The Serpent's Daughter (32 page)

Inez spoke first. “I don’t understand the significance of this news, Jade.” She looked to Sam to see if he did.

“It appears Avery found the woman’s initial connection in Africa,” said Sam.

Jade nodded. “We always wondered how an upper-class lady in London would have been able to hire anyone to kill her husband a continent away. Chances are Lilith didn’t stop corresponding with this Pellyn once he left England, and Avery says the man was involved in questionable activities.”

“Cornwall has seen a lot of smuggling in the past,” said Sam. “And if he was Cornish—”

“Right,” continued Jade. “Chances are he started new operations in Mombasa. That’s probably how Lilith became involved in smuggling.”

“That is an amazing story,” said Inez. “I am gratified to know that my daughter has such devoted friends as the Dunburys and Mr. Featherstone to help you.” She cast a quick glance at Jade and added, “You certainly need them.” She turned her attention to her daughter. “However did you manage to end up in a slave auction?”

“Mother,” exclaimed Jade, “I might ask how you managed to get kidnapped to begin with, so please do not cast stones.”

Sam laughed. “Like mother, like daughter. I guess apples don’t fall too far from the tree.” Both women glared at him. Sam shoved his hands in his pockets and looked away.

“But how did all of you meet up and then find me at the slave sale?” asked Jade.

“We met Mr. Featherstone near the southern palm gardens. He was protecting his plane from the crowds.”

“And after Bachir told everyone the plane was cursed, I took one look at your mother and figured out who she was. We weren’t sure where to look for you, but Bachir heard the locals jabbering about an unusual woman going up for sale,” said Sam. “One who had to be carried in wrapped in a carpet. We figured it could only be you and ran over as fast as we could. I was prepared to shoot the auctioneer, but your mother had another idea.”

Inez, who now had two women clinging to her hands and three others busily examining her dirty dress, took the cue and explained further. “I had the Roman coins you’d found in that pouch. Mr. Featherstone’s plan, while certainly effective, seemed more likely to bring one of you to bodily harm.”

“Please tell me you didn’t give all the coins to that horrid man,” said Jade. “We need some for evidence.”

Inez patted her pocket, and Jade heard several coins clink together. “Only two. The rest are here.”

Jade breathed a deep sigh of relief.

“We would have gone higher,” said Sam, “but it was beginning to look like the man might pay just to get you off his hands.” No one laughed, and Sam looked from one woman to the other, his brows upturned in confusion. “But it’s all over now, right? Everyone is safe?”

Jade shook her head. “It’s
not
over, Sam. Mother and I are being framed for a murder we didn’t commit. I know who’s behind it now and I intend to get proof before they escape.” She gently swatted away one of the girls, who was now examining Jade’s trousers. “We need to do something with these girls first. I feel like I’m back in the dormitory in London. Mother, would you be so kind as to escort your chickens to the French authorities? Bachir can show you the way.”

“And leave you to get in trouble again? No.” She tried to fold her arms across her chest, only to be stopped in midgesture by one of the girls, who’d begun a serious study of her left sleeve. “Bachir can escort these ladies on his own.”

Bachir, who had stayed in the background because he didn’t understand the English conversation, did get the gist of this recent topic. He spoke up for the first time, demanding to be let in on the plans. “I remind you,
Allala
Jade, that you have promised your help to my village. We do not have the amulet yet.”

Jade’s shoulders drooped as she felt his mild chastisement. She took her promises seriously. This one just had a hard time competing with the need to clear her own and her mother’s name. “You are right, Bachir. I’m sorry. Forgive me. But I hadn’t forgotten. In fact, I have uncovered some news. Mohan stole the amulet to keep his daughter from becoming the
kahina
. He wants her to be a proper Muslim girl and marry into a rich household. I think he plans to sell the charm to the man who took me prisoner.”

“Mohan would also like to be sheik,” Bachir said. “May the son of a dung raker be given fever without perspiration to cool him. He is not worthy of Yamna or the little girl.”

“You haven’t told us who took you prisoner, Jade,” said Inez, ignoring Bachir’s colorful curse.

“Your proper Mr. Bennington, Mother. And he’s in partnership with your charming boat companion, Lilith Worthy.”

