Page 143 of Shadowing You

This was the oldest sister’s future husband.

“I am Mei Lin.”

“Nice to kind of meet you. Gavin pulled me in on Lu Feng last week, asked me to dig around as a favor.” His voice shifted from friendly to serious—a work-voice, she thought. “At first, I came up with next to nothing. The man’s careful. But when Gavin sent me what you brought out of China, the whole thing cracked open.”

“To ‘crack open’ is good, right?”

“Yes, very.” The smile was there again. “Dr. Lu has been moving a lot of money, and lucky for us, some of it’s parked in the States.” Paper shifted on his end. “Lu Feng has three accounts, one of which is associated with a company that owns real estate in Kansas. The way the money moves through the accounts—it’s being laundered. You know what I mean?”

“To wash like clothes?” She glanced at Ethan, whose smile told her she’d said something funny.

Callan explained. “It’s the term we use to mean that dirty money—money earned through some criminal enterprise—is made to look like it came from a legitimate business. Does that make sense?”

“Yes, I see. To make him look like a good man.”

“Exactly. It was enough evidence that I took it to my supervisor, and he turned it over to the financial crimes division. They’re investigating.”

“They’ll arrest him?”

“We’re not quite to that point yet, but I suspect those accounts will be frozen soon, meaning he won’t be able to take money out or transfer it elsewhere.”

“This is good…” She couldn’t finish her sentence as emotion clogged her throat. She’d lost hope that anything she’d done six years before would ever matter. And now, the evidence had reached this man, Callan, and suddenly, somebody cared.

“It’s great,” Callan said. “But if we want to do more than take Lu’s money, we need a witness, one of his victims.” The brightness left his voice. “I’ve been looking for the women, the ones in the ledger, but so much time has passed, and I don’t have the access I need. Most of them are only names, and we don’t know where they ended up—did they stay in China or move across the border, and if so, which border? I thought I’d hit a dead end, but now I think I found one. Maybe. I managed to get an old photo of one of the women and used facial recognition software to see if we could locate her anywhere.”

“In America, or can you search other places?”

“I can only search in America, but I think we got lucky. A traffic camera picked up an image of a possible match, before any of this reached me. I’m sending the picture to your phone now. I need you to tell me if you recognize her and if so, if you remember her name.”

The phone buzzed, and she tapped the messaging app and opened the photo.

“Take your time,” Callan said. “We need you to be certain.”

The image was grainy, shot from above at an odd angle. The woman stood at a curb, half-turned, a plastic bag hanging from one hand. She looked too old and too thin. Her cheekbones were too sharp, her mouth pressed into an unhappy line.

But Mei Lin knew the shape of that face, which had often displayed a wide smile and sparkling eyes.

“I know her.” Emotion bubbled in her voice. “It is Ài Le.”

On the other end of the line, Callan exhaled. “Yes. I was pretty sure, but it’s great to hear you confirm it.”

“You can save her?” Mei Lin set the phone on the table again. Ài Le, the woman who’d come to the hospital with a broken arm because of her husband’s drinking. She’d been eager to go home to her children, but Dr. Lu had stolen her away.

Mei Lin had prayed for her and the other women who’d disappeared into Lu Feng’s network, that God would rescue them even if He never rescued her.

Ài Le wasn’t free yet, though.

“We have to find her first,” Callan said.

“But how?” Mei Lin pressed. “She is one woman, and the world is very large.”

“It is.” She heard Callan’s smile return. “We’ve got a place to start and a face to match, and we won’t quit looking until she’s found.”

Tears pressed against Mei Lin’s eyes. “Please, if you talk to her, tell her that I’ve thought of her often.” She swallowed the emotion. “She won’t remember me, but I have never forgotten her.”

“If I get to talk to her, I’ll tell her. And you… You’re a very courageous woman, Mei Lin. I’m glad you’re part of our family.”

She looked at Ethan, whose eyes widened. He stared at the phone with equal parts surprise and wonder.