“I haven’t done anything,” he said, uncomfortable with her gratitude. “Thank me when you find the girl.”
He didn’t add what he was really thinking: If you find the girl.
MINNIE OPENED THE DOOR TO CORA’S FLAT. SHE LOOKED as if she hadn’t slept since Sarah last saw her, but she managed a polite smile of greeting. “Mrs. Brandt, how nice to see you. Please, come in.”
“I don’t suppose you’ve heard from Angel,” Sarah said as she stepped inside.
A spasm of pain crossed Minnie’s weary face. “Not a word.”
“I’m so sorry. How are Cora and the baby doing?”
“Fine as can be,” Minnie said with forced cheer. “Come on in. She’ll be that glad to see you.”
Sarah greeted Cora, who was still in bed as Sarah had instructed. Sarah didn’t subscribe to the theory that women who had given birth should be treated like invalids, but she knew that restricting them to bed for a week or so would ensure they wouldn’t overdo and end up truly ill.
Cora had been burping the baby over her shoulder, and she took him down so Sarah could admire him. “He’s doing so well,” she marveled. “Sleeps all the time except when he’s hungry. Couldn’t ask for a better baby.”
Little Daniel gazed back at Sarah through his almond-shaped eyes with the intensity of the newly born. After a second, he smiled, as if enjoying being the center of attention, and the women laughed in delight.
When Sarah felt she had spent enough time admiring him, she turned to Minnie. “I think I told you that I have a friend who’s a detective sergeant with the police,” she began, hurrying on when she saw Minnie instinctively recoil from the thought of the police. “I know you don’t want them involved, but I asked him for some advice about what he’d do if he was trying to find a missing girl.”
Minnie was shaking her head. “Oh, Mrs. Brandt, you really shouldn’t concern yourself with—”
“Don’t be a fool, Minnie,” Cora scolded. “At least find out what he had to say!”
Sarah hurried on before Minnie could object again. “He said that young girls like Angel usually don’t just run off without telling someone about their plans. He said she probably confided in at least one of her friends.”
“But that’s the first thing we thought of,” Minnie protested. “The girls didn’t know anything.”
“They told you they weren’t hiding her,” Sarah corrected her. “But they might have lied when you asked if they knew where she was. If she eloped with a boyfriend, they wouldn’t betray her to her family, who wanted her to marry a man she didn’t love. They’d think it was all very romantic and that she’s safe someplace with someone who loves her.”
“Boyfriend,” Cora scoffed. “That’s such a funny word. I know that’s what the girls call their suitors, but who’d want to run off with a boy?”
“A girl who’s too young to know better,” Sarah said. She looked at Minnie, who frowned thoughtfully. “We can’t be sure that’s what happened, but it’s worth talking to her friends again, just to be sure. If we can frighten them a little and they do know where she went, they might tell us.”
“I don’t know,” Minnie murmured, shaking her head.
“It’s worth a try,” Cora argued. “You know how girls are with their secrets. Mrs. Brandt is right, I can’t imagine Angel didn’t tell somebody that she was going to run away.”
“But if the girls didn’t tell us before, why would they tell us now?” Minnie asked.
“Like I said, you’ll have to frighten them. Make them think that Angel might be in danger.”
Minnie’s face was gray with fatigue, and she stared blankly back at Sarah. “I can’t,” she said wearily. “I just…I don’t know what to do.”
“Mrs. Brandt, you’ll help her, won’t you?” Cora asked, but she didn’t wait for an answer. “Minnie, take Mrs. Brandt upstairs to see Biddy and Una. They’ll be home from school by now. They’ll be surprised to see a stranger. Tell them…tell them Mrs. Brandt works for the police or something. They won’t know any different. Tell them they have to talk to her or she’ll take them off to jail. That will scare them.”
Minnie’s eyes glistened with tears. “What if they really don’t know where she is?”
Now Sarah understood. Minnie couldn’t bear one more disappointment. “They’ll know something,” Sarah promised rashly. “If you take me to them, I’ll find it out.”
