Bless the Bride

by Rhys Bowen

  With that he took my hand and escorted me down the stairs.

  Thirty-one

  The moment we stepped out into the street, Daniel waited until Kear and Bobby Lee went their separate ways, then grabbed my forearm and dragged me into a side alley.

  “Now what’s this about?” he demanded.

  “As I told you, there has been a second murder.”

  “Why is it you who brings me this message and not one of my own men?” he asked, his face only inches from mine.

  “I didn’t want to tell anyone else,” I said. “Especially not one of Captain Kear’s men from the Sixth Precinct.”

  “You mean the murder hasn’t been reported to the police yet?”

  I shook my head. “Nobody actually knows it’s a murder yet except for the woman who summoned me, and I’ve asked her to keep quiet until you see the body.”

  “So who is it?”

  “A Chinese girl at the settlement house on Elizabeth Street. The workers there thought she’d died of consumption but I recognized from what you had told me that she’d been suffocated.”

  “May I ask what you were doing at a settlement house on Elizabeth Street? You are not still working on this case when I made it quite clear to you that it was solely a police matter?”

  I could hear the anger rising in his voice.

  “Before you get on your high horse,” I said, my own voice rising now, “it was Sarah Lindley, whom you met last night, who called me to the settlement house where she works in a volunteer capacity. Naturally she was upset at finding one of their residents dead.” I was rather proud of this explanation, which was nothing but the truth.

  “And what does her death have to do with that of Mr. Lee? Is she the missing bride?”

  “She was his former concubine who has recently escaped from a brothel,” I said.

  Daniel’s eyebrows shot up at the mention of such subjects coming from the lips of a lady.

  “How the devil did you find that out?”

  “She told Sarah her whole story when she first came to them, of course.”

  “And who do you think might have killed her?”

  “Whoever killed Mr. Lee,” I said.

  “And who do you suspect that might be?”

  “I thought you knew,” I said. “I thought you said to Captain Kear that you’d been going on with the investigation and were about to make an arrest.”

  Daniel looked around, but the alley was still empty. “That was only to justify my presence in the apartment,” he said in a low voice, “and to let him know who is the superior officer.”

  “So what were you doing there, then? Do you suspect Bobby Lee?”

  “It’s possible, but I was there on a different matter, about which I can’t tell you,” Daniel said. “Let’s just say that you couldn’t have come at a worse moment and I was lucky to get out of it as easily as I did.”

  “Do you think they were in it together?” I asked. “They seemed awfully chummy when I walked in on them.”

  Daniel smiled. “I told you—I can’t discuss it with you.”

  “I’m sorry I barged in on you,” I said. “I thought you’d want to know about the second murder.”

  “Of course,” he said. “Well, I suppose I’d better go and take a look at the wretched woman, although I’m not sure why you decided there was a connection with Lee’s murder.”

  “I told you—Lee brought her over to America several years ago to be his wife, or rather his concubine. When she didn’t produce a son, he sent her to a brothel he owned.”

  “Charming,” Daniel said. “I hope that inspires you to produce a son rapidly.” He flashed me a grin before becoming serious again. “But then what current connection could she have had with him? More likely to have been some kind of underworld vendetta.”

  “Ah,” I said.

  Daniel was staring at me. “You know more about this matter?”

  “Yes, I do.” I looked around. “Could we go somewhere else to talk? It smells really bad in this alley and I feel uneasy speaking so close to Lee’s residence.”

  “Very well,” he said. “You can walk with me toward Elizabeth Street if you like. First I need to give my constable his orders, then we’ll be on our way.”

  We picked our way past the piles of garbage and back to Mott Street.

  “Go on,” Daniel said. “What have you found out?”

  “I know where the runaway bride is hiding,” I said.

  “So you did you keep working on this matter when I forbade you to?” He gave me a cold stare.

