I reach out for Nai Nai and she hugs us both around the middle.
Tire screeches sound outside and the sirens go dead.
“This is the police!” a man yells downstairs. “If anyone is inside, make yourselves known!”
“Put the knife down,” I whisper to Ace as I pull away.
I jog toward the front room. The apartment looks untouched. I’m guessing the alarm went off the second the broke in. They only had time to fuck up so many things before they had to flee.
“We’re up here,” I yell down the stairs, then add for clarity, “The Feng family.”
I’ve heard enough horror stories of people being hurt in their own homes because of jumpy police.
“Everyone come downstairs, slowly,” the officer says. “Hands visible at all times and prepare to present your identification.”
I grab my bag from the counter with trembling fingers. My heart might just beat out of my chest. I turn and motion Zixinforward with Nai Nai. We take the stairs slowly, the wood creaking so loud it could wake the dead.
There are two officers standing in the entryway of the shop with weapons drawn but not raised.
“How many of you?” one asks.
“Three,” I say. “Me, my little brother, and my grandma. ID is in my bag.”
The lead officer holsters his weapon and approaches me. “I’m Officer Davis. Do you know if the suspects are on the premise?”
I shake my head.
“They drove off,” Zixin says.
The second officer pulls out a notepad. “Could you describe the vehicle?”
Officer Davis takes my ID when I offer it to him. He checks it against something on his tablet, then asks, “Who is Lanying Feng?”
“That’s me,” Nai Nai says, raising her hand.
The second officer continues to question Zixin, and I take a step back to allow Nai Nai space. Davis dives in on getting her detailed account.
“The window breaking woke us,” she starts. “We heard them throwing things, but they didn’t speak loud enough for us to hear what they said.”
“You just moved in a few weeks ago, correct?” Davis asks, looking at me.
“Yeah, from Boston,” I say.
My phone rings from somewhere deep in my bag. It’s late, and I’m guessing it could only be one person. I don’t want to answer Lei’s call, especially not with a cop here. I snake my arm in and silence it.
“Have you had any encounters with anyone in town, anything that might lead you to believe someone has ill intent?” he asks.
Nai Nai looks at me questioningly.
“We met the owner of the craft store, Lacey…something,” I say. I’m just realizing I don’t know her last name. “But she’s really nice. She’s been so great and supportive. She would never do this.”
Davis nods. “Has anything else of note happened?”
Some gangsters from Boston came all this way to threaten me.
My phone rings again. Shit.
I pull it out with dread in my veins.
