by Tara Haigh
Ella left the cart close to Mohan’s house, for she couldn’t afford to waste any valuable time. According to Otto, Henry Jones generally remained in his office in Singapore until the early evening. The cart wouldn’t get her there in time, but she could manage it on horseback.
She rode as though the devil himself were pursuing her – and to conjure him up, she had only to think of Compton. Including the ferry, it would be at least another hour until she reached the city centre, where Jones’s office was – but she got there in time.
Even from the outside of his office, Ella could see that Henry Jones ran a thriving business. The four-storey building wouldn’t have looked out of place in the most prestigious quarters of London or on the banks of the Alster in Hamburg. Compton would have been green with envy, for his ‘palace’ in Johore looked rather modest in comparison.
‘Otto Ludwig sent me.’ Otto’s name served as a key that unlocked the huge double doors leading to Jones’s office. Ella had only a quarter of an hour to wait, which she took as a sign that he would give her a fair hearing – and so it proved, once she had passed on Mr Ludwig’s warmest greetings. Jones was a slender man with a thick beard that reached down to his chest, and unlike the other lawyers she had visited, he took the time to listen to her concerns. There could hardly be any case more sensitive than hers, but he only lifted his eyebrows once, and otherwise took notes in silence.
‘My dear Miss Kaltenbach, I assume that the defendant is very close to you.’ His tone of voice made clear that this was a question, and Ella responded in the affirmative.
‘How did you meet Otto?’ he asked next. Ella had been expecting further questions about Amar’s case.
‘On the way over from Hamburg,’ she answered.
‘A most hardworking fellow, and a great sport,’ he said, speaking more to himself. Then he leaned back and studied his notes. ‘I presume you have come to me because no other lawyer was willing to take on your case.’
She nodded.
‘And yet the facts are so straightforward. If the mask doesn’t fit, the court will have to find him innocent . . . But you mentioned the governor . . .’ Jones murmured thoughtfully.
‘Edward Compton.’ Ella pronounced his name with the utmost contempt.
‘I know. A rather unpleasant fellow, if you’ll permit the observation.’
‘Will you venture to take the case?’
Jones smiled. ‘Strictly speaking, it’s inadvisable to place oneself in opposition to the governor,’ he said.
Ella’s breath caught.
‘However, we have already begun proceedings against a company that he holds shares in. Tin. The big business around here. You wouldn’t believe how much people pay for licences,’ he said.
‘And is the governor responsible for issuing those licences?’ she asked cautiously. So Compton was corrupt, on top of everything else.
‘He knows that we know about it,’ Jones confirmed.
Ella exhaled. The way things looked now, Jones seemed to be untouchable.
‘So you’ll take the case?’ she asked again, for confirmation.
‘Did you doubt it for a second?’
She shrugged.
‘Am I mistaken, or were you at Mary Bridgewater’s party?’ enquired Jones.
‘Were you there too?’ Ella could hardly conceal her surprise.
‘Of course. We handle all her affairs. She’s a charming lady, and extremely influential.’
Ella wondered why he had brought this up. If he didn’t have such an obviously sharp mind, she would have simply taken it as a digression and placed no importance on it.
‘You weren’t on your own that evening,’ he recalled.
‘Indeed, I was with the Fosters.’
‘They own a plantation near Johore, don’t they?’
‘Do you know them?’ Ella could make no sense of his remarks.
‘No, not personally,’ Jones admitted.
Ella felt that the conversation was moving in a strange direction.
‘The odd thing is that nobody really seems to know the Fosters. That can’t always have been the case,’ he said.
‘That’s what Mary told me too. But why does it interest you?’ Ella simply had to know.
‘May I ask you a personal question?’ the lawyer asked.
Ella grew hot. What did Jones want from her?
‘When were you born?’ he enquired.
‘Why do you want to know?’ she retorted.
‘You don’t have to tell me, but I can assure you that I have only the best of intentions. My duty of confidentially prevents me from giving you the reasons, however.’
