“I knew it!” Tamarind said. “I know who’s after you.”
With the information Tamarind gave me, I left for the Tandoori Palace. I hadn’t yet figured out how I was going to play my set that night. The small and large drum that make up the tabla create the instrument’s unique sounds when a musician drums their fingers in different spots while simultaneously running their palm across the drum surface. It’s sort of like a DJ scratching an LP on a turntable. With my palm scratched up by my lunge after the mugger, I’d have to be creative that night.
I arrived fifteen minutes early, making Raj smile happily. Juan set a plate of samosas in front of me. “Not spicy tonight,” he said, adding a large scoop of hot mustard sauce on the plate. He’s a man of few words, but he knows the way to a woman’s heart.
I was dipping the last of the fried samosas into the sauce when Sanjay arrived.
“You talk to me about cutting it close?” I said.
“The Folsom Street Theater isn’t set up for the magic arts.” He sighed and took off his hat. “The lighting hides nothing.”
“You’ve got a coin stuck behind your ear.”
Sanjay grumbled and tucked the coin into his pocket. “You see what they’re driving me to? But never mind. Are you all right? No more muggings?”
“I’m better than all right. Tamarind may have solved part of our mystery. She kept searching through historical records. She found one of Anand’s friends who he was photographed with in 1905. She thinks he might bridge the gap between past and present. You’ll never guess what Anand’s friend did for a living.”
Chapter 18
San Francisco, 1904
The man with the badge didn’t believe him.
“Let’s try this again,” he said, staring down at the handcuffed Anand. “How did the money to pay the workers go missing from the safe?”
“I don’t know anything about missing money,” Anand said.
“The other workers vouch for each other,” the man with the badge said. “You calling them liars?”
Anand braced himself for being punched again. The pain of being hit repeatedly blurred together as the kicks and punches kept coming. It was only after he was close to unconsciousness that the man with the badge believed he hadn’t stolen the money. He uncuffed Anand and helped him up. Unable to stand, Anand fell to the floor.
It was the second time he’d lost consciousness in San Francisco. The doctor said his leg had been broken in the beating and that Anand would have to stay off it for several weeks. That meant he wouldn’t be able to work. He had a small amount of savings, but he sent much of it home. What would he do for money? No matter. He knew he would figure something out. He always did. It wasn’t the lost wages that angered him. It wasn’t his fellow workers that angered him at that moment either. It was the police who wouldn’t believe he was innocent in spite of all the evidence to the contrary.
Li showed up at Anand’s boarding house the next day with a crutch. It was six months after Anand, Li, and Samuel had saved the boy from being beaten. The three friends were now inseparable.
Samuel had been working with Li. Once the swelling around Samuel’s eye and cheek went down, he shaved off his beard. The transformation revealed a handsome man with fair skin and strikingly sharp features. Almost exactly Anand’s height –- a hair under six feet tall -– Samuel’s frame held at least two stones more, all of it muscle. He struck the perfect balance between being gruff and charming, walking that fine line between a fellow you wanted to befriend and a man you were afraid of. It was exactly right for playing tour guide to tourists afraid of Orientals, but who wanted a look at the wild side of life in San Francisco without being shanghaied. Samuel neglected to tell the tourists that a shanghaiing hadn’t been much of a problem in over a dozen years. He paid Li a cut of his earnings for taking the gullible visitors to the opium dens Li had shown him.
The smallest of the friends, Li stood only a few inches over five feet. From behind he was often mistaken for a child, for nobody would have thought a Chinese man would have cut off his queue of long hair worn in homage to the Chinese emperor.
The swath of bound hair was mandated by Chinese law, but having been born in California, Li felt no allegiance to the Chinese emperor. His parents settled in San Francisco after his father spent his youth building the transcontinental railroad. Instead of living in his parents’ home until he was married –- and probably consigned to stay there even then -– Li moved out at sixteen, cutting off his hair the same day to ensure his father would not insist upon his return.
Anand had learned that Li nearly starved to death that first year on his own, shunned by the Chinese community. In spite of being judged the most intelligent pupil in his Chinese school, Li had few worldly skills at the time. That year taught him much.
To Li, the thought of living an obscure, subservient life was much worse than the thought of death. It was no surprise that he and Anand became fast friends.
Samuel was a different story. Anand remained skeptical of Samuel’s motives at the beginning. Drawn from gold rush to gold rush -– or in the latest case, toying with the idea of heading to the Colorado Silver Rush –- Anand was never sure what Samuel was after. It wasn’t simply money. Samuel was a hard worker, and could have been making much more money as a laborer instead of chasing belated mineral rushes or showing wide-eyed men to opium dens. It was almost as if Samuel needed to feel that he was getting away with something. He wasn’t afraid of hard work, but an honest day’s labor was not good enough.
But Samuel had other qualities. He had saved Anand that first night they met, and continued to come through. A few minutes after Li arrived with the crutch for Anand’s leg, Samuel walked into the room with a bottle of whisky.
