“Now why would you say that?” she asked him.
“I think you’ll agree guests disappearing and most likely dying isn’t exactly good for business,” he said.
This got her attention instantly. She tilted her head in a gesture that she wanted to hear more. Luckily, Jamison knew her well enough to take the hint.
“That Miss Huang you heard me and Winston talking about before,” Jamison began. “She’s due in on the five o’clock stage. She’s come all the way from San Francisco. She’s here to find out the fate of her father.”
“Back up a little here, Jaden,” Lijuan blinked, sensing that he was getting out all the information to her rather too fast. She didn’t realize she had slipped into being informal with him too. “What happened?” she asked.
Jamison sighed, his gaze lingering on a faraway tree. “Her father was a wealthy business man in San Francisco,” he began to explain, “an immigrant who made a fortune for himself through hard work. He expanded one tailoring shop he opened many years ago to several more beyond Chinatown. Even over in Oakland, from what I am to understand. He was shown one of my advertisements in the city paper and booked a stay with me.”
“So what happened?”
“The poor man was having the time of his life. Every night at dinner, he would enthusiastically tell me how much he was enjoying it, especially that cattle drive your sister was less than impressed with.”
Although Lijuan raised an eyebrow at his last comment, thinking that he had taken more offense than he had let on, she urged him on.
“Go on,” she told him.
“Everything was fine until last week,” Jamison lowered his head. “The day before he was set to leave, he was taking a guided trail ride up near High Ledge falls …”
Lijuan listened attentively. She was familiar with the falls he spoke of. The Yavapai River, a small offshoot of the Rock River that snaked its way through the whole of Cedar Ledge served as part of the boundary between Half Breed Haven and the Double J. In those days, it had actually been part of their ranch, but Whip had sold the parcel, ten or so years earlier to the previous owner of Jamison’s ranch. She hadn’t been there since she was young when she and her beloved brother, Dutch had spent many afternoons swimming or fishing at High Ledge Falls. The cascading falls into a large pool below that gave way to rapids was a pretty place she remembered.
“Winston was guiding him,” Jamison continued, “and Mr. Huang stopped along the edge of the river below the falls to get a better look at a small rainbow that was forming in the mist, and he lost his footing. I had everyone at the ranch combing down the river for the better part of two days, at least trying to recover his body. I immediately had Winston send a telegram to the daughter he spoke of so often at dinner, asking her to come here right away. At the time, I still had hope that we might find him injured but alive somewhere downstream. Eventually, we had to give up hope. I truly wanted to have good news for her when she arrived today, or at least, a body for a decent burial, but all I can do now is send her home with his belongings and my sincere condolences.”
As he fell silent, Lijuan looked down for a moment and considered what he had said. That indeed was a tragic thing to happen to someone who had come to enjoy what the West had to offer, and now he had lost his life over it. What of the poor daughter? It would be devastating for sure.
“I’m really sorry to hear that,” she finally hesitated for a brief moment before reaching out to stroke his forearm. Suddenly her eyes narrowed at him. Her mind had always been a naturally analytic one and it flipped back to some of the words he had spoken earlier.
“Jaden, you said guests before, as in more than one has gone missing?” she asked him.
He became anxious at her question. She watched as he looked down, put his hands in his pockets and kicked at one of his shiny boots with the other. “Yeah, Li,” he said twisting the ring on his finger that bore the same double J emblem as on his sign. “You know if I was a superstitious person, I would say there was a jinx on those falls and that river.”
“Are you about to tell me that another one of your guests disappeared on the same river?” Lijuan asked, a chill already running down her spine.
Again, Jamison’s eyes stared into the distance without really seeing anything.