Ella studied him carefully and decided to trust her judgment. Besides, he had already agreed to defend Amar. ‘I was born in 1877,’ she answered.
‘Were you adopted?’
For a moment, she was literally speechless. ‘How did you know that?’
Jones drew a deep breath and seemed to be weighing up how far he could go. ‘You are the subject of another mandate of mine – one that I was unable to make any sense of, at first,’ he explained.
Ella feverishly wondered why a law firm in Singapore would take an interest in her. But hadn’t he just asked her about Mary?
‘Mary Bridgewater?’ she asked.
‘As I say, I am unable to tell you who my client is. However, if your assumption were correct, it is very possible that that might have furnished me with a strong motive to take on your case – even more so than my most satisfactory business dealings with dear Otto,’ he concluded with a complacent smile.
Ella refrained from probing any further. Whatever her reasons, Mary must have hired him to gather information about her – though he would never reveal the nature of that information.
‘I’ll issue the necessary documents today. Don’t worry – Compton won’t risk his career for the sake of a little wounded pride.’
He stood up and gave her his hand, which Ella shook gratefully.
CHAPTER 18
Straight after her meeting with Jones, Ella managed to book two second-class tickets on the next packet ship leaving for Germany, for the ticket offices in Singapore were open until late at night. A single down payment had secured her two berths. Compton would now assume that they planned to leave the country via that route.
Back in Johore, there was still plenty for Ella to do. She had to inform Amar of the plans she and Otto had cooked up together – and of course, she needed to give him the good news that he would almost certainly be set free. Amar must have been through some long and terrible hours – hours of fear and uncertainty. When he was arrested, there was no way he could have known that Compton would use a false statement from Bennett as evidence against him.
As she made her way to the jail, Ella hoped that Puteri would still be willing to meet her at such a late hour, for none of his colleagues were likely to let her see Amar in his cell. As it proved, she was in luck – nor did she need to explain her reasons for visiting. Puteri reacted with delight when she told him of her meeting with Jones, making it clear to Ella that he must be one of the most influential lawyers in Singapore. All the same, Puteri had been surprised to hear that a firm which hardly ever involved itself in native affairs was willing to defend Amar in court. Ella kept the exact circumstances behind that to herself, as well as the details of Otto’s escape plan. It seemed unwise to push the goodwill of a public official too far, since that information would probably have forced Puteri into an insoluble moral dilemma – even though he had been the one who had advised her to leave the country as soon as possible once Amar was acquitted.
Whatever happened behind the walls of the prison was beyond the authority of the British Army. Officially speaking, Puteri was merely conducting an interview, and had allowed an important witness to attend.
‘I can’t give you more than ten minutes,’ he warned once they reached Amar’s cell at the end of a dimly lit corridor.
He unlocked the door and gestured for her to step insid
e.
‘I’ll wait here. You can speak freely, but don’t talk too loudly. I can hear every word out here in the corridor,’ he whispered. Puteri’s offer not to eavesdrop on them confirmed Ella’s impression that he wanted to know as little as possible of what she had to discuss with his prisoner.
It was obvious that Amar had suffered a good deal of inner turmoil since his arrest. Although he smiled when he saw her and instantly stood up to take her in his arms, the light in his eyes was extinguished. The cell was clean and the bunk looked fairly comfortable, but being locked up like an animal in a room with barred windows would leave its mark on anybody. He virtually clung on to her.
‘I was so afraid I would never see you again,’ he said, and began to kiss and caress her.
‘Are you all right?’ Unbelievably, it was Amar who posed the question to her, once he had let her go and examined her in the light of the paraffin lamp that hung from the ceiling.
‘Don’t worry. One of the very best lawyers has agreed to defend you. I spoke to Puteri. The mask . . .’
