by Rhys Bowen
I tried not to let my face betray me. I had heard Lee Sing Tai described as wily. Perhaps he had never quite trusted me and somehow knew by now that I was not going to return the girl to him. Why not pretend to sack Frederick, then have him worm Bo Kei’s hiding place out of me?
“I beg of you, Miss Murphy, if you find Bo Kei, please come to me before you tell my employer. Please don’t deliver her back to him. I know this will cost you a large amount of money and it may even put you in danger, but I care about Bo Kei’s happiness and she would face a life of misery with that old man.”
He was looking at me expectantly, but I had learned patience the hard way during my time as an investigator, and I had learned that people are not always what they seem.
“I understand that you are worried,” I said cautiously, “but I can’t tell you anything at the moment. If you would like to give me your address, I will send word if I succeed in my quest.”
He shook his head. “No, I will come back here tomorrow. My rooms may be watched. Mr. Lee has his spies everywhere.”
“Very well,” I said. “I’ll see you here tomorrow. I hope to have news for you by then.”
His whole face lit up. “That would be wonderful.”
I was so tempted to tell him where she was and even to lend them money to take the next train out of New York, but I had to see Bo Kei herself first and hear from her mouth that she wanted to be with Frederick Lee. And I had to weigh the risk that he might betray her to his former employer.
“You understand that this whole thing is impossible, Miss Murphy,” Frederick said with a heavy sigh. “Lee Sing Tai is a powerful man. He has connections in every Chinese community. Even if Bo Kei chose to be with me, we could never find a place where we would be safe. If we tried to run off together he would find us and have us killed, or at least have me killed. He’d want her returned to him. She is his possession.”
I nodded. This was all too true and I had no words of encouragement.
“I just pray that she can still be found,” Frederick said. “It must be almost a week now that she has been away. Where can she be hiding? I wonder if she is still alive. I wonder if that rat Bobby Lee might not have killed her.”
“Why would he do that?” I asked.
“Clearly he lusted after her himself,” he said. “I could see this. He is a man who does not like to be crossed. If she refused his advances—who knows how he might have punished her? And I believe he must have seen me as a rival. He told his father that I had tried to meddle with her on my way across Canada. I treated her with the greatest respect. I never touched her in any way.”
“Let us hope that she is alive and well, Frederick,” I said. “And I am sure that Bobby Lee could not have killed her.”
“How can you be sure?”
I smiled at his worried face. “Are you not half Irish? We Irish are known for our sixth sense. I sense that she is still alive.”
“You give me hope, Miss Murphy,” he said. “God bless you.”
He rose to his feet. “I will go now. But Miss Murphy, once more I beg you—if you find her, please tell me before you go to Mr. Lee. If we run away together, if we have already vanished, then it will not be your fault that she doesn’t return to him and he will not try to harm you.”
“Very well,” I said. “Come to see me tomorrow.”
“I will do so. I will be extra careful and make sure I am not followed. If you find her, I will forever be in your debt.”
I let him out and watched him walk down Patchin Place and out into Greenwich Avenue. I wanted to believe him. I trusted his earnest, open expression, but I couldn’t put aside the thought of old Mr. Lee waiting like a vulture in the semidarkness of that ornate room for Frederick to report back. “Well? Did she tell you the girl’s hiding place? Has she found her, do you think?”
Fourteen
I finished my task with the paper streamers before I decided to pay a call on Bo Kei. I was itching with impatience to go and see her, but I realized I had to behave with a great deal of caution—hard for someone as impatient as I. I half expected that Frederick or one of Lee Sing Tai’s henchmen might be lurking in the shadows, watching me to see where I went, so I started by fulfilling the shopping commissions given me by Gus—things she had forgotten to buy this morning. I hoped that seeing me with a bag of bread rolls or a jar of pickles might convince whoever was watching me that I was only on normal housewifely errands.
I looked around as I came out of the grocer’s and saw no sign of Frederick nor of anybody who looked in any way Chinese. Of course I didn’t know if Mr. Lee employed Westerners as well, but I decided not to put Bo Kei at risk and hailed a passing hansom cab. This was extravagant, considering that I wouldn’t be paid anything for this case, but some things are worth more than money.
