Time of Fog and Fire

by Rhys Bowen

  I was feeling like Alice who had fallen down a rabbit hole and at each twist and turn things were becoming more frightening and unreal. The request was made. The woman got to her feet, slowly and painfully, and I realized that she was one of the bound-foot women. Had she had to walk all the way here on those deformed little stubs? She shaded her eyes and stared around the encampment. Then she said something to Ellen.

  “She’s not sure. She said the woman was with a man with a long mustache and a little girl, maybe her daughter, was trying to make the white baby stop crying. The girl had a long braid and was wearing a red and white flowery tunic and trousers.”

  “And they were heading here, toward the park?” I asked.

  There were nods of affirmation.

  “I help you find them,” Ellen said. She started off, picking her way between the bundles of possessions and sleeping people across the dell. Every now and then she stopped to ask someone. At last a woman pointed, nodding.

  “She says a girl wearing such a tunic played with her daughter last night. They played where there is a waterfall by the trees.”

  We hurried toward that spot and sure enough, an elderly man, with a very long mustache, was tending a campfire. Ellen went up to him. He had set up a lean-to of sorts from rugs draped over boxes. He called into this and a woman emerged, her eyes still bleary with sleep. She looked alarmed at seeing us. Ellen asked the question. The woman looked at us nervously, and then blurted something out.

  “She says she was going to hand the child over to the soldiers so they could put him safely with the other orphans but then his mother came and claimed him.”

  Twenty-eight

  Disappointment flooded over me. Then it couldn’t have been my son after all. My boy, my beloved Liam, was still missing or dead. Probably the latter if Li Na was dead too.

  “What did this child look like?” Daniel wasn’t giving up so easily.

  The woman still looked scared and embarrassed. She muttered to Ellen, who turned back to Daniel. “She says the boy had dark curls, like yours. And he was chubby and healthy looking and he had a loud voice when he cried.”

  Daniel looked at me, anger blazing in his eyes. “That’s our boy, Molly. Someone has stolen our boy.” He turned back to the Chinese woman. “What did this woman look like? Where were you when she took the boy from you?”

  The woman was clearly frightened now. “She says she’s very sorry,” Ellen translated. “She thought she was doing the right thing. Was this woman not his mother?”

  “Almost definitely not,” Daniel snapped.

  “What did she look like?” I repeated. My heart was beating so violently now that it felt like a frightened bird imprisoned in my chest. “And where was this? Do you know where she was camping?”

  More words were exchanged. Ellen turned to us. “It was on the strip they call the Panhandle,” she said. “On our way to this place. The woman was big. Not young. She wore black silk and she had pearls around her neck. A rich woman.”

  “Will you come with us to help identify her?” Daniel asked.

  The woman looked down at the ground, ashamed and mumbling a reply.

  “She says she cannot walk so far. She has the lotus feet. Walking is impossible for her,” Ellen translated, giving the woman a look of scorn. Her own feet were big and broad. In China she would have been the despised one, but here in the new world lotus feet were not a blessing or a mark of status.

  “I understand.” I nodded to the woman. “Thank you.”

  “Wait,” she called after us in English as we were ready to go. “I send my daughter.” She shouted into the lean-to and the girl in the red and white tunic emerged. She stared at us with frightened eyes and when questioned she answered in little more than a whisper, looking down at the ground. Ellen questioned her and yes, she had seen the woman take the child. And she would help us to find him.

  “Perhaps they misunderstood,” I said as Daniel, Ellen, and I hurried along a soft bridle path toward the Panhandle. “Perhaps she meant that she would find his mother for them.”

  “Who knows?” Daniel’s mouth was set in a grim line. “What better time to help yourself to a baby than when the world is in chaos.”

  I wished he hadn’t said that. I now felt violently sick, as if I would throw up at any minute and I couldn’t tell whether it was because of my head wound or because of my terror. I stumbled forward, finding every step painful now but not daring to stop. We came out of the trees and saw that the park had come to an end but a narrow strip of green continued toward the city between two roads. So this was the Panhandle. It was now covered in tents. Smoke rose from cooking fires to mingle with the smoky haze that hung in the air, making our eyes sting. And when we looked beyond, toward the city, the sky was still a black pall.

  The little Chinese girl, whose name, we had learned, was Mei Ling, went ahead of us, like a dog following a scent. She peered among the tents until finally she stopped abruptly and pointed, whispering something to Ellen.

  “She says that is the woman,” Ellen said.

  We looked where she was pointing. A large woman in black had come out of a tent. She wore a tortoiseshell comb in her hair and pearls around her neck. She wasn’t young, in her thirties, or even forties, and her sallow complexion hinted at Mediterranean ancestry—Italian maybe? Or Mexican or even Jewish.

  “Let me handle this,” Daniel said, holding up a warning hand to me. He strode forward with that confident stride of his.

  “Good morning, ma’am,” he said. “Captain Sullivan, police. I understand you were good enough to rescue a baby boy from some Chinese people. Did you take him straight to the place where they are holding rescued orphans or do you still have him with you?”

  “You must have the wrong person,” she replied, staring haughtily at Daniel. “I don’t know who told you that, but they were wrong.”

  “So you don’t have a baby boy with you? You’ve never rescued a toddler?”

  “No,” she said defiantly. “No. Never.”

  As if to dispute this a wail came from inside the tent.

  “My own son,” she said. “Not the boy you’re looking for.”

  “Can we see him?”

  “Certainly not. That tent is my private property. If you go near it, that’s trespassing and my husband will shoot you.”

  By now people had gathered around us.

  “What’s happening?” someone asked.

  “This woman won’t let us see whether the child she has in her tent is mine,” I said. “She threatened to shoot us. I think she might have my little boy in there. I just want to look.”

  “I’ve told them it’s my own son,” she said. “Why do they try to stir up trouble? Don’t we all have enough troubles?”

  There were murmurs from the crowd. From inside the tent came a plaintive cry of “Mama!”

  “You see. He hears me and he wants me,” she said. “I must go to him, if you’ll excuse me.”

  She headed for the closed tent flap. I went to follow her and she spun around. “If you don’t go away I’ll call the police,” she said. “I’ve heard about people like you, trying to steal babies. I’m a respected person in this community. The mayor and police chief are good friends. Do you want me to summon them?”

  Of course I couldn’t risk the police chief seeing Daniel. I saw the blank despair on his face.

  “It may be her child, Molly,” he said quietly. “We may have gotten this wrong.”

  “Wait!” I commanded as her hand was on the tent flap. I turned back to the watching crowd. “Liam!” I called. “Liam, darling. Are you in there?”

  And from inside the tent came a plaintive wail. “Mama! Mama!”

  A new murmur went around the crowd.

  “You see. She has got my child.” I wrenched the tent flap from her. She tried to prevent me from entering. She was a big woman, but I fought like a wild thing, pushing past her. “Go ahead. Call the police. You’re not taking my child from me.” She grabbed
at my clothing. I hit out wildly. I heard her give a whimper as I must have punched her nose. She released her hold on me and I was through. There among pillows and trunks at the back of the tent my own dear boy stood, his face red and tearstained. His arms were held out to me.

  “Mama. Up,” he said.

  I swept him into my arms and carried him out. “Do you need any more proof?” I demanded to the crowd. They stared at Liam, clinging to me like a limpet.

  “It’s her boy all right,” one of the men said. “This woman is a kidnapper.”

  “They shoot kidnappers,” someone else said.

  The woman’s eyes darted around nervously. “I am not a kidnapper,” she said. “I found this child in the street beside a dead woman. I saved his life.”

  “No!” Mei Ling said in her high, shrill voice. “She take him from my ma. She say she his mother! She tell lie.”

  An angry murmur now passed through the crowd. The woman stared at them with defiant contempt. “He’d have a better life with me than with this … this gypsy.”

  “I’m his mother,” I said calmly. “That’s all that matters. Given the circumstances I’ll not press charges. I’m just happy to have my boy back with me.” I turned to Daniel. “Come on, Daniel. We can go now. Let’s get out of this place and go home.”

  We walked with Ellen and Mei Ling back to the Chinese encampment. Liam clung to me fiercely, small sobs still shaking his body. His undergarments were soaked and I couldn’t wait to wash and change him. I was still in shock over how close I’d come to losing him. If he’d been asleep, or hadn’t responded to me, or that woman had really summoned the police, I might never have gotten him back. I tried to understand what had made this woman act so rashly. Perhaps she had assumed his mother was dead and didn’t want to leave him among the despised Chinese. Perhaps she had always wanted a child and saw this moment of chaos as her one opportunity. Strange times create strange deeds, I thought. I wondered how many other similar cases had happened since the earthquake, how many children were now separated from their parents and would never be reunited?

  Daniel fell into step beside Ellen. “So tell me,” he said. “Is there anything I should know about Mrs. Rodriguez? Why did she have me watched all the time?”

  “I don’t know, sir,” Ellen said. “I know nothing about her. I was just the cook. She was good to me and to Francis. She paid me well. I never knew where she came from or how she got so much money. She say she rich widow. She sell husband’s ranch. That’s all I know.”

  “Then why was she keeping tabs on me?” Daniel asked. She clearly didn’t understand the meaning of “tabs” so Daniel repeated. “Why did she have me watched all the time and not let me go out alone? What was she afraid of?”

  Ellen shrugged. “Maybe someone tell her or pay her to watch you.”

  “Possibly.” Daniel nodded. I could tell he thought that person would be the police chief or the mayor.

  “And what about Señor Garcia?” I asked, wondering how much she knew about this matter.

  She frowned. “I don’t know this name.”

  “The Spanish-looking man who came to visit before the earthquake.”

  She shrugged. “Ah, him. I bring them coffee. They were chatting. But not happy talking. Missy Bella upset. That’s all I know. When I went to clear away the cups he had gone.”

  Yes, I thought. Gone down to the cellar in a trunk.

  “So you don’t know where she’s gone now?” Daniel asked.

  “They went in carriage,” Ellen said. “When we hear that fire is coming she decide to leave. I helped her carry out valuable things. Paintings. Her jewels. Silver. Then she gave me fifty dollars and said thank you for my work and told me to save myself before the fires came.”

  It seemed all too believable. Ellen didn’t appear to be on edge or worried about the questions. On the contrary she was happy to talk to us. So it looked as if we might never find out why Señor Garcia was killed or if Bella had any dark secrets of her own. We reached the dell where the Chinese were camped and delivered Mei Ling back to her mother, thanking her profusely. If they had not wanted to help us, if they hadn’t rescued the baby in the first place, and if Mei Ling had not found Liam’s kidnapper, then we would never have found our son. I reached into my purse. “I’d like to give you something,” I began but the woman held up her hand angrily and said something to Ellen. Ellen turned to us. “She say this bad time for all people, white and Chinese. We must help each other when we can.”

  I smiled at her then and took her hand. “Thank you,” I said again. “I wish you all the best. And you, Mei Ling.”

  The girl smiled shyly. We set off again. Ellen led us back to her campsite and offered us tea and rice with vegetables, both of which we accepted gratefully. I suspected that the green stuff was in fact nettles and ferns culled from the surrounding forest but they were most welcome at this point. Liam was hungrier than any of us and opened his mouth like a little bird as I shoveled in rice and broth. Then we thanked Ellen again and took our leave.

  Twenty-nine

  We were still walking down the wide path when we heard the tramp of boots ahead of us and a group of soldiers came into view, and following them a straggling line of men of all shapes and sizes. They stopped when they drew level with us.

  “General Funston has given an order to round up all able-bodied men to remove the bodies and clear the streets in the areas where the fire has already gone through,” one of the soldiers said, eyeing Daniel.

  “I’m afraid my husband isn’t able-bodied,” I said before Daniel could answer. “He and I both received bad head wounds, as you can see from his bandages. He’s not up to any kind of work. The doctors at the hospital only released us when the fire came close. He should be resting but we had to find our little son, who was taken from us.” I used my most humble and pleading voice.

  “All right. On your way.” The soldier waved his rifle at us and the troop marched on. Some of the men looked anything but able-bodied.

