by Rhys Bowen
“Something has happened,” I said. “Let us inside and I’ll explain everything.”
We sat in the conservatory, where they always ate breakfast, while I told the whole story. Bo Kei sat beside me, looking at her hands, saying nothing.
“I know I’m taking a horrible risk,” I said at last. “If you don’t wish to be involved, then I’ll hide Bo Kei away in my house across the street and you can pretend we never came here.”
There was silence. I saw a look pass between Sid and Gus.
“Why don’t you take Miss Bo up to your room so that we can discuss this,” Sid said. I picked up the restrained civility in her voice.
“Very well.” I got to my feet. “I’ll show you my room, Bo.”
She touched my arm. “Missie Molly, I don’t want to cause trouble. You can take me back to the house. I’m sure police will believe that I had nothing to do with Mr. Lee’s death.”
“Don’t worry, I’m sure it will be all right,” I said. “My friends are naturally being cautious, but they are very good people and I know they will want to help.”
I led her up to my bedroom on the third floor.
“You have pretty room,” she said wistfully. “You are lucky to live here with friends.”
“I don’t actually live here,” I said. “I am staying here until my wedding. Then I will move with my bridegroom into that house directly across the street.”
“You get married?”
“In two weeks’ time.”
“He is good man? Did you choose him or does your family arrange this?”
“I chose him,” I said. “And he is a good man. A little difficult sometimes, but good.”
“I am very happy for you.” Her face grew wistful again. “Frederick is a good man, I think. I am sure I could be happy with him, if only.…”
“It will all work out right, I’m sure.” I touched her shoulder gently. “Now just wait here until I talk this through with my friends. They have been very good to me and I don’t want to put them in any danger.”
“I should never have run away,” she said flatly. “I should have accepted my fate, as we are taught in the Chinese way. For us there is no question of happiness, only duty. This man paid my father a bride price for me. I should have accepted that I belonged to Lee Sing Tai.”
“In America they say that everyone has the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” I said. “Nobody here would expect you to face a life of misery with that old man, his wife, and his son making advances to you. And the knowledge that he’d send you to one of his brothels if you didn’t give him a son, when he is clearly too old to have children … no, you definitely did the right thing, Bo Kei. It’s just a pity that somebody chose this moment to kill Mr. Lee.”
As I came down the stairs Daniel’s words did pass through my mind—what looks like a chain of coincidences usually turns out to be linked. Did her running away somehow lead to Mr. Lee’s death? When I thought about it, I came to a sad conclusion. The only person who would have felt himself forced to act at that moment would indeed have been Frederick Lee.
As I arrived back in the kitchen, Sid and Gus were standing, heads together and talking quietly. I felt my stomach do an uneasy lurch. Had I really stretched our friendship too far this time?
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I should never have brought her here, but I had to act quickly, before the police raided the settlement house. I’ll go upstairs and fetch her and take her over to my place. You can claim no knowledge of her if the police ever question you.”
“Oh, no, Molly, don’t misunderstand us,” Sid said. “Of course we want to help. It’s just that—” She paused and looked across at Gus for reassurance again. “Molly, are you quite sure that she is innocent? This is a girl who has already proven that she is prepared to take tremendous risks and is remarkably agile. She leaped across rooftops once. What was there to stop her from repeating the action?”
“She was in the settlement house last night,” I said.
“I’ve been to those places,” Sid said. “People are always coming and going. She could certainly have slipped out if she’d wanted to.”
“And she does have such a perfect motive,” Gus added. “She could never be safe or free while the old Chinaman was alive. These people are so different from us and it is not easy to read their expressions. How can you tell if she is telling the truth? Even our own kind can sometimes lie and deceive us.”
“This is all true,” I said. “And the answer is that I don’t know if she is innocent. But I don’t see how she could have done it alone.” As I said it I thought of those dainty footprints in the soft tar on the rooftop. “But you’ve seen how petite she is. How could she have the strength to hurl a grown man to his death?”
“Then perhaps her lover Frederick is not the nice, innocent boy he seemed to you,” Sid said. “You’re a kind person, Molly Murphy. You’ve let people use you before now.”
“I know that too,” I said. “But I also know that my Celtic sixth sense has often served me well, and my gut feeling is that Bo Kei is innocent. If another policeman was on the case—if my Daniel would only take it over—I’d be happy to leave the whole thing in the hands of the police. But you haven’t seen this Captain Kear. He is brash and arrogant and I could see that he’d already made up his mind that Bo Kei and Frederick are the guilty parties. He won’t even bother to go on looking for the true murderer.”
Sid glanced across at Gus and sighed. “We want to help, Molly. We feel angry at the way this girl has been treated. Of course we can’t condone the buying and selling of women.”
“Sid even thought she was quite justified in killing him,” Gus said with a grin, “but you know that Sid sometimes does get a little heated on the subject of women’s rights.”
I shook my head. “No. I’ve just realized that I can’t leave her here. I know she hadn’t exactly been charged with a crime yet, but I can’t let you run the risk of harboring a fugitive. I’ll take her over to my house. She can stay up in the attic and I’ll take her food and drink until we can decide what to do with her.”
