Murder In Chinatown (25 page)

Frank could tell Sarah was trying to figure out some way to help the girl. He had to jump in before she offered to take Keely in herself. “You can take her to the Mission,” he said.

Sarah liked this idea, even if Keely greeted it with a suspicious frown. “What’s the Mission?”

“It’s on Mulberry Street, the Prodigal Son Mission,” Sarah explained. “It’s for girls who don’t have anyplace to live. They’ll take good care of you there, and you’ll be safe.”

“I don’t know…” she hedged.

“You don’t have to stay there forever,” Sarah said. “Only until you decide what you want to do.”

“Or we could take you down to Headquarters and lock you up for safekeeping,” Frank said, earning a reproachful glare from Sarah and a hateful one from Keely.

“I’ll go to the Mission,” she decided unhappily.

“Good,” Sarah said. “Do you have anything you’d like to pack?”

“Are we going right now?” Keely asked in surprise.

“The sooner the better,” Sarah said. “Surely you don’t want to stay in this house after what happened to Mr. Wong.”

Keely frowned. “No, I guess not.” She rose from her chair and glanced at Frank as if she was afraid he might try to stop her.

No chance of that. Good riddance.

Keely must not have had much to pack up. After only a few minutes, she and Sarah came downstairs again with a small bundle.

“I’ll take Keely over and get her settled,” Sarah said.

“Then you’ll go home and forget about this case,” Frank replied.

She gave him one of her smiles, and they started out, but Keely stopped and turned back.

“I been thinking,” she said to Frank. “My brothers, they didn’t like me being with a Chinaman. Maybe they was the ones killed Johnny.”

Frank had been thinking that very thing himself, but he didn’t want to say so. Sarah saved him from having to reply. “Don’t worry. Mr. Malloy will find out the truth, Keely.”

She didn’t look very reassured, but she followed Sarah out, leaving Frank to close the door behind them.

When he had, he turned to find Ah Woh standing in the hallway. Frank hadn’t heard a single sound out of him. “I’d like to ask you a few questions, if you feel up to it.”

Ah Woh nodded slowly, his face a study in grief. He must have cared for his uncle more than Keely had. Frank took him to the dining room, and they sat down at the table.

“Do you know why your uncle sent you to find me today?”

“I tell you, he want talk about dead girl.”

“What did he know about Angel’s death?”

“I not know. He sad today. He say find you.”

“Sad? What do you mean he was sad?”

“No smile. Only frown. Think hard. No eat.”

So Wong had known something, something he’d found out since Frank’s previous visit. “Did he have any visitors yesterday, besides me?”

“Mrs. O’Neal,” he said with distaste.

Like Keely had said. “When was she here?”

“Sky just get dark, she come.”

“Did she argue with your uncle?”

“Yes, much shouting. She angry.”

“Because Wong wouldn’t let her take Keely home,” Frank recalled from his conversation with the girl.

Ah Woh frowned. “No, that not why.”

“You mean that’s not why they were arguing?”

He shook his head.

“Keely said her mother wanted to take her home, but Wong wouldn’t let her go.”

Ah Woh’s young face twisted in anger. “She lie. Mother come, want money.”

“Mrs. O’Neal wanted Wong to give her money?”

“Yes, bride-price. She say he should pay for Keely.”

Frank remembered Charlie Lee telling him Wong was going to pay him a bride-price for marrying Angel. “But Wong refused?”

“He say he no pay.”

“And what did she say?”

“She say…” This time Ah Woh’s face twisted in pain. “She say he be sorry.”

A
S ALWAYS
, S
ARAH HAD BEEN GREETED WARMLY AT THE
Prodigal Son Mission. The place might have closed long ago if it hadn’t been for Sarah’s efforts, so she was something of a celebrity to the girls who had found shelter there. Too many families turned their children out into the streets when they could no longer afford to keep them or simply didn’t want to try any longer. The boys could sometimes survive by stealing or working as newsboys or boot blacks, but the girls had few options besides prostitution. The Mission had been founded as a refuge for those girls.

The matron, Mrs. Keller, took Sarah and Keely into her office after the girls had finished greeting her and asking after Maeve and Catherine.

When they were alone, Sarah briefly explained why she had brought Keely to the Mission.

“I want you to know that you are very welcome, Keely,” Mrs. Keller said after she had expressed her condolences for Keely’s traumatic experience.

“What do I have to do here?” Keely asked suspiciously.

“All the girls have chores, of course. They help with the cooking and cleaning. You can learn to sew, too, if you like. We have some sewing machines upstairs. And we also have educational classes for all the girls.”

Keely didn’t look very impressed. “You mean like school?”

“Yes, like school,” Mrs. Keller said with a smile.

“Do I have to go to them?”

“We’d like for you to give them a try. Having an education can help you make your way in the world.”

“How?” she asked skeptically.

Mrs. Keller smiled again. “That will become clearer to you later. We expect you to behave yourself while you’re here, too. We don’t allow the girls to have gentlemen callers or to meet them elsewhere or to go out in the evenings. We treat each other with courtesy and no fighting is allowed. If you feel you’re being badly treated, come to me first, and I’ll help you work things out.”

Keely looked at Sarah. “How long do I have to stay here?”

Sarah managed not to sigh. “You must know it’s dangerous for a girl to be out in the city alone. If you don’t go back home to your family and you don’t stay here, where would you go?”

Keely had no answer for that.

“I’m sure you’ll be happy here, once you get used to it,” Mrs. Keller said.

Keely didn’t seem to share her confidence.

Mrs. Keller assigned Keely a bed in the dormitory upstairs, and when Sarah left, Keely was joining the other girls for supper.

She still didn’t look very happy, but after all she’d been through today, Sarah couldn’t really expect that, she supposed. At least Sarah would be home in time for supper with her own family. The thought quickened her step as she made her way to the Elevated Train Station.

F
RANK WAS ALL READY TO HEAD BACK TO THE
O’N
EAL
flat when he remembered that he still had George Lee in custody. While George might deserve to spend a bit more time locked up as punishment for wasting Frank’s time with his false confession, his wife certainly didn’t deserve to worry any longer.

Frank was gratified to see that George looked much less confident than he had before. In fact, when the officers brought him into the interrogation room, he looked downright scared.

“How are you doing, George?” Frank asked.

George had to swallow before he could say, “Fine.”

“Are you? Well, you won’t be doing quite so fine after we take you to the Tombs. You know what that is, George?”

George shook his head.

“That’s the city jail. You’ll be thrown in with all kinds of criminals there—crooks and arsonists and killers. But since you’re such a cold-blooded killer yourself, I guess you won’t mind, will you?”

George’s eyes were wild with terror, but he shook his head again.

Frank leaned back and studied the young man for a few moments. “Now before I send you down to the Tombs, I want to make sure that I’ve got everything straight. You killed Angel Lee, is that right?”

“Yes,” he said quickly, although his voice broke. He had to clear his throat and try again. “Yes.”

“I have to tell you, George, I’m surprised. See, I thought it was John Wong all along.”

“Wong?” he repeated stupidly.

“That’s right,” Frank said. “I’ve been wrong before, though, and now I know it wasn’t Wong because somebody killed him today.”

“Killed? John Wong is dead?” he exclaimed in surprise.

“That’s right. Somebody killed him. And you know what’s really strange? He had already sent for me because he knew who really killed Angel Lee. He was going to tell me, and then somebody killed him. Now who do you think would’ve done that?”

“I…I do not know,” George admitted.

“I don’t either, at least not yet,” Frank admitted right back. “But I know it wasn’t you, because you were locked up. Besides, if you were the one who killed Angel, and you killed Wong to keep him from telling me, why would you come down here and confess? That wouldn’t make sense, now would it?”

George looked a little confused, but he said “No” with a worried frown.

“Another thing I know is that Harry Lee didn’t kill Angel, either.”

George looked surprised.

“That’s right, George. Harry didn’t kill his sister. In fact, I was just about to let him go when you showed up.”

George was moving his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but no sound was coming out.

“I’ve been wondering something, George,” Frank confided. “I’ve been wondering if you knew I was going to let Harry go, would you have come down and confessed to killing Angel?”

“No!” he cried, then caught himself. He looked so miserable, even Frank was moved.

“You didn’t kill Angel, did you, George?”

“I…I want help Harry,” he mumbled.

“So you decided to take the blame so that Harry would go free. So his parents wouldn’t lose both their children, is that right?”

“Charlie, he is like father to me,” he explained.

“And what about
your
son, George? Who’s going to be a father to him if you go to jail for killing Angel?”

His face practically convulsed with pain. “I…Charlie take care,” he said sadly.

“You aren’t doing me any favors here, George,” Frank said sternly. “If I lock you up for killing Angel, the person who really killed her goes free. Is that what you want?”

“No!” George said, outraged at the thought.

“Then tell me the truth. Did you kill her?”

“No! No!” he cried in relief. “I not kill. I lie to help Harry.”

“You know I could lock you up for doing that,” Frank said and let him squirm for a minute or two before adding, “but I’ve got too much to do today. I need to find the real killer. Now you go home and tell your wife how sorry you are for getting yourself arrested and scaring her half to death.”

Frank had to endure an embarrassing amount of gratitude from George before he finally got him released and out of the building and on his way home. Then he set out to find the O’Neal boys.

R
OUNDING UP THE
O’N
EAL BROTHERS WAS PROBABLY
going to take half the night, so Frank brought several officers with him. He started by posting them outside the building at the bottom of the fire escape and on the inside stairs and in the hallway outside the O’Neal flat. Then he knocked on the door.

Mrs. O’Neal answered it. She didn’t look happy to see Frank. “What do you want?”

“I’d like to talk to your boys again,” Frank said politely.