“I’d go with you if I could,” Cora said. “Please, Minnie. You’ve got to at least try.”
“You’ll talk to them?” Minnie asked Sarah.
“Yes,” Sarah said, recalling her promise to Malloy not to get involved. Of course, he’d never have to know.
Minnie drew a deep breath, as if for strength. “All right.” Hastily, she wiped the tears from her eyes with her finger-tips and squared her shoulders. Sarah followed her as she made her way out of Cora’s flat, into the hallway, and up the stairs. They went up two flights, to the floor above the one where Minnie and her family lived. They could hear the sounds of families living their lives behind the closed doors. Minnie knocked on one of them.
The woman who answered was instantly solicitous when she saw her visitor. “Hello, Minnie. Have you found her yet?”
“No,” Minnie said, her voice nearly breaking. “I was wondering, I’d like to see Una again. She might’ve remembered something new by now.”
“She would’ve said something,” the woman protested.
“Not if she promised Angel not to tell,” Sarah offered when Minnie made no reply.
“Who’s this?” the woman asked with a worried frown as she peered at Sarah in the shadows of the hallway.
“Mrs. Brandt,” Minnie said. “She’s—”
“Helping the family,” Sarah supplied. “Is Una home?”
The woman frowned uncertainly, but she said, “She’s across the hall with Biddy.”
“Thank you,” Sarah said, using the official tone she’d heard Malloy use so often. He had the authority to go along with it, but this woman wouldn’t know Sarah carried none.
Sarah turned and went to the door the woman had indicated. She rapped sharply before looking back at Minnie and silently inviting her to join her. Minnie reached her side just as the door opened. This woman also asked about Angel, and Sarah answered before Minnie could.
“We haven’t heard anything yet, and we’d like to ask Una and Biddy a few more questions, if you don’t mind.”
The woman blinked in surprise. “I’m sure they already told Mr. Lee everything they know,” she said.
“We just want to make sure,” Sarah replied.
The woman looked back and forth between Minnie and Sarah. “Minnie?” she asked.
“Mrs. Brandt is helping us. Please let her see the girls,” she pleaded.
“Well, I don’t see why not,” the woman said uncertainly and stepped aside for them to enter. Una’s mother had joined them, and she stepped in behind them, still wearing her apron and looking concerned.
This flat, like Cora’s, was well furnished and comfortable. Both of the mothers wore serviceable dresses of good quality. Their husbands provided well for them.
“Biddy, you and Una come out here,” Biddy’s mother called.
The girls appeared in the doorway and stopped dead when they saw the four women waiting for them. They’d been sharing a confidence that had them smiling, but the smiles vanished as they stepped into the front room.
“What is it, Mama?” one of the girls asked the woman who lived there.
“I’d like to ask you some questions,” Sarah said, glad to hear her voice still held that air of authority. “Are you Biddy?”
She nodded uncertainly.
“I’ll need to speak with the girls alone,” Sarah informed the mothers. “They’ll be more honest if you’re not in the room.”
“Mama, what’s going on?” Una asked.
“We’re trying to find Angel,” Minnie said, having found her confidence again. She cleared th
e remaining tears out of her voice. “Mrs. Brandt here is helping us.”
The girls stared at Sarah with wide-eyed apprehension.
“I don’t think—” one of the mothers began to protest, but Sarah cut her off.
“Let’s go into the kitchen, girls.” She moved purposefully toward the doorway in which the girls stood, then looked back over her shoulder at the mothers. “This won’t take long.”
As she’d hoped, they were intimidated enough to stay where they were. The girls backed into the other room, as if afraid to let Sarah out of their sight. They were holding hands.
“Sit down, girls,” Sarah said, motioning to the well-scrubbed wooden table.
They sat, still not taking their eyes off Sarah, who took a chair opposite them.
