It was the smell of coffee that aroused me. It crept into the peaceful landscape in which I was residing until my brain formed the word “coffee” and I came to consciousness. Aileen Chiu was standing in front of me, holding a cup.
“I let you sleep it off,” she said, “but I guess you’d now like a nice cup of coffee to clear your head.”
“What time is it?” I asked.
“A little past nine in the evening.”
“That’s terrible,” I said as memory returned. “I’ll be too late.”
“Too late for what?”
“To stop him from crossing the border and getting away.” I sat up, closing my eyes as the world swung around. “The murderer,” I added. “Can you send someone to police headquarters and get Captain Sullivan?”
“Why yes, I’ll send my son, Joe, right away,” she said, “but what’s this about a murderer?”
“The man who killed Mr. Lee. He dragged me into an opium den and drugged me while he got away,” I said.
“Jesus, Mary, and Joseph,” she muttered, crossing herself. “You poor dear. What an experience. You’re lucky to have escaped with your life.”
“Yes, I am,” I said, realizing as I spoke the words how true they were. I was alive and soon Daniel was going to come and all would be well—except that I’d slept so long that Monty Warrington-Chase would be in Canada and nobody would bother to pursue someone who killed Chinese people. At least Sarah would be safe now—an awful thought struck me. Had he taken her with him?
I sipped the coffee, feeling normality returning. I was conscious of voices, a door slamming; then I lay back again until I heard a voice I recognized. “Where is she? Is she all right?”
And Daniel burst into the room. He dropped to his knees, enveloping me in his arms. “Thank God,” he murmured, burying his face in my hair. “Thank God. I was going out of my mind with worry. I’ve had men combing the city for you.” And then as he held me away I saw that his eyes were moist with tears. “Where the devil did you get to? I thought I told you to go straight home and wait for me.”
“I intended to,” I said. “I was on my way home when he grabbed me.”
“Who grabbed you?”
“Monty Warrington-Chase,” I said. “He committed both the murders, Daniel.”
“Monty? What the deuce did he have to do with Chinatown?”
“Opium addict,” I said. “Lee Sing Tai was blackmailing him and threatening to tell Sarah’s family.”
“He told you all this?”
“I figured most of it out for myself,” I said. “I actually found the piece of paper with his signature on it, but I suppose he must have taken it when I was unconscious.”
“He knocked you out?”
“I think he tried to kill me, but then someone was coming or his conscience got the better of him, and he dumped me in an opium den instead,” I said. “You must stop him, Daniel. He said he was going to the border. That must mean Canada, I suppose.”
“How long ago was this?”
“I’m not sure. I don’t know how long I was asleep, but it must be several hours. The Chius found me in the street and brought me home with them. I wanted to tell them to find you, but I was so drugged that I couldn’t form any words.”
“I’ll tell the constable outside to get things moving, and I’ll arrange for someone to take you home,” Daniel said. He was gone for a moment, then came striding up to me. “Just a minute. You found the piece of paper with his signature on it? Where did you find this paper?”
“In Lee’s cabinet,” I answered, realizing that I should not have mentioned this fact.
“You went back to Lee’s place?”
“Only because there was a constable standing outside the door, so I knew I’d be safe,” I said. “I hadn’t realized that Monty came in across the roof.”
“Molly, what did I tell you?” Daniel was glaring at me now.
“Two seconds ago you were crying and thanking God I was still alive,” I said. “Now you’re looking at me as if you could kill me.”
“Did it occur to you it’s because I love you?” he said. “If anything happened to you—well, I don’t want to picture life without you. And yet you continue to put yourself in harm’s way.”
“I don’t put myself in harm’s way deliberately,” I said. “Harm’s way just seems to find me.”
“Not any longer,” Daniel said. “If you don’t behave yourself from now on, we’ll go and live with my mother. There. How’s that for a threat.”
“Terrifying,” I said, managing a smile. I took a deep breath. “I’m really sorry about all of this, Daniel. I knew I shouldn’t get involved from the beginning. I thought I was helping, but I wasn’t.”
“I don’t know about that,” Daniel said. “You’ve solved my case for me. We’ll have men watching all border crossings so we’ve a still good chance of catching him.”
“But if he’s taken that signature with him, you’ll have no proof.”