Inez’s left hand flew to her mouth as she gasped. Since one of the girls still had hold of her sleeve at the time, the frayed fabric ripped. The girls let go of Inez and clustered around the fabric instead, examining their new prize. “You cannot be serious, Jade. Mr. Bennington is a perfect gentleman. It’s true we never saw him often, he was so devoted to his aunt. He’s …”

“A low-down, cheating, drug-dealing, murderous, son of a one-eyed rattlesnake,” said Jade.

“You forgot ‘no-good’ and ‘lying,’ ” added Sam. “Maybe he’s really that Mathers Pellyn.”

“But his aunt …” protested Inez.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if the aunt isn’t Lilith herself, along to oversee operations, then clear out of Morocco to some safe harbor,” said Jade. “Avery said she’d left London.”

Bachir held up his hand for them to stop and waited for Jade to repeat the conversation in French. So that Sam could also follow, she explained how they knew both Bennington and de Portillo, the other part of the smuggling ring. Jade also described what she’d learned from the leather worker, Wahab Taboor.

“Surely you have enough evidence now to go to the French officials, Jade,” said Sam. “You have names, the location of that house where you were prisoner. I’m a witness to their attempts to sell you off.”

“But outside of the coins, I have nothing tangible. Just my word, and right now that doesn’t count for much. I’m not even sure owning those Roman coins would be a crime. It would help a lot if we had another one of those pouches with the hashish.” Jade stopped as she remembered the attempt to steal Mrs. Tremaine’s pouch. “Libby Tremaine has one of those pouches.”

“Are you saying Libby Tremaine is one of the smugglers, too?” asked Inez.

Jade shook her head. “At first I thought so, but not anymore. I think the delivery man, Fahd, must have kept one back to sell for his troubles, not knowing what was hidden inside. But Bennington must have found out Libby purchased it. It would explain why someone tried very hard to steal it from her. For all I know, they succeeded. I didn’t wait around to find out.”

Bachir, arms folded in frustration because the conversation had again switched to English, demanded information. “These new foreigners,” he said after Jade finished, “they would probably not stay in the
Medina
if they are visitors. They would have rooms in Gueliz.”

“Of course,” said Jade. “So we take the girls to Gueliz, and Mother can hand them over to the authorities while I look for the Tremaines.” As she finished, she noticed that the assorted young ladies had now discovered Jade’s boots, which her mother had brought from the saddlebag. One of them put the left one on and a second was talking excitedly about the other.

“My boots! Mother, thank you.”

Jade claimed the boots, much to the chagrin of the little creatures. But when she looked for the dagger, she found the sheath empty. She turned abruptly to the girls, her right hand outstretched. “My knife,” she said in Arabic. They only looked at her with huge eyes, puzzled. Thinking they didn’t understand, she made stabbing motions with her hand. The girls’ eyes widened even farther and one began to cower.

“Jade, you are frightening them,” scolded Inez. The coterie of damsels huddled behind Inez like ducklings under a mother hen when a hawk looms overhead.

Jade immediately stopped her pantomime and shushed the girl. “I’m sorry, I … oh, you deal with them, Mother. Mohan must have taken my dagger, the one I took from the guard.” She sat down to pull on her boots and two girls insisted on helping her. Jade shooed them back to Inez.

“We’re not going to accomplish anything until we get rid of this clutch of chicks,” Jade said. “And the sun will set soon. I don’t want to try to run herd on them in these narrow alleys once it gets dark.”

They followed Bachir south through the rug market and west through the medicine healers’
souk,
urging the girls forward when one of them stopped to examine a caged gecko or another succumbed to the scent of rose oil. The girls, while still shy of Sam and Bachir, seemed to have lost all fear of them and looked on the outing as tremendous fun. It grew more difficult to keep them together once Bachir took them south to the
Jemaâ el-Fna
. The snake charmers and jugglers were in full force, as were assorted sellers of sweets and oranges. Jade found herself more than once wishing she had their border collie with them to nip at their heels now and then.

To keep them halfway content, she used one of her silver bangles and let them each pick out a silken scarf. With such prizes in their hands, they grew less distracted by the other assorted temptations. Jade breathed a sigh of relief. From the square, she could see the tower of Koutoubia mosque, a sure guideline directing them west to the edge of the city and on to the French village of Gueliz, less than a mile beyond.

