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get married.”
    “Choi? She took his name?” I frowned when Wong confirmed it. “That’s odd. Thought most Korean women kept their names.”
    “Could be because she’s living over here? Acclimating and all that,” he replied. “Her maiden name was Gangjun. That’s about it. If I get a break in this, I’ll let you know, but nothing much else to tell you.”
    “Got anything on the other one? Eun Joon Lee?” I flipped through my notes. “The third name I got is Bhak, but he was a heart attack.”
    “Someone else caught Eun Joon Lee.” Wong’s keyboard sounded like it was getting a workout. “There’s not much there either. Home invasion a few blocks away from Choi’s carjacking. They got some small electronics but no cash, and they left the jewelry. Husband thinks she walked in on them. We don’t have ballistics yet, but it looks like the same caliber as Choi’s. A nine millimeter, but that’s common.”
    “Think anyone would look at you funny if you asked for a cross-reference between Choi and Lee?” It was a long shot. There were a lot of 9 mm handguns out on the streets of Los Angeles, and the odds of them being the same weapon were very slim.
    “Wouldn’t hurt to ask. The lab usually looks out for that kind of thing for us, but it’s hit and miss. They’re overloaded.” Wong cleared his throat. “Look, I’ve got to bail. If you hear anything on your end, give me a call. If these two are connected, then we’ll have something to go on. I’ll look at the Madame Sun angle from my end, okay?”
    “Thanks. I owe you a dinner.”
    “Can I bring my girlfriend?” Wong teased. “You know, so you don’t get any ideas that it’s a date.”
    “Sure, so long as I can bring Jae. You know, so you don’t get any ideas that you actually have a chance with me,” I countered.
    “Great, now I’m going to really be the ugliest one at the table.”
    “I’ll pick up the tab and buy you a beer.” I hung up after we made tentative plans for Korean barbeque. I sent Jae a text asking him about what days he was free, promising him he could pick the restaurant, so long as it was Korean.
    Oddly enough, I wasn’t quite ready to put a pin in Madame Sun’s paranoid butterfly. The three deaths occurred in quick succession, spaced out over a few days, and from what I could see on an area map, very close together. It was odd for the jacker to leave a new BMW behind, and I wondered if he’d not planned on killing Choi. Wong’s eyewitness reports were pretty clear. The shooter walked up and shot Choi nearly point blank, then booked it through K-Town’s jungle of buildings.
    “He knew she’d be there,” I mused, wheeling over to the coffee machine. “Someone knew her schedule. It feels more like a hit than something random.”
    Not wanting to make a whole pot, I doctored up another cup of instant Vietnamese, then scooted across the floor to my desk. I was only able to wheel around the office when Claudia wasn’t there. I’d have to break the habit before she came back or I’d feel the flat side of her hand on the back of my head when I rolled past.
    “Okay, so we’ve got a carjacking that leaves the car and takes only a purse.” The back of my leg began to itch, and I lifted my leg to lightly scratch at the denim over the bandaged area. “And a home invasion that leaves behind a shitload of jewelry but takes what’s out in the front rooms. Something stinks here, McGinnis.”
    It got even stinkier when I heard my older brother Mike yelling my name as he came up the walk toward the office door. The porch rattled a bit from his stomping feet, and the screen door screeched in protest when he yanked it open. As usual, his hair was a prickly cactus of black spikes, and the glower on his face was an impressive display of curved lines and gritted teeth. Much like my feelings on Madame Sun predicting the future and telling fortunes, I wasn’t that impressed by my older brother’s displeasure.
    Only a few