The commerce of the Lower East Side forced the cab to come to a halt halfway down Elizabeth Street. “Are you sure this is where you want to be?” the cabby asked me as pushcarts and half-naked children spilled around us. “Not a safe place for young ladies around here, you know. Do you want me to wait?”
I hadn’t anticipated a cab fare back, but it did seem like a good idea. I had less likelihood of being spotted by one of Mr. Lee’s henchmen.
“I won’t be long,” I said and went into the house.
Hermione came out of the kitchen to greet me, wiping her hands on an oversized apron. “Well, if it isn’t the miracle worker,” she said. “Your bringing the Chinese girl has done wonders for poor Annie. Until now she’s just lain in bed and hardly eaten a thing. Frankly I thought we’d lose her soon, but today she’s as sprightly as anything and ate a good breakfast with Bo Kei. And you should hear them laughing—like two naughty schoolgirls up there.”
“I am glad,” I said. “So nobody has come here looking for Bo Kei?”
She shook her head. “Although I’ve had to warn them that it might not be the smartest thing to betray their presence by talking to each other so loudly in their language. Sound does carry through open windows and we’re not far from Chinatown.”
“I hope she won’t be here too long,” I said. “May I go up and see her?”
“Of course. You know the way, don’t you? I’d escort you but I’m facing a mountain of washing-up.” She gave me a wry smile. “Sometimes I wonder why I thought this would be preferable to making a good match and living a life of ease.”
“Maybe because you are free to choose to do the washing-up,” I said.
“Exactly.” She nodded as she went back to the kitchen, while I made my way up the stairs. Bo Kei and Annie had been sitting on one of the beds together, but they jumped up as I came in. Bo Kei gave me a relieved smile. She looked like a young girl again and I realized that she probably wasn’t more than fifteen or sixteen.
“How are you today, Bo Kei?” I said. “Hermione said you sounded very happy.”
“Bo Kei happy to be safe and free,” she said.
“You’re not out of the woods yet,” I said.
“Please? Which wood is this?” She looked puzzled.
“An expression,” I said. “It means that we still have to decide what to do with you. You can’t stay here very long.”
“Missie Molly,” she said slowly. “I not ask you yet—who send you to find me?”
How was I going to answer this one? Do I make up some story about the good people at the house hearing of a runaway Chinese bride? I couldn’t bring myself to come out with a lie.
“Who do you think might be looking for you?” I asked.
She dropped her voice to a whisper. “My master. Lee Sing Tai.”
“That’s right,” I said. “He hired me to find you.”
She shrank against Annie, clutching her as if she was drowning. “Why you bring me here and say you want to help me then? Why not take me straight back to him?”
“Because I do want to help you,” I said. “When he hired me I had no idea it was a person he was looking for. He asked me originally to look for a pi
ece of jade.”
“My bride-piece. This belong to me,” she said, patting at her chest to indicate it was hidden under her clothing. “I have a right to take it with me.”
“And you still have it?”
“Of course. I no sell my bride-piece. It was present. Given to me.”
“It was only when I couldn’t find it in pawnshops that Mr. Lee told me he was really looking for a woman. The way he spoke frightened me. I won’t help anybody to keep another person as a slave.”
Annie looked up at me with dark, expressionless eyes. “You foolish woman. Lee Sing Tai not forgive you. He find you and punish you, just like he find Bo Kei and punish her. I tell her, she not be free from him ever.”
Bo Kei shivered and grasped even harder at Annie.
“Bo Kei?” I asked. “Was there someone else you hoped was looking for you? Someone you wanted to find you?”
Her eyes gave her away before she shook her head and said, “No. Nobody.”
“I just thought…” I said. “Frederick Lee came to see me today.”
Again her face betrayed her before she spoke. “You saw Frederick? He is well?”
“He wants to find you,” I said. “He wants to rescue you and take you away.”
“Lee Sing Tai not allow him,” she said flatly.
“He no longer works for Mr. Lee,” I said. “Mr. Lee fired him because Bobby Lee told him lies about you. He said that Frederick made advances to you on the train coming here.”
