Chapter 3

Steve shrugged, “Lost her husband and her daughter on the same day, maybe lost her mind as well….”

“You think so?” Andi looked at her dad, “I thought she seemed perfectly lucid today…”

Steve grunted noncommittally as he steered the truck through the last couple turns before pulling into their driveway. He turned to Andi, “Keep digging. I’ll call Jeff about the budget — we need to build in more costs and time.”

“Okay…” Andi nodded, somewhat distracted by the sight of a bright green convertible in front of their house, “Hey — that’s Georgie’s car!”

“Andi,” Steve put his hand on his daughter’s shoulder, “I need the budget updated. No distractions.”

“Yep, I got it,” Andi headed into the house. Her best friend, George McCaffrey, was sitting at the dining room table, chatting with her mom.

“What brings you here?” Andi gave him a high five.

“I ran some background for you,” Georgie said, “When you told me where you were going today… I pulled in some favors.” Georgie was a rising investigative reporter for The Star Sentinel, one of the local newspapers.

“Andi, did you eat?” Tina started pulling stuff from the fridge, “Georgie?”

“I’m on a new diet,” Georgie grimaced.

“Georgie, you should embrace your cherubic form,” Andi said.

Georgie waved a hand dismissively, “Easy for you to say, you’re genetically coded to have zero excess body fat. I’m fairly certain I gain weight every time you eat….”

“Thanks for giving me good genes, Ma,” Andi looked at what her mom was assembling, “Oooh, I’ll heat up some of these.” She grabbed two pork buns from a container and headed to the microwave.

“Aiyaah! Stop! Microwave will ruin it,” Tina clucked.

Andi held up both hands in surrender, “Okay, your kitchen, Ma!”

Andi went over to the fridge and grabbed two cans of seltzer, “Ok, what did you find out?”

“Top line: tread carefully… because it’s a total black hole.”

Andi sat down at the table and handed a seltzer to her friend, “No shit, Sherlock. Everyone’s saying the house is haunted and to not take the contract.”

Georgie nodded his head, “Something spooky for sure.” He shifted his legs and settled into the chair, “Three years ago, Damian Zedecker strikes a major deal in China. Soup-to-nuts auto parts supply chain joint venture that guaranteed a near monopoly for Zedecker’s subsidiaries in Europe. Two years ago, he goes back to hunt for another deal, and that’s when it all went sideways.”

Andi nodded, “Yeah – I read that. He pulled his daughter out of college, right? Something about her finishing her degree with a private tutor or something?”

“Exactly. Quinn Zedecker was a junior, doing very well academically for all intents and purposes… then Boom! She’s pulled out of school and sequestered at home. No contact with her friends or anything,” Georgie took a swig of soda, “Quite a change for Ms. Popularity.”

“Wasn’t there some scandal about her a while back?” Andi remembered reading something while she did her research.

Georgie nodded, “Yeah, some asshole from one of the gossip sites broke into her room and tried to steal her laptop. Lewis Tremont made that guy’s life hell… kind of deserved it…”

“Lewis Tremont! That’s the same lawyer we met today!”

“Tremont’s been the Thoreau family’s lawyer for years — way before Joan met Damian Zedecker. She’s the one with the old-money family. The Thoreau family owned pretty much everything west of Morton Valley, still does, actually. Joan’s the last Thoreau, so she ended up with all the wealth. She’s the patron of dozens of charities, was always out and about. But after Quinn was pulled out of college, Joan Zedecker cut off all social engagements and pretty much went off the grid.”

“Maybe that’s when she got sick?” Andi speculated, “She’s got some degenerative thing going on right now. In a wheelchair and everything.”

“Wait, you met her?” Georgie sat up, “Tell me!”

Andi shrugged, “She was in a motorized wheelchair. Couldn’t sit up straight. Hands were all mangled and twisted. Couldn’t really see her face. She was wearing massive sunglasses.”

“Wow,” Georgie ran his hands through his short blond hair, “Did she look the same? You know, like the photographs of her on the web?”

Andi shook her head, “Nah, honestly, it was like she’s aged twenty years, maybe more. Doesn’t even look like the same person.”

“What?” Andi looked at her mother’s face, which was clouded with disapproval.

“Nothing,” Tina said dismissively, she handed Andi the pork buns, “Careful. They’re hot.”

“Okay, thanks, ma,” Andi took the plate. Tina headed to the sink, shaking her head as she went.

“Jesus, that smells good,” Georgie looked longingly at Andi as she took a bite.

Andi offered him the plate with the remaining bun. Georgie shook his head.

