FACT: Masonetsky confirms that Terry Pung was using a substitute to attend classes in his place and using his name and identity.
CONCLUSION: The actual Terry Pung is alive. Another Korean male was, with his permission and perhaps by his design, acting as Terry Pung. (Harry’s role? Why?)
FACT: House on shipping canal in Houghton rented by the false Terry Pung, also confirmed by landlady.
FACT: Witnesses who found the body also report meeting another Asian male there (the “other” Terry Pung?).
ASSUMPTION: The second still-unidentified male—prolly the ersatz Terry Pung.
FACT: Witnesses at house saw smaller aluminum boat tied to a larger blue craft. Both boats sailed south.
QUESTION: Destination?
FACT: Harry Pung left all to ex-wife, Siquin Soong.
QUESTION: Why does she get everything?
QUESTION: When were they married, where, how long, reason for divorce, etc.?
FACT: Siquin Soong is major player in state Democratic Party, owns businesses in Detroit. Married to prominent lawyer.
ALLEGED: Per Tree, Soong suspected of illegal activities by the feds.
QUESTION: Which fed agencies interested, and why?
ALLEGED: The real Terry Pung transferred to U of M, Ann Arbor. No: A Terry Pung or somebody going by that name. Still not clear if either of the younger Koreans in Houghton was Pung.
FACT: The Pungs were members of archery jung in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. Son’s membership dropped. Why?
FACT: Per Pyykkonen, Soong’s attorneys not playing ball with the investigation.
QUESTION: Why not? What are they hiding?
UNKNOWN: Why did Harry Pung leave previous position at Virginia Tech?
QUESTION: Fight, conflict between father/son?
UNKNOWN: What is known about golden/blond moon bears?
UNKNOWN: Why bring another species of bear into Michigan where blackies are more than plentiful?
UNKNOWN: What do feds think Soong has done?
UNKNOWN: What is relationship of Soong to Terry Pung? (Her son, Harry’s son? Neither?)
Service set down his pen and read over his notes. In his mind he began to make a list of things he needed to do before meeting Soong at the fund-raiser downstate. He was surprised when he looked up to find the captain still sitting across from him.
“Lost in the case?” the captain asked.
“Just lost,” Service said.
The captain held out his hand and Service gave him the notes.
Captain Grant sipped Jack Daniel’s and read slowly, nodding now and then.
“Siquin Soong?” the captain said, looking up from the notes.
“Yessir. She was previously married to Harry Pung.”
“She is a significant political force,” the captain said.
“And a key backer of Timms,” Service said.
The captain nodded. “What are the federals looking at?”
“I’m still waiting for that information.”
“You may have to operate in concert with federal agencies.”
Service understood, but wanted to avoid such cooperation as long as possible. Last year he had gotten mixed up with U.S. Fish and Wildlife and the FBI. The case had been resolved, but only after a lot of conflict and virtually no cooperation, which left a bad taste.
“Do you feel like you’re making progress?” the captain asked.
“Very little, Captain.”
Grant refilled their glasses. “Progress is progress,” he said with a nod.
“Siquin Soong’s political connections put us in a minefield,” Service said.
“William Jennings Bryan told Democrats at their national convention, ‘The humblest citizen of all the land, when clad in the armor of a righteous cause, is stronger than all the hosts of Error.’ Don’t let your imagination be restricted by raw fact.”
Service took a sip of whiskey. Sometimes his captain acted like a man with his mind rooted in another dimension, one that always seemed to elude Service.
“The art of investigation,” Grant added in his professorial tone, “once could be reduced to shoe leather. But we are in a new era, and the art now resides in the marriage of fingertips to the brain. You can’t do everything alone, Detective. Your colleagues respect you and trust you. Use and depend on them.”
“And if that doesn’t work?”
“What have you found on the Internet?” the captain asked. “If Soong is culpable, don’t be swayed by who she is. Let only what she has done be your guide.”
“Are you telling me to go after her?”
“Go where the evidence takes you.”
20
Service knew that the Internet had been invented in the sixties by government and university scientists who wanted to talk back and forth in their insulated languages—and not waste travel money. Now the Net was bastardized by commercial interests and expanding like a newborn universe. In the early days, its use had been restricted; now it was open to any fool who could afford a monthly fee. Service had never had access to the original Internet, but wished it would come back so he could be excluded in order to avoid frustration.