“Not true,” she said vehemently. “He treat me with respect, he behave like gentleman, always like gentleman. He never say or do anything wrong, but I know that he likes me. I can tell.”
“Yes, he likes you lot. And now that he no longer works for Mr. Lee and no longer has to show loyalty to his employer, he wants to take you away somewhere.”
“No use!” Annie spat the words. “You think you can hide from Lee Sing Tai? Where you think you go, huh?”
“I have rich friends,” I said. “Maybe they can find you both jobs working in a white person’s household far from here. I don’t think Mr. Lee is likely to find you if you live in an American community miles away.”
“You think this is possible?” She was staring at me with hopeful eyes, exactly as Frederick had looked at me.
“I’ll do my best for you,” I said. “Tomorrow Frederick will come to see me again and I will arrange for the two of you to meet somewhere safer than this. Before that time, please stay quiet and hidden.”
“And what you tell Lee Sing Tai?” Annie demanded.
“I will tell him that by the time I picked up their trail they were already far away.”
“Wah,” she said in scornful tones. “He not let you get away with that. Lee Sing Tai one smart man.”
“Would you rather I just delivered her back to Mr. Lee?” I asked.
“No,” she said hesitantly. “But I know. I have seen. This is a bad man. He kills a person like snapping the neck of a chicken.”
I swallowed hard, physically feeling a hand grasping my own neck. “My future husband is a policeman,” I said. “If Lee Sing Tai knows this, he won’t dare come near me.”
Annie actually laughed out loud at this. “You think police not do what Lee Sing Tai wants? He pays them plenty money and they shut their eyes. He has houses of women, gambling places, opium too, and the police walk right by.”
“There has to be an answer,” I said. “You are living in a free country now. Men are not allowed to treat women as slaves here. One way or another we are going to make sure that Bo Kei and Frederick get away from here safely, I promise you.”
I left then, hurrying back to the waiting cab. But I have to confess that my heart was beating rather rapidly. I had taken some risks in my life as an investigator, but I certainly didn’t want to go up against a man who snapped the neck of a man as if he was a chicken and who had the police in his back pocket.
Fifteen
Sid and Gus were already in a party mood that evening and wanted me to try out various silly costumes as well as experiments in rum punches that Sid was concocting. At one point Sarah Lindley stopped by and joined in the festivities. Monty was out with English friends, so she was enjoying a rare evening of freedom with her women friends. “One of my last ever, I suppose,” she said wistfully.
“You make it sound like a long prison sentence,” Sid commented drily.
“Not really, but it seems strange that I will be with one person, all the time, from now on,” she said. “Especially if we are on his estate in England. I know he’ll want to entertain, but most of the time it will be just us. I wonder what we’ll talk about. Don’t you feel the same, Molly?”
It had never entered my head that Daniel and I would not know what to talk about. “I don’t think that will be my complaint,” I said. “I’m only afraid I won’t see enough of him. When he’s on a case he’ll be working twenty-four hours a day and be too tired to talk when he comes home.”
“You are so lucky that you’ll still have your friends living across the street,” Sarah said. “I’ll know nobody. I don’t even know how the English behave. I expect I’ll be considered the crass American.”
“It sounds to me as if you’re getting cold feet,” Gus said, looking at Sarah with an affectionate smile.
Sarah grinned. “I expect that’s normal, isn’t it?”
As she said this I realized something that made me sit up with a jolt: I no longer had doubts about marrying Daniel. He was a good man and I wanted to be with him. I suppose it was seeing Bo Kei and how bad life could be for other women that had finally driven home to me how lucky I was to have a man who loved me and wanted to protect me. And perhaps I had finally had enough of a life of danger and uncertainty.
The conversation turned to Bo Kei and we discussed what we could do for her. The others were not too keen on my idea of finding them domestic employment.
“She needs to be with her own kind,” Sid said.
I was surprised. “I shouldn’t have thought you’d be prejudiced,” I said.
“Quite the opposite,” Sid replied. “I know how hated and despised the Chinese are. How would you like to be treated with suspicion and prejudice every time you set foot outside your door?”