‘I know. They made me try it on, but it didn’t fit,’ Amar told her. He grinned as he spoke, and Ella took that as a good sign. It seemed to be dawning on him that there was still hope he might escape being sentenced.
‘What with everything I’m accused of, I never would have thought that the mask would serve as evidence – nor would I have expected the police to ever think of it . . .’ he said.
‘But it wasn’t the police . . .’ Ella hinted.
Amar looked at her in astonishment. ‘It was you?’
‘I saw it in Puteri’s office, and then I remembered what you told me about how the masks were made,’ she explained.
Amar shook his head in disbelief and ran his hand gently through her hair. ‘Whatever would I do without you?’ he said.
His loving gaze spoke volumes, but there was no time to lose herself in his eyes.
‘I’m certainly glad we can disprove one of the charges against you,’ said Ella.
Amar’s optimistic smile remained unbroken. He evidently thought it would all be over once he was acquitted, and that they would be safe after that.
‘Officer Puteri thinks Compton won’t leave us in peace. We need to get away from here. I’ve booked tickets on a boat to Hamburg, but only for appearances’ sake, to mislead Compton. We need to go to the east coast. There we can board a freighter that will take us to a German colony. It was Otto’s idea – he wants to help us. But we’ll need to make our way through the jungle. We only have Mohan’s cart. I don’t know if it can cope with travelling through the bush, and then I have to think about what supplies we’ll need on the way . . .’ Ella was aware they had only ten minutes. They needed to settle everything as quickly as possible.
By now, Amar was speechless and staring at her incredulously. Ella wasn’t surprised at that, for even she could hardly believe what she had accomplished over the last few hours.
‘Why don’t you say something? Or do you want to stay here?’ she asked him.
Amar finally recovered. ‘Bujang can help you. He ought to come with us.’
‘But isn’t he on the run as well? He was the one who lost his mask. Surely somebody must have spotted him at the scene.’ Ella lowered her voice even further, even though she trusted Puteri. They were talking about one of the men who had freed Mohan after all.
‘He’ll agree to help us all the same. His father is very ill, so he’s still in the area, but in hiding. Bujang often goes hunting and knows the jungle – he understands its dangers. It’s thanks to his local knowledge that Mohan is now a free man. He was the one who planned the escape route,’ said Amar, speaking just as quietly as Ella.
‘Where can I find him?’ she asked.
‘You’ll have to be very careful. I don’t know how much Compton’s people know about us. Bujang worked on the Foster plantation for a time. They might have asked who Mohan knew there and put him under surveillance. They might even be watching you too,’ said Amar.
‘We have no other choice,’ she replied.
‘His house is around a mile to the north of Mohan’s, and has a red front. He lives there with his parents. Tell them I sent you, otherwise they’ll say he isn’t there. You just need to keep following the road from Mohan’s house, past a small waterfall.’ Amar looked at her with concern. ‘Promise me you’ll be careful,’ he demanded.
There was a knock at the door. Their time was up.
Wordlessly, Amar took her into his arms and Ella drew strength from the closeness of his embrace. It would be their last for two days.
It was surely no coincidence that a carriage had lingered for an unusually long time on the road leading to Mohan’s house the previous evening. She had seen the uniforms clearly, even from a distance, and only when she lit the paraffin lamps, bringing parts of the house’s interior into view from the road, did the carriage depart. Compton was evidently checking whether she was still in the country. As she breakfasted on a few pieces of fruit, Ella wondered how she had managed to get any sleep at all the night before. She had jumped at every little sound, however harmless, only to lie wide awake once more. Strictly speaking, there was no reason for anybody to do her any harm – but who could tell what Compton was thinking, or how far he would go? Ella therefore decided not to risk any more sleepless nights here, but to pack her bags and make her way into town to seek refuge at Lee’s. That would look more logical to Compton too, for he was presumably expecting Amar to be sentenced, and Ella to leave the country sooner or later. Lee and Otto would be at the boarding house too, and she trusted them both.