“Nicest fellow you’d ever meet. Mr. Sampson Spencer was his name,” as an appreciated sigh passed from his lips. “This kind old gentleman lived his whole life on Galveston Island over Texas way, running a ferry business between the island and the mainland. Said he spent his life building up that business, and he was laughing with me because he didn’t know why as he never married. With no family, there was no one to leave his money to. He said all it was doing was collecting dust in a safe in his house. Now that he was in his seventies, he decided it was high time to have a little fun with all that money he had been saving. Took a trip to see those Niagara Falls up New York way; said he went to Florida with some group that was advertising a search for Ponce de Leon’s fountain of youth. Mr. Spencer, he just laughed. He knew there was nothing to find, of course, but he liked the adventure. When he found out about the Double J, he couldn’t wait to get here.”
The entire time he spoke, it was obvious that Jamison cared about his clients. His voice shook with fond memories while his tone dropped a notch each time, indicating his sadness over their disappearance. Lijuan listened carefully to him, noting every word.
“What happened?” she asked him when he fell silent, probably to catch his breath.
“Winston took him out in a canoe on Black Briar pond,” he pinched the bridge of his nose, momentarily closing his eyes. “They were going to do some fishing. Spencer got excited when he hooked something and stood up in the canoe. Now Mr. Spencer; he was a heavy-set man and the blasted thing capsized. Unfortunately, they were close to where the Black Briar has an outlet that feeds into the Yavapai just above the falls. They got caught in the current and Winston managed to get to shore, but Spencer and the canoe got sucked into the river. All we ever found was the canoe.”
Again, Jamison fell silent and Lijuan crossed her arms feeling very, very disturbed.
“I’m a busy woman running Cedar Ledge and getting mixed up in the assignments my uncle keeps giving Cassandra, but still, I’ve managed to hear nothing of these tragedies!”
“Can you blame me for wanting to keep this as quiet as possible, Li?” she heard him spit out as his shoulders slumped. “Come to the Double J, a great place to die! Hardly makes the best advertising, wouldn’t you agree?”
“That I would,” Lijuan sighed. “So you said this Mr. Spencer had no family, so there was no one to send for like you did with Miss Huang?”
“No, but after we gave up the search for him, I did have Winston ride into Alamieda and notify the authorities back in Galveston by telegram, in case he had any close friends. Never heard from any one. Look, I have to be going and pick up Miss Huang, now that I sent Winston along on that posse.”
“Lend me your carriage and let me go get her,” Lijuan said, not unlike Catalina before her, making an impulsive decision.
Her request startled Jamison as much as it startled her too. He glanced at Lijuan inquiringly. “That is a kind offer, but why would you want to do that?”
“She’s going to have enough people staring at her because she’s Chinese and she’s here under very difficult circumstances,” Lijuan pointed out. “If I were her, I think I would want someone I could relate to…, and that would be me. Besides, after promising me a night out on the town, my sisters up and abandoned me to go chasing after the big bad Ma Fenwick and her boys!”
Lijuan’s wry expression gave way to a serious look as she drew close to him and placed her right palm on his chest. “…and I want to help you, Jaden,” she whispered.
“I do appreciate that, Li,” he leaned forward smiling fondly.
Lijuan gazed at him for a long moment, having the same thoughts that always flowed through her mind when she was with a man
like him who so resembled another – —a man who was her greatest desire. Hers was an impossible love she knew and a wholly wrong one, and she hated herself for it, yet her wish always remained … why can’t he be him? If only he could be him.
CHAPTER 8
* * *
The stage into Alamieda was an hour late, but given its usual tardiness, Lijuan had to concede that it was pretty good. She stood leaning against the post of the dress shop that was opposite the street from the stage coach, waiting for its arrival, and her mind turned over the series of unfortunate events that had befallen a pair of guests at her friend’s ranch.
One accident was a tragedy, but two and involving the bodies being swept away in the same river never to be recovered? What were the odds? Not very good, she conceded with conviction.
The fact that Jamison didn’t see this normally would have disturbed her, but it was Jaden she was talking about. The man had a naiveté that was in a class of its own. His bumbling attempts to run the ranch when he first arrived would have been comical, but not for the fact that Lijuan knew he had sunk his entire inheritance into purchasing the property.