“They ain’t here,” she replied with undisguised satisfaction and started to close the door in his face.

“Mind if I come in to make sure?” Without waiting for an answer, Frank gave the door a shove, sending her staggering backward into the room.

Frank needed only a moment to check the entire flat while Mrs. O’Neal sputtered furiously. Iris and the baby were the only other occupants. The baby appeared to be sleeping, and Iris and Mrs. O’Neal had been sewing men’s vests. Several piles of them lay on the kitchen table.

“My boys didn’t have nothing to do with killing Angel,” Mrs. O’Neal reminded him.

Frank fixed one of his glares on her. “Why did you go to see John Wong last night?”

She gaped at him for a moment. “I…I thought you was here to see the boys,” she tried.

“I’m asking you a question, Mrs. O’Neal. Why did you go to see John Wong?”

“Might as well tell him,” Iris said, not even looking up from her sewing.

Mrs. O’Neal gave her daughter-in-law a black look, which she didn’t see because she was concentrating on her work. Finally, Mrs. O’Neal looked back at Frank. “I was looking for my girl.”

“Keely?” Frank asked.

“That’s right,” she said, growing a bit more confident. “I thought he might know where to find her.”

“What made you think that?”

“I…Somebody told me,” she tried.

“Who told you?”

“I…I don’t remember.”

“Was it Angel?”

“Angel? How could it be Angel?” she asked in feigned amazement. “She’s dead.”

“But she told you where Keely went before she died, didn’t she?”

“I told you, I didn’t know where Keely was. That’s why I wanted to ask Mr. Wong about it.”

“Then Angel must have told you
something
about Wong.”

She thought this over. “Well, yeah, she did. She allowed as how he knows everything that happens in Chinatown.”

“Mrs. O’Neal,” Frank said with elaborate patience. “I know Keely was with Wong because I saw her there. I know she went to him because Angel told her that he was rich and Keely was hoping to get him to marry her. Now why did you go to see him last night?”

Her eyes were darting everywhere as she searched her brain for a story that would sound true. “I…I wanted to get Keely and bring her home.”

“Bring her home!” Iris scoffed with a harsh laugh. “You didn’t want her here after she’d been rutting with a Chinaman!”

“Shut your yap, you stupid cow!” Mrs. O’Neal fairly shouted.

Iris was on her feet in an instant, leaning over the table to shout right back. “Stupid cow, am I? You miserable old—”

“Iris,”
Frank said sharply, to distract her from the looming fight, “why do
you
think she went to see him?”

“She wanted money from him,” Iris reported. “For taking Keely.”

“He stole my girl!” Mrs. O’Neal exclaimed, having decided to play the aggrieved mother.

“Keely already admitted that she went to Wong of her own free will. In fact,” Frank added with some satisfaction, “it was all her idea.”

“That ain’t true!” Mrs. O’Neal insisted. “She’s just a baby. He tricked her somehow.”

“How much money did you want from Wong?” Frank asked.

“I already told you—” Mrs. O’Neal began, but Iris interrupted her.

“A hundred dollars!” the younger woman crowed. “I don’t know why she’d think Keely was worth that much.”

“She’s worth a hundred of
you
!” Mrs. O’Neal shouted.

“I guess you were mad when Wong wouldn’t pay,” Frank guessed.

“That damn heathen!” Mrs. O’Neal sputtered. “He says if I don’t like it, I can just take Keely back!”

“I’ll bet that made you pretty mad,” Frank said.

“Mad enough to spit!”

“So that’s why you threatened him.”

“I…” She realized he’d tricked her. “I never!”

“You told him he’d be sorry he didn’t pay,” Frank reminded her. “Other people heard you say it.”

Mrs. O’Neal sniffed in derision. “Is that why you come? You gonna arrest me for threatening a Chinaman?”

“No, not for threatening one,” Frank told her. “For
killing
one.”

“Killing?” she echoed in surprise.

“You never said you killed him!” Iris exclaimed in delight. “Is that true? Did she really kill him? You gonna take her away to jail?”

“Shut your mouth!” Mrs. O’Neal screamed and turned back to Frank in alarm. “I never killed no one! He was right as rain when I left him!”

“Yes, he was,” Frank agreed, “but somebody paid him a visit today and bashed his head in. Is that what you told your boys to do after he laughed in your face?”

“No!” she cried, clapping her hands to her cheeks. “I never! I never even told them I’d gone!”

“Did they know Keely was with him?”

She stared back at him, pressing her thin lips tightly together in silent refusal to answer.

“Sure they did,” Iris replied for her. “We all knew. She didn’t let us tell nobody, though. Guess she’d rather let everybody think she ran off to a whorehouse or something.”

“How did the boys feel about their sister living with a Chinaman?” Frank asked Iris.

Iris opened her mouth to reply but caught herself. She wasn’t real smart, but she’d know better than to implicate her own husband. “They didn’t care,” she claimed. “They was glad to be rid of her.”