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.”