  “I don’t like the word ‘forbade,’” I said. “It implies that you are the master and I the servant, you the captain and I the crew. Well, I’m sorry, but that’s not how it’s going to be and maybe we should sort this out before the wedding. I want to be your partner, Daniel, not your slave. If you can’t see me as an equal, then the wedding is off.”

  He reacted with surprise, taking a step away from me. “What brought on that little tirade?” he demanded. “I forbade you to continue working on a case because it was now a police matter. I forbade you just as I would have forbidden any civilian involving herself with a criminal case.”

  “Oh,” I said, the wind somewhat taken out of my sails. “I’m sorry, it’s just that I’ve watched enough husbands boss their wives around. I’ve been worrying about giving up my freedom when we marry—being someone else’s wife is a big step. I’ve seen bright, independent women reduced to simpering idiots doing only what their husbands tell them to do when they become wives.”

  “Would you really call off the wedding if I ordered you around?”

  “Absolutely,” I said. “I have a profession. I have good friends. I could live a pleasant life without a husband.”

  I could see his expression had softened. “But not as pleasant?”

  “That remains to be seen,” I said. “But I do want to marry you, Daniel. I do love you. It’s just that I want us to start off on the right foot.”

  “And that would also include no deception between us,” Daniel said. “I couldn’t have a wife who goes behind my back. It has to be out in the open between us.”

  “Agreed,” I said.

  “And you will stop working as you promised?”

  I hesitated. “We’ll discuss that more on our honeymoon,” I said. “I understand your reservations and, trust me, I have no wish to live with danger any longer. But I have to warn you now that I don’t see my future in sewing undergarments and holding endless tea parties either.”

  He smiled. “No, I don’t see you spending your days sewing, but I expect we’ll find something to keep you busy.” He paused. “Now we’ve got our lives sorted out, let’s get back to this Chinese woman. Where is she?”

  “She’s currently at Sid and Gus’s house.”

  “What? You’ve been hiding her from the police?”

  “Don’t start getting angry again. This is how it was. She was at the settlement house with the other Chinese girl who has just been murdered. Sarah Lindley told me about her. I brought her to Sid and Gus because I know that Captain Kear wanted to pin the crime on her and Frederick Lee. So I took her to safety until you could talk with her.”

  “Oh, I see.” He nodded. “No, you wouldn’t have wanted her turned over to Kear.”

  I allowed myself a little smirk. I had handled that rather well without telling an actual lie.

  “And does this Chinese girl know who killed her friend?”

  “Not exactly, but I think we can guess why she was killed. It turned out that the two girls were cousins. The one who had escaped from the brothel was angry that Mr. Lee was putting yet another girl through the degradation that would surely befall her. So she decided it had to stop. She knew how Bo Kei, that’s the name of my Chinese bride, had escaped over the rooftop, so she went back that way, intending to kill Lee while he slept on the roof. But when she got there, he wasn’t in his bed, and as she started to venture down the stairs she saw what she claimed was a
ghost coming up toward her. She was terrified and fled back the way she came.”

  “You think the ghost she saw was the killer?”

  “It had to be, didn’t it?”

  “But she didn’t witness the actual murder?”

  “No, but it’s pretty obvious that she came face-to-face with the killer and he knew that she could identify him.”

  “And how did she describe this ghost?”

  “A white face floating up above a strange animal shape, with too many arms and legs to be human.”

  “Ah, I see.” Daniel’s face lit up. “I knew it. Lee Sing Tai was either knocked out or killed in his bedroom, then the killer carried him up to the roof. She saw Lee’s body over the killer’s shoulder. That would explain the extra arms and legs.”

  “Yes!” I agreed excitedly. “Then at least we know that it had to be a man who did this. No woman would have been strong enough to carry a body that way.”

  “I have a nice set of fingerprints taken from the statue that knocked him out,” Daniel said. “Now I just have to find out to whom they belong.”

  We had reached the corner of Bayard Street. “Look, I don’t think you should come with me to the settlement house,” he said. “It wouldn’t look right to have you with me on a murder investigation. Why don’t you go home and stay with this girl until I arrive? I may be a while, as I have some matters to take care of at headquarters first, but I’ll come as soon as I can.”

