I was woken the next morning by a woman’s haunting melodic voice, Marla and the Ghost. She was one of my favorite artists, people weep at her concerts, moved to tears by her voice. She was powerful and evocative; I liked that about her. However, I liked it less at this hour. It meant I was getting a call. I kept the ringtone to my work line professional, but I had taken advantage of the leniency I had with my own personal device.

Squinting out the window by my bed, my eyelids fought me. It was early, too early, not even dawn yet. Outside of death and hellfire, people weren’t meant to wake in the dark. I’ve said that before and I still stand by it. There was only one person who would call me at such an ungodly hour on my personal line–Ethan, my older brother.

“Oh great, speak of the devil and he will appear,” I groaned.

“It’s nice to hear from you too, Lana. I’m just looking out for you,” he said.

“Can you look out for me at a more reasonable hour? Why are you even up right now?”

“Because I have good news.”

‘Good news,’ he said, I was skeptical that good news needed to be delivered at the crack of dawn.

“Because you’re a busy body.”

“That’s rich coming from you.”

“Our dad was a detective, and our mom made us live and breathe academics, neither of us know what it means to take it easy. I still get nightmares about schoolwork.”

“Point taken.”

I couldn’t keep my eyes open, and I wanted him to get to the point so I could go back to sleep. My pillow was calling me.

“Okay, as much as I’m enjoying this friendly moment of familial bonding, can you just spit it out already?”

“I called in a favor.”

“A favor?” I muttered. “Why am I getting a bad feeling about this?”

“Because you’re going to hate it, but it’ll be good for you.”

“I swear to God, you better not be pulling that big brother crap on me. Ethan, we’re only four years apart.”

“Four and a half years actually,” he corrected. “But, hey, who’s counting? Gabe will explain it to you when you come in.”

I heard the line go dead. I faintly had a flashback of the time he signed Noah and I up for an all-day hiking tour. It was supposed to be a surprise and neither of us were prepared for the trek. About halfway through, Noah had protested saying if we didn’t turn around right now, we’d have to carry him back down ourselves. In the end, Ethan had reluctantly relented. As much as he loved looking out for us, he was occasionally ill-sighted.

I would have happily called in sick, but I knew I had obligations, and I wasn’t about to let my partner down; whatever I didn’t do, Gabe would be stuck doing on his own. I got ready, threw on my coat, and headed out the door. Predictably, Gabe was already there waiting for me when I showed up. He spun his chair towards me and grinned.

“I’ve got some good news for you.”

“I hate to break it to you, Gabe, but Ethan already informed me that I would hate it.”

“Oh, come on. It’s not going to be that bad.”

“Really?”

“Really.” He leaned back in his office chair and put his arms behind his head. I’m not sure he could have looked more self-satisfied if he tried. “Relax, you’re going to love it.”

“Why are you two ganging up on me?”

“We’re keeping you on your toes. You gotta stay sharp, practice those thinking muscles.”

“I’m going to have an aneurysm if you two keep this up.”

Gabe laughed. “Alright, take it easy. He figured out why that restaurant stuck out to you.” He paused, waiting expectantly.

“And?”

“What was the name of that girl you used to hang out with in Highschool again? Lisa?”

I groaned. “It was Lily, Lily Yang.”

“That’s the one. Turns out her family owns the place. It’s some Chinese diner downtown. Real cozy, maybe a little rundown, but it’s got a lot of love in it.”

“Give me a break, Gabe, I can’t believe Ethan put you up to this,” I paused. “Did Lieutenant Blackwood approve this excursion yet?”

“Yeah, she did, Ethan convinced her real good, said we would be following up on an important lead.”

“An important lead.”

“Yeah.”

“At a Chinese restaurant,” I paused. “For lunch.”

“Come on, live a little. I already promised I would take you. Besides, you can’t just back out. This is my chance to get paid to eat on the clock and you know we could both use the down time.”

“If you insist…” I muttered. “Come on, let’s go before I change my mind.”

Gabe was out the door before I was. The man loves to eat. I couldn’t blame him. Someone his size practically inhaled a plate before it hit the table. Coincidentally, he considered himself a bit of a connoisseur of instant noodles and cheap take out. We had hit every spot within five miles of the precinct, and I was sure he was excited to expand his horizons. I told him once that if he ever needed a side hustle, he could pick up being a food critic, he liked the sound of that.

Lily’s restaurant was downtown. It wasn’t officially considered China Town, but everyone called it that. Really, it was just a small cluster of shops and restaurants, nothing particularly noteworthy. However, it was a hot bed for all the Chinese goods and services you could possibly want. Whether you were looking for a grocer, herbal medicine, tea, trinkets, clothing, jewelry, or good food, this was the place to be.

Yang’s Diner was nestled in a cozy little corner, towards the back of a dead-end street. It was a real hole in the wall place, the sort of place that got around from word of mouth instead of the flashy neon signs along the streets. Deliveries and takeout orders from here were popular, but few people ever bothered to sit down and eat in such a cramped space.

A metallic “Ni hao” rang out from the door chime as it creaked open, hello in Chinese. The sound of shuffling boxes was interrupted by a woman calling out from behind the counter. A sleek black ponytail peaked out from over the top of the register.