They exited the
Medina
from the
Bab el Jedid
as the sun set and the call to prayer wafted on quivering notes from the red mosque tower. The glow of lamps shining ahead from Gueliz acted as their new beacon until they finally stumbled into the French district. Jade stopped them in front of a café to organize their plan.

“I would prefer that Mother and I do not show our faces just yet in the headquarters in case they feel like arresting us first and asking questions later. I don’t think we should entrust these girls to some rough officers. They need someone motherly to take care of them. So, Sam, would you kindly take these poor creatures and see if you can find some married officer whose wife can figure out what to do with them?”

“Anything else you want me to tell them while I’m there?”

“Tell them everything. Tell them how you just happened to save me and who kidnapped me and Mother. Tell them about Wahab Taboor in the leather workers’
souk
and the hashish in the bags and about Bennington and Patrido de Portillo. Just don’t tell them where to find Mother and me.”

“I don’t know where this house is you were kidnapped in. How can I tell them where to go?”

“Bachir knows how to get there. He can draw them a map or something. It’s one of those old
riads
north of the Bahia Palace.” She repeated the latter in French for Bachir’s benefit, and he agreed.

“And what do you have planned for me?” asked Inez. Despite her tattered and dirty costume and her uncombed hair, she still managed to convey an aura of courtliness with her head held high and carriage erect.

“Well, Mother, you can sit and have dinner at this café, or you can come with me to find out where the Tremaines are staying.”

“I shall go with you, Jade. I don’t think it’s safe to leave you out of my sight. The next thing I’d know, you’d be heading back up the mountain without me.”

“Fine. Shall we all meet back here in an hour?”

The girls were reluctant to go anywhere without Jade or her mother, but after some persuasive smiles and nods from Inez and a gift of the remains of her bracelets from Jade, they went off in company of Sam and Bachir to find a married French officer.

Jade and her mother patrolled the cafés, restaurants, and various inns, asking for the Tremaines or the Kennicots. They finally located a woman at a private house who let rooms for lodging.

“Yes,” she said, “I have an American couple staying here and an English pair. But I have not seen either of them today. I think they went into the
Medina
earlier. I saw the American girl yesterday following a different man.”

Jade assumed the other couple was the Kennicots. But the man? “Was this lone man a Spaniard?”

The woman shook her head. “No, a small man, very slender. Maybe as tall as you. Very soft-spoken. He did not seem as interested in her as she was in him.”

“Bennington,” said Jade after she thanked the woman for her trouble. “The question is, Is Libby in trouble or in cahoots? ”

“Well, either way, Jade, we cannot do anything since we don’t know where they are.”

Jade grinned. “Yes, we can, Mother. We can search their rooms. Maybe we’ll find something incriminating.”

But the landlady had no intention of letting two such disreputable-looking women sit and wait for her tenants in their rooms, no matter how much Jade pleaded friendship and devotion to the Tremaines. Finally, exasperated by her lack of success, she suggested they go to the café to wait for Sam and Bachir.

No sooner had they arrived than Sam came running out of the café to greet them. His tense posture and down-turned mouth carried the hint of potential bad news. “Jade. Which of those couples had that leather bag you were looking for?”

“The Tremaines.”

“That’s what I was afraid of. You don’t need to look for the missus anymore.”

“Why?”

“Because she’s dead.”

CHAPTER 24

A popular gathering spot within the
Medina
is the
hammam
.
This is a public bath and steam room, separate for men and women.
It is a place to socialize, to gossip, as well as to bathe.

—The Traveler

“DEAD? ARE YOU POSITIVE?” Jade heard her mother gasp beside her.

“What happened?” asked Inez.

Sam shrugged. “Not entirely sure. We took those girls to the home of Lieutenant Joubert. Then after his wife took charge of them, I told him about all this other nonsense. He seemed only mildly curious. To be honest, I’m not sure he believed me. Then when I mentioned the Tremaines’ name to him, he sat up straighter than starched socks. He told me Mrs. Tremaine died earlier this afternoon at something called a
hammam
.”