“Keep going,” Andi took another bite.

“Okay, let’s see,” Georgie continued, “I have it on good authority that most of the staff at the mansion have stayed on, and only one or two quit but nobody’s talking. Family and friends of staff members aren’t saying anything either.”

Georgie rubbed his thumb against his fingers, “Gotta be the deep pockets. Zedecker probably wrote big cheques to buy their silence. No one’s going to talk. Believe me, we’ve all tried.”

“So what do you think’s going on?” Andi asked.

Georgie got up and stretched, “Here’s what my sources say: one said Damian Zedecker ran into the wrong crowd in Shenzhen and pissed off some crime family over there, and they offed him and his daughter and poisoned his wife… which is plausible. But… most of my sources say that Zedecker spent millions on an immortality elixir, and it backfired on him…”

Andi blinked, “Immortality? Come on Georgie, really?”

“Normally, I’d agree with you. Super far-fetched,” Georgie nodded, “But these are sources I trust. They don’t make stuff up just to get attention. One thing’s clear, Damian made a bad judgement call somewhere along the way and it most likely cost him his life.”

“Bad karma more like,” Andi shook her head, “Zedecker wasn’t exactly a saint.”

“Maybe… who knows?” Georgie fished a flash drive out of his pocket and handed it to Andi, “Here’s the other stuff no-one’s supposed to see.”

Andi stared at the slim blue stick in her palm, “Dirty pictures?”

“No – get your mind out of the gutter,” Georgie scoffed, “The flash drive has Zedecker’s finances on it… at least the finances I was able to get my hands on.”

“From those same sources who say Damian Zedecker was buying an immortality potion?”

Georgie nodded, “Yes. They are credible, Andi. Trust me… you trust me, right?”

“Ok. Look, according to these files, Damian and Joan Zedecker moved all their assets into the Thoreau Family Trust about a year ago. With the disappearances, the lawyers are essentially calling the shots on the cash right now. Joan’s delegated it to them.”

“So what?” Andi raised her hands, “Maybe she’s sick of paperwork!”

Georgie let a deep breath, “Nah… I don’t think it’s paperwork… Because the ultimate beneficiary of the trust is Quinn Zedecker.”

Andi frowned. Georgie looked at his watch and polished off his water, “The only thing I can think of is that Joan’s clinging onto some fantasy that her daughter is still alive somewhere… or Joan was trying to keep Damian away from the Thoreau money…”

“So then why are the lawyers willing to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars a pop on pulled RFPs?” Andi said, almost to herself.

“Dunno, but this is all I got. Be careful with this Zedecker project,” Georgie clapped Andi on the shoulder as he got up.

“Thanks, G, I owe you one,” Andi twirled the flash drive between her fingers.

Once George slammed the front door shut, Tina rounded the kitchen counter and sat next to Andi. The older woman’s face was fraught with worry.

“What is it, Ma?” Andi said through a mouthful of food just as her dad walked in.

“DP wants to talk…” Steve looked back and forth between his wife and daughter, “Tina, what’s going on?”

“I think I know what happened to the Zedecker family,” Tina spoke calmly, but with urgency.

Steve pulled up a chair.

Tina continued, “I think there is a Gu spirit at work here. Bad magic. Evil curse.”

“Okaaayyyy….” Steve looked at his wife skeptically.

Tina lasered him with a look, “Georgie just came in with a lot of interesting information that you didn’t hear, so don’t look at me like I’ve lost my mind.”

“But Ma, does this Chinese black magic actually exist? I thought it was just folklore?”

“There’s a lot of embellishment, but there’s some truth underneath it all. In the wrong hands, bad things can happen. Look, Georgie talked about the staff not leaving the house and you said Mrs. Zedecker looks like she’s aged twenty years when only a year has passed.”

Andi sat bolt upright, “And there was a man with her. Looked Chinese.”

Tina shrugged, “My gut says it’s Gu. Gu can do things like this.”

“If it’s black magic, where’s Chow Yun Fat?” joked Steve, “Where’s Michelle Yeoh?”

Tina shot him a look.

“Um, ok. Say you’re right…” Steve cleared his throat.

Tina tilted her head and arched an eyebrow.

“Ok, fine. You’re definitely… probably right,” Steve quickly conceded, “So what’s the end game for something like this? If it is Gu… what’s the end game?”

“Well,” Tina let out a long breath, “Gu sorcery’s been banned since the Han Dynasty. It’s been forced underground, but it’s still being practiced. Because it’s powerful. The end game is usually revenge — served up painfully and without mercy.”

