“If indeed he is the ‘devil that rules the sea,’ your wife’s friend might be the one who has been after her all along.” Jon Chang, who still stood behind the old man’s chair, placed his hand on Ho Sin’s shoulder.
“He wants the alchemist, or the formula if that’s all that’s left. He must have searched the adobe and come up empty-handed.”
“But why would he want to harm your wife?”
“I don’t know,” Jason said as he began walking toward the door, “but I’m sure as hell not going to wait around to find out. I’m going out there.”
“I am going, too,” Tao Ling said to no one in particular. “Mr. Harrington, may I remind you this is still my case?”
Jason paused in the doorway. “Remind me all you want. Are you coming or not?”
“May I leave Ho Sin in your care?” Chang asked Lupita and Cash.
“Of course,” Lupe said before she called out to Jason. “Take Xavier with you.”
“I’m goin’, too,” Cash volunteered.
“Oh no you are not, Cash Younger. Not if I have to sit on you,” Lupe warned. “I didn’t nurse you back to health only to have you fall ill again.”
“Damn, woman!” he yelled as he watched Jason open the closet in the foyer, take out his duster, and strap on his gunbelt. “I’m going to miss all the fireworks.”
Lupe crossed her arms.
Cash Younger contented himself with a loud grumble as the other men left the house.
HER MIND IN TURMOIL, Jade watched Emery Lennox and the bearded man leave the room. She wondered if her legs would hold her, knew they had to, and stood up. Quan Yen was at her side in seconds.
“Where Missee go?”
“Home,” Jade managed. “I have a headache.”
“Am I to stay, or go?”
“You’re going with me, Quan. I can’t leave you here alone.” Jade was beginning to doubt her own sanity. Had the captain lied to her all along? Why had he sent the bearded man after her? And what of Quan Yen? Had Lennox found her wandering the Embarcadero, or had that story been a lie, too? Jade knew one thing for certain: she had to get out of this house and get out now.
On shaking limbs she crossed the room and stepped out into the entry hall. Lennox was in hushed discussion with the bearded man. They stopped speaking as soon as Jade arrived.
“What is it, my dear?” Lennox asked.
I have to act as if nothing is wrong. I have to get home. Jason will take care of me. Everything will be fine.
She forced an apologetic smile. “I hope you’ll forgive me, but I suddenly have a terrible headache. I would like to go home.”
Lennox looked up at the big man in the doorway. “Take care of it, Burke. Now.”
Chapter Twenty-three
The tiger’s cub cannot be caught . . .
Without going into his den.
THE MOON WAS not yet full, but it was bright enough to cast the land in shadows of light and dark. The hills, yellow in daylight, were now shades of gray. The high branches of the oaks looked like crooked black arms reaching up against the night sky. Jason and the other men stopped on a hillside above the adobe and stared down at the yellow rectangles of light glowing in the windows. He pulled his coat closer to help ward off the damp night air. He thought of the Sangre de Cristo range in New Mexico and knew he was far warmer here than he would be this time of year if he were home, but that knowledge was little consolation. Besides, he was certain part of the cold he experienced was due to his fear for Jade. If Captain Lennox was the man who had wanted to harm her all along, then they had both played right into his hands.
El Sol snorted and pawed the ground, anxious to run. Jason nudged the big horse closer to Jon Chang’s mount. “I’ll ride in alone from here,” Jason told him, “in case they have a guard out. That way we won’t spook him into harming Jade if we’re right. Lennox will just think I’ve taken him up on his invitation.”
Chang nodded. “If our suspicions are wrong and everything is fine, walk outside and wave us away and we’ll head back to town. We’ll wait as close to the house as we can. If we don’t see you by eight o’clock, we’re coming in.”
“I don’t want Jade hurt.”
Jon Chang smiled. “Don’t worry. We won’t come in with guns blazing, if that’s what you’re afraid of. Besides,” he added, nodding toward Tao, “I have my secret weapon here.”
Jason snorted. This might be the night he would get to see the mysterious Tao in action—still, for Jade’s sake, he hoped not. He nudged El Sol forward and started down the hill.
“I REALLY DO HAVE quite a headache, Captain,” Jade said again. “Do you think you could have one of your men take me home?”
Suddenly it seemed important to her to try to remember exactly how many men she had seen since her arrival; there had been the driver who had brought her from town, the two men on the roof, and the bearded man in the hallway. Had he been one of the men repairing the roof? If not, there were at least four men at the adobe with Lennox.
“Surely you can have dinner? You’ll feel better after you eat something.” Emery stepped forward, took her by the arm, and turned her back toward the dining room.
Jade fought the urge to stiffen, tried to act as comfortable as she should have been with him, and hoped she was succeeding, but his easy dismissal of her request did little to calm her frayed nerves. She forced herself to smile up at him, to remember he was her old friend, after all, and told herself she was being ridiculous.