From what she had gathered from him upon first meeting him, he had been extremely close with his mother. Her passing had devastated him, but he had managed to pull himself out of his grief by taking to heart advice that she had always given him. While she had lived, he had not heeded her advice to follow his dreams and had instead, gone the practical route at every opportunity. The time had come to make those dreams a reality.
Fanciful tales of the West and ranching had been one of them and so he had wound up in Arizona only to fail at it. Now he had found a way to have his dream and be successful, but a darkness had fallen over his operation. A darkness Lijuan felt in her gut was not natural. She and her sisters had dealt with so many unsavory characters in the last few years that a pattern like the one emerging at the Double J had leapt out at her.
Jaden had not seen it, of course, but to Lijuan, some things failed to make sense, particularly the death of the ferryman from Galveston. Here was a man who apparently spent his whole life on the water and around boats. Suddenly, against all reason, he would stand up and capsize the boat? It just didn’t fit.
Lijuan tabled her thoughts at the moment as she watched the last passenger step off the stage. She was a lovely Asian girl, a good foot taller than her, but Lijuan would be hard pressed to find someone who wasn’t at least that. Her lush black hair was drawn up in a bun underneath a lovely hat adorned with floral patterns. Unlike Lijuan who had her striking narrow face, Miss Huang’s was round like a full moon. People often believed Lijuan had a hard heart and in some ways, it was true, but she could still be touched, and the frightened look on the woman’s face tugged at her.
As she crossed the street, sure enough, people were beginning to stare at the new arrival to Alamieda. One couple stopped in their tracks to look at Miss Huang and as Lijuan passed them, she shot them a cold menacing look, her hand resting on her hammer’s head for effect and they quickly went about their way. In this instance, she was thankful for her reputation.
As she drew close, she saw the woman looking all around—like a frightened deer was the only thing that came to Lijuan’s mind. Suddenly, turning to see Lijuan walking directly at her, the woman’s face lit up at seeing someone like herself, but Lijuan became mystified when the woman’s face seemed to morph back into the frightened look when she called out her name.
Lijuan called out again and the woman bowed her head and shook it up and down. At the same time, atop the stage, Jerry, the old driver swung a suitcase down in the direction of Lijuan.
“I assume you’re pickin’ her up, Miss Lijuan,” he said. “She seems like a sweet girl, but I had a devil of a time talkin’ to her. She don’t speak a word of English! She one of your kin?”
Lijuan paused for a moment and considered this. Jerry could have no way of knowing that as far as Lijuan knew, she had no Chinese kin left alive. Whip carried some sort of deep pain within him from the time that he had been shipwrecked off China and had become involved with her mother. In all the years of her life, he rarely spoke of her, save for the story surrounding her birth, which amazed her to this day.
What little her father did speak of the woman who bore her into this world had intrigued her. She was veiled in a mystery and Lijuan would give anything to peel back the unknown, but she knew her father was not one to be compelled to speak. When the time was right, he would share more with her, but until then, she was left like two of her sisters, wishing to have known a mother she had no memory of. Cassandra had been fortunate to have a few memories of Kelly and she was happy for her sister to at least have that.
Lijuan took the bag that Jerry offered her and thanked him with a nod of her head. “No, Jerry,” she replied his previous question. “She’s not kin. Just a new friend is all. Thank you.”
She turned to Miss Huang who hovered off to the side with her head bowed.
“Hold up; there’s two more!” Jerry announced behind Lijuan.
Two more? Lijuan thought. Perhaps Miss Huang traveled in the same manner as Honor Elizabeth who seemed to pack as much as conceivably possible into as many bags as she could manage whenever they traveled.
“Let me have them,” Lijuan sighed.
“Careful now. They’re heavy,” Jerry said, handing them over.
Lijuan accepted the two identical canvas bags. They were about a foot in length and were indeed heavy. She would carry these and Miss Huang would have to carry the first bag. Silently using the bag’s big carrying straps, she slung them over each shoulder.
