Forgiven (20 page)

But I was convinced I’d never told him my pa’s name.

“How—how do you know about my pa?” My voice trembled. Had Will had been lying to me? He knew about Pa. What else did he know?

Will threw the rock, hitting an outcropping out in the surf. “Kula, I know all about the box. I know all about you. About your little pretense. Artist’s model? I don’t think so.” Will’s smile vanished, replaced by a chiseled, cold expression. He did not look directly at me. “Why are you ruining our nice day with these questions? Why ruin everything?”

“I’m ruining everything?” I tried to keep my voice light.

“Leave it alone, Kula, and we can still be friends.”

“Will, I can’t leave this alone. This is why I’m here. My father’s life is at stake.”

He sighed, an exasperated sigh. “I know. Fine. You’ve already spoiled it. All right. Yes, I know all about the box, and I also know Josiah Wilkie. There, are you happy?”

My legs buckled, as if they would collapse under me. I reached out my hand to him, my hand grasping at the air between us. “You know Wilkie? He’s . . . he’s tried to hurt me, he’s framed my father—”

“Really.”

“Will.” I was practically pleading now. “Will, you asked about my name. We talked about your family crest, the dragon symbol. You knew everything all along?” I prayed he would be honest with me. I prayed he wasn’t deceiving me now. I prayed he hadn’t been deceiving me about his feelings for me.

He glanced at me and away again. “I think it’s time I took you back.”

“Will, please?” I put my hand on his arm. He pulled away. He turned and looked at me, and the hard stare he gave me was like a hand shoving me away.

“Your foolish questions spoiled it all. I was trying to keep you from finding out, so we could still have a good time. What did you think, Kula? Did you think I was going to
marry
you?”

Of course I had. I’d thought he cared for me. I’d thought he’d save me, save Pa. A heavy weight pressed on me. “I . . . I thought you liked me.”

“Liked you! Of course I liked you.” His eyes were cold, steely. “I still like you. Very much. But I could never marry someone like you.” He laughed, harsh. “It was fun. And you’re very pretty, lots of fun. But look at who I am. Look at who you are. I could never be serious about you. It doesn’t matter who your grandfather was. Your father’s a thief and you’re a maid! My father would never approve of you—you’re not suitable. You, and your father. You’re both—”

“Oh, Will. Stop.” I put my hand over my mouth. Now I understood. That day in the rain, at his house. He didn’t want his father to know he’d taken me in. His father wouldn’t approve of me.

“And that box of yours? That box belongs to
my
family. And I’ve got it now. Did you think that I’d give it to you or something? That I’d help you find it? No. Your father can’t have it. He’s a criminal—he killed a man. And I won’t let him ruin all my father’s work, just so he can—what? After all he’s done? What makes you think that I’d save your father from hanging?” He practically spit the words at me.

“You—You have the box.” I barely breathed the words.

“Of course I do. For goodness’ sake, Kula, you don’t think Wilkie would do this on his own, do you? Who do you think Wilkie works for?” Will’s voice shook as he spoke, and it was the only reason I didn’t fly into a rage and attack him there and then.

“Just what do you think is going on, Will?” I asked. “Do you really know what Wilkie does? What he’s done to others? How could you hire him, knowing all of that?”

“I know all I need to.” He walked away from me. “That box is for my father. And he’s proud of me for getting it for him.” Will stood with his back to me; I could sense the uncertainty that radiated from him, even as his words flew like daggers. “It was a mistake, spending this much time with you. At first I only did so because my father wanted me to keep an eye on you. And then it was easy. You’re so . . . entertaining. As long as you didn’t know anything, we could have fun.” His voice softened. “I didn’t expect . . .”

“What?” That he’d grown to care for me? “Will?”

“I’m taking you home.”

There was no hand-holding now. I hugged the passenger side, staring out the window, worrying that I would be sick, right there in Will’s automobile, for all the awful feelings rising inside me. I’d believed Will, trusted him. I gripped the door handle tighter, fighting the urge to shout angry words at him. My head throbbed, and my heart pounded. I was betrayed, and all alone.

Will did not see me to the door. For that, I was glad.

