The Richard Jackson Saga: Book 13 : Regicide

by Ed Nelson

He also suggested that I not talk to any official agencies about my investigation. Haoran would have people inside all the agencies. Even if he were innocent, he might get scared and have them act against the investigators.

  For that reason alone, I wasn’t to have anything to do directly with the investigation. Dad would hire private detectives through a cutout and have them do the leg work.

  “How will you hire detectives in China?”

  “I won’t, the CIA will. They will be delighted to have us pay for retired agents in China to investigate the death. The problem will be getting them to share the information with us.”

  “Would it help if I called the President?”

  “That would be a good start.”

  “I will let you know what he has to say.”

  I next had a call placed to the White House. It took two hours for me to be connected, but it was worth the wait.

  President Kennedy told me that the CIA had briefed him on the Crown Prince's death being suspicious and that they would like to investigate it so they would have leverage in the situation.

  I told him that my family would fund the investigation if we were kept in the know as to what they were finding. He was receptive to the idea and told me that Bobby would be handling the financial end of things.

  It made me wonder if the money would be going to the CIA or the Kennedys. I decided I didn’t care. It is not as though the CIA didn’t have enough funding to start with.

  He wanted to know why I was involved. I played it close to my chest and let him think I desired to know what happened rather than a request from the royal family.

  I did tell him that I could talk to Chia-Hao's wife Ann and see what his last known movements were. He told me to let him know directly. He would pass it on to the CIA. It would put their nose out of joint for him to have some information they didn’t.

  It would keep them on their toes in what they reported to him in all areas. I gathered this was a problem with all intelligence agencies. They would keep information compartmentalized to such a degree that they could work their agendas, rather than what the top boss wanted.

  They were bureaucrats that would be in their positions long after the current administration was gone so felt they were doing the best for their country by working the long game. In some cases, they might even be right.

  After we hung up, I returned to the Forbidden City and asked to see Princess Ann. I was still confused as to what her title would be now that she was not the Crown Prince’s consort. If it were England, it would be the Crown Prince’s Mum. That didn’t roll off the tongue so I doubted it would be that.

  No matter her title she agreed to see me. We met in a large garden near a water fountain where it wouldn’t be easy to overhear our conversation.

  I asked her what she knew of the Crown Prince’s last known movements.

  “Rick, he left the Palace to go to a meeting with the Port Authority. It was about the construction of the freight handling terminal. He was very interested in keeping it on schedule because he thought it was the future of China to be an exporter of products. With our lower labor cost, we would be able to compete in the world marketplace.

  He talked of creating a huge chain of stores in the United States selling low-cost Chinese-made goods. Now that won’t happen.

  Maybe it would; that sounded like a good money-making idea. It would create the dilemma of raising the Chinese standard of living vs lowering the Americans.

  Lower-income Americans would benefit but it would hurt the middle class. Since the middle class was the backbone of America it could have a great social cost. Maybe I should leave it alone. If it was to be, let someone else carry that burden.

  In the long run, maybe I should be thinking about how to raise the internal standard of living of the Chinese without doing it on the backs of other economies. How do you jumpstart a country with a Chinese population?

  Those were thoughts for other days. What I needed to know was if the Crown Prince had made that meeting with the Port Authority.

  Ann told me he had been accompanied by his two bodyguards. I asked if I could speak to them. I couldn’t, as it seemed that they had disappeared.

  I told Ann that an investigation was just being started and that I would give her updates as things become clear. I didn’t anticipate this would be a quick process, so I asked you to please be patient.

  In the meantime, had they increased security around the children? Not yet as they were in seclusion, but it would be done before they made any public appearances.

  Rather than go directly to the Port Authority I went to my local office. This was in the building the company had bought in the Embassy district. I asked for a staff meeting.

  During the meeting, I directed a conversation about the status of our projects since the death of Chia-Hao. This was my way to lead into a conversation about him.

  “I understand he was on his way to a meeting with the Port Authority and the next thing we know he was on a hunting trip.”

  They agreed that it all seemed strange.

  One of the field directors told us he had seen the Crown Prince arrive at the Port Authority office and enter the building with two bodyguards.

  He remembered the time because he was just returning from lunch. No one else had any information.

  Upon returning to the Palace, I asked for an appointment with the Empress at her convenience. I was told it would be after the funeral in two days. The body was lying in state, and she wasn’t seeing anyone until after the event.

  I had to respect that, and besides, there was nothing urgent in what I had to relay.

  During my travels around Beijing earlier in the day, I had paid attention. I was being tailed but whoever it was, was making no effort not to be seen. From that, I concluded it was the MSS just keeping up with all of us foreign devils.

  The next two days I spent catching up with reports on Jackson Enterprises. No matter where I was in the world the darn paperwork kept coming.

  Of particular interest were the IC Chips. The teams I had put in place were working and had made some early breakthroughs. They hadn’t doubled the number of transistors and associated elements yet but thought they had found a path to move forward.

