“I have only ever given myself to one man. You, Su-Chong Chen,” she whispered. “Against my will, however, I was taken by many men. You know this already. I have told you how this was done to me. You know who ordered it.”
He had studied her, his eyes hardening toward her. “I have defiled myself with you.”
His hatred solidified. “My mother was right. You cannot be trusted,” he added categorically.
From that moment on, he had again locked her in the little room.
—
As Liáng pointed his motor car toward the bungalow where O’Dell was recuperating, he shook his head and fervently prayed. He did not look forward to what he must do today.
He arrived and, after greeting O’Dell and Miss Greenbow, asked to speak with the nurse privately. They adjourned to the tiny kitchen.
“My dear lady,” he began tentatively. “I have some unfortunate news.”
“What is it?” she asked, surprised.
“I am afraid that your service to us is at an end. I must let you go.” Liáng disliked himself intensely at that moment.
“What! Who will care for Mr. Jones? Certainly he is mending, but he still requires some nursing care. Have I done anything wrong—”
Liáng held up his hand, interrupting her. “Miss Greenbow, your care has been exceptional. I will write you a fine recommendation. But our, ah, circumstances have changed. I’m afraid I must let you go. Today. Now, in fact.”
He removed an envelope from his pocket and handed it to her. “You will find that I have added an additional week’s salary. I apologize for the abrupt end of your time with us. I should have liked to have given you proper notice.”
She slowly took the envelope. “Well, if you are sure then . . . I . . . it will take me a few minutes to pack.”
“May I help you gather your things?” Liáng had never felt quite such a heel. As they passed into the living room where O’Dell sat, Liáng laid his forefinger across his lips.
O’Dell looked from Liáng to a stunned Miss Greenbow and back. He pressed his lips together as she gathered her knitting and a book she had been reading and retired to her room. O’Dell and Liáng could hear her opening and closing drawers.
“What in blazes is going on?” O’Dell whispered, eyes narrowed.
“After she leaves, if you please,” Liáng replied.
Twenty minutes later, Miss Greenbow donned her coat and hat. “I am leaving, Mr. Jones,” she said weakly. “I do hope you will continue to do the exercises as I’ve shown you. I—” She twisted the strap of her handbag. “I wish you all the best.”
O’Dell carefully got to his feet and offered her his hand. “Miss Greenbow, it is I who am indebted to you.” A look, something of perhaps both surprise and disappointment, passed between them.
Liáng and O’Dell watched her carry her little suitcase to the end of the street and turn the corner. She would catch the trolley along there within the hour.
When she was gone, O’Dell rounded on Liáng. “Now tell me! What is going on?”
Liáng mutely shook his head and went out the back door. O’Dell heard him opening the gate to the yard. A minute later he had backed into the yard and closed the gate behind his little motor car. O’Dell heard the trunk of the auto close and the murmur of Liáng’s voice.
The back door opened and Liáng entered followed by someone. They walked into the little sitting room, Liáng leading a young man with haunted eyes.
“Mr. O’Dell,” Liáng said softly. “This is Bao Shin Xang.”
—
Fang-Hua listened with growing frustration and rage to her man’s report. “He cannot have just vanished! Watch the trains. Keep eyes on his house at all times. Someone knows where he is.”
If she was worried at Bao’s disappearance, she did not allow it to show. “Bao has shown himself to be disloyal to his family. When he is found, you will make him disappear.”
She continued to think. “I also wish someone to watch for him near my husband at all times. This is of great importance. You will not allow him access to Wei Lin Chen.”
Pulling herself erect, she waved a hand in dismissal. “Go. Do as I have directed. Find him.”
The young servant girl crept away from the closed door and continued about her duties.
~~**~~
Chapter 37
O’Dell glared at Bao Xang. “What is he doing here?”
Liáng answered simply, “He refuses to hunt down Mei-Xing as Fang-Hua demands. Now she will hunt him. This was the only safe place I could think of.”
Bao endured O’Dell’s withering glare without resistance. O’Dell took in the young man’s blank and spiritless manner, but he felt no pity.
“Is this why you dismissed Miss Greenbow?”
Liáng inclined his head.
O’Dell cursed under his breath. “I’ll pack my bags.”
“No, Mr. O’Dell, you should not do that,” Liáng remonstrated.
“Look, Liáng, I appreciate all you have done for me, but I won’t stay in the same house as this, this murderer.” He hobbled toward his room.
“Do you wish to find Mei-Xing?” Liáng called after him.
O’Dell turned. “That,” he snarled, “is a stupid question.”
“Bao is your best chance of finding her,” Liáng replied. “He knows Su-Chong, has known him all his life. To date I have only been able to give you second-hand information, but I am not a trained investigator. Perhaps you should interview him.”
O’Dell slammed the door behind him and leaned against it shaking with anger. And exhaustion. He knew he was not yet fit to travel. Just twice around the enclosed yard set his hip to throbbing. The more he exerted himself, the harder he breathed. That was when pain would shoot through his lungs, ribs, and shoulder again. Like right now.
Then the pounding of his half-healed jaw overrode everything else, and O’Dell realized he was grinding his teeth together. He uttered a string of choice swear words.
Liáng showed Bao to the room just vacated by Miss Greenbow. Bao did not look around. He sat down on the bed and nodded without seeing.
Liáng sighed and retraced his steps to the back door. Stepping outside he breathed deeply and began to pray. Lord, here I am, in water far over my head, and I don’t know what to do now.
He checked his pocket note book. Two appointments later this afternoon. He could not cancel them without good reason.
Stepping back inside the house he checked the food supply in the kitchen. Someone would need to shop for Bao. He would have to cook for himself. Liáng wondered if Bao knew anything of what went into preparing a meal. Or if he was in any state to care.
O Lord!
O’Dell unclenched his teeth and gently waggled his jaw to release the tension in it. His head pounded. His hip ached. He needed to sit down.
He sat gingerly on his bed and rubbed the muscles along his hip. Against the antipathy he held toward Bao, he was thinking about what Liáng had said. Could Bao hold the key to Mei-Xing’s recovery?
He sat there for twenty minutes, thinking, before he heard his stomach grumbling. Miss Greenbow had fed him well. He snarled again as his stomach growled for its lunch.
—
Joy was staring from the window of one of the third floor towers when Rose found her. The street fronting Palmer House was not as busy as a downtown thoroughfare, but was bustling nonetheless. Carts laden with goods on their way to market slowly clanked by. The occasional motorcar passed the slower traffic with an audacious honk.
“Spring is on its way, but I miss the mountains,” Joy confessed. Of all they had lost when the lodge in Corinth burned, the wonder of its views had been among the most difficult to bear.
“Is that all of what troubles you, Joy?” Rose inquired softly.
“No,” Joy admitted, but did not immediately add to that single syllable. She continued to stare unseeing at the light traffic passing the house. Rose waited beside her.
“Is it Grant?”
Joy fidgeted uneasily. “We are so happy, Mama, even if so many of his memories are still lost,” Joy began, “but . . .”
“But?”
Joy sighed. “I can’t put my finger on it.”
“Is he still the Grant you married?” Rose offered.
“Oh, yes. Yes, he is! Even though I have to remind him of so many things. Even though he has lost the use of his arm. When he looks at me, he is every bit the man I married. Godly. Caring. Happy. Strong. So gentle and sweet.”
“What is it, Joy?” Rose probed. “What is bothering you?”
Joy faced her mother, anxiety on her face. “Since his bout with the influenza he is still not quite well, Mama. Instead of growing healthier and becoming clearer in his mind these last weeks—I don’t know, but he is often away in his thoughts, a worried look on his face, and I have to bring him back. He seems . . . distracted, and I am concerned.”
Rose drew a sharp breath. “Have you spoken to him of your concerns?”
“Yes, I have asked how he feels. He smiles and tells me he is fine,” she stared out the window again, “so why do I feel he is withholding something from me?”
She sighed. “I have not wanted to, I don’t know, nag him, I suppose, but I see changes, subtle changes. Yesterday we had to run to catch our trolley. We always laugh when we make it just in time but . . .” Joy fiddled with a button on her blouse.
“What, Joy?”
Joy sighed again. “Instead of laughing about it, he was out of breath.”
She turned to Rose. “Mama, we ran less than half a block. I know it is indecorous to run in public, but it was the last trolley of the day, so we ran. And he was out of breath! He was not comfortable again for several blocks, Mama.”
She looked steadily at Rose. “That is not like him, Mama. And he was so tired last night that he went to bed right after dinner.”
“Perhaps it is time he saw a doctor,” Rose suggested.
—
Liáng was about to knock on O’Dell’s door and offer him a ride to the train station when the door opened and O’Dell hobbled out and collapsed in his chair.
“I’m hungry,” he said in a grumpy tone.
Liáng nodded. “I am not much of a hand in the kitchen.”
“Was it necessary to let Miss Greenbow go? Couldn’t you make up a name for him?” O’Dell pointed haphazardly behind him in the direction of the other bedroom.
Liáng opened his mouth in surprise and then closed it. “You are staying then?”
O’Dell stared at Liáng. He had to will himself not to clench his teeth again. “I want to find Mei-Xing. If that . . . miserable excuse for a man has any information, I want it.”
“I know you despise me,” the voice came from behind them. Bao stood in the doorway of the bedroom. “I do not blame you—I despise myself.”
He slowly walked into the sitting room. “Mr. O’Dell, please allow me to help you. I-I will do whatever you ask of me, but please allow me to help you find Mei-Xing.”
O’Dell studied Bao again, looking him up and down. If ever he had seen a beaten man, Bao was one.
“Liáng, I want two things.”
“Name them,” Liáng responded. “I will get them.”
“Well, first get Miss Greenbow back. She’s likely still waiting around the corner for her trolley.”
“Wha—” Liáng frowned. “We could not possibly hide what we are doing here from her,” he answered slowly. “Fang-Hua does not know you are alive, but she will be actively searching for Bao! Miss Greenbow could inadvertently give something away. Is it right to put her in danger?”
“Go get her. You don’t know her; I do. I will tell her exactly what we are doing here. She will keep our secrets.”
“What makes you think this?” Liáng demanded.
O’Dell’s laugh was touched with irony. “Because she’s one of you.”
“Us? What do you mean?”
“She’s a Christian. Been preaching at me for weeks. Now go get her before her trolley arrives.”
Liáng finally agreed and leapt to his feet. “Oh. What is the second thing you require, Mr. O’Dell?”
O’Dell bared his teeth in wolfish delight. “A box of cigars, Liáng. And not cheap ones either.”
Liáng slowly smiled back. “It goes against my better judgment, but you will have them.”
As Liáng’s motor car pulled away O’Dell stared at Bao who just stared back.
“Miss Greenbow will need her room back,” O’Dell snarled. “You can sleep on the floor for all I care.”
Bao nodded and cast down his eyes. “Whatever you wish, Mr. O’Dell.”
O’Dell continued to watch Bao, formulating the questions he would put to the man.
As Liáng rounded the corner he heard the clang of an approaching trolley. He spotted the nurse sitting on the bench, her eyes on the book opened in her lap. She heard the trolley’s bell, too, and began to gather her things.
“Miss Greenbow!” Liáng swung his car around into the other lane so that he was facing the direction he’d come from. He leaned out the window. “Miss Greenbow. We have, ah, reconsidered. Would you please come with me back to the house?”
She glared suspiciously at Liáng whose usually neatly combed hair was blowing in the breeze.
“You said you no longer needed me.” The trolley pulled up to the stop, blocking her from view.
He backed up and she moved a few steps his way. “I sincerely apologize. Mr. O’Dell has a, um, proposition to put to you.”
The trolley bell clanged and she glanced to the driver who was impatiently waiting. She walked to the trolley door and a moment later the driver pulled away. Miss Greenbow was still standing next to the stop, looking at Liáng as though he had lost his mind.