“Then what do you suggest?” I ask.
“Perhaps we should give them money to go far away—back to Canada, maybe?”
“Monty says there is a flourishing Chinese settlement in the East End of London,” Sarah added. “Surely this horrible Mr. Lee couldn’t trace them there.”
I obviously didn’t have the money for such an expense and I realized that the others were interested in helping in theory but not so keen in practice. It was my problem, not theirs, and they were impatient to get back to party planning. Having never had to work a day in their lives, they didn’t understand that I couldn’t just work when I felt like it or drop a case if it no longer appealed to me.
They also couldn’t come up with a solution for me as to what I could tell Mr. Lee. So I went to bed troubled and my sleep was full of disturbing dreams—in one of which I was standing at the altar with Daniel, but when I turned to kiss him it was a strange, withered old man. “Now you will be my slave,” he said, “or I’ll snap your neck like a chicken.”
I woke to a humid dawn. Clouds were heavy with the promise of rain. This was depressing enough until I remembered what day it was. The day of my party, a day that I should have been looking forward to. Surely it wasn’t going to rain after Sid had put so much effort into decorating the garden? It seemed like a bad omen. I tried to feel happy and excited, but I couldn’t get Bo Kei out of my mind. Why had I ever taken on this stupid case? I knew I was going against Daniel’s wishes and nothing good ever seemed to come when I was being underhanded. It was probably my mother up in heaven making sure I was duly punished.
As I washed I looked at my worried face in the mirror and I came to a decision. I was not going to let an old Chinaman spoil my day. I had a perfectly simple answer.
I had told my friends that I couldn’t just drop a case once I had taken it on. But why couldn’t I? I was my own master, after all. I would write Mr. Lee a letter telling him that I no longer wished to handle this case since the buying and selling of human beings went against my conscience. I would not charge him a fee for the time I had already put in on his behalf and I considered the matter closed. I was going to simply drop the letter into the mailbox, but then I realized that the next day was a public holiday and he might well send someone to find me before that. And I still had the photograph of Bo Kei he had lent me. I had to return that to him. So I wrapped it up well, placed the letter on top of the package and decided to hand it to the first person I met at his emporium.
I dressed and let myself out quietly without waking Sid and Gus. The city was unnaturally quiet and peaceful on this Sabbath morning. Distant church bells rang out and families passed me, clutching prayer books and dressed in their Sunday best. A flight of pigeons made a flapping sound that echoed in the still air as they wheeled around Washington Square. I wished I could enjoy this rare moment of tranquility, but I was wound tight as a watch spring.
“In an hour’s time it will all be over and you can start to enjoy being a bride,” I told myself. But I knew I couldn’t really start to enjoy myself until Bo Kei was safely far away and I had no idea how I was going to manage that. It wasn’t really my problem, was it? It was up to Frederick and Bo Kei to decide where they wanted to go and what they wanted to do. I should just leave well enough alone. But I’ve never been good at doing that.
Nothing stirred on Mott Street. The door of the Church of the Transfiguration was open and from inside came the sound of a voice intoning. Snatches of Latin floated toward me and with them that customary jolt of guilt that I had skipped mass yet again and was destined for hellfire. Then I detected a movement out of the corner of my eye. I spun around and my heart lurched as I saw a ghostly figure coming toward me from an arched entrance to some kind of tunnel or arcade between buildings. He was deathly white, pale, almost luminous. Then he came out into Mott Street, pausing to steady himself against the corner of the building and I saw it was a white man, but in a sorry state. He was in his shirt sleeves. His hair was plastered across his forehead. His eyes were staring vacantly, he was breathing hard, and he didn’t seem to know where he was. I thought for a moment he might be drunk, but I’ve seen plenty of drunks in my life, including my own father, and they didn’t look like this. Then it came to me that he was emerging from an opium den. Mrs. Chiu had told me that it wasn’t only the Chinese who frequented these places. The man looked around as if he was just coming to his senses and started at the sight of me, as if I too might be a ghost. He gave a little moan, then turned and staggered down Mott Street in the opposite direction.
