Gold Mountain (37 page)

I thought about Ruth’s parting comments after I boarded the street car that would drop me off by the hospital’s well-tended grounds on Valencia Street. The circumstances of Jake Pandora’s proposal—if that’s what it was—were dubious enough to make its validity suspect, and he had never once admitted that he cared for me, not in the way a woman usually wanted to be told. And yet I was as certain of his feelings for me as I was about my love for him. I couldn’t hitch that certainty to anything specific, but I was content. It may take the man a while to discover that he couldn’t live without me, I told myself, and I may have to help that realization along a little, but I accepted the fact. The time would come when Jake Pandora would admit he wanted me, and I could wait for that time because when it happened, the reward for my patience would be glorious.

I entered the hospital, headed in the general direction I recalled from my earlier visit, and serendipitously met Dr. Allen in the hallway. When he started to walk past me I startled him by grabbing his arm with a firm grip. I saw a slight irritation but no recognition in his eyes when he turned to face me and realized he didn’t recognize me. How could he, I asked myself ruefully, since I was fully dressed and didn’t drip blood? I hastened to remind the doctor how he knew me and watched the vague irritation disappear from his eyes when he finally remembered.

“Of course, I remember you now, Miss Hudson. You look considerably improved from the last time I saw you.”

“I took your advice to bathe and eat and sleep, Dr. Allen. Will you take me to Mr. Pandora?”

At Jake’s name, the doctor shrugged. “Unfortunately, Mr. Pandora lacked your good sense, Miss Hudson. He refused to take my advice. In fact, as I recall, he was adamant about not taking my advice.”

“I don’t understand. He’s not—” I couldn’t finish that particular thought and instead continued, “You said he wasn’t in any overt danger, Dr. Allen. You said that Jake was young and healthy and barring anything unforeseen he would be just fine.”

“I meant everything I said, and I diagnosed Mr. Pandora correctly. He had lost a lot of blood from those two wounds, but once he awoke there was nothing I could do to make him stay in the hospital.”

“You let him out of bed?!” The doctor seemed to take offense at my tone because he drew himself up to a rigidly straight height.

“This is not an insane asylum, Miss Hudson, where people remain against their will—although I am beginning to wonder if that wouldn’t be a more appropriate habitat for the two of you. Mr. Pandora insisted upon being released, and when I advised him against the wisdom of so precipitate an action, he was quite rude in his response. He was working under a very strong emotion that seemed to me to be plain and simple anger and when it became apparent that he was going to depart with or without his clothes, I advised the nurse to bring him something to wear and wished him well.” Dr. Allen took pity on the fear and concern he must have seen in my eyes because he finished kindly, “He has two deep cuts, Miss Hudson, but they stitched up nicely. They will be sensitive and sore for a while and both will undoubtedly scar, but I have no reason to believe they will not heal just fine. From his description of the injuries it sounded like it was your quick thinking to stop the bleeding and keep him quiet that saved his life. You needn’t look so worried. Mr. Pandora gave every indication that he is a man capable of taking care of himself. And before you ask, no, he did not tell me where he was headed and I did not ask. I had the definite impression that he felt he had something to accomplish and nothing I said was going to interfere with whatever that purpose was.”

The doctor walked away, leaving me standing in the hospital corridor completely at a loss. I had been so sure of seeing Jake and assuring myself that he was well that for a moment I had no idea what to do. Then, annoyed with Jake because he had spoiled all my good intentions, I hurried outside and hailed one of the many cabs that waited around the hospital’s doors. When the cabbie let me off at the Broadway Dock and asked if he should wait, I shook my head.

“No, thank you. I’ll catch a cab home later.” I tossed him his fare and stepped into the street to wave down another cab that had just begun to pull away from the curb on the other side of the street. This cab, driven by Casey’s familiar figure, pulled up along the dock on the Bay side.

“Well, Miss, I haven’t seen you in a while, not since the day of the strike as I recall. Looks like the mayor’s going to bring in strike breakers. That’ll liven things up around here. Are you here to see Jake?”

“Yes. Is he at the transport office, do you know?” I stood in the street and shaded my eyes as I looked up at Casey.

“I believe he is, but he’s already got company.”

“Really? Who?”

“Didn’t know the man. I picked him up downtown. Jake sent me with a message and said I should wait because the fella would be coming back with me and he did. I dropped him off in front of the transport office a few minutes ago and Jake said not to wait.” He eyed me. “Jake was looking pretty rough and if I read him right, three might be a crowd right now, if you take my meaning. How ‘bout I take you home.”

“Not on your life,” I responded with an attempt at haughtiness. “I’ve come to see Jake Pandora, and he can just make room for me. Thank you, Casey.”

“Should I wait for you?”

“I don’t think you have to. I can take care of myself.”

“No doubt, but maybe I’ll take a breather anyway.” He reached into his pocket for a small pipe and a pouch of tobacco and proceeded to prepare for a smoke with the ease of a man sitting in his parlor after supper.

I trudged up the alley, stopping midway to remove my hat and jacket. August could be deceptive in San Francisco and today promised to be warmer than usual. Just my luck because I’d dressed with a certain degree of formality, expecting as I had to be seated next to Jake’s bed as his own personal angel of mercy, every hair in place and wearing the same shade of blue he’d complimented weeks before at the city’s cotillion. That beatific picture of myself faltered under the glare of the August sun and the exertion of an alley with an incline that invariably winded me. I suppose I wasn’t really cut out to be a heavenly vision, anyway, but the morning wasn’t going the way I’d hoped and that knowledge coupled with the fact that I would once again appear in the door of the Pandora Transport Office disheveled and out of breath put me in a bad temper. I knew it was completely unreasonable, but I blamed Jake for not staying put in the hospital. Somehow I thought he should have realized I would come to him, and he should have waited for me. That’s what I did when I’d been held on Morton Street. If that woman Bea managed to get a message to Jake, I’d known without a doubt that he would come for me and I’d waited. Of course, realistically I didn’t have much choice about it, but still, would it have hurt him to wait a little while longer at the hospital this morning? Did he get some contrary enjoyment from seeing me perspiring and winded?

By the time I reached the front door of the transport office, I had talked myself into a bit of a temper and didn’t bother knocking. I pushed open the door, stepped into the front room, saw that it was empty and almost called Jake’s name before I heard his voice. And something about his voice, some tone I’d never heard from Jake before, something so cold and so fierce that I almost didn’t recognize it as his voice, stopped me from making a sound. He was talking to someone in the back room and I stepped closer, somehow knowing I should do so quietly and without advanced notice.

“And you thought what, that she was expendable, that no one would miss her?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Pandora.” I struggled to place the voice of the man responding to Jake’s words, a familiar voice that I had heard somewhere before but for the life of me couldn’t quite place.

“You know exactly what I’m talking about. Every trail led back to you. Where else would the money come from? The more I asked around the more your name came up.”

“Envious people are always looking to blame a successful man and for what exactly? What are you really accusing me of? Indulging in a little smuggling now and then? As if half of San Francisco’s men on the Hill aren’t doing the same. It’s a fact of life. I’ve even heard that you aren’t above turning a little profit with your boats now and then, that you’ve brought in your share of girls.”

“Is that what you’ve heard?” Jake’s voice had lost the hiss of anger it had originally held. Now he sounded cool and amused and much, much more dangerous. “You should hire better informants, then.”

I stood on the other side of the curtain that divided the two rooms and didn’t move a step, didn’t twitch and hardly breathed. I had finally placed the other man’s voice and because of who he was, I knew why Jake wanted him there. I would have to do something about the situation because I was involved, too, but for now all I could do was listen.

Finally, after a pause, Ralph Gallagher said, “I’m leaving. Whatever you think I’ve done, Pandora, you have no proof. I should report your threatening behavior to the authorities.”