“This should get you through your nights until you’re on your feet again,” he said, setting the bottle down on the sole dresser in the room. Samuel was a generous friend. “In the meantime, let’s get you out of here for tonight.”
The two helped Anand down the stairs. It was much quicker than when Anand had gone up by himself.
“Where are we going?” Anand asked, trying to forget about the sharp pain pulsing through his leg.
“Where do you think?”
The sun was setting as they walked through the door of the Siren’s Anchor. Anand caught sight of a figure that wasn’t quite right. The small man stood at the counter, only it wasn’t a man –- another look and he realized it was a woman dressed as a man. But why would a woman disguise herself to get into the Siren’s Anchor? It was common knowledge women were welcome.
Li let out an angry burst of words in Chinese, directed at the disguised woman. He rushed over to her and grabbed her elbow.
“Mai!” Li said. He pronounced it like “May.”
“Who is Mai?” the woman said in English, avoiding Li’s gaze.
“You shouldn’t be here, Mai,” he said, switching to English.
So this was Li’s little sister Mai. Anand had heard about her, but they’d never met. She must have spent hours putting on her disguise. She’d even spread a fine coating of dirt on the lower part of her face, mimicking a beard. It was a nice touch, Anand thought. But Li was right. At fifteen, Mai was too young to be in The Siren’s Anchor, disguised as a man or not. He understood why she would want to come. She idolized her big brother, probably even more so after he defied his parents and left home.
“That,” Samuel said at the top of his lungs, “is a bloody awful disguise, Mai, my belle. But you’ve got gumption, I’ll give you that. Let me buy you a drink.” He motioned to Faye to pour two shots.
The girl let out a string of expletives that would have been impolite almost anywhere else. “Am I so obvious?”
Samuel laughed. Anand wouldn’t have liked to embarrass the girl so publicly, but he couldn’t help smiling. Samuel was right. She certainl
y did have gumption.
“They allow ladies in here,” Samuel said. “You didn’t have to dress up.”
“But someone might have recognized me,” Mai said, shaking free of her brother’s grasp and looking between Anand and Samuel. “You must be Anand. I’ve heard of you.”
“And I of you,” Anand said. “I’m honored to meet you.”
Li remained silent throughout the exchange, but his face was red and turning darker by the moment.
“If Father finds out you’re here--” Li began.
“Father won’t let me do anything,” she said. “The only reason I have already met your friend Samuel is because he saw us when you were walking with me. How do you expect me to live like that?”
In a swift movement, Li grabbed Mai by the elbow again. As he pulled her out of the establishment, he spoke Chinese in a hushed voice. She squirmed to break free of his hold, but his grip was stronger.
Samuel leaned back against the bar and laughed. Anand stood awkwardly with his crutch a few feet from all of them, no longer amused.
“She’s not going to be drinking this shot,” Samuel said to Anand. “But I bet you could use an extra one.”
The two dozen patrons in the saloon watched the scuffle with only mild interest, going back to their own affairs as soon as the pair disappeared through the door.
Samuel helped Anand to an empty table before collecting their drinks. He wiped off the wooden surface with a towel before resting his elbows on the table. Anand had never seen his friend concern himself with the cleanliness of a bar table before. Now that he was paying attention, he noticed that his friend also wore an expensive, tailored suit under his coat.
“You’ve grown respectable in the weeks since I’ve seen you,” he said.
“Respectable...” Samuel repeated. “Now that would be something.” He swallowed his drink in one gulp. He motioned for Faye to pour him another. Normally she didn’t come out from behind the bar to deliver drinks, but Samuel had a way about him.
“It’s been a while since you paid off your credit, Samuel,” she said. Yet she poured the drink with a smile before returning to her spot behind the counter.
“When Li said he hadn’t seen you much recently,” Anand said, “I thought you might have taken off for Colorado to try your hand at the silver mines.”
He snorted. “You know I’ve got a bloody bad back.”
Samuel said he had a bad back whenever it was convenient for him to say so. From what Anand had seen, Samuel was healthier than most men who worked as shipwrights.
“Prospecting was a bad idea in the first place,” Samuel said. “My talents have been wasted all these years. Until now.”
Faye scooped up his empty glass and set a new one in front of him.
“Cheers,” Samuel said. “To our new life.”
“Our new life?”
“Didn’t I say? I need your help with one small part of my new occupation.”
“Which is what?”
“You lived in New York before coming out west. You’ve heard of the spiritualists helping people connect with their departed loved ones?”
“I attended a performance once,” Anand said. “A man locked himself in a cabinet and proceeded to make ridiculous noises. Two women in the audience fainted.”
“Not very impressive, eh?”
“Made for an eventful evening to pass the time instead of shivering in my unheated room. But no, the man himself was unimpressive.”
“They say there are men who truly possess the gift.”
Anand appraised his friend. “This is why I have not seen you recently? You think you are one of them?”
“Of course not. But haven’t you wondered why spiritualism is less popular on this side of the country? The needs of the people are the same.”