Liáng swung around again, pulling up to the curb. He got out and walked around to open the door.
With one more quizzical look, Miss Greenbow slid into the seat. Liáng lifted her suitcase into the small rear seat and got behind the wheel.
While Bao and Liáng waited in the back yard, O’Dell had a long conversation with Miss Greenbow. When he had finished her eyes were wide.
“You are not joking, are you,” she murmured. It was a statement, not a question.
“I assure you, I am not,” O’Dell answered. Liáng had retrieved O’Dell’s baggage from the hotel while he was in the hospital and had brought it to him when he was released. He handed the nurse his Pinkerton credentials. “My real name is O’Dell. Edmund O’Dell.”
She held his credentials and read them thoroughly before handing them back. Her auburn hair, glinting with a few strands of grey, had been hastily shoved under her hat and just as hastily uncovered when she walked back into the house. O’Dell could see she was tired.
He cleared his throat. “I have been on this case for more than a year. Unfortunately, like the mythological Medusa, we remove one head only, seemingly, to find another.”
She glanced nervously toward the back door. “You say there is a man with Mr. Liáng who will also be staying here? And he is the one who . . .” she swallowed.
“He is nothing to fear, Miss Greenbow,” O’Dell assured her. “You have put up with me for all these weeks and, in comparison, you will find him to be quite tame. However, we—he and I—have a great deal of work to do, work that you cannot but help be privy to.”
He gave her a half smile. “And so I must ask you, are you able to keep our secrets, knowing that very dangerous men are likely looking for us? I would never knowingly place you in harm’s way, but we are trying desperately to save our young friend.”
Miss Greenbow shook her head, still a bit overwhelmed. “I wondered how you had gotten yourself so badly beaten just by way of a mugging. I guess I understand now.”
She finally agreed. “Yes. I will do it. But . . .”
“But?”
“But I will keep the extra week’s pay Mr. Liáng gave me. I deserve it, the awful way you both treated me today.”<
br />
“Of course.” O’Dell saw then that they had wounded her. “I’m sorry,” he said softly.
She swallowed and nodded. “I accept your apology.”
O’Dell slowly stood up. “Good. Now, could you possibly rustle up some lunch?”
~~**~~
Chapter 38
(Journal Entry, April 6, 1910)
Father, it has now been nearly twelve months since the lodge burned, nearly a year since you used the marshals and Pinkertons to free our girls from the houses in Corinth. Almost a year since Grant returned to us.
Our lives—and the lives of our girls—have changed forever, Lord, because of these events. Slowly, ever so slowly, we are gaining ground here in Denver. We thank you, Lord, for the progress we see.
Gretl has secured a position in Littleton! It is wonderful for her, but will be hard on us to lose her. Viola Lind assures us that the family Gretl goes to is well thought of. She will earn a good living, and we hope she will come home to us at Christmas.
Tabitha is making application to the nursing school in Boulder. Doctor Murphy has written a glowing letter of recommendation. Tabitha shines with hope, Lord. I am convinced she will make an exceptional nurse.
And Pastor Carmichael reports that women in our church—women, like our girls, who have found you, Lord—have been ministering on the streets of the red light district. We may soon welcome new refugees to Palmer House.
Lord, Joy remains insistent that we should open a sewing school. Is this what you desire? I ask this because we have found no one to lead us in this direction. It is beyond my skills, dear Lord. You know how rudimentary my sewing abilities are! I trust you, but you must provide if this is the direction you wish us to go.
—
She spent hours on the floor of her room crying out to God. If not for her little book, she surely would have gone mad.
The door to Mei-Xing’s room suddenly slammed opened. A drunken Su-Chong stood in the doorway. “Why are you lying on the floor?” he demanded.
Mei-Xing quickly got up. He had not visited her bed in a month. She picked at the dress that fit her so ill, grateful that it veiled her body’s curves.
The Captive Within (A Prairie Heritage, Book 4) Page 25