Colton Banyon Mysteries 1-3: Colton Banyon Mysteries (Colton Banyon Mystery Book 20)

by Gerald J Kubicki

  “We visited the area when we were in Shanghai,” Banyon reported. “How many people lived there?”

  “There were over twenty thousand people interned in the ghetto. It could have been worse, but many Jews did not register and remained free in the city. They sent us food and even the United States government sent money to the camp. Little of it actually got to the streets. Even so, we had two synagogues, and many Jews had established businesses in the ghetto. The problem was that there was not enough housing and facilities in the small area. Many people had to live on the streets. Some died.”

  “What happened to you and Eva?” asked Loni.

  “Zolnar had found us a three-room storefront. The Chinese family who sold silk there was ordered out of the ghetto. We stood outside as the family grabbed what possessions they could carry and left. It was so quick and so final. We moved in. Eva used our money to buy drapes to cover the windows. We then set up shop. We had two bedrooms to use and the front room was big enough for several couches and coffee tables. We decided I would entertain customers while Eva worked in one of the bedrooms. When she was finished, I would clean up the bedroom while she used the other bedroom for her guests. Our first customer was unexpected.”

  Chapter Fifty-Six

  “Let me guess. The constable, right?” Loni asked.

  “The Chinese never seem to know anything when you ask a question, but they are always well informed,” replied Sofia.

  “So I was right,” Loni announced.

  “Constable Cho was very young then and looked very official in his uniform. He walked in without knocking. It was very hot in the office, as we called it, and we only had bras and panties on when he strolled through the room. He didn’t say anything and inspected the bedrooms. We had no idea if he had any authority in the ghetto or if he would arrest us. We just stood with our eyes lowered. We had learned from Chi, on the schooner, that Chinese men expected women to be submissive in their presence. We didn’t want to make the wrong impression.”

  “It is built into our Chinese genes,” Loni said. “I often find myself walking behind Colt, even though I know that I don’t have to.”

  Sofia stared at Loni for a few seconds and then continued. “He walked over to one of the couches, unbuttoned his jacket and sat down. ‘I am the law here in the ghetto,’ he said. ‘All prostitutes must register with me. We have six others here. We live in harmony. I expect both of you to do the same. You are required to submit to monthly inspections. A fee is charged for that service.’ He spoke in German.

  When I asked him how he learned German, he replied that he had been educated in Germany. He further stated that over 80 percent of the people in the ghetto spoke German. That was why he got the assignment.”

  Sofia stared out the porthole as she recalled the scene. “He was relaxed now and reclined on the couch. We stood at attention in front of him. He said nothing for quite some time. He just rubbed his crotch. Finally, he said, ‘You will make payment now.’ Eva asked him how much the inspections would cost. They haggled and Eva agreed to relieve his tension as part of the price. She went and got the money.”

  “He pretty much told us the same thing,” Loni said.

  Sofia shot Loni a look that said, “Don’t interrupt me again.” Then she continued. “‘Good, now I can inspect you, he said. Take off the rest of your clothes.’ Until Eva died in late 1942, Constable Cho was a monthly visitor to our storefront.”

  “Couldn’t you do something about him? Yuk! He was such a slime-ball,” Loni said as she turned up her nose.

  “Loni, we were prostitutes. We needed what protection we could get. He did help us on occasion. He ran off drunks and collected money from men who refused to pay. He even took the picture with his camera—the one that was in the book. You found it, right?” Sofia inquired.

  “Yes, that’s how we found the synagogue and Constable Cho,” answered Banyon. “The picture eventually led us to you.”

  “Please continue,” Loni urged her with a rolling of her hands.

  “Anyway, we started doing a good business. Our customers were both Asian and European. The Chinese loved our light skin and big breasts. The Europeans liked the fact that we were much taller and had better figures than the stick-thin Asian prostitutes. Zolnar brought men over frequently, but one time he refused to pay. Constable Cho attempted to collect the money—for a cut, of course—but was not successful. About a month later, I realized that Zolnar hadn’t visited us for some time. I asked Constable Cho if he had seen Zolnar. Cho said, ‘Murdered.’ But he didn’t say by whom. Life was cheap in the ghetto.”

  Chapter Fifty-Seven

  Sofia stopped for a minute, excused herself, and went to the bathroom. When she returned, she started talking about Eva.

  “Eva was entertaining twelve to fourteen men a day and it was wearing her out. She started drinking again. She spent her on-the-back hours oblivious to everything around her. One day, I couldn’t wake her up. She just lay spread-eagled on the bed, no matter how hard I tried to shake her. I locked the door and went to find Constable Cho. He knew that he had the upper hand and made me promise to relax him later. Then he took me to an herbalist. That was when I first met Sun. His father owned the store and Sun sat behind the counter as I entered with Constable Cho. Cho explained the problem and Sun nodded his head. As Constable Cho collected the items that Sun told him to get, Sun turned to me and spoke.

  “‘You come back, yes? He spoke in Chinese. I had been working on my Chinese and was surprised that I understood what he had said. I nodded my head, paid for the item, and we left the store.”

  “I’ll bet that some of the items that we saw in that store are still there from 1942,” Banyon interjected as he once again glanced at his watch.

  “The mixture of herbs seemed to help Eva a lot. She was able to return to work, but still kept a bottle by the bed. When I ran out of herbs, I went back to the store, but this time I was alone.

  Between the Chinese I could speak and hand signals, Sun and I were able to resupply my needs. He shocked me when he asked me for my address. He had no idea about my profession. He wanted a date.”

  “Was the recipe that you left in the book made from those herbs?” Banyon asked.

  “No, but Sun did lead me to it,” she replied.

  “Well now we are finally getting somewhere,” Colt said. “Tell us about that recipe.”

  “Are you trying to be difficult Colt? I want to hear the full story,” Loni protested.

  “Your right,” Banyon threw up his hands in surrender. “I’m sorry, please go on.”

  “When we were in Shanghai, Sun said he remembered most of the items from the recipe. He sold Loni eight ingredients, but said that one was unknown. Can you explain that?” Banyon was trying to get to the bottom of the mystery fast.

  “Actually, there were only seven items in the recipe. I don’t remember them all,” Sofia said. “I’m sorry.”

  Banyon looked at Loni with a question in his eyes. She looked guilty of something.

  “Colt, actually, Sun could only remember five of the items,” Loni blushed as she answered.

  “And the other three items?”

  “Aphrodisiacs,” she muttered. Colt and Sofia’s eyebrows shot up. Sofia then smiled.

  “Did they work?” she asked. “The Chinese have perfected their products through thousands of years of testing.”

  “I only tried one.” Loni’s blush deepened.

  “Well, did it work?” Sofia pressed.

  “Yes.” Loni said in a small voice.

  Colt was beside himself, but tried not to show it. He wondered when she’d used the aphrodisiac. Had she used it back home with Carl, or had she used it on some other occasion? He further wondered what “Yes” meant. Did that mean she used it on herself or someone else? Did she slip him a mickey? Was their relationship just one big experiment? She was always manipulating him to set new limits, like kissing on the mouth. Was she just using him? His mood was suddenly bad and it
showed.

  Loni searched his eyes for some understanding, but found none. She excused herself and retreated to the bathroom.

  “So, this came as surprise to you,” a confident Sofia said.

  “Almost nothing comes as a surprise with her around,” a hurt Banyon replied.

  “But, don’t you think she did it for you?”

  “We are just partners.”

  “You are much more than partners. Even an old woman can see that.”

  “We have spent a lot of time together lately,” Banyon said.

  “So you suspect someone else, then?”

  “I’ve nothing to be jealous of,” he replied with a shrug.

  “But, you can’t believe she would take an aphrodisiac without telling you, right?”

  “She does what she wants. I’m just surprised. That’s all there is to it.” He threw up his hands in surrender.

  “No, my dear, you were surprised when she said that it worked.”

  Chapter Fifty-Eight

  Loni came out of the bathroom with her head held high. Sofia and Colt both watched her for some sign that indicated her mood. She marched over to Colt and bent down. “I’ve been very horny since this morning,” she whispered into his ear. “I tried it before you woke up. I didn’t think that it would work, but I know now that it only enhanced my feelings for you. Please forgive me.”

  As hard as he tried to remain indignant, Colt melted when she breathed into his ear. He covered his mood-change by asking Sofia a question. He would sort this news out later.

  “If Sun didn’t give you the recipe, where did you get it?” he asked.

  “Poor Sun, you say that he told you that he missed me?”

  “He said that he couldn’t protect you, actually,” Banyon replied.

  “Yes, that was true. His family was too afraid of being involved. He was a mama’s boy, too.”

  “What do you mean?” Loni asked.

  “What I mean is that he relied on his family to take care of everything. He didn’t think for himself. When Eva was murdered, I went to him. He was nineteen then and certainly could have helped me. But he chose to follow his parents’ advice instead. As I stood in the doorway of his home, he came back and slammed the door and said, ‘Go away.’”

  “But, you said that Japanese soldiers murdered Eva,” interjected Loni.

  “I did not tell him that it was Japanese soldiers who murdered Eva. At that time, I didn’t know who did it. We had dated for over two years and I’d had dinner at his house many times. I was also one of their best customers. He was my close friend and wanted badly to also be my lover. But he had no backbone. In fact, I was fending him off in the garden when Eva was murdered. If I had not been with him, I might have saved Eva.”

  “Let me get this straight,” Loni said. “You went out with him for two years and never went to bed with him?” See glanced at Colt, who seemed disinterested.

  “That’s right,” answered Sofia. “I wanted one real relationship with a man. I was still technically a virgin. He was never very aggressive, and I certainly didn’t need sex from him. I was teaching him how to treat a woman correctly, not the Chinese way. But he was a slow learner.”

  “What about the recipe?” Banyon impatiently asked. We haven’t much time before the boat leaves.

  “Yes, that was the topic, I suppose. The recipe was rather fantastic.” Her eyes seemed to drift far away as she remembered the details. “We had been in China for over a year. Eva was drinking more and more. She lost weight and men were less willing to pay our price for her company. The herbs had less and less effect on her as time went on. Finally, I asked Sun if his father knew of stronger herbs. We went to the back of the store. He was seated in the back room. The father asked me why I needed a stronger potion. I didn’t want to tell him that my sister was a drunk, so I told him a friend was having trouble with alcohol. The old man pondered this as he stroked his long beard.

  “His words still ring in my ears. ‘You must go to Wuhan,’ he said. ‘I have heard of an herbalist there with a special recipe for alcohol. Sun will give you the address, but he will not go with you.’

  “With the address in hand, I returned to the office and begged Eva to take a vacation in Wuhan. She finally agreed. I made arrangements to take a train to the city and we were off.”

  Sofia set her teacup on its saucer. “It took us many hours to get to Wuhan city. The train was stopped by the Japanese, who searched the cabins. Several men were dragged off and shot just outside our window. A few hours later, our train was stopped by Chinese Communists. They dragged off some more people. Finally, Chinese Nationalists stopped our train. There were actually three wars going on just outside of Shanghai.

  “The beautiful Chinese countryside was in total chaos. From the train, we could see people walking everywhere. Some were walking to the cities, some from the cities. Smoke from fires and battles trailed up into the sky in every direction. Everybody seemed to be fighting everyone else. China also had warlords who protected their turf with force. The warlords changed sides frequently. It was hard to figure out who was winning. Most people were just trying to survive.”

  Banyon nodded in sympathy, and Sofia went on. “The train eventually steamed through a mountain pass. On the other side, everything changed. The Nationalists were in complete control of this area. The country seemed more ancient. The people worked in fields of rice, wheat, and vegetables. We passed towns that were untouched by war. We saw temples on mountains and statues of Buddha. One was carved out of a mountainside. It was huge.

  “Wuhan city was in the Hubei Province and was about eight hundred miles west of Shanghai. It was not like Shanghai. There was little Western influence there. Many people had never seen a white person, let alone two blonde women. The men were the worst. They would boldly reach out and grab our asses and breasts. They were like flies—we constantly had to swat them away. We hired a rickshaw and gave the man the address. He immediately started complaining that we were too heavy and demanded more money. That was old China.”

  Chapter Fifty-Nine

  “The new herbalist was named Lee. He was younger than we expected, maybe thirty. His shop was more of a temple then a store. He was seated in the lotus position with his hands set in prayer when we entered. All around him were small statues. Incense burned from small pots. He bowed as we approached him.”

  “‘You have come,’ he simply said.”

  “Did he know that you were coming to visit? I mean did you send a telegram or something?” Loni was fascinated that Master Lee seemed to expect them.

  “We never sent him a message, but he knew that we were coming.”

  “What was he like,” Loni continued to prod.

  “When he stood, we were shocked. He was about six feet tall. This made him a giant in China. He was dressed formally in an ornate coat with lots of dragons and flowers embroidered into the red fabric. He wore a four-sided hat that came to a point, making him appear even taller. His pants were black silk and flowed like liquid as he walked towards us. He was clean-shaven and his eyes were intensely black. He was the most handsome man that I had ever seen.”

  “Wow, that’s saying something. There are many handsome men in the world, like Colt, for instance.” Loni turned to him but got no reaction. “What happened?”

  “‘How may I help the white woman?’ he asked. Eva, who had brought a bottle on the trip, was staring at him with a glazed look. Lee looked at me for some time. He then turned to Eva and looked directly into her soul.

  “‘Tea will be ready shortly,’ he announced. He turned and beckoned us to follow. Eva appeared to be in a trance. She immediately followed him. She never asked why we were there. I hurried to catch up to them.

  “Do you think he hypnotized her or something,” Loni asked?

  “No, but he certainly affected her. A small archway led to a room with pillows on the floor and a low table. On the table sat a beautiful tea set. Steam wafted from the teapot. Lee gracefully lower
ed himself onto a pillow. His hands disappeared into his sleeves. He sat rigid, but looked comfortable in the position. I struggled to recline. Lee gave no indication that he noticed. He poured tea for Eva and said, ‘Drink.’ My cup and his remained empty.”

  Loni suddenly jumped up and started to do hand movements from a deep crouch.

  “What on earth are you doing,” Banyon asked?

  “I’m practicing my martial arts moves. It sounds like Master Lee knew them too.”

  “Loni, martial Arts is an American term. Master Lee was performing like he had been taught by previous masters. The Chinese had almost five thousand years to perfect their sciences. It was not fun, he was working. Now sit down and let her finish, we are running out of time, before the ship leaves,” Banyon admonished her.

  Sofia looked at Banyon with a look which said your being a little hard on her. “Eva finished the small cup of tea in one gulp. He poured another. ‘Again,’ he ordered. ‘Mr. Lee—’, I said and was immediately interrupted. ‘You may address me as Master Lee,’ he announced. ‘I know why you are here. I have begun the treatment. You will stay here in back for one week.’ The force of his words nearly singed my eyebrows. I quickly agreed. Eva said nothing as she gulped the tea.”

  “‘Master Lee, what is the cost of the treatment,’ I asked.”

  “‘I do not need money,’ he replied. ‘I barter for most things I need. You will work here to pay your debt.’ I wondered if he knew of our line of work.”

  “Master Lee was right out of a movie,” Loni quipped.

  “I doubt that he had ever seen a movie,” Banyon said. “Please continue.”

  “Master Lee explained that my duties were to help him care for his patients. He currently had nine in residence in the back room. My first duty was to bring him green tea. He told me to go into the backroom and heat some water and make the green tea. I left for the backroom with no idea of what to expect, but he radiated good character, so I was unafraid of what lay ahead,” Sofia said.