“Yes,” Jake replied slowly, still ostensibly amused, “you should. You really should. But right now I wouldn’t move if I were you; I wouldn’t take a step because I would very much like to kill you and I’m not sure I could resist that particular temptation.”

“What have I ever done to you?” Gallagher’s tone sounded honestly bewildered. “We haven’t met more than three times that I know of. I recall that you once came to my home to propose a business venture, and I told you I was willing to talk further about it at my office, but I never heard from you again so I don’t see why you’d blame me if the deal fell through. Did one of my bank managers refuse you a loan? Do you want money? Is that why I’m really here?” I had to credit Ralph Gallagher for his steady, reasonable tone because I had figured out that Jake must be holding some kind of weapon.

“You know why you’re here. You read my note, and you didn’t waste any time getting here.”

“I choose to nip scurrilous accusations in the bud and what your note suggested was outrageous. I had nothing to do with Miss Hudson’s abduction. If the idea wasn’t so insulting and slanderous, it would be laughable.”

“Laughable is not a word I’d use. You didn’t see her. I did. Manhandled, frightened, ill, imprisoned in a stinking whore’s crib. Did you really think I wouldn’t call you to account for that?”

Ralph Gallagher’s voice was as calm and unconcerned as if they discussed the weather, a man mildly curious and nothing more. I couldn’t help but admire his control because if the look on Jake’s face matched the tight fury in his voice, Gallagher’s life was on the line.

“I didn’t realize you even knew Miss Hudson. You’re a fortunate man if I understand you correctly. Congratulations.”

“I would never ask a woman like her to settle for a man like me, but that doesn’t mean that I haven’t made her safety and happiness my business. You made a serious misjudgment when you involved her in your nasty commerce.”

“What you are accusing me of is ridiculous, but even if it weren’t, even if there was truth to your allegations, we both know you aren’t going to do anything to me.”

“Is that what you think, Gallagher? Is that what you really think? Because the only person who knows you’re here is a cabbie who probably scorns the likes of you more than I do. Who’s going to hear the one shot it will take to kill you, and who’ll notice when I load a sack onto one of my steamers and drop it into the ocean? And you know what I think makes it easiest for me? It’s that no one will miss you or care that you’re not around any more. Not your partners in crime and as far as I can tell, not your family. Nobody, Gallagher. What does it say about a man’s life that no one will miss him when he’s gone?”

Ralph Gallagher did not bother to refute Jake’s contemptuous comments. Instead, he came back with a retort that told me Jake’s words had stung. “Then from what I can see, we’re more alike than you want to admit, Pandora. You live in the back room of a cheap office on an alley that hasn’t even got a name. You have a two-bit business that will never amount to anything. And for all your noble talk, I don’t believe a woman like Dinah Hudson would give you the time of day, so who will miss you when you’re gone?”And that, I thought, was an entrance line not to be ignored.

“Actually,” I said, pushing back the curtain and stepping into the room where the two men stood facing each other, “I would.” I looked at Jake, winced at the sight of the bandage that hid half of his unnaturally pale face, and repeated, “I would, my darling. I would miss you very much, so please don’t do this. I don’t want to settle for a prison visit once a month or spend my life looking over my shoulder for fear the law has caught up with us. Send this little man away and let’s get on with our lives.”

Jake’s eyes met mine and it seemed for a moment that he didn’t recognize me. I almost didn’t recognize him, either, not because of the bandages or the wound to his face, but because of what I saw in his look. I believe with complete certainty that Jake Pandora would have killed Ralph Gallagher without a second thought and done exactly what he described: dragged the banker’s corpse out to sea—using just the one hand, apparently, since his injured arm was in a sling— and tossed the body overboard without a moment of remorse. I found that part of Jake Pandora almost frightening and took a deep breath before I spoke. But by then whatever cold menace I thought I’d detected had melted completely away and what I saw in Jake’s warm brown eyes was anything but frightening.

“Where did you come from?” It sounded like he was laughing at me. “Do you plan on making a habit of turning up in unexpected places and at inconvenient times?”