The dining table was set for three. Emery placed Jade on his right and Quan Yen on his left. The cook, another burly man with muscles that bulged beneath his shirtsleeves, carried in the food. Jade added him to her tally of four—or now possibly five—men. A huge pheasant that was artfully arranged on a platter along with potatoes and carrots proved to be simple but delicious fare. Jade wished she were calmer so that she could enjoy the meal. As it was, she pushed the ample helping Lennox had carved for her around the plate.
“Evans has been my galley cook for over eight years,” the captain said to break the ominous silence that hovered over the room.
“He’s very talented,” Jade said.
“I think so. Eat up, Jade. You look far too pale and thin.”
She stared down at her plate, then across the table at Quan Yen. The girl was watching her carefully.
“More wine?” Emery asked as he filled his own goblet.
Jade shook her head.
“Some tea?” Quan asked in Chinese.
“No, no thank you,” Jade said again.
As the captain ignored her distress and began to tell a story about the worst storm he’d ever seen at sea, Jade let her mind wander. Why had he suddenly taken such an interest in the collection? As far as she could recall, he had never paid it much mind. When he had come to visit her at Harrington House that first day, he had barely even noticed the crates. Why now?
Obviously he wanted something of her or he would not have gone to such lengths to have the burly man follow her through the streets of San Francisco. Had he also hired the two Chinese who had nearly abducted her in the alleyway?
If, she decided as he rambled on, what he really wanted was to get his hands on the collection, the only way she could gain knowledge of his true motives was to deny him that which he wanted most. She would push him to play his cards.
She waited for him to finish his tale, put down her fork, and then said, “I’ve been thinking about the provision you have had drawn up and, although as you say you want to do what’s best for the collection, I’m determined to leave things as they are. Mrs. Stanford has promised to do her very best and I’m certain she will. Besides, she’ll add prestige to the list of founders.” Jade watched Emery Lennox’s expression shutter as easily as she might close the draperies in her room.
Then he
smiled. “I hope you aren’t being too hasty, dear.”
“Oh no. I’ve thought it all through.” Jade tried to take a sip of wine, but found it nearly impossible to swallow.
She watched as he set down his knife and fork. His hairy, broad-backed hands rested on each side of his plate as he stared at her. Jade stared back. There was not a sound in the room except for the pounding of her own heart.
Lennox’s tone hardened, as did his gaze. “That’s really too bad, my dear. I hate to have to kill you.”
Jade’s fork clattered to the plate and bounced off onto the table. “What?”
“I tried to make this easy for you,” Lennox said nonchalantly as he lifted his goblet to his lips. “All I asked for was your signature.”
Jade pushed back her chair.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” he warned.
Jade stood up and turned to run from the room. The bearded man was standing directly behind her. She had not heard him enter.
“Sit down, Jade. I don’t intend to ruin a good meal simply because you are not willing to cooperate.”
“Are you mad? My husband will kill you for this.” It sounded good, she thought, to say so, but even as the words were out she wondered if Jason would really avenge her death. Perhaps he would celebrate being rid of such a difficult wife.
“And why would your husband want to do that? By the time the search for your body is over and they find you dead in Little China, I will have sailed back to Canton.”
Jade’s mind raced ahead as she tried to comprehend his plan. “And I suppose that when I turn up missing tomorrow and you arrive on the doorstep with that piece of paper making you the trustee of the collection that no one will associate you with my disappearance?”
“I’m not that stupid. I intend to let things progress just as they are. After your death is discovered and your bereaved husband clears out and goes back to New Mexico, I’ll wait a few weeks, sail back into town, and collect my prize.”
“A collection that most people view as far from valuable.”
“Don’t be a fool. You know what I really want.”
Jade knew exactly what he wanted. “The alchemist’s formula?”
For a moment she thought he was going to reach across the table and grab her. “Did you find it? Have you already translated it?”
She shook her head. “No.”
“I don’t believe you. Quan Yen said that you’re working on those pages every day in your room.”
Jade’s gaze cut to the girl across the table from her. “Quan Yen? Has this all been a trick, then? You set her up in my home to spy on me?”
“It was very easy. When I told you she was wandering along the waterfront your heart was in your eyes. The truth of the matter is that the slut is mine. I bought her two years ago in Canton. She’s the one who told me about Li Po. In fact, he was her grandfather.”
“She betrayed her own grandfather?”
“Why not? He was the greedy bastard who sold her to me.”
“But her bruises, she’d been badly beaten—”
Lennox smiled openly, suggestively, at Quan Yen and said something to her in Cantonese that Jade could not translate. “She likes a heavy hand,” he said, staring hungrily at the girl. “Now, what have you learned of the formula?”
“Nothing. The writings are in a language too archaic for me to decipher.”
Her own calm attitude amazed her. Here they were, chatting as if they were two old friends talking about the weather. Jade realized all too clearly that her only hope was to stall for time. How long would it be before the hulking guard behind her snapped her neck?
“I can’t imagine you are this in need of money, that you would go so far as to . . . to . . . ”
“To kill you? Since when does a man have enough money? Besides, it’s not just the money. Quan said Li Po had been working on a secret elixir, a tonic that would restore youth and make a man forever young.”