“I know that Angel confided in you,” Sarah began bravely and was rewarded by the expressions of surprise on the two girls’ faces. “You promised you wouldn’t tell on her, and that’s all very well and good, but you’re going to have to break your promise to her, because she could be in danger.”
She waited, giving the girls a chance to digest this piece of information. Biddy finally broke the silence. “What kind of danger?”
Biddy was the larger of the two girls. Like Angel, they both wore their dark hair in braids. Also like Angel, their eyes betrayed their Chinese heritage. Except for her eyes and her coal black hair, Biddy looked just like her mother, though. Her plain Irish face was broad and open, and her figure would be full.
“The boy she ran away with might not really want to marry her,” Sarah said, taking another risk.
“But he loves her!” Una cried, then immediately slapped a hand over her mouth as Biddy elbowed her viciously in the ribs. Una probably took after her father, with her birdlike delicacy. A smattering of freckles stood out starkly across her nose as her face paled.
“Maybe he does love her,” Sarah said. “I hope so. I hope they’re happily married by now, too. But I’m afraid there are young men in the city who trick girls like Angel—girls like both of you, too—into thinking they’re in love. They get the girls to run off with them, and when they’re away from their families, they sell them to…” How to explain this? Would the girls even know what a brothel was? “To evil men who make them do terrible things and mistreat them.”
Now both girls had gone pale. “But she said…” Biddy began, then caught herself.
“I know you don’t want to break your promise to Angel,” Sarah said, “but if she’s been tricked, she’ll be very glad you did. We might be able to find her and rescue her if you help us.”
“But what if she wasn’t tricked?” Una wanted to know.
“If she’s married, that’s fine. There’s nothing her parents can do, but at least they’ll know she’s safe. Her mother is very worried about her. You can see how upset she is. You wouldn’t want your own mother to be that worried about you, would you?”
The girls exchanged a glance, silently debating.
“But if Angel is being held prisoner by evil men, she’ll be terrified. If you were being held prisoner, wouldn’t you want someone to help you?”
“But we promised,” Biddy said. “Angel made us swear!”
“She’s probably praying that you’ll break your promise and tell someone what happened to her. If we know who she was meeting, we’ll have a chance of finding her. If not…you may never see her again.” Sarah tried to make it sound even more ominous than it was.
“You mean…she might die?” Una asked in a whisper.
Sarah thought that was not the worst fate that could befall the girl, but she said, “Yes, she could.”
This time the look the girls exchanged was horrified.
“We…we don’t know where she went,” Biddy confessed.
“Do you know the boy’s name?” Sarah asked.
“Quinn,” Una said, earning another elbow from Biddy. “I don’t care,” Una told her friend defiantly. “I don’t want nothing bad to happen to Angel.”
“What’s his first name?” Sarah asked.
“That is his first name,” Biddy said, angry with her friend but determined to set the record straight. “Quinn O’Neal. But he loves her. They’re getting married. You’ll see.”
“I hope so,” Sarah said fervently. “Where did she meet this boy?”
“He ain’t no boy,” Biddy said. “He’s twenty.”
Sarah’s heart sank. Why would a twenty-year-old man want to marry a child like Angel? “Do you know where he lives?”
They shook their heads.
“Where did Angel meet him?”
“At the market,” Una said quickly, before Biddy could. She wanted to be as helpful as her friend.
“The market? You mean the Gansevoort Market?” Sarah asked, naming the area on the West Side of the city where farmers brought their wares to sell.
“Yes, he works there,” Biddy said.
“He’s not a farmer, though,” Una added importantly. “He unloads wagons and things like that.”
“How did you meet him?” Sarah asked, thinking that a job like that would be a good way to spot young girls.
“We go to the market all the time,” Una said.
“With our mothers,” Biddy added.
Like hundreds of other girls, Sarah thought.
“One day we went off by ourselves, looking at things,” Una continued. “He called out to us, asked was we lost.”
“He’s handsome,” Biddy said, “and real friendly, so we stopped to talk to him.”