  Daniel turned to look at me as the last of the feet died away. “I feel rather guilty about that, Molly. I am able-bodied. Perhaps I should be helping.”

  “Have you lost your senses?” I demanded. “You can’t risk being seen, Daniel. We’ve been taking a big enough risk walking through the park to find Liam. But there will be police on those streets and nowhere to hide.”

  “You’re right,” he agreed. “And that was quite some performance. Sarah Bernhardt has nothing on you.”

  “I do what it takes to save my family,” I said. “And now we’ve got Liam again there is nothing to keep us here. Let’s drive that automobile to the first place where we can catch a train.”

  “I think we’ll have to wait at least a day or two,” he said. “I heard the train lines were disrupted. And we can’t leave the city with that automobile. It’s not ours. We’ll turn it over to the military when we go and they can hold it until a rightful owner claims it.”

  “But the rightful owner is dead,” I said. “The man who borrowed it told me. He’d fallen through the floor.”

  “But he’ll have family. Next of kin. It’s not ours.”

  I shook my head, smiling. “The only police officer in New York City who won’t accept bribes and won’t borrow automobiles.”

  “Not that it’s done me any good,” he said. “I wonder if I’ll still have a job when we return home?”

  “We’ll face that when we come to it.” Liam must have fallen asleep against my shoulder and I hoisted him up, noticing how big and heavy he had become. And how wonderful it was to feel him in my arms again. Compared to what we had just gone through, nothing else mattered.

  We retraced our steps to our hidden automobile and placed sleeping Liam on the seat. I left Daniel with him and went to the water barrel in the meadow, coming back with a wet cloth to wash him. His poor little bottom was bright red from not being changed for a whole day and night. Some mother she would have made, I thought. What had made her steal a child?
She was no longer young. Then I decided to think charitable thoughts. Perhaps she had lost her own. Perhaps she could never have one of her own. And I found myself thinking of Mrs. Endicott. I wondered where her husband was now, if he was still in the city, if he had managed to take the ferry to Oakland while there was still time and was now on his way back to her. Or if he had been one of the unlucky ones, buried under a mountain of rubble and she would never know what happened to him.

  Daniel was pacing up and down like a caged beast. “I must find General Funston before I leave,” he said. “I must tell him what I know. He’s in charge of the city now. It would be up to him to bring charges against Mayor Schmitz and the police chief. And they can add murder and attempted murder to those charges too.”

  “How are you going to find him?” I asked. “I expect he’s still overseeing the firefighting. From that black sky on the Panhandle the fires are far from out yet.”

  “Then we must wait until we can see him,” Daniel said. “I can’t go home a complete failure. I’ve accomplished nothing.”

  “You didn’t exactly expect to be killed, did you?” I looked at him with sympathy. “And you now have personal proof that the police chief was part of the city fathers’ corruption.”

  “All the same I don’t want to go home empty-handed,” he said. “My career hasn’t been exactly stellar lately. I need to know that I have helped to see justice served here. And since we obviously can’t travel for a few days, until the train line is restored, then I’ll make sure I do find General Funston before we leave.” He nodded, as if satisfied that he had made up his mind. I was not so satisfied with his decision. I was thinking that every day we stayed here was another chance for the police chief or one of his men to recognize Daniel. Or for Daniel to be rounded up for one of the work parties.

  By the end of that day more tents had arrived and the whole meadow resembled a neat white city. I suppose we could have applied for one of the tents ourselves, but it made more sense to stay hidden, and close to our vehicle if we needed a hurried departure. More food was served that evening. People lined up without complaining. Those who had rescued supplies brought them out to share. It was all very orderly and civilized, in contrast to the awful looting and anarchy in the streets I had witnessed earlier. I suspected that General Funston, in spite of his diminutive size, must be a leader of great strength and well respected by his men. After our bellies were satisfied with a sort of chowder, we played with Liam, who had recovered from his ordeal remarkably quickly. To hear him laugh as Daniel chased him among the bushes was the best thing I could have hoped for. The fog came in again, and the cold dampness forced us into the automobile. We snuggled together under my coat for another night’s sleep.