“Surely you don’t believe that?”
“Oh, but I do. And so did your father.”
“Then where is the alchemist? If he had an elixir that would make him immortal, where is he?”
“He’s dead.”
Shaken, Jade asked, “How do you know for certain?”
“I had my men dig up every inch of the garden. Your father told me he died, but at first I didn’t believe him. I thought he was lying, but when I couldn’t find a trace of Li Po, I realized your father had buried him somewhere and that the formula might be buried with the body. It’s not. I know, because we found the grave earlier this afternoon. So you see, this dinner is sort of a celebration.”
A very macabre one, Jade thought. A celebration of death. Lennox looked about to rise, so Jade said, “Tell me exactly how my father became involved in all of this.”
“I returned from a voyage and came here to deliver a brass gong to your grandfather for his collection. I had recently purchased my little joy-girl here and she had told me all about Li Po. When I arrived with the gong, I learned your grandfather had just passed on. Your father was here, selling off furniture and crating up the collection. We had a drink, then another, then a bottle or two, and that’s when I decided he was the perfect partner to bring into my scheme. I told him that I planned to abduct Li Po and use the gold he could manufacture to lure investors into shares in a fictitious mine. But what I really wanted was the elixir of life that Li Po was supposedly able to concoct. Can you imagine what the wealthy and powerful men of the world, the Crockers and Stanfords and Rockefellers, would pay to live forever?
“I sailed back to Canton and had my crew capture Li Po. We were no sooner ashore than word came in on another ship from China about the old man’s abduction. At that point, the tongs still didn’t know who brought Li Po into the country, but naturally, they wanted him for themselves. I secreted him out here and left him in your father’s care. Then, I set sail the next morning, intending to hide out until things cooled off. But when I returned, Douglas told me Li Po had taken sick and died. I thought he was lying in order to keep everything for himself. He wouldn’t tell me anything about Li Po, he just insisted the man was dead. So, I leaked word to the tong that your father was behind the abduction. They killed him.”
“And then?” Jade glanced back over her shoulder. Burke was still there, his arms folded across his chest, his attention centered on Quan Yen.
“Then I decided to hide out until I thought the tongs were satisfied that they had avenged Li Po. When I came back, intending to get my hands on the collection and the house to search for the formula, you were here. You’d bailed out the collection and gotten yourself married. It would have been far easier if you hadn’t done that, Jade, but the rest was simple. Quan Yen watched you day and night and reported to the men I sent by disguised as peddlers. She was also very adept at slipping a toxic herb into your tea. Consumed over a period of time, it leads to convulsions and then death.”
Jade spread her hands wide on the cool tabletop and stared aghast at Quan Yen. “You were poisoning me?” she whispered.
Quan Yen stared back without a sound. So young, Jade thought, and yet so very deadly. She tried to imagine the girl pleasuring Emery Lennox, but her mind refused to accept the image.
Lennox answered for Quan Yen. “I wanted you in a weakened state. That kept you at home where we could watch you, except for that little unexpected jaunt you took to the doctor yesterday.”
“And the urn that nearly killed me at the Palace, the men in Little China? Were you behind those attempts on my life?”
“You hadn’t married yet. If you met with an accidental death, or ended up a victim of the tongs like your father, then I could have simply paid off the bank. Now, you have a beneficiary. But, I’m sure you’ll be willing to sign this contract before I’m through with you.” He patted the pa
pers in his side pocket.
“What would you have done if my husband had come with me tonight? Would you have killed us both?” At least she could be thankful for one thing, that Jason was safe at home. If she had died knowing she was responsible for his death, too—The thought did not bear thinking.
“Who do you think sent Harrington the note that took him away from the house when my driver arrived? I had it delivered to Quan Yen earlier with instructions that she was to give it to him just before three o’clock. At three thirty my carriage arrived to collect you, did it not?”
“So if I had stayed home today, your plan would have been foiled?”
“Merely postponed.”
She still could not fathom the truth. This man was willing to kill her for a formula that might not even exist, and if it did, would no doubt prove to be a hoax. “Why didn’t you just ask me for the collection, or for the formula for that matter?”
He rose half out of his chair and leaned forward over the table, his eyes wide. “Do you have it?”
“No,” she repeated, shaking her head.
He sat back down. “Would you have given me the collection?”
“No.” She lied coolly, knowing she probably would have, had he asked her early on.
The thin-faced man who reminded her of a rat burst into the room. Lennox stood and walked around the table and as he did, Jade turned in her chair to watch.
“Captain, there’s a rider comin’ in,” the man announced.
“Jason!” Jade said triumphantly.
Lennox did not move. “Is he alone?”
“Aye.”
It was Lennox’s turn to look triumphant. The captain turned to Burke. “Lock her up in the cellar. See that she can’t make a sound. A few hours down there and she’ll be ready to sign anything.”
“No!” Jade was up and out of the chair. She began backing away from the bearded sailor but there was no escape. He reached out for her arm and pulled her toward the kitchen door.
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