Umbrella Man (9786167611204) by Jake Needham

all the ID we’ve got?”
    “Yes, sir. For now. But I’m working on
it.”
    Sergeant Kang shifted his weight and cleared
his throat.
    “Can I ask you something, sir?”
    Tay nodded.
    “What you said on the telephone last
night…about investigating the bombings.”
    “What about it, Sergeant?”
    “Well…you weren’t serious, were you,
sir?”
    “What if I were?”
    “What if you were ? You don’t need this
job, sir. I do, and I don’t want to lose it.”
    “Why would you lose your job?”
    “I figure I would if we start investigating
the bombings when you were specifically told to stay away from
them.”
    “I’m only doing it because it’s connected to
our murder victim at the Woodlands.”
    “Oh, come on, sir. There’s no connection. You
just made that up.”
    Tay briefly considered telling Kang about the
conversation he’d had the night before with the ghost of his mother
in which she had assured him there was a connection. But he
quickly came to his senses.
    “Fine, Sergeant. I don’t want you to do
anything you think might harm your career. I’m your superior
officer, and I hereby release you from doing anything you don’t
want to do. Go with God.”
    “But what are you going to do,
sir?”
    “I’m going to do just what I told you last
night. I’m going to solve both cases. With or without you, I’m
going to solve both cases. After that, maybe I’ll quit.”
    “Maybe you won’t have to.”
    Tay said nothing.
    Kang shook his head. “I don’t know what to
do, sir.”
    “It’s not that hard to decide, Robbie. Do
whatever makes you comfortable. It’s entirely up to you.”
    “You can’t manage all that by yourself,
sir.”
    “Maybe, maybe not. Either way, I’m going to
try.”
    Kang sighed heavily.
    “I shouldn’t get involved, sir.”
    “You’re absolutely right. You shouldn’t.”
    Kang sighed again. “What do you want me to
do, sir?”
    Tay kept his expression neutral. It wasn’t
easy. He was certain Sergeant Kang would come around eventually. He
just didn’t think it would be quite this fast.
    ***
    After Kang left, Tay sat drumming his fingers
on the autopsy report. Should he call Dr. Hoi or shouldn’t he?
    Perhaps she really did have something to tell
him about the autopsy that she didn’t want to put in her formal
report. But if she didn’t and she was trying again to warm up their
acquaintanceship…well, Tay just couldn’t get excited about a
relationship with a woman who spent her days slicing up dead
bodies.
    Still, wasn’t it a bit egotistical of him to
assume Dr. Hoi had a personal motive for asking him to call rather
than strictly a professional one? And maybe this would be a bad
time to call her anyway. Maybe she wouldn’t even be in her office.
Should he find out when she was likely to be there and call her
then, if he was going to call her at all?
    What a lot of nonsense, Tay told himself as
he reached for the telephone. When am I going to stop thinking
everything to death instead of just going ahead and doing what I
want to do?
    To Tay’s surprise, Dr. Hoi answered on the
second ring. Somehow when he called people on their mobile phones,
he always expected to get their voicemail. To end up actually
talking to someone was slightly disconcerting.
    “How are you, Sam? I’ve often wondered
how you were surviving.”
    “I’ve been wondering the same thing.”
    There was a pause.
    “I’m not sure I understand,” Dr. Hoi
said.
    Tay mentally kicked himself. Two lines of
conversation with an attractive woman and he had already caused her
to lose the plot.
    “I’m sorry,” he said. “I guess I’m not making
much sense today.”
    “None of us are these days, Sam. The bombings
have done us all in. How’s your investigation going?”
    “Uh…I’m not—”
    “You must be working twenty-four hours a day.
I’ll bet they’ve put you in charge of the whole bombing
investigation, haven’t they?”
    “Look,” Tay hastily put in before this went
any