“Hello! Welcome! Sit wherever you want!” she cried out.

It didn’t take long for me to recognize her as my old friend. I hadn’t seen Lily since the end of high school, but she hadn’t changed at all. She still wore her hair up and moved with a jittery yet carefree bounce in her step. How she kept up that level of energy all day was still a mystery to me.

The minute she noticed me, she brightened up. Wiping off her hands on her apron, she jogged over to us.

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“No way, Lana. Lana? Is that you?” she asked.

“Hey, Lily,” I replied. “You haven’t changed a bit.”

“Oh, come on. It’s been over a decade. Everybody is a little bit different now.”

Lily and I went way back; we met when we were still little girls in grade school. Being the only two mixed race girls of both Asian and Caucasian decent, we became fast friends. We were always a bit too White for the Asian kids and a bit too Asian for the White kids, lucky us. The only upside was that it gave us something to bond over.

That was a long time ago; we used to do everything together when all we did was play, there was no reason to question if we were the same then. It wasn’t until we hit adolescence that the cracks started to show.

I was busy preparing for college and Lily was just having the time of her life. Unlike my family, Lily’s family was happy to have her take over the family restaurant someday. My parents had wanted more for us; they expected excellence. After our high school graduation, we tearfully hugged each other and promised to keep in touch, but neither of us did.

I ended up moving away for college, and she stayed behind. We no longer moved around in the same circles and those carefree days soon vanished into distant memories of simpler times. At first, I had pitied her, that she didn’t have ambition, but age had given me perspective. These days, I envied her a bit, she wasn’t thrown to the wolves the way I was.

“And how is everything?” she asked, eagerly. With her hands full of menus and a tablet, she gestured to Gabe with her head. “And who’s your friend?”

“I’m good.” I said. “I became a detective, just like my dad.”

I gestured to Gabe.

“And this is my partner Detective Gabriel Grant, but you can call him Gabe.”

“Hey,” he nodded. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“Wow, you really did it, Lana! Congrats!” she gasped, putting her hand to her mouth. “Or should I call you Detective…” She paused, glancing at my left hand.

“Detective Walker,” I finished for her. “I’m not married.”

“Oh, of course! And it’s so nice to meet you Gabe. I’m so sorry. I’m all over the place today,” she apologized. Raising up her left hand, she showed off the unmistakable gold band on her ring finger. “I got married a few years ago.”

“Hey, no hard feelings,” Gabe breezed. “And congrats,”

“Really?” I asked.

“Really! I have two kids now. Do you want to meet them?” She made a move to call them over from the barstools they were sitting on, but I stopped her. Her kids, halfway through getting up, seemed relieved to be off the hook and quickly got back to playing their games.

“That’s alright, Lily. We’re here on business.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, are you still on the clock?”

“Something like that,” I replied.

Gabe clapped me on the shoulder.

“Hey, come on, loosen up a bit. We’ve got time to spare.”

“Sure,” I said, but I was less eager about it than he was.

She sat us down in a little well-worn booth down by the corner, less likely to be overheard by the patrons walking through the door, how thoughtful. Lily was always like that, conscientious. I was less so. There were days that my mother would moodily raise her hand to her cheek and sigh. ‘Why can’t you be like your friend, Lily?’ she’d ask. I always wanted to snap back with, ‘Because her mom doesn’t treat her like she’s broken,’ but I never did; I didn’t have the guts.

Lily handed us a pair of red bordered menus filled with names of dishes I could neither read nor pronounce. This was one of the more authentic Chinese restaurants in the city, the kind of place people went to when they were sick of westernized things like orange chicken. My mother was Vietnamese, but we used to go to little places like this as a family, places that sold real Asian food.

After my mother died, places like this made me feel uncomfortable. It felt like I was homesick for somewhere that no longer existed. It didn’t help either that the servers at these restaurants often looked at me curiously as a woman eating alone. Eventually, I retreated to more ubiquitous places where I blended in with the crowd. I gave her my order and handed the menu back to her. Gabe raised an eyebrow at me.

“What, are your pants on fire or something? Take your time.”

“I’m sorry, Gabe. I’m not a food critic. My palette just isn’t as refined as yours,” I quipped.

He let out a snicker and shook his head at me.

“Someday I’m going to get you to enjoy the finer things in life.”

“Like orange chicken?” I asked, thick with sarcasm.

“No, something even more adventurous. Maybe beef and broccoli.” He grinned mischievously.

“Are you going to introduce me to fortune cookies next?” I asked. It was a classic, one of our little inside jokes.

Lily laughed easily off to the side.

“You two seem close.”

She took our orders and the menus as we handed them back to her.

“It’ll be right out,” she said and hurried away.

I couldn’t help but picture her gossiping to her family in the kitchen about who just walked in the door. I silently prayed they wouldn’t make a fuss out of it and breathed a sigh of relief when she headed back out alone with our food on a tray. The last thing I needed was a crowd.

“Careful, it’s hot,” she warned, setting our food in front of us.