“Perhaps the people here are more intelligent. They had the sense to leave snow-covered New York.”
“Or perhaps,” Samuel said, “they have been waiting for a void to be filled.”
“You plan to fill it?”
“I have already begun.”
Chapter 19
“A spiritualist, huh?” Sanjay said.
“Yeah, kinda like a magici—”
“Nothing like me,” Sanjay cut me off. “A magician who sets out to deceive people is a con artist. I entertain people. They know they’re being deceived.”
“Hit on a touchy subject, did I?”
“This is the kind of misunderstanding that makes people like Nadia dismiss magicians.”
“Tamarind thinks it’s Anand’s friend, the spiritualist, who’s after me and who killed Steven Healy.”
“Wouldn’t he be at least 125 years old by now?”
“She thinks,” I said, “that he’s back from the grave.”
“You’re joking.”
“The point is that she’s not joking. Tamarind found ‘Spiritualist Samuel’ listed in the society pages in the newspaper right after the turn of the last century. He wasn’t listed as a con artist, but as a true friend of wealthy San Francisco society, even the Lancaster family. Tamarind’s theory is that he was the real thing, that he knew about his friend’s treasure, and now he’s back from the dead to reclaim it. She says I’m in danger from Samuel’s ghost.”
“This is the person who’s been helping you with research?”
“She’s brilliant. I’ll grant she has some unique ideas, but she’s one of the smartest people I’ve ever met.”
Sanjay frowned. “How did she put him together with Anand?”
“It was written in the papers that ‘Spiritualist Samuel’ was known to appear with his Hindustani guru. There’s a photograph of Samuel with an Indian man who looks a hell of a lot like Anand.”
“Well, well,” Sanjay said. “Anand certainly did get around.”
“I don’t think they’re back from the dead, but this is another piece of the puzzle.”
“Remember,” Sanjay said, “you’re not supposed to be working on this puzzle.”
“I don’t think I have a choice.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“The police think I might have had something to do with Steven’s death.”
“What?” Sanjay gaped at me.
Raj stuck his head into the back room. “My wonderful entertainers, there is a table of lovely ladies asking about the entertainment.”
Sanjay’s face relaxed a little bit. His groupies were here tonight.
On our way out to our makeshift stage, Sanjay paused to kiss the hands of three women in their early twenties. The women blushed and giggled. I hoped I hadn’t acted like that when I was that age. Sanjay flirted shamelessly for a few more moments as I took my shoes off and got myself situated at my tabla. I felt a twinge of jealousy as I watched them. What was the matter with me? It must have been because my own love life was a mess.
Raj left our sound set as usual, with my tabla mic turned up more than Sanjay’s sitar mic. Sanjay’s fans weren’t there to hear skillful sitar playing.
I admit Sanjay has a certain charm—if you happened to like tall, dark, and handsome good looks mixed with the overinflated ego of a small child. Regardless of my frustrations with Sanjay, he and I had been through a lot together, and he had always come through. When he was performing a magic show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival last year, he helped me solve a seemingly impossible theft that affected a friend of mine, even though it meant he had to follow me into a dangerous situation.
Sanjay’s groupies were finishing their dinners as we completed our first set of the night. They invited him over to their table for a drink. Their invitation didn’t extend to me.
On my way to the restaurant kitchen, I heard Sanjay inviting them to the homeless benefit show the next night. They ooed and
ahed, as if their hearts were melting. Now he’d be Saint Sanjay to them in addition to being hunky Hindi Houdini.
Juan plied me with tandoori prawns. He said he’d accidentally made more of them than an order called for. I wondered if he did it on purpose so he’d have the excuse of feeding the extras to me. Even though I was 30, my small size tended to bring out the parental instincts in people.
Sanjay’s groupies ordered a bottle of wine and stuck around for our next set. My hand and elbow ached so I stuck to simple beats, following Sanjay’s lead rather than the usual other way around. I transported myself to another time and place during that straightforward set.
I thought Lane and I had shared a connection when we met earlier in the summer. I often made snap judgments about people, and generally that was a good thing. Nadia and I hit it off from the day we were introduced by an old friend of my dad’s, and Sanjay felt like family within a month of meeting him. I was so sure I’d been right about Lane, too. I didn’t know how I could have gotten it so wrong.
Was I that clueless?
I didn’t feel like thinking anymore. When our last set was over, I slipped out without saying goodnight to Sanjay. He was engrossed with his entourage so I doubt he noticed.
The fog was thick outside the restaurant, blowing in from the Pacific Ocean and settling in the nearby hills that surround the Inner Sunset neighborhood. It was heavy tonight.
My eyes darted around as I walked quickly to my car. I’d parked on a small residential street as usual, away from the bustling main drag. I no longer had anything in my possession that anyone wanted, but would that keep me safe? It was not knowing what was going on that was killing me.
In my apartment, I hung the map I’d drawn from memory on the wall. I closed my eyes and tried to remember if there were any other details I had forgotten.
Pirate Vishnu (A Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt Mystery) Page 11