After breakfast, Hou Yi leaned down and gave Anna a gentle brief kiss, not giving a care what anyone in the family thought. He quietly said for her to only hear "Once I have some news I will arrange for Alecia to meet you at the apartment and let you know what is happening."
Anna, responded "Thank you. I love you." And with that she gave him another gentle kiss.
However, their farewells for the day were interrupted by James and some of the children. James commented "Get a room", and the children were heard going "Yuck, Aunty Anna, Uncle Yi."
Neither of them could help but laugh, and Anna responded "Just you wait baby brother. I will remind you of that."
Hou Yi looked down at Anna "I love you." With that he gave her another brief kiss, and continued "I will see you tonight."
With that he stood back up and headed to the door, and as he reached its threshold he received a chorus of goodbyes.
Anna, turned back, and despite finis.h.i.+ng off the balance of her breakfast, she was distracted not only of thoughts about what happened earlier on in their room, but also with what she was going to do. She wondered, given how much Alecia and James seemed at a glance to be taken with each other if her brother might be the right person to have with her as an additional support.
Meanwhile in the car on the way to the office, Hou Yi's mobile rang. It was Officer Mu.
"Good morning CEO Hou."
"Good morning Officer Mu. Do you know I am starting to think you have been a.s.signed by the police to be our police officer."
"It does seem like that CEO Hou, but sometimes it is just a quirk of fate. As to yesterday, given the involvement of yourself and CEO Lu, a more senior officer has been a.s.signed to the case, but given our connection it has been determined I will remain your contact point."
"When he was interviewed CEO Lu, outright denied the attempted blackmail and a.s.sisting his son in breaching the restraining order, but agreed the a.s.sault occurred. He stated you set the up the meeting ..."
"I proposed it, but he agreed to it." interrupted Hou Yi.
"Which we already knew. He claimed that you caused yesterday's incident through threatening his business and family, and you also a.s.saulted him. He has demanded you should be charged. Late last night he was charged with a.s.sault, and released pending a court date but with a restriction that he cannot contact you for any reason."
"The senior officer decided, particularly based around the statements from myself and the other police officers present that there is evidence to charge him with attempted blackmail. As to the other, we need to speak to Lu Jinhu, and that has to be coordinated with the prison authorities given he is serving his period of home detention before a decision can be made."
"Once that discussion has occurred, the additional charges will be framed, and he with be charged with them as well, with additional restrictions to prevent him from releasing most likely faked or out of context images and films involving Madam Hou."
"Thank you for that. I will make sure that security is increased for my wife, and extended family."
"CEO Hou the senior officer has requested that I arrange a time with you and Madam Hou today to obtain statements regarding yesterday's events."
"Officer Mu, today is inconvenient for me as I have wall to wall meetings, including some put off during my wife's hospitalisation. I will arrange for my a.s.sistant to move things in my schedule and contact you as to when I would have a two hours free to do that."
"As to my wife, I had planned to contact you for a.s.sistance about a completely unrelated matter that she needs some help with, however I would suggest that you make the arrangements with her directly for obtaining her statement."
"What were you going to call me about, sir?"
"I am not sure who was the officer who handled it initially, but about six months ago CEO Yao's 16 year old daughter, who uses the English name Alecia was s*xually a.s.saulted at a society function."
"Just give me a moment." With that there was almost silence on the other end of the phone. Hou Yi could though here the quiet sound of someone typing on a computer keyboard. "I have found that out, why?"
"I understand that at the time all that was able to be done because of the state she was in was to take the various forensic samples, photographs of her injuries and the clothes she wore."
"That matches up with what is here in the system."
"My wife was talking to her last night and has gotten her to agree to speak to the police, provided she was there and it was done at our apartment. I have spoken to CEO Tan already this morning, and he has indicated that he can have his daughter there at 9am. She has a psychologist visit at 12pm today, so he believes that it is appropriate that it happens before that so the counsellor can help her if needed. Can that be done?"
"If the officer whose investigation this is cannot, I know of a few female officers who would be able to handle that at short notice. If there is any issues, I can let you know, but someone will be at your apartment by 9:15am."
"Thank you."
With that Hou Yi sent text messages to Yao Tan and Anna, to confirm the arrangements for the interview.