  At the same time, one of the large defense contractors was interested in licensing the manufacture of our chips for guided missiles.

  I made a note that we wanted this business at the lowest cost to them while we still made a profit. We needed to get a foothold with the chips, and I was interested in anything that would fly high and fast.

  I had never lost my interest in space, just never had time to do anything about it. By supporting others, I could enjoy it second hand.

  The search company in California had identified candidates to start my air freight business. The trick here would be to find a good top man and let him build the business. This means he would have an ownership portion to keep him in the game.

  How was I to interview him or her when I was in China? It would have to wait until after the funeral when I could return to the States.

  Chapter 12

  The weather on the day of the funeral was appropriate. Overcast sky in a somber grey. The day had been chosen by the priests after consulting the Chinese Almanac.

  While Chia-Hao’s children, Chun-Chieh and May-ling were responsible for planning and conducting the funeral in the Confucian tradition of filial piety, they had the help of Palace officials.

  Invitations were sent out on white paper which symbolized death. If Chia-Hao had lived to be over eighty it would have been pink paper to celebrate living a long and rich life.

  The invitations were for the ceremony which would be held on the grounds of the Forbidden City.

  Chia-Hao’s body had lain in state in Tiananmen Square for three days and over a million mourners passed by. Each laying a white flower on the coffin. I watched the operation and realized it was a little cynical.

  Single white flowers would be sold for a single small
coin equal to the US penny at the entrances to the square. When the mourner reached the coffin, they would lay it on the coffin. When a significant number were piled up a crew would gather them up and take them out of sight.

  I was curious as to what would happen to the flowers, so I followed one gathering crew. They returned the flowers to the flower stalls where they had been purchased!

  I thought about it and realized there was no way that a million or more white flowers could be brought together for the funeral so this was the only way tradition could be followed.

  Still, it seemed strange to me. I bet FTD would have a fit.

  A wake was started the night before the interment. The family would sit vigil all night. I was invited to the wake. Like all others, I brought a white envelope with an odd number of coins and a white flower. The coins were to help pay for the funeral. I don’t know why it had to be an odd number.

  Very noticeable from his absence was Haoran. He had sent a note declining to attend the wake as his back was bothering him and he was bedridden. He would brave the pain and attend the actual funeral.

  I had a few thoughts on that subject but kept them to myself.

  The wake was not up to the standard of an Irish wake, that was probably due to the fact the Chinese were not great drinkers; well, most of them weren’t.

  The room was set up with pictures of the deceased along with flowers and candles on the coffin. It was a somber sedate affair.

  I wore my army uniform and gave condolences to the family on behalf of the Queen of England and the President of the United States.

  The new Crown Prince Chun-Chieh looked bewildered as to his new position in life. He hadn’t expected to be in this position for fifty years. Now it was thrust upon him, and he was trying to process it.

  May-ling was trying not to show her grief but wasn’t successful. While keeping a serene look as was expected of her, tears would start rolling down her cheeks. I wanted to take her in my arms and comfort her.

  That was me, she didn’t even look my way.

  The Empress and the Dowager Ann kept their faces under control but there was a tightness around their eyes that gave them away.

  To say the event was stressful would be putting it mildly. Coward that I am I left as soon as it was polite to do so.

  I like all others had RSVPed to the funeral invitation. It was being held in the Forbidden City and Chia-Hao would be interred in the royal family's tomb.

  The crypt had been opened and cleaned since there hadn’t been a burial there since the 1800s.

  During the funeral ceremony, a eulogy was given by a Confucian priest. It was odd but the whole-time assistant priests would accept small items to be burned. There was a lot of fake paper money, houses, cars, and even TVs. Everything Chia-Hao would need to be set up in the afterlife.

  The burning of spirit paper and joss sticks filled the air until you had trouble breathing. Once the year-long ceremony was complete we made a parade to the tomb. It was less than an hour, it only seemed like years.

  A one-hundred-and-ten-piece marching band led the way. I tried to count the trombones but couldn’t manage it. I kid you not, the parade started with a huge gong being struck.

  The loud music was to scare away spirits and ghosts. I didn’t know the difference between the two.

  The immediate family followed behind the coffin which was on a caisson pulled by six black horses. The men wore black suits and the women white dresses, both symbols of death.

  We the mourners followed behind. The last group was the hired mourners who wailed in grief and ripped their clothes. I asked an attendant why they were there as it seemed to be a full procession.

  I had been briefed by the British Embassy staff on what to expect. The hired mourners were usually added when there were few family members and others. If they had opened the gates, there would have been millions in the parade.

  It was a matter of politics. The hired mourners had a guild and had made it clear that they had to be seen at such an important event so their traditions and livelihoods would continue.

  Marching with the family was Haoran who showed no signs of discomfort from back problems. While he like all of us wore a dark suit to show mourning he also wore medals from the communist period.