“So Mrs. Zedecker is under some Gu curse. And maybe that Chinese dude is behind it?” Andi still sounded skeptical, “Wait, are there Gu sorcerers? I thought there were only witches?”

Tina shook a finger, “Folklore always pinned black magic on women, but that’s riddled with misogyny. Gu can be learned and practiced by anyone with malicious intent.”

Steve shook his head, “I thought the bad voodoo was just something Chad made up, but it this is true, it’s not worth the trouble.”

The three Zhaos were silent for a moment.

“She’s looking for help,” Tina looked at her husband, “You need to take the contract.”

“Huh?” Steve frowned, “I was thinking just the opposite!”

“We have to try and help,” Tina said, “I bet you she’s dangling this contract in front of you because she can’t leave the house for some reason and the only way to get help is to get as many people coming to the house as possible.”

Steve’s phone trilled, “It’s DP…” Steve put the call on speaker, “Davey, whaddya got?”

“Your vernacular leaves a lot to be desired, Steve,” David Pomeroy said with a laugh, “I’m calling because I have two provisos to add to the new rider — mostly to limit your liability in having Andi sign, and then limiting Andi’s liability. And don’t make Andi an authorized signatory for Phoenix until the project is done or the contract is terminated, whichever comes first.”

“But otherwise, the contract’s okay?”

“It’s not boilerplate, if that’s what you’re asking. I’ve combed through it and there’s nothing alarming from a liability standpoint for Phoenix. Clause 7-A says Andi has to be consistently on site during the course of the project because she’s the one signing, but that’s more client neediness than a liability risk. Interestingly, Lewis Tremont has gone out of his way to make Joan Zedecker as attenuated from the contract as possible, but at the end of the day, that’s not really our problem,” David paused.

“Doesn’t that mean we can’t sue her if something goes wrong?” Andi asked.

“No reason to sue her. All the money is in a Trust. And you can sue the Trust. Tremont left it wide open. It’s almost like he’s daring us to dig into it.”

“I have it on good authority that the Trust’s beneficiary is Quinn Zedecker,” Andi picked up the flashdrive, “Does that mean anything?”

David was silent for a moment, “Not as a potential liability to Phoenix, no. Quinn Zedecker is missing, presumed dead. Probate shouldn’t be a problem. I can look into the charter documents for the Trust if you want.”

“Nah,” Steve shook his head, “Thanks for the help, David.”

“No problem,” the lawyer said, “Send my changes to Tremont and see what happens. If you guys decide to take this on, make sure Tremont sends me a fully executed copy.”

David rang off and the Zhao family looked at one another.

“Take the contract, Steve,” Tina nodded, “This poor woman has been crying out for help for a while now.”

“Andi,” Steve turned to his daughter, “Go send through DP’s changes once you finish up the additions to the budget. Maybe they’ll throw up all over it and this’ll all be moot.”

“Okay, dad,” Andi got up and headed to the home study in the basement.

“I’ll go talk to En Ming, see what she says,” Tina said quietly.

“Seriously? She’s a fortune teller–” Steve looked skeptical.

“And a very good one,” Tina reminded him, “You’d be doing the right thing if you took the contract.”

“I hope so. Because it’s our daughter’s neck on the line. Her name’s the one going on the dotted line.”

Later that night, Andi’s dream took her through a kaleidoscope of eerie images. Flashes of Kei Shang’s face, leering at her. Andi signing her name on the contract and Madame Zedecker laughing with glee.

And then the scene shifted. Andi was in a strange bedroom. There was a bed to her left. She walked closer. There was a woman in it. The woman was asleep, lying on her front. She was nude, the sheets covering just the top of the back of her thighs.

“Hmmm… you’re home,” the woman said softly as Andi approached.

Andi’s eyes popped open. For the rest of the night, Andi tried to sink back into that dream, but the woman didn’t appear again.

Chapter Four — The Lay of the Land

“Ready?” Steve looked at his daughter. They’d just driven up to the Zedecker Estate for day one of the project.

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” Andi stepped out of the cab of the truck. Her mother — following En Ming’s advice — had made father and daughter drink some ungodly concoction of Chinese herbs and warned them not to take any food or drink offered to them at the Estate.

Steve and Andi looked at the mansion, and then back at each other, “Seriously?” Andi asked her dad.

The two of them ran their eyes along the exterior walls; at least a quarter of the overgrowth of ivy had disappeared.

“Did Jeff get a head start on the project or something?” Andi asked.

“Nah-uh,” Steve shook his head, “Jeff and his landscaping crew won’t be here until tomorrow earliest. Maybe the staff got started for us, who knows?”