I went up to my room, where I found that Mei Lien paced and fretted and Yue wept silently. I wasn’t sure I could take anything more. I was near to broken.

I sighed. “What’s happened?”

“Wilkie. He came here. To the house.”

I began to tremble “He came here? Why?”

“He knows where we hide her. He knows she runs here.”

A fierce protective feeling for Mei Lien and Yue rose up in me. I had nothing left to fight for except these girls. Pa was as good as dead; my heart was turned to stone. I had no power over Will and his father. I’d lost David; I’d lost Will. The box was in Will’s hands, or by now his father’s—it made no difference. My future was a bare ruin. I had nothing left except to take my revenge on Wilkie for what he did—for what he was still doing—to these girls. “What did he do?”

“Talks to Jameson.” She wrung her hands. “I hide up here with Yue.”

All my sorrow coalesced into anger at Wilkie. “He can’t take her away. She’s not his slave. He doesn’t own her.”

“He think so. She a slave to him.”

“How could he know where she is, Mei Lien?”

“Someone tells.”

I shook my head. “But, who . . .” Miss Everts—it must have been her. I stormed out of my room to confront Miss Everts at once, but she was not in her room. Jameson materialized in the door.

“Where is she?”

“She’s gone out.” His blank eyes regarded me.

“Jameson, I—I wish to do some shopping. Take me into town.” If I couldn’t find Miss Everts, I’d look for Wilkie. I’d look where I’d seen him before.

Everything was at an end for me. David was gone. Will had betrayed me. My pa . . . I had no more hope. I had nothing left to lose, except the fight over these girls.

It was time to make an end of this business.

Chapter
TWENTY-EIGHT

April 16, 1906

 

 

 

 

JAMESON TOOK ME DOWN TO MARKET STREET. I ASKED him to drop me near the department store where Miss Everts had purchased my gown.

“I’ll walk home.” Jameson looked skeptical. I didn’t care. “I’ll be back by four.” By that time, I knew I would have found Wilkie, or I’d have given up.

I went into the store and made a few purchases with some of the money Mr. Gable had paid me for the sittings. Things for Yue, mostly: a shawl, a skirt and shirtwaist, and some underthings, all of which I arranged to be delivered to Mei Lien at Miss Everts’s.

Then when I was sure Jameson had left, I slipped out the side door and headed straight for the alley where I’d last seen Wilkie.

It was silent and deserted. I walked all the way down to the end, but found nothing save for scraps of paper that eddied along the gutter. I turned and headed back toward Market. The sun didn’t reach to the ground in this alley, and the place felt like the underworld.

I was glad to be on my way back toward safety, and stumped as to where to look next, when a door in a brick front opened ahead and Wilkie stepped out into the alley. Quick as a fox, I darted into the shadows along the wall.

He was the very devil. I felt like I’d called him up from the depths of hell. But now that I’d found him, what on earth was I going to do?

I’d follow him. Perhaps I’d discover something I could use against him. Something to put him behind bars for good.

Thankfully, he didn’t look in my direction but stopped to pick his teeth, his other hand resting casual on his hip. He tossed the toothpick into the street, tilted his hat forward over his brow, and walked out of the alley and onto Market.

Stepping as quietly as I could, I followed him down the street. When he paused, I paused, staring into windows at my own reflection, or rifling through my things, my back turned to him. Wilkie had caught me unawares too many times before—I would not let it happen again. I’d honed some keen skills for stalking in the woods, to the misfortune of more than one rabbit.

Wilkie marched down Market toward the Embarcadero, the ferry landing and trolley station at the edge of the bay. He seemed fixed on a destination; I was fixed on him. Cable cars trundled past; autos honked and tooted; boys whistled. The air was choked with the acrid, raw smells of the city, masking the clean salt smell that wafted in only when the breeze picked up.

I was a block or so behind him when Wilkie suddenly turned right, and I stopped, realizing where he was headed. The Barbary Coast.

I waited for what felt like several long minutes, but was most likely only a few seconds, staring across Market, dwarfed by the buildings that towered above my head and blocked out the late-day light. Fear pressed against me—I dared not go back to the Barbary Coast. And yet the thought of Yue hardened me.

I took a deep breath and pