The Qing Dynasty Mysteries - Books 1-3

by Amanda Roberts

  Inspector Gong and the guards stood between the white family and the angry crowd. He motioned for the driver of the carriage to follow them, but it was too late. The mob grabbed the driver and dragged him down, kicking and beating him. With no one holding the horses’ reins, there was no way to stop them when they finally got spooked enough to run. The horses lurched forward, and then took off at a full gallop through the crowd, trampling dozens of people, but thinning the crowd enough that Inspector Gong and the guards took the opportunity to run for the legation. As they made it to the gate, the door flew open and the family were pulled safely inside. Inspector Gong was shut outside the gate.

  “Fire!”

  Inspector Gong heard the crack of rifles into the crowd. There were screams and a loud crash as the carriage tipped over. Through the smoke of the rifles, Inspector Gong could not see if anyone had been injured.

  “Ready!”

  Inspector Gong looked at the guards, and realized they were about to fire again.

  “Aim!”

  He grabbed the rifle of one of the men next to him. “Stop!” he yelled in English. One of the other reinforcement guards who had arrived, grabbed Inspector Gong, turned him around, and then kneed him in the gut. Inspector Gong fell to his knees.

  “Fire!”

  Another round of rifle cracks rang out. More screams. More panic. But the crowd did clear. He heard the sound of trumpets as the imperial guard arrived. The guards lowered their rifles. Prince Kung was among the men who had arrived. Inspector Gong got to his feet and went to the prince’s side.

  “Are you injured?” the prince asked.

  “No,” he lied. The kick to his gut seemed to have reinjured his ribs, but he would not worry the prince with that.

  The prince nodded and went to the guards. He had a heated discussion with them. The chief of British police then came out, and there was more yelling. Inspector Gong looked out at the street. There were at least three dead bodies lying there. Mourners were already wailing over them. More would come, as would more rioters.

  More legation guards, dozens of them, arrived. The foreign police went inside the legation and locked the door. Prince Kung huffed as he walked away.

  “What is happening?” Inspector Gong asked.

  “The legation is completely shut down,” he said. “No one will get in or out until the killer is named and the ports are reopened. The first of the battleships will arrive in two days.”

  “What does this mean?” Inspector Gong asked. “What are your instructions?”

  “You must name your killer by the end of the day tomorrow,” the prince said. “Or else I will.”

  19

  “Excuse me,” Lady Li said to a young Chinese woman when she entered the legation. “Do you know where Mr. Big’s shop is?”

  The young woman paused for a moment and looked her up and down. “I haven’t seen you here before,” she finally said.

  “I’m new. I just started at the Gibson house,” Lady Li replied, feigning confidence.

  “I heard they took on a new maid,” she said. She must have been referring to Concubine Swan. Concubine Swan had told people she worked for the Gibsons as well. “You’re a brave soul, I must say.”

  “Why is that?” Lady Li asked, sure the girl was talking about Weilin’s murder but wanting her opinion on the matter. Concubine Swan had found out quite a bit by talking to the other maids in the concession.

  “That Mr. Gibson,” the maid said, shaking her head. “Can’t keep his hands to himself, is what I heard. Every maid they have taken on has had to leave eventually.”

  Lady Li nodded, mulling this over. He must have eventually gotten all of their maids pregnant. Lady Li wondered what Mrs. Gibson thought about it. If she wondered why so many of her maids had left. Didn’t she say that Weilin had been there for years? Weilin must have been very lucky, or she had found a way to take care of the pregnancies in the past.

  “Maybe he learned his lesson after the death of the last maid,” Lady Li said. “He hasn’t tried anything with me.”

  The maid scoffed. “That arrow should have pierced his heart. Worst of the worst of the foreign scum. Raping our girls, poisoning our men with opium.”

  “I hope you don’t think poorly of me for working there,” Lady Li said.

  “We all have to do what we must to survive,” the maid said consolingly. “Just be careful if you think you’re going to pawn something you pinched. I wouldn’t sell it in the legation. Gibson would be sure to find out.”

  “Oh, I haven’t stolen anything,” Lady Li said. “Yet.” The other maid smiled and Lady Li did likewise. “I just heard Mr. Big bought items from the countryside and wanted to learn more about it.”

  “Well, if you go down the street and to the left,” the maid said, pointing. “You’ll see his shop on the right.”

  “Thank you so kindly,” Lady Li said and she turned to leave.

  “Hey, what was your name?” the maid called after her, but Lady Li pretended she didn’t hear her and picked up her pace.

  Mr. Big’s shop was quite easy to find. His shop had a large picture window with his name on it in large white and gold letters painted on it: MR. BIG’S GOODS AND SUNDRIES. A little bell rang as she opened the door.

  “Just a moment,” a voice called from somewhere deep in the store, but Lady Li couldn’t see him over the stacks of items piled everywhere. There were mounds of furniture in various condition, from beautifully carved and polished to dirty and falling apart. There were boxes of clothes and sticks of tea cups. Beautifully embroidered lotus slippers were strewn about, some in pairs but many missing their mates. Porcelain jars and vases, some chipped, some not, sat on shelves, along with cloisonné boxes. Some of the pieces were lovely, but most of it was junk. Lady Li wondered just how much the foreigners were willing to pay for items she would likely just throw away had they been in her home. Except for the household god carvings she saw sitting irreverently in a corner. She couldn’t believe someone would sell them, much less that other people would buy them. It was dishonorable. She shook her head.

  “Sorry about that,” said a kindly voice. “How can I help you?”

  Lady Li looked up, and then had to look back down. Standing before her was the shortest, sweetest looking man she had ever seen. He only came up to about her waist. His face looked like he was older, possibly in his forties or even fifties, with pale blonde hair.

  “Well, you don’t need to gape, darlin’,” he said in an accent she had never heard before.

  “I’m sorry,” she said, shaking herself out of her shock. “I was…just expecting…”

  “Someone bigger?” he asked with a laugh and flick of his wrist. “That’s why I just love my name. It gets the new customers every time!”

  Lady Li let out a relieved laugh, glad she was not the only person to be taken in by the man’s joke.

  “Come on back and sit a spell,” he said as he walked to a display case in the back of the room. He climbed up onto the stool behind it and motioned for Lady Li to sit on a stool by the front. “Can I get you some sweet tea?”

  “Sweet tea?” she asked, confused.

  “You must try it,” he said. “It’s the only way we drink it back home.”

  “Where is home?” Lady Li asked as she sat.

  “Atlanta,” he said. “Georgia,” he continued at the blank look on her face. “America,” he finally clarified.

  “Of course,” Lady Li finally said. Other than California or New York she was hopeless at American geography.

  “It’s no problem,” he said as he poured her a cup of tea and then dropped a whole spoonful of sugar into it. “I’m sure there is no need for you to be very familiar with it.”

  “I think you must know a lot about China, though,” Lady Li said, trying to flatter him. “Since you collect so many…interesting things.” She doubted he knew as much as he thought, or lacked respect. He eyed the colorful sacrificial wreath he had for sale behind the table. Such a
thing should only be used in a funeral procession and then burned. The fact he was selling one as a decoration made her skin crawl.

  He handed her the cup and she held it gingerly in her hand for a moment before sipping it. She nearly chocked when she realized the tea was cold.

  “It’s supposed to be cold,” Mr. Big said, seeing her wide eyes. “That’s how we like it. What do you think?”

  “It’s very…interesting,” Lady Li said politely. She had gotten somewhat used to tea with sugar and cream through her visits with the British ladies, but she had never had it served to her cold. She thought it was quite uncouth.

  “You’re a very well-mannered maid,” Mr. Big said, not in an accusatory way, more amused, but Lady Li realized her class was starting to show through her disguise.

  “It is new to me,” Lady Li said, trying to recover, “but thank you for your hospitality.”

  “Of course,” he said. “Oh, yes. As you said, I love traveling the Chinese countryside, looking for new and interesting things. I’ve been all the way to Mongolia, to Canton, and out west to Szechuan.”

  “That is amazing,” Lady Li said, considering that other than when she had to flee north to Jehol, she’d never been out of Peking.

  “This is an incredible country,” he said. “Where are you from?”

  She opened her mouth to say Peking, but then remembered to stop herself. “Kwangsi Province,” she said.

  “Oh! Kwangsi!” he said, slapping his hands to his cheeks in excitement. “So beautiful! The mountains just go on and on and on, don’t they? And so green. How do you survive cooped up here in the city?”

  “We all do what we must,” she said as she took another sip of the vile tea.

  “So true,” he said as he took a sip of the tea and sighed in contentment. “So what can I do for you?”

  “Oh, of course,” she said, setting down her cup. “I was actually looking for something to buy. Something for my father. I have to go home for Spring Festival…” She cut herself off, remembering that in one of Weilin’s letters she said she would not be allowed to go home for Spring Festival. “I mean, you know we cannot go home for Spring Festival, so I wanted to send my family, my father, a gift instead.”

  “I see,” he said, tapping his chin. “What kind of thing does your father like?”

  “Umm…hunting,” she said. “Maybe a hunting knife…or bow?”

  “How strange,” he said, pulling out a notebook. “You know, I had just the thing in here a few days ago.”

  “Really?” Lady Li asked, leaning forward to look at his book.

  He angled the book so she couldn’t read it. “Yes, a beautiful hand-carved bow and arrow, from Kwangsi Province, no less. I had considered keeping it for myself.”

  “What happened to it?” Lady Li asked.

  “Some sort of family feud, I suppose,” he said. “The girl who sold it to me, her brother came in the next day, demanding it back. Said she had no right to sell it. That is was his birthright. That his uncle gave him the money to buy it back.”

  “His uncle?” Lady Li asked, raising her eyebrow. This was the first she had heard of an uncle.

  “Well, she had sold it to me, you see,” he said. “So of course I had to mark the price up to sell it, make my money back and a profit.” Lady Li nodded. “I could have gotten a lot more for it in the States. It would have looked just beautiful on a wall, over a mantle place.”

  “But the brother, he demanded it back?” Lady Li asked, leaning forward expectantly.

  “Yes, but he didn’t have the money,” he said. “I gave him a good price, but he didn’t have it at first. So he left. But then he came back a while later with more money, said his uncle gave it to him. So I had to let it go. I thought about telling him it had sold while he was gone. It was that beautiful. But he was so…adamant about getting it back. He grabbed me by the collar. Nearly dragged me over the counter.” He closed his eyes and shook his head.

  “I’m so sorry,” she said.

  “Well, it’s gone now,” he said. “But let me see if I can find something else for you.” He hopped down off of the stool and started rummaging around in the shop. “I’m sure I can find something suitable for you.”

  “You really needn’t go to any trouble,” she said as she moved toward the door.

  “It’s no trouble,” he said. “I’ll just…What’s going on out there?”

  Lady Li looked out the door while Mr. Big made his way to the large window. There were a dozen soldiers running toward the front gate.

  “Oh no!” Lady Li exclaimed. There must be some sort of trouble. She flung the door open and ran out into the street.

  “Get back inside!” one of the soldiers yelled as he passed.

  She ignored him and ran to the end of the street and peered around the corner at the gate. It was then that she could hear the yells and screams coming from outside. The door in the gate opened and she saw a foreign family stumble through. As the door shut, she heard the crack of rifles.

  Lady Li gasped and put her hand to her mouth. What was happening out there? What should she do?

  She looked around and saw the legation residents running for their homes and shuttering their businesses. She looked back at Mr. Big’s shop and saw him using a long hook to pull a metal screen down over the large window. Then he went inside and locked the door, covering the small window with a blind.

  A second round of rifle fire rent the air. She could see dust and smoke rising from the street beyond the legation gate.

  Then, all was silent. She saw important-looking men in uniforms and suits head out of the gate door. After a moment, they came back in.

  “Get back to your home,” one of them barked at her when they passed.

  She gave a slight curtsey. “Yes, sir,” she said, keeping her eyes down. Once they rounded the corner, she ran for the gate.

  “Let me out, please,” she said to one of the guards.

  “Sorry, miss,” the guard said. “No one gets in or out. It’s too dangerous right now.”

  “But…but I must…” she tried to protest.

  One of the guards pushed her away rather roughly. “Back to your employer. Now!”

  Lady Li walked down the road, back toward Mr. Big’s shop. What was she to do now? She needed to let Inspector Gong know what she had discovered. She went to the post office so she could hopefully send him an urgent message, but the post office had been shuttered as well.

  She stood there for a moment, unsure of what to do. She didn’t have a home or place of employment to go to. She could call on the Gibsons or Lady Highcastle, but she was dressed as a maid! Surely they would question why she was dressed in such a manner.

  She chewed her nail nervously. What was she to do now?

  20

  Lady Li paced in front of the post office for a minute, but eventually a regiment of guards came through again, barking at everyone who was loitering or even looking out their windows that they needed to be indoors. She remembered that Mr. Big had a box of clothes for sale in his shop. Maybe she could buy a gown from him that would be somewhat presentable. She went back across the street and knocked on the door.

  “Mr. Big?” she called. “Are you still in there?”

  He peeked out of the blind and then opened the door just a crack. “I’m so sorry, honey,” he said, “but during a lockdown I’m not allowed to have my business open. You should get home.”

  Lady Li felt a bit of panic rise up in her throat. She looked back to the gate and then back at Mr. Big with pleading eyes, unsure of what to say.

  He sighed and took pity on her. “Come inside,” he said, opening the door a little wider.

  “Thank you!” she gasped as she slipped inside. He shut and locked the door behind her.

  “It’s no problem,” he said. “Us fine folk have to stick together.” He gave her a wink.

  “What do you mean?” she asked, confused.

  “I might not look it,” he said as he went back to
his stool behind the counter, “but I come from a long line of southern gentlemen. My family has been in the States since they were the Colonies. We have one of the largest plantations in Georgia. I had to leave America to find quality people with money older than mine.”

  Lady Li pressed her lips as she sat on her stool a little uneasily. She wasn’t sure what this strange little man was getting at.

  “Come now,” he said with a smile as he heated up a new pot of tea. “If you saw someone like you walk into a room would believe her if she said she was a maid?”

  Lady Li blushed a little. “Probably not,” she admitted. “I have spent my life training to act a certain way. It is a hard habit to break.”

  “It’s not an act,” he said with a gleam in his eye. “It’s how you are. You were born this way. The question is, why you would don the clothing and guise of a maid, sneak into the legation, and drop by my shop?”

  She sighed. She was a terrible investigator. She didn’t know why Inspector Gong kept trusting in her to help him.

  “The bow and arrow you sold,” she finally said. “They were used to kill the maid at the Gibsons’ house. I needed to know who bought them.”

  “Were they really?” he asked, his mouth and eyes wide as he poured a cup of hot water and dropped some Chinese tea leaves into it.

  “I’m surprised her manner of death is not common knowledge,” Lady Li said. “It was quite shocking.”

  “The police have been keeping the details close to their chests,” he said as he slid the cup of tea in front of Lady Li. “We all know she was shot, from across the street. But I reckon we all assumed it was a gun shot. I don’t know why I didn’t think of the bow and arrow I sold.”

  “It was a very odd way to kill someone,” Lady Li said as she held the teacup in her hands, letting it warm her fingers. “But the killing seemed personal. Like the killer was sending a message.”

  Mr. Big leaned forward on the display case conspiratorially. “So you think the brother killed his sister with the bow and arrow. Like a family feud of some sort.”