Bobby pursed his lips, thinking. “Okay. Maybe not. Push man off roof is coward’s way. They would shoot him or stab him in his bed and leave him there to be found.”
“Exactly my thoughts,” Kear said. “So what about other rivals—rivals within On Leong, for example, or business rivals?”
“Members of On Leong know that Lee Sing Tai is good for them and good for Chinatown,” he said. “They do what he say. Lee Sing Tai only one who does business with white people outside of Chinatown. He important man. Nobody to take his place.”
“And business rivals?”
“Business rivals? Lee Sing Tai control business in Chinatown, except for Hip Sing properties.”
“So you’re saying he had no rivals who might want to kill him to get him out of the way?”
Suddenly Bobby Lee’s face lit up. “Ah,” he said, waving a knowing finger at Captain Kear. “I know who did this. Of course. It was Frederick Lee.”
“Frederick Lee? Another paper son?”
“No, he not son. He was only Lee Sing Tai’s employee. His secretary. My father dismiss him yesterday. So maybe Frederick angry that his job has been taken from him and he come back to kill. This would be easy. He knows my father’s apartment well. I am sure he has access to keys.”
I was now sitting on the edge of my seat. “I’m sure Frederick wouldn’t do a thing like that,” I said hotly. “He spoke of Mr. Lee with great respect. And he was a quiet, educated man too.”
“How come you know Frederick Lee?” Captain Kear asked, looking at me with surprise.
“Lee Sing Tai sent him to find me. He escorted me to Chinatown and looked after me. I was impressed with him.”
“Men who have lost their jobs have acted irrationally before now,” Captain Kear said. “Especially Chinamen. They care about losing face more than losing money. So do you know why Frederick Lee was fired by your father, Bobby?”
“I do. He try to touch my father’s bride. My father send him to bring his bride to New York and he betray my father’s trust.”
“That’s not what I heard,” I said, really angry now. “I heard it was you who tried to force yourself on your father’s bride.”
Now they were both looking at me suspiciously.
“Who told you this?” Bobby Lee demanded.
I realized I had to tread cautiously here. “Frederick Lee,” I said. “I asked him if he had any idea why Bo Kei had run away and he said that she was frightened when Bobby tried to attack her.”
Bobby Lee pursed his lips in scorn again. “He lies! Of course he says this, to protect himself. I would not dare to touch bride of my esteemed father.”
Captain Kear looked from me to Bobby Lee as if he was trying to decide whom to believe.
“Let’s hear what this Frederick Lee has to say for himself, shall we?” he said. “I’ll have him brought in right away.”
I could read from his expression that he was feeling satisfied. He’d come up with a suspect who would suit everybody and not ruffle any tong feathers. My one thought now was to get back to Patchin Place as soon as possible, so that I could warn Frederick when he came to see me, expecting good news about Bo Kei. But even as this thought formed, another, more worrying idea crept into my head. Was it possible that this crime had been carried out by Frederick? A man will do much for a woman he loves, and clearly their lives would be in danger as long as Lee Sing Tai was alive. But his would not have been those large hobnailed footprints on the roof. He was of slender Chinese stature.
I had no chance to consider this further as there was the sound of voices from downstairs and Constable O’Byrne appeared, dragging an indignant Chinese man by the arm.
“I not do anything,” the man was saying. “Let go of me.”
“You can go home once you’ve helped out the captain,” O’Byrne said. He shoved the man ahead of him into the room. “Here’s your interpreter, sir. He’s a scribe, so I know he can translate. And we’ve got On Leong men rounding up the servants. I put the fear of God into them—told them their police protection ends as of now if those men aren’t found right away.”
“Nice work, Constable.” Captain Kear nodded with satisfaction. He pointed at the Chinaman, who stood almost quivering with fright. “You, sit. And you,” he turned to Bobby, “go and find the wife and tell her to get down here, or we’ll come and question her in her bedroom.”
“I can’t go up there,” Bobby said. “It wouldn’t be right.”
“Just do it,” the captain barked. “Or it’s not Hip Sing you’ve got to worry about, it’s Sing Sing. I’ve enough on you to put you away for years if I wanted, so I suggest you cooperate.”
Bobby shot him a look of pure hatred and went upstairs. We heard raised voices, both male and female, and then Bobby returned. “She comes down, but she’s not pleased.”
“Well, she wouldn’t be, would she?” the captain said. “Her old man’s dead. What’s going to happen to her now? How is she going to survive alone in a country where she can barely speak the language and she can’t even go outside? She doesn’t have a child to take her in—unless you’re going to act the dutiful son, Bobby, and you come here and look after her.”
“Of course I look after her,” Bobby said. ‘I know my duty as son. I will take over from my father and do what he expects of me.”
I bet you will, I thought. The businesses and the power in the tong. It was probably just beginning to dawn on Bobby Lee that he was now a very rich man.
“So where would we find Frederick Lee, Bobby?” the captain asked.
Bobby got to his feet. “I do not know where he lives, but my father will have his address in his cabinet. He have particulars on all employees.”
He crossed the room to the ornate ebony cabinet in the corner. There was a little gold key in the lock, which he turned. He opened the carved doors to reveal a series of little drawers inside, each one inlaid with mother-of-pearl designs of animals and flowers. It was truly a wonderful piece of furniture, the likes of which I’d never seen before, and I gazed at it in admiration. Bobby Lee pulled open one of the drawers, then recoiled. “Wah. What happen here? Someone has been here. Someone has touched my father’s papers.”
Nineteen
Captain Kear went over to the cabinet. From where I was sitting I could see that the drawer was hastily stuffed with pieces of crumpled pieces of paper. Bobby opened another drawer, then another. All were in disarray.
“Hold it there, Bobby,” Kear said. “Don’t touch anything else. There might be useful fingerprints. So these drawers were normally neat and tidy, were they?”
“My father keep everything just so. He could find any record in seconds. All in order. He liked order. Someone was looking for something here.”
“The question is whether he found it,” the captain said. “And whether it was the reason old Lee was killed. When we’ve dusted for fingerprints, you and I will go through this cabinet.”
“No use to you,” Bobby said scathingly. “All in Chinese.”
“That’s why you’re going to read it for me, and we’ll bring along that interpreter fellow to make sure you’re reading exactly what it says.”
I opened my mouth to say something, then closed it again. Sticking out of one of those drawers I had seen a very Western scrawled signature. But then the captain would find it for himself later, wouldn’t he?
“Knowing the way that your father did business, my guess is that he had quite a few items that someone might kill for,” he said. “We know there was protection money, maybe even blackmail.”
He took out a handkerchief and carefully closed the cabinet again. Then he removed the key, wrapped it in his handkerchief, and tucked it into his top pocket. “Perhaps he had something incriminating on Frederick Lee—something he wouldn’t return when he fired Frederick. Well I want this Frederick brought in right now. O’Byrne. Go and find him.”