  “All right, Daniel,” I replied. I was delighted that we seemed to be working together for once.

  “So Sarah Lindley will be there, will she?” he asked. “And she’s the only one who knows that the death could be murder?”

  “Oh, yes, she’ll be there.”

  “I thought her fellow wanted her to stop this kind of thing.”

  “He did, but he relented. His only stipulation is that he accompanies her there and back at all times. He says the neighborhood is too dangerous.”

  “It is,” Daniel agreed. “Only crazy young women like yourself think you can walk around these streets with impunity. Well, good for Monty. I think more charitably of him than I did. So that’s why I’ve seen him in this part of the world.”

  “You’ve seen him around here?”

  “On more than one occasion. Come to think of it, I saw him on my way to Mott Street today. He was hurrying along at a great clip and didn’t see me.”

  “I expect he wanted to get out of such a distasteful area as quickly as possible,” I said. “He always looks as if he’s got a bad smell under his nose, doesn’t he?”

  Daniel smiled. “Not every girl can be lucky enough to land an excellent catch like me.”

  “Ah, but he’s a lord with a huge property,” I said. “Sarah will be a lady.”

  “So there’s the attraction.” Daniel nodded. “Off home with you, then, and I’ll see you when I can.”

  He put his fingers to his lips to blow me a kiss, then crossed Bayard toward Elizabeth Street.

  I was about to head for the elevated railway when a strange idea came to me. Annie hadn’t said she had seen a white face floating up the stairs. She had said “a white floating head.”

  And unbidden, an image of Monty Warrington-Chase flashed into my mind.

  Thirty-two

  I stood like a statue, staring out across the street. No, that was ridiculous. What could an English aristocrat like Monty Warrington-Chase possibly have to do with Lee Sing Tai? Even as I asked myself the question, a likely answer formed in my head. Monty who looked so unwell recently, who had been seen hurrying toward Chinatown, not noticing either Daniel or myself. I had seen a face that resembled Monty’s emerging from an alleyway on Mott Street, and I realized that the man had come from an opium den. So Monty was a drug fiend.

  The moment I realized that, I saw how easily he could have killed Annie. He would not have been seen as an outsider at the settlement house. Nobody would have questioned his presence if he went upstairs, looking for Sarah. And of course he had to kill her because he realized that she had seen him, carrying Lee Sing Tai’s body up the stairs to throw it off the roof. And I had been partly responsible for her death. If I hadn’t brought Bo Kei home with me, then Monty wouldn’t have bumped into her coming out of the water closet, and realized that she was not the girl who had seen him at Lee’s. That the girl he had seen was the other girl Sarah had told him about—the girl who was still at the settlement house.

  I looked across the street for Daniel, but he had already vanished between pushcarts. So what should I do now? Obviously report what I had deduced to him, but I needed proof. Then it occurred to me that we had proof, in Lee Sing Tai’s cabinet. That day when Bobby Lee had opened it and complained that someone had been there, I had glimpsed a signature on a piece of paper, half protruding from one of the drawers. There had been something about it that struck a chord then, but I hadn’t been able to place what it was. Now it came to me that I had seen that signature before—when Hermione had shown me Monty’s letter to her. There was a particular flourish to the way he formed his M.

  I couldn’t wait to prove that I was right—what a coup that would be if I could go to Daniel and tell him that I had solved the case. I’d rather enjoy seeing Captain Kear’s face too. So I turned back down Mott Street. The constable was standing on duty outside Lee’s residence. I went up to him.

  “I’m sorry to bother you,” I said, “but I think I must have left my gloves up there when I came out with Captain Sullivan a few minutes ago. Would it be all right if I popped up to retrieve them?”

  “I don’t see why not, miss,” he said genially. “Just don’t go touching anything or I’ll be in the soup.”

  “Don’t worry. I’ll be very careful,” I said. “I wouldn’t have bothered you, but they are new gloves and they cost so much these days, don’t they?”