“He only wanted to talk to Angel, though,” Una said with just the slightest trace of bitterness. “Because she’s so pretty.”
“What did they talk about?” Sarah asked.
“Nothing much,” Biddy said, wrinkling her face as she tried to remember.
“Silly things,” Una added. “Like did our mothers know where we were.”
“He didn’t know we’re Chinese,” Biddy said. “Not at first.”
“Angel told him,” Una said. “He wanted to know why we looked so different.”
“How long ago did you first meet him?” Sarah asked.
They didn’t remember exactly. “Back in the fall, I think,” Una recalled. “When there was still vegetables at the market.”
“How often did you see him?”
“We didn’t see him much at all,” Biddy said, and this time she also sounded bitter. “He was only interested in Angel.”
This was sounding worse and worse. “How did she manage to see him?”
“At first she just went to the market, but she couldn’t always get away from her mother, and then the weather turned cold,” Biddy explained. “So she started saying she was going upstairs with us after school, and she’d climb down the fire escape and sneak off.”
“No one ever suspected?” Sarah asked in surprise.
“Why should they?”
Why, indeed. Angel was an obedient girl who’d never given her parents a reason to distrust her.
“Do you know where they met?” Sarah asked. “Was it at the market?”
“No, that was too far. She wouldn’t have time to get there and back,” Una said. “They’d meet someplace nearby, but she never told us where.”
“Are you sure you don’t know? Did she say anything about it at all?”
“I don’t remember anything,” Biddy said.
“Try hard. It’s very important,” Sarah urged.
“I think…” Una mused.
“What?”
“I think it was behind a store,” she said.
“Why do you think that?”
“She said one time that she wasn’t afraid somebody would see her, because she’d just go in and out the front of the store, like she was shopping.”
“I don’t remember that,” Biddy protested.
“Did she say anything about what kind of a store it was?”
Una tried to remember. “I can’t think of anything. Just that she’d go into the back of the store and meet Quinn.
”
“Do you think he worked at the store?”
Una shrugged. “She never said.”
“We already told you, he worked at the market,” Biddy reminded her.
“Do you remember what part of the market he was working in?” Sarah asked.
Biddy described the location to her. Sarah knew the market well. It wasn’t too far from her home on Bank Street.
“Can you think of anything else she told you about Quinn? Anything about his family? Anything at all?”
“He wanted to marry her,” Biddy said crossly.
“Especially when she told him her parents wanted her to marry Mr. Wong,” added Una.
“How did you feel about that?” Sarah asked them.
They exchanged another glance, probably wondering if it was safe to tell Sarah their true feelings on the subject.
“I didn’t blame her for running away,” Biddy admitted.
“Mr. Wong is old,” Una added, as if that settled everything.
“Don’t tell Angel we told you what happened,” Biddy said. “Please, don’t. She’ll be mad at us.”
“I won’t,” Sarah promised.
“Are you going to tell our mothers?” Una asked. “They’ll be mad that we lied to Mr. Lee.”
“I won’t say anything to them, but they’re bound to find out. If you tell them yourselves, they won’t be as mad at you.”
They frowned, not certain they trusted her logic.
Sarah took two of her calling cards from her purse and laid them on the table in front of the girls. “If you think of anything else that might help, please let me know. Or you can tell Angel’s mother or her auntie Cora. You can even leave a message for me at the Prodigal Son Mission on Mulberry Street.”
Una picked up the card and stared at it for a moment. “Do you really think Angel is in trouble?”
“I think there’s a good chance that she is.”
“She’s not,” Biddy said with certainty. “She’s married, and she’s happy.”
Sarah smiled. “I pray you’re right.”
SARAH THANKED THE TWO MOTHERS WHEN SHE RETURNED to the front room.
“Did they help you at all?” Biddy’s mother asked.
“I’m not sure,” Sarah hedged. “They were able to answer a few questions, at least.” She turned to Minnie. “We should be going.”
Murder In Chinatown Page 5