "And I can tell you, when I do find her, I'll make sure she never comes back here again."

Deeply disturbed, Nanci went to look for Lin at Beekman Downtown Hospital. There was no record of her at the clinic, or the emergency room; Lin had not been admitted there today or yesterday or any other day. Now Nanci was really worried. With a sinking heart, Nanci Hua realized she was an evil person. She and Milton hadn't wanted to tell the police about her cousin for their own reasons. They should have called yesterday afternoon as soon as they got home, and they hadn't. Now she knew they had no choice; the Lao woman and Annie Lee at the factory were both lying to her. She had to involve the police. Finally Nanci went into the 5th Precinct and asked for Detective April Woo. The desk lieutenant sent her upstairs, where an ugly man wrote down April's number and even dialed it for her. The person on the line in whatever precinct April now worked said Sergeant Woo was out.

"Anything I can help you with?" the ugly man asked, staring at her hard as if he were trying to place her.

Nanci had met him before, but he didn't seem to remember. All Chinese must look alike to him.

"No thanks," she said. "I'll try her again later."

Nanci left the station and went down into the subway, boarded a train for Penn Station. On the Long Island list of stations Garden City was listed, so the taxi driver had lied to her about that. Today everybody was lying.

When she got off the train in Garden City, she was surprisingly relieved to be back there. And she was even happier to get out of the taxi at home. The house she lived in was like houses in the movies with lawns and flowers and happy families inside. Now she understood why this was the American Dream, why it was necessary for her to put her fears away and learn to drive a car, be in control. It was almost as if she had been cleansed of her fond feelings about her former life in Chinatown, where old ways of thinking caused so much trouble and kept so many secrets that it was sometimes impossible to untangle all the lies.

Everything was peaceful at home, but Nanci was not soothed by her nice neighbor, a plump woman who didn't have much to do since her children were all grown. Enthusiastically, the woman offered friendship and much advice about family life in the area. She was clearly in no hurry to return to her own kitchen. "Call me anytime," she said at last, when Nanci escorted her to the front door, thanking her profusely for her kindness.

When the woman was gone, Nanci sat down and made a list of all the hospitals in Manhattan. She called every single one. No Lin Tsing had come to any of them. After that, with trembling fingers, she punched out the number of the medical examiner's office, the place to call if a person died in suspicious circumstances and no one knew his name. There was no young Asian woman in the morgue, either. After that, there was nothing else Nanci could do for Lin but wait for April Woo to get back to her.