“And if your bridegroom decides to make a sudden inspection or brings back the paper-hanger, what then? He’d be furious if he knew you were even working again.”
I sighed. “I’m afraid he’s already discovered that much. He burst into the room at Mr. Lee’s house. And believe me, he was furious. I was tempted to tell him that I knew of the whereabouts of the Chinese girl, but while that Captain Kear is in charge of the case, I just couldn’t risk it. They were already talking about throwing Frederick in the Tombs to soften him up. What if they did that to Bo Kei too?”
Gus slipped her arm around my shoulder. “Don’t get upset, Molly. She can stay here. We don’t want to do anything to cause friction between you and Daniel. I’ll make up a bed for her in my studio. Then she’ll be well hidden away when the guests come for the party tonight.”
“Oh, the party.” I started to laugh. “So much has happened today that I completely forgot. Did your lanterns survive the wind so far, Sid?”
Sid glanced out of the window. “So far, but the sky does not look too promising, does it? We must make alternative plans in case we have to move the whole thing inside.”
“Candles,” Gus said firmly. “We’ll need hundreds of candles. Paper lanterns are just too dangerous, but we do need to set the mood. What a pity we took down that big chandelier in the dining room when we moved in here. Do you think we still have it in the attic, Sid? Maybe we could rig it up again.”
“No time, dearest. We have so much to do as it is.”
“Put me to work,” I said. “I’ll do anything I can.”
“We could send Molly out to every candlemaker in the Village,” Gus said.
“The bad weather may pass over,” Sid said. “We may be able to hold it in the garden and use our paper lanterns after all. It’s more important to make sure the ice is delivered or our tubs of ice cream will be a disaster.”
And they were off, discussing party provisions and whether they should serve the fruit salads in individual rock melons. I found it hard to think of domestic details while a girl waited up in that room.
“I’ll go and make up a bed in your studio then, Gus,” I said. “And if I may, can I take up some food and drink to Bo Kei? I don’t know what she’s had to eat today.”
Then, of course, they fussed around, suggesting all kinds of delicacies that might tempt a Chinese palate. Sid even wanted to get out her Chinese cookbook and see how to make bird’s nest soup. I stopped them and took up a cheese sandwich and an orange. The way she devoured them made me think that she hadn’t had breakfast. I then explained about the party, how busy we’d be, and how she must stay well hidden when the guests arrived. I found her some books, although I wasn’t sure whether she had learned to read much English. She was more interested in the dolls that Gus had sitting on a corner shelf and I was reminded again that she was little more than a child herself.
Then I went down to join in the preparations. As with everything that Sid and Gus did, they threw themselves into it wholeheartedly. Some might say that they went overboard. By evening the tables in the conservatory were groaning under the weight of hams and cold chicken and salads and exotic cheeses. There was asparagus in aspic and oysters and potted shrimp, fresh fruits of all kinds, including pineapples, which I had never seen before, cake stands of tiny French pastries, and tubs of ice cream keeping cool for the right moment. Then there were drinks of all descriptions—fruit punches and chilled white wines for the ladies, claret and stout for the men. They had even borrowed the young man who normally worked in their favorite tavern to act as barman. There were Japanese lanterns and banks of candles waiting to be lit, flowers on the tables, and greenery trailing from the picture rails.
As I stood and surveyed the scene and thought of the cost of it all, it dawned on me that this was all for me. The thought was so overwhelming that I felt tears springing into my eyes. They had been good friends since they took me under their wing at a difficult moment in my life and they had constantly rescued me and cheered me up ever since. And I—I had repaid them by constantly rushing around and making demands on them. I watched them standing there, admiring their handiwork, and I came to a sudden decision.
“I’ve changed my mind,” I said. “I want you two to be my bridesmaids.”
They looked around. “But I thought we’d been through this. Daniel doesn’t approve of us. His mother wouldn’t approve of us.”
“I approve of you,” I said. “You are my dear friends, closer to me than family. If you are not at my side, then the wedding won’t be perfect.”
“Well, if you insist…” Gus looked pink and pleased.
“Only one stipulation,” I said. “You are not to dress as French maids or nuns or anything else outlandish.”
“Spoilsport.” Sid laughed. “Don’t worry, we shall not disgrace you. We were both brought up to behave properly in polite society and you shall help us select the most demure of dresses. And you’ll find that Daniel’s mother will be overwhelmed by having one of the Boston Walcotts in the bridal procession.”
I laughed too. “You’re right. She’ll be thrilled.”
Twenty-three
At six o’clock the heavens suddenly opened and we rushed into the garden, frantically trying to carry in furniture and rescue the lanterns. We were soaked to the skin by the time we had finished.
“Look at us,” Gus said, laughing as water trickled down her face. “Talk about orphans of the storm. Let us just pray that our guests don’t arrive early.”
You can see why these two women were so dear to me. Most young ladies would be mortified that their coiffure was ruined. Sid and Gus were simply amused.
“I think we should sample the punch to fortify ourselves, don’t you?” Sid poured us each a generous glass.
I went up to change and visited Bo Kei on the way. We had been having such good fun that I had forgotten for a moment that she was virtually a prisoner up there in Gus’s studio. She eyed me hopefully as I came in.
“You have news of Frederick?” she asked.
Then I felt guilty that I hadn’t done more. But in all honesty, there was nothing I could do at this moment, other than keep Bo Kei safe and out of Captain Kear’s clutches. I could hardly go to the Sixth Precinct and petition on Frederick’s behalf without revealing my own involvement. And Daniel had made it quite clear that I was to stay away.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I’ve heard nothing yet. They will probably keep him in a cell overnight. They do that sometimes, hoping that a prisoner will break down and confess. But Frederick is innocent. We know that and I’m sure the police will realize it too.”
“Poor Frederick. That he should suffer for me,” she said. “Surely the American police are smart and they will soon discover who really killed Lee Sing Tai.”
“I hope so,” I said, not wanting to tell her that Captain Kear was probably not going to investigate when he had a bird in hand, so to speak.
“Who could have killed my master, I wonder?” she said, staring out of the window at the rain.
“Do you have any ideas on the subject?”
“Me?” she asked sharply. “How would I have ideas about this? I know nothing about his life. I was not allowed to leave the house. I was sent to my room when he had guests. I only meet wife number one, and Bobby Lee.”
“And what about them?” I asked. “Could either of them have killed him?”
She looked shocked. “Kill their benefactor?” Then I saw her considering this. “Wife number one could not kill him,” she said. “She is too frail. Besides, he is her protector in a foreign land. With Lee Sing Tai gone, what will happen to her?”
This was true enough. I had witnessed her distress for myself.
“And Bobby Lee? You don’t think he is capable of killing his paper father?”
“For what reason?”
“To inherit all Mr. Lee’s business empire.”
“But surely he will not inherit. He is only paper son. Mr. Lee has relatives at home in China. I heard him say this once to Bobby Lee. They have a big fight and Lee got mad. He said, ‘You assume too much. Never forget that you are only a paper son and for me family will always come first. Remember our agreement. I could send you home tomorrow if I wanted to.’”
“Ah,” I said. “Interesting. Mr. Lee was threatening to send Bobby Lee home? Now that is a strong motive and he had better opportunity than anyone. Nobody would even question his entering that house. He must have his own key. And he’s strong enough to throw a man off the roof.”
“Yes, he is strong.” Bo Kei turned her face away again and I wondered if she really had been able to fight him off or if he might have raped her.
“And they talked of an agreement he had signed,” I went on. “And that paper would have been kept in the big cabinet where Lee Sing Tai kept all important papers. But then why would Bobby have drawn attention to it, and why would he have left it in such disarray? Couldn’t he have slipped in and removed the agreement at any time he chose?”
“The cabinet in the corner?” Bo Kei asked, turning back to face me. “But that was always kept locked and Mr. Lee kept the key on a chain around his neck.”
“Did he? But when I was there today the key was in the cabinet.”
“Then Bobby Lee had to kill his paper father to get the key,” she said. “You will tell this to the police. They will arrest Bobby.”
“I’ll certainly mention it to the police,” I said, “but I think they’d have a hard time proving he was guilty. If he found the paper he had signed, he’d surely have destroyed it by now.”
“But at least they would then know that Frederick was innocent,” she said. “And Bobby Lee is a bad man. It is right that bad men should suffer.”
“I’m not sure about that.” I laughed. “We can’t play God.” I brushed a sodden hair back from my face and remembered that I should be hurryi
ng to get ready.
“Listen,” I said. “Tonight there will be a party at this house. It is important that you stay upstairs and unseen. A policeman may be present and you don’t want to take any risks.”
“I will stay in the room,” she said.
“I’ll bring you up some food before the guests arrive. But now I must go and make myself respectable.”
“I think you are most respectable woman already,” Bo Kei said.
I had to laugh at this. “There are some who would dispute it, but thank you,” I said.
“Thank you, Missie Molly.” She gave that funny little bow.
I dried my hair and dressed. I had decided against wearing a costume, although Sid and Gus had tried to tempt me with everything from Marie Antoinette to a Vestal Virgin. Somehow it seemed to be mocking my wedding to dress up in costume at my prenuptial party. So instead I borrowed one of Gus’s evening gowns—relics of her former life when she had moved in glittering society. It was a simple affair in gray silk, dotted with pearls, but it showed off my red hair and my curves. I even managed to put my hair up, with the aid of several combs and was feeling quite sophisticated as I went downstairs to join Sid and Gus. They had taken my pleas not to be too outlandish to heart. Gus was costumed as a water sprite, with lots of trailing green and blue chiffon, and Sid was a wood nymph with a similar costume in green and brown. She wore leaves in her hair, while Gus had a crown of silver starfish.
“You both look spectacular,” I said.
“If you hadn’t been such a fuddy-duddy we could have made you a spirit of the air and then we would have been complete,” Sid said, “but as it is, you look as the future Mrs. Daniel Sullivan should—respectable and demure.”
“Oh, dear. That sounds boring.”
“My sweet, you are marrying a boring and respectable man. What can I say?” Sid chuckled. “But I’m sure you’ll be blissfully happy and that’s all that matters.”