Authors: Rhys Bowen
Sarah put a hand on my arm. “Is this wise, Molly? You’re going to marry a policeman and yet you are deliberately and knowingly going against the law.”
“But I don’t think she killed anyone, Sarah, and I really don’t think she’ll get a fair trial. You should have heard that Captain Kear concocting the perfect case against Bo Kei and a young man.”
“Captain Kear? Oh, we know all about him. As crooked as they come. He even suggested to us that we pay him protection money. As if we have any spare money.”
“So what did he say?”
She smiled. “Luckily one of our workers at the time happened to be the son of the New York state attorney general. It was suggested that he leave us alone.”
“It’s good to have friends in high places,” I said. “But I shouldn’t stand around talking. I should remove Bo Kei before the police come looking for her.”
“I hope you are not taking too great a risk, Molly. You’ll be harboring a fugitive, won’t you? You can go to jail for that. And think of the disgrace for your future bridegroom.”
I hesitated. What she was saying was actually true. I had already incurred Daniel’s wrath once today. Could I knowingly take this risk? But if I didn’t, Captain Kear’s men would drag her off in no time, and once they had her and Frederick in custody, they wouldn’t bother to look any further for the real killer.
“I have to do this,” I said. “Sid and Gus have a strong sense of justice. They’ll understand and want to help me.”
With that I went up the stairs. I tapped on the door and thought I heard scurrying as I entered. Bo Kei was perched warily on the edge of her bed, as if poised for flight, but her face broke into a smile when she saw me.
“Missie Molly?” Bo Kei said. “You have found Frederick for me? You will take us to safety?”
“I’m afraid it’s not as easy as that, Bo Kei.” I sat down beside her. “Something terrible happened last night. Lee Sing Tai was murdered—pushed off his roof.”
“Oh!” She put her hand to her mouth in horror. “Last night? Somebody killed him last night?”
“That’s right.”
She sat there, hand over her mouth, just staring as if she was taking it in.
“But this is good news for me, isn’t it?” she said shakily. “Now Lee Sing Tai is dead, I am free. I do not belong to anyone. I can go with Frederick.”
“It’s not good news, Bo Kei. The police think that you and Frederick may have had something to do with his death.”
She looked horrified. “Me and Frederick? How do they even think that we know each other? We have not spoken since I was delivered to Lee Sing Tai’s house. You did not say anything to them to make them think this, did you?”
“Of course not. It was Bobby Lee who suggested that Frederick might be the murderer, because his father had dismissed him from his position. And because he was attracted to you. He suggested you two had planned the crime together.”
“Bobby Lee said this? He is a wicked man. He tried to force me to do a terrible thing, Miss Molly. He wanted my body for himself. He say his father is too old and he can give me the son instead. Make his father happy. Father will never know. Now he wants revenge because I pushed him away.”
“I believe you,” I said. “Bobby Lee is a most despicable man.”
“Then I will go to your police and tell them that Frederick and I are innocent. The nuns say that American law is fair and just.”
“I wouldn’t do that, Bo Kei. Not all policemen are fair and just, in fact I am told that the policeman handling this case is known to be crooked. He would concoct a case against you, because it would satisfy everyone and look good for him.” I looked at her terrified face with sympathy. “The fact that you ran away makes you a suspect in the eyes of the police, Bo. There will be policemen all over the city looking for you.”
“Then I am not safe here.”
“No.”
“And Frederick—are they looking for him?”
“They have already found Frederick and the police have gone to question him. I’m worried for him, Bo Kei.”
“Then what must I do?”
“We must hide you somewhere for now. This is exactly the sort of place that the police will come hunting for you. I have friends who have connections outside of the city. Maybe they will find somewhere for you to hide. I wish I had been able to warn Frederick; then we could have spirited the two of you away.”
“He will go to jail now? They will say he murdered Lee Sing Tai and they will execute him?”
“I hope it won’t come to that,” I said.
“But he didn’t do it, I swear to this.”
“You can’t swear to it, Bo. You weren’t with him last night. You can believe in his innocence based on his character, but that’s not the same as swearing.”
“I understand. But I know in my heart he is not the killer. They will find out who really killed Lee Sing Tai, won’t they?”
“American policeman are smart and I’m sure they could find enough clues to point to the real killer if they want to. The problem is that they may not want to. They don’t want to do anything that might start another tong war, you see.”
“So it is like China here. Magistrates decide who they want to be guilty and nobody can say anything or they will be guilty too.”
“I hope it’s not quite as bad as that,” I said. “I’ll do my best, Bo Kei. My future husband is an important policeman and he is not crooked. I will try to make him find the real killer and to have Frederick set free.”
“You are wonderful woman, Missie Molly.” She reached out and shyly touched my hand.
I didn’t feel like a wonderful person. I felt sick and scared. I wasn’t at all sure that I was doing the right thing. But I needed to buy time. “We must go now, Bo Kei.”
“We can take Annie with us?” she asked. “She also will not be safe here.”
“I don’t think we can take Annie,” I said. “She’s sick, and I can’t bring someone with consumption into my friends’ home. Besides, she has nothing to worry about from the police. She’s not involved in this at all and she’s in good hands here.”
“No, the police will see Chinese girl and make her answer their questions. Maybe they will hurt her.”
“Don’t worry. The ladies who run this place come from important families. They will tell the police that Annie is not the girl they look for. The police will listen to them. Annie will be quite safe, I promise.”
I could see her thinking this through, wanting to say something, but not daring to. Finally she said, “I have to say good-bye to her.”
“That may not be wise, Bo Kei,” I said. “She should not know that you are going with me. The less she knows, the better. If she doesn’t know where you have gone, then the police won’t be able to get it out of her, will they?”
“You say police not harm her!” Bo Kei wailed. “You promise.”
“They won’t harm her, but they may ask her questions.”
“Then we must take her too,” Bo Kei insisted. “She can sleep in my bed. I don’t mind. I am strong. I will not catch this disease. Please, Missie Molly. We can’t leave her here.”
“We have to. I’m sorry, Bo Kei, but she will be well looked after here and the police won’t bother her.”
“I don’t know.” Bo Kei still chewed at her fingertips, her face an agony of indecision.
“Are you worried that the police might mistake her for you? Or is it because of her previous connection with Lee Sing Tai? Don’t worry. The police don’t need to know about that, and the workers here will testify that she has been lying at death’s door all week. So let’s go quietly now, Bo Kei. We’ll ask Sarah to tell Annie that you’ve gone away. It really is much safer for us all.”
She shook her head vehemently. “Then I not go either.”
“Don’t be silly. You’re the one who is in danger, not Annie. Come on.” But she shook herself loose from my hand.
“I must speak with her before I go. I promise I’ll not tell her that I go with you. Just a few words. I must.”
“Very well,” I sighed. “But you realize you may be signing your own death warrant.”
She shook her head. “No. Annie would never betray me. Never. She is my family, and family takes care of each other.”
With that she marched defiantly to Annie’s room.
Twenty-two
The cab was waiting outside the front door. I bundled Bo Kei in, her face hidden behind a shawl, and we set off for Patchin Place. Gus greeted me with a worried face when I knocked at the front door. “Molly, where have you been? We were so worried when we arose this morning and found your bed empty. And then when you didn’t return and didn’t return we thought something must have happened to you.” She broke off as she noticed Bo Kei, standing behind me.
“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.”