  These all had bright red ribbons. From a dossier I had read on him he had not earned any of them. They were all political awards. The red of celebration was a not-so-subtle insult to the rest of the family.

  Like all the other men I wore a black ribbon on my left arm which I would wear for one hundred days. Women would wear theirs on their right arms. Again, I had no idea why the different arms. There was so much of this culture I didn’t understand.

  The coffin was placed in a slot in the underground burial vault and the tomb closed. The vault wouldn’t be opened again until Qing Ming or Tomb Sweeping Festival. This was a tradition held throughout China but had been forbidden by the communists for the royal tombs. They didn’t want any reminders of the past rulers.

  As we departed the area, we were handed a red envelope that contained a coin to see us home safely, a piece of candy to be eaten immediately and a handkerchief. I was surprised when I saw the candy was M&Ms. I ate the candy and threw the coin in a fountain as others were doing.

  None of these items could be taken home so I blew my nose on the handkerchief and deposited it in one of the many trash cans stationed in the area for that purpose. It seemed crass to me, but when in Rome.

  The last items in the red envelope were red threads. I had to take them home with me, or in this case to my suite in the Palace, and tie them around the doorknob. This was to prevent any spirits or ghosts which may have followed me home from entering my residence.

  I was glad to get back to my rooms, take off the suit, and kick back. Like most people I hated funerals and this one had so many differences that I had trouble putting it into perspective. The wake was a celebration of life. The funeral seemed designed to bury him and to keep him in his grave.

  It made me think of the Shawnee and their charms to keep Lew Wetzel in the ground. Maybe things weren’t so different after all.

  I wanted to update Dowager Ann on the situation. The embassy had informed me of her correct title. Now didn’t seem the time.

  No sooner had I thought this and there was a knock on my door by a messenger. The Dowager wished for me to come to her rooms.

  I had to scramble back into my suit as I don’t think calling upon her in blue jeans and a pullover would be correct.

  The messenger waited while I changed and led me to her room. It wasn’t a suite; it was a Palace within itself. I just thought I was staying in a museum setting. This made Buckingham Palace look like a hovel. I wondered why the communists hadn’t looted it.

  I couldn’t imagine the staff it would take just to dust the furniture. A painting depicting a vase of red roses made me think of Valentine's Day and that I had no one this year. Now, why did I think of that?

  Chapter 13

  I was admitted directly to find the royal family waiting. Empress Ping, the Dowager Ann, Crown Prince Chum-Chieh, and the Princess May-ling.

  All in comfortable clothes. The younger of the set wore jeans and pullovers. I thought about asking if I could run home and change but thought better of it.

  The Empress started the conversation.

  “Rick, I have decided we have to approach this situation as a family, so I have updated them on where things stand. Do you have anything to report?”

  “Not a lot, but things are in motion. The US President is overseeing a CIA operation that is following the trail of how the Crown Prince went from a meeting of the Port Authority to Haoran’s estate. I am funding it through them so if Haoran learns of the investigation he will not look beyond the US Government.”

  “There has been no trace of his bodyguards.”

  “I’m sorry to inform you their bodies were found in the Yongding River.”

  May-ling spoke up, “At least we know t
hey didn’t betray father.”

  “I’m sorry, your highness but they may have betrayed him and in turn were killed by their new master.”

  She looked at me with wide eyes as though seeing me for the first time.

  “Do you think so?”

  “At this time, we can’t rule anything out. I would have the investigators check to see if anything had changed with the bodyguard's families or finances recently.”

  “Why their families?”

  “They may have threatened to harm them or even kidnapped them as hostages to the bodyguard's cooperation.”

  “Where did you learn to be so cynical?”

  “My family has had to endure such events in the past, and we have learned that anything may be possible.”

  May-ling’s mother broke in, “Dear, I will tell you more of the Duke's history later.”

  The Crown Prince chimed in, “I loved your song, ‘Rock and Roll Cowboy.’”

  That confirmed that oriental culture is different from the occidental.

  “That wasn’t my best moment, I can’t sing. If the right song is picked, I don’t sound unpleasant but to sing any song, no way.”

  May-ling knew nothing about me.

  “A singing Duke, I didn’t know British nobles did things like that.”

  “Sis, he is also an actor.”

  “As in the movies?”

  “He should have won an Oscar for his role in, ‘Over the Ohio.’”

  She took a good look at me and gasped.

  “You’re Death Wind!”

  “Guilty as charged.”

  “But you looked so evil in that poster.”

  “What poster was that?”

  She looked a little flustered as she said, “The one in my dormitory at school. We all thought you were the perfect bad guy all girls are told to stay away from by their mothers but are attracted to.”

  “Make-up does wonders.”

  The Dowager mother spoke up, “I’m still telling you to be aware of the bad boy, stay away from him.”

  “Why mother?”

  “Because your grandmother and I have first dibs on him.”