After abandoning Zhou Qingfeng, Catarina headed for a carwash. Half an hour later, not only did the SUV have a new license plate, but it also had a new color and model. The police would be hard-pressed to associate her car with the vehicle that had appeared nearby the scene of the murder.
"Stupid brat. He had the nerve to kill someone in broad daylight. Why would David ask me to take care of a thug like him?" Catarina went home, fuming. She thought hard and long about how she would give her lover a good scolding.
When she arrived home, she saw Angie sitting on her sofa, watching TV while gorging on potato chips. Spotting Catarina, the biggish "loli" pounced on her and squealed, "Hi, Big Sis Catarina! I've been waiting for you for ages."
When she saw Angie, the morose Catarina immediately cheered up. She was very fond of her lover's daughter a lot, and they treated each other like sisters. Well… It did sound a little messed up. Non-Chinese folk did not really care about that, though.
"Angie, it's great to see you looking so lively. Stay here tonight, I'll whip up a French dinner for you." Catarina mussed up Angie's hair affectionately. The two women started play-fighting on the sofa.
After joking around for a while, Angie said, "Oh, right. When I arrived at your house, I saw some self-driving delivery trucks to enter the basement. I think they sent you a heap of random stuff."
"Oh… That kid bought them. They're all basic necessities. Tons of them, too." Catarina wrinkled her brow at the thought of Zhou Qingfeng.
Angie was shrewd and picked up on it quickly. She asked, "Where is Victor? Shouldn't he be here?"
"So, that kid's Victor? You better stay away from him. That brat will hurt you," Catarina said disdainfully. She had a bad opinion of Zhou Qingfeng. "It's strange that your father is close to someone like him."
"Ah… Victor's my friend. Catarina, what did you do to him?" Angie realized that something must have gone wrong. "Where is he? I want to see him."
Catarina threw Angie a look. She said offhandedly, "Is that guy a big deal? I think he's just a novice. I told him to wake up at six, but he only hauled his *ss out at ten. I graciously prepared some canned food and bread for him, but he was too picky to eat them. And get a load of this, he doesn't even know how to use a gun! He's a complete failure of a mercenary."
Listening to Catarina's nonchalant words, Angie froze up. After a while, she came to the conclusion that there had been a misunderstanding. She said hurriedly, "Catarina, you got it wrong. Victor's not a mercenary. He's my friend. He's a meek guy and wouldn't cause any trouble."
"Oh?" Catarina instantly realized she had jumped to conclusions. She had assumed that anyone David Lawrence brought over would be someone like himself. Despite that, she said grumpily, "Whatever. Even if he's not a mercenary, he's not a good guy. He's not meek, either. Men are compulsive liars. It'd be better if you stop talking to him."
"Wait, wait… What happened?" Angie was confused. "Why do I feel like the person you're describing is completely different from the Victor I know?"
"I took him to Target to buy some stuff. He told me that he's hungry and he ran to McDonald's for some burgers. When I finished buying my ammo, he ran back all bloody and told me that he killed a man.
"Can you imagine? It was just a few minutes! Just because he was robbed—a problem that could be solved with twenty dollars—he killed a man! I hate people like him who solve problems with violence. He's just an *sshole."
Catarina spat the words with burning conviction. People who were not familiar with her would think that she was some hero that fought for justice. Angie, on the other hand, pursed her lips. "Big Sis Catarina, if it was you who got robbed, you would kill the robber without a thought, wouldn't you?
"So why is it strange that Victor killed the robber? It's fine, though. We can clear up this misunderstanding. I just want to know, where is he?"
Looking into Angie's focused gaze, Catarina instinctively reflected on her actions. Did she do the wrong thing? She asked, "Angie, what did that brat do to make you like him this much? From what I see, he's as ordinary as they come!"
"Victor saved me," Angie said. "Actually, he saved many people yesterday. I always thought that he was cowardly, but the bravery he showed yesterday was beyond imagination." Angie relayed Zhou Qingfeng's impressive achievements. She may have exaggerated slightly when she told the story, shaping Zhou Qingfeng into someone even more heroic.
"Do you know who he was up against? Guess who? Two Russian mafia thugs who were even taller than my dad! They were super scary. They tried to bully and murder that poor lady, and things were getting ugly.
"If it was me who came across that situation, I would probably be screaming in shock. I would have run away, and even that I might not have been able to do. But Victor stood his ground, and he saved a life. This would not be possible without amazing courage.
"And then the situation got even crazier. To help that prostitute, Victor volunteered to get her passport back. Do you know where their passports were hidden? In the rooms of those thugs the bar hired, a stupidly dangerous place!
"Victor still went, though. He didn't care about his own safety at all. He just wanted to help that pitiful woman. I bet God himself would praise his courage and fearlessness back then.
"Something unexpected happened later, though. I was drinking with some friends at the bar in secret, and we bumped into Victor. We misunderstood him too. I felt so guilty. After we had an argument, my friends and I got drugged by some delinquents at the bar and taken away while we were out of it.
"Victor could've left after he retrieved the passports. When he saw that I was missing, he stayed and looked for me, risking his life again. If not for his perseverance, I would either be reflecting on my mistakes in the hospital by now, or maybe lying in the morgue.
"That's why I'm so grateful. He, a small, timid guy, stood strong in a time of crisis and faced a powerful thug for my safety. I think that's a very heroic and kind-hearted deed. That's why I cherish my friendship with him. I refuse to abandon him, like how he didn't abandon me then.
"Catarina, do you understand? Please tell me where Victor has gone. I want to find him."
Angie's words were simple but filled with genuine emotion. Zhou Qingfeng had merely been her friend, but the events from the previous night had earned him a lot of points, so she now considered Jim one of her close friends. She caught Catarina's hand and said, almost begging, "If Victor has offended you somehow, I apologize to you on his behalf. He's definitely not some common thug. He's a brave and courageous person."
Catarina did not expect the scrawny guy she abandoned to be so important to Angie. Feeling rather remorseful, she said, "Do you have his phone number?"
"No, Victor's very poor, so he doesn't have a phone," Angie answered, shaking her head.
Out of options, Catarina stood up abruptly and shouted, "If that's so, we can only go find him by ourselves."
Taken aback, Angie asked anxiously, "Where in the world is Victor?"
"Okay, I admit that I might have put the blame on him wrongly," Catarina said with a straight face. "I thought that he was just some crook who liked causing trouble, so I abandoned him by the most chaotic street in Brooklyn. Let's hope that he's still in one piece."