  “Doesn’t everything,” he said.

  I gave him a beaming smile and ran up the steps, opened the front door, and moved cautiously around the screen. Then I sprinted across the room to the cabinet and opened it, using my handkerchief to hold the key and then the side of the door. I tried to remember in which of the drawers I had seen the signature. Over on the left, about halfway up.… I was conscious of the need to hurry or the constable would come up to see what was delaying me. I pulled open a drawer. It was literally stuffed full of papers—a daunting prospect. Obviously I couldn’t go through them all. But the one I wanted had been sticking out. Surely it would have been shoved back hastily when the cabinet was closed. I examined one drawer, then another. I pushed it back, but it didn’t seem to go all the way in. On impulse, I pulled the drawer completely out and hit pay dirt. Several papers had been pushed behind the drawer, and one of them contained the signature I had seen.

  I held it in my hand. The writing was all in Chinese characters but it was clearly some kind of IOU.

  “Perfect,” I said, closed the cabinet carefully, and turned to leave.

  “I’ll take that, thank you,” said a low, smooth voice and I turned to see Monty standing by the screen. He came toward me. “You really are a most annoying woman, you know. Give me the paper.”

  “Did you just owe him money for opium or was he blackmailing you?” I asked.

  “The latter,” Monty said. “Threatened to tell Sarah’s family about my unfortunate habit. Now I’ll just take this—” He went to snatch it from me. I stepped aside. “And then off to the border,” he added.

  “There’s no point, you know,” I said. “There’s a constable at the bottom of the steps. You can’t go anywhere.”

  “I can return the way I came,” he said. He took another step toward me. For a second I glanced down at his feet. “Oh,” I said. “Climbing boots. Of course. Sarah told me you were a keen mountaineer.”

  “Sarah talks too much for her own good,” he said. “She was only too keen to tell me the whole story of those Chinese girls.” He paused smiling as if he hadn’t a care in the world. “On second thought,” he said,
“I think I’d better take you with me. Just in case.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous.” I started moving toward the screen. He went to grab me, expecting me to be the usual kind of helpless miss. But I had been well schooled by experience in my profession as well as by my future bridegroom. I delivered a savage kick to his shin, then brought my elbow up to his windpipe. I heard the thin fabric of my dress ripping under the arm but I didn’t care. Monty gasped and reeled backward. I only needed that half second to run around the screen and down the stairs.

  “He’s in there!” I shouted to the constable. “Quickly. The murderer is in there. Don’t let him get away.”

  The constable rushed up the stairs. I stood below, holding my breath. But a few minutes later the constable reappeared. “There was nobody there, miss. You must have imagined it.”

  “Then he escaped over the rooftop again,” I said. “But he can’t go too far. He’ll have to come down a fire escape on the building behind. Blow your whistle and get help.”

  He was now looking at me strangely. “Are you sure about this, miss? You didn’t just imagine that you saw someone. I don’t want to look like a fool if this is for nothing.”

  “Of course it’s not for nothing,” I said. “He tried to grab me and I ripped my dress, see?” I demonstrated, not caring that it was unladylike to reveal flesh to a strange man. “And he got into the apartment across the roofs—the way he got in before. He’s wearing climbing boots.”

  “And you say he’ll have jumped across to the next roof?”

  “Yes, around the corner on Pell Street.”

  “Right. I’ll get help then.” He blew his whistle as he headed in that direction. I was very tempted to follow but I saw that there was nothing useful I could do and I certainly didn’t want to find myself taken hostage by a desperate man. I should go straight to police headquarters to await Daniel. I set off back up Mott Street. As I passed the narrow arched entrance beside Lee’s emporium I thought I saw a flash of something light in the darkness beyond. Surely Monty couldn’t have climbed down from the roof already and taken refuge in there? I didn’t know where the arcade led, but it didn’t seem the brightest move to me, seeing that he could be trapped so easily. I peered into the darkness. Had I really…?