Speaking to the Chinese woman, Lijuan fixed her gaze down the street where she had parked the borrowed carriage from the Double J. “Come on,” she nodded, speaking at first in English. She then froze and repeated the request in Mandarin, getting the woman to look up at her.
When Lijuan had been a child, Whip had hired the Chows, a Chinese immigrant couple to help influence her life. He had felt it important that she be immersed in the culture of her native land, as she would likely never see it with her own eyes. Mrs. Chow had taught her everything possible about China, whereas Mr. Chow had trained her in the fighting skills of that far away land.
Those skills had first fascinated Whip when he had seen Lijuan’s mother in action using them to his astonishment, and he thought they would be a good thing for his daughter to know, especially given how small she was. Lijuan had been an apt pupil, and to this day, she still shone when employing their use.
Huang began to follow Lijuan as they walked down the street, but she suddenly stopped, dropped the suitcase and grabbed Lijuan’s arm.
“Please, please! I bring it all. Just like you ask. All in those bags! Please, let him go like you promise! I do as you ask. I swear,” she begged, surprising Lijuan.
Lijuan was beyond stunned. She reached up and clamped her hands on the woman’s shoulders, the two bags bouncing against her body as she did so. “What are you talking about?” she asked.
“I bring you the money! As much as I get my hands on!” The meek Chinese woman reiterated. “Please, don’t kill him. He all I have left in this world since my mother has passed!”
“You and I need to have a serious talk!” Lijuan belted out having a feeling what everything was about already, “and we are going to do that right now!” she told Huang. “I’ve got just the place.”
She nodded for Huang to follow, already throwing her a few questions. “Just who do you think I am, anyway?” she asked.
“You from terrible place my father go and may never return!” the woman’s lips and chin were trembling now. “Please again. I have what you ask. I tell no one, not my father’s associates, the law, no one! Please, return him to me. Let him leave this Double J place alive!”
“Look, I am not who you think I am. The name is Lijuan Wilde of the Cedar Ledge Ranch. I can see you are someone that needs help and I’m just the person who can help you.”
Both sa
id no more as they approached the building the carriage had been parked in front of. Lijuan retrieved the key from her pocket and let herself in through the front door.
“This here used to be the Alamieda jail back when we had a proper sheriff. My father took it over when he started up his law practice again and now, he’s a judge. Been one for a long while now. He works out of here and at our home at the ranch” Lijuan explained to the still-frightened woman.
Huang had become teary eyed by the time they stepped across the threshold.
“Please, I have no idea what you are talking about! I just want my father!” she pleaded.
Lijuan dropped the bags from around her shoulders, snatched one up and opened it up. Holding it upside down, she shook piles of cash out onto Whip’s desk. Ransom money, she now knew.
Sighing, she yanked out her father’s plush leather chair and dropped into it. She tossed onto the desk near the pile of money her flat brim cowboy hat all her sisters liked to wear save Honor Elizabeth.
Lijuan swung her feet up on the desk and crossed her cowboy boots. It was an old habit and her father had given up scolding her for it long ago. He had actually come to expect it.
“Sit!” Lijuan told Huang, motioning to the chair in front of the desk with her finger. Then with a softer tone, she added, “Please.”
Nervously, Miss Huang took the seat in front of Whip’s desk, folding her hands in her lap and looking at Lijuan expectantly.
“First, I want to be absolutely clear. Whoever is doing this to you and your father, I am not a part of. My arriving to pick you up was unplanned. From here on out, you are not to be afraid of me. I am your friend. Do you understand?”
“Yes.” Huang meekly answered with a small nod.
Lijuan smiled, then slowly adjusted her frame in the chair. “Given the circumstances, I’ll forgive you for not saying that like you mean it. But you have to trust me. What’s your first name?”
“Shuen Yi.”
“Well, Shuen Yi, as I said before, my name is Lijuan.”
Wilde-Fire: Wonder Women 0f The Old West (Half Breed Haven Book 1) Page 12