“There’s actually something I wanted to ask you,” I said.

“Sure, shoot. I’ll let you know if I can.”

“Does the name, Nathan Ming, mean anything to you?”

“You know what? That name does sound familiar.” She tapped her pen on the table as she thought. “Oh, of course! How did I forget? Nathan used to be a big regular here. He came every Saturday, ate by himself, and didn’t talk much. I always thought he looked a little lonely. He hasn’t been by a few weeks though; did something happen to him?”

“I’m sorry; I know this isn’t what you wanted to hear, but…” There really was no nice way to say it. “He’s dead.”

“It wasn’t… It wasn’t suicide, was it?” She squeezed her hands together.

“No, we suspect it wasn’t. We are currently investigating it as a homicide case. Can you tell us anything else about him?”

“Well, the Chinese shopping district here is not very big. People that come here often also come to the other stores around the plaza on the west side. My cousin has a shop there. He said Nathan seemed familiar with a lady who holds up signs and yells crazy stuff into a loudspeaker. He saw them together sometimes,” she said. “That lady was always scaring away customers, so my cousin always shoos her away, but it never works for long. She always comes back eventually.”

“Do you know her name?”

“Sorry, I don’t, but I can tell you how to find her. She always shows up there in the mornings.”

“Thank you, we’ll look into it.”

Just then a new customer came through the door, and she headed off towards them which suited me just fine. We had gotten what we needed here. After we finished our food, I motioned to Gabe that it was time to leave, and we hit the road.

“You’re being quiet,” Gabe said. “Something eating you?”

“Oh, it’s nothing, don’t worry about it. It’s just that we were…” I trailed off.

“Yeah?”

“I don’t know how to say it,” I grumbled.

“What do I look like? Your English teacher? Just spit it out.”

“We had, we had this thing,” I sighed, pressing my head into my hand with my arm propped up on the side door. “It was so stupid. We’d make this “L” shape with our pointer finger and our thumb and yell out “L is for” followed by our names. Whoever said it faster won.”

“A play on that “L” is for loser thing? Man, now that is a throwback. That’s been out of style for, what? A hundred years?”

“Something like that. Once something gets old enough it becomes retro chic.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” I said, sighing. “God, I’m terrible with things like this.”

“Don’t sweat it,” he said. “I know what you’re saying, you two were real close, right?”

He turned the wheel, heading onto the freeway. Our cruiser’s auto navigator clicked on, and he leaned back, resting his arms by his sides.

“Yeah, something like that and now we have nothing in common,” I said.

“Hey, don’t say that,” he said. “You never know, she might surprise you.”

“Sure,” I said. “She might.” I paused. “And tell Ethan thanks for trying.”

“Why don’t you tell him yourself?”

“You know why,” I scowled.

He laughed. “You could do it anyway. New year, new you or something like that.”

“Or something like that,” I echoed back, skeptical. “Fine, I’ll give it a shot.”

When we got back, the sun hadn’t set yet. It didn’t feel right that I had lived through what felt like a lifetime, and it wasn’t even a quarter past six. There was a note on my desk from Ethan. “Call me,” it said. Paper was pretty old-school these days, but Ethan always insisted on things like that. He said it gave it a bit of a personal touch; it reminded you that someone was on the other side. I had to give it to him; he did have a point.

Reluctantly, I tapped on the side of my head and activated my Iris. My call barely rang twice before he picked up, as timely as ever.

“How’d it go?” he asked.

“About as well as you’d expect.”

“And that is?”

“It was…” I paused. “Adequate. Thanks for trying, Ethan.”

“Hey, that’s what family is for. We never stop trying.”

“Yeah,” I muttered back.

“See?” Gabe interjected. “That wasn’t that bad.”

“I don’t want to hear it, Gabe,” I sighed. “Let’s get back to work.”

“Sure,” Gabe said, then addressing Ethan, he continued. “We need an ID on some mystery woman; she might be connected to our case. A real nutcase loudspeaker type often seen in the downtown area around the Chinese shopping district. Lily said her cousin often spotted our dead guy chatting her up, shows up in the mornings and gets chased off by angry shop keepers by the end of the day.”

“That’s not a lot to go on, but I’ll see what I can do.” Ethan replied.

“Thanks Ethan, I knew we could count on you,” I said.

“Always,” he replied and ended the call.

The rest of the day was spent pouring over other data Ethan sent over. Our hard drives were practically overflowing with information; it was a nightmare. Body modifications were, unfortunately, all the rage now and had been trending upwards for quite a few years already.

On the down and dirty, some people were getting enhancements hoping to win in underground fight clubs, beat the competition in organized crime, or keep up in an increasingly competitive red-light district. On the other side, some people were getting modifications to be competitive in the job market or in the dating scene. However, considering the abnormal modifications our victim had, we were expecting something a bit more exotic.

What caught my eye were rumblings in the cybersphere’s obscure religious groups. Supposedly, some people were getting modifications to become more than human, they wanted to become gods. That was more our beat. This case was weird and freaky. Normal, run of the mill crime wasn’t going to cut it. If you hear hoofbeats, sometimes it really is a zebra, not a horse.