In solving one problem, however, she created another. Amar had described Bujang’s house to her, and it stood outside town, just like Mohan’s. In order to get there, she would have no choice but to cross the entire town without being spotted. Ideally, she would have discussed the problem with Otto, for she could always rely on his resourcefulness and ingenuity – but Lee informed her that he was out on business and wouldn’t be back until the evening. That would be too late, for Ella felt it would be too risky to introduce herself to Bujang’s parents in the middle of the night – assuming she could even find her way there in the dark.
She soon ran into further difficulties. One of Compton’s officers had asked about her while she was busy settling into her room, and Lee had come up straight away to let her know.
Lee’s agitation at the officer’s visit was written all over her face. Ella owed her an explanation, but she didn’t dare go into too much detail. It was true that Lee had reliably passed all Ella’s letters and messages on to her, and that she had always offered Ella her help – but who would want to get into trouble with the governor?
‘I’m being watched,’ Ella admitted frankly.
It wasn’t often that Lee lost her smile.
Ella sat on the bed and gestured for Lee to sit down beside her. She did as Ella asked.
‘Amar has been arrested – the British think he was involved in rescuing a prisoner. The trial is scheduled for the day after tomorrow. They won’t sentence him, as they don’t have any watertight evidence, but he’s a thorn in the side of the governor here. As am I, for that matter.’ Ella hoped she wasn’t about to lose Lee’s goodwill.
Lee said nothing. Even these few fragments of information were probably more than a peace-loving innkeeper would ever want to know.
‘They’re going to keep enquiring about me and watching over the building,’ Ella went on.
Lee nodded thoughtfully. She was probably trying to imagine what Ella might ask of her. After all, her guest would only be able to leave the boarding house for longer periods if Lee was willing to lie for her. But perhaps she would agree to do so if she understood what was at stake. Ella therefore decided to tell Lee the whole truth.
‘Officer Puteri thinks we won’t be safe here after Amar is acquitted. We’ll have to leave the country, but I need to make preparations first. It would be best if they didn’t notice me leaving the boarding hou
se at all,’ said Ella.
Lee nodded again, and her silence came to an end. ‘I can always tell them that you’re in your room, as far as I’m aware – and you could leave a light burning at night too,’ she said. Ella was relieved to see Lee’s smile return.
‘Thank you, from the bottom of my heart,’ she said.
Lee furrowed her brow and seemed to briefly mull something over. Ella decided not to interrupt. ‘But how will you get out without being seen?’ asked Lee, once her brow had smoothed itself out again.
‘Well, they won’t be able to keep a constant watch,’ Ella replied, though she hadn’t found an answer to that question herself yet.
‘One of them is still sitting out there on the other side of the road,’ remarked Lee somewhat uneasily.
Now it was Ella’s turn to fall into pensive silence. If only she had stayed at Mohan’s house! But who could say that she wouldn’t be watched around the clock there too? Perhaps she should hide inside a coach and leave the boarding house unobserved that way. Or could she escape over the roof? Or just wait for the guard to answer a call of nature? Ella realised she had run out of ideas.
‘The boarding house has a second exit – it leads into my brother’s restaurant on the other side.’
She could hardly believe that Lee was willing to assist her like this.
‘But the street is very busy, so even then, you might still be seen.’ Lee made a valid point.
‘Stand up,’ Lee told her.
Ella did as she was told, though she had no idea what Lee was driving at.
Lee inspected her, examining first her waist and then her arm. She emitted a series of humming noises – now cheerful, now sceptical – much to Ella’s bafflement.
‘Your hair is long enough, but nobody in my homeland has the same colour skin as you,’ Lee mused.
Ella began to realise what Lee was planning, and her mind boggled at how far the woman was prepared to go in order to help her.
‘You want to leave here unnoticed, don’t you?’ the ingenious Lee now asked. ‘I know a way to dye your hair, and one of my old robes might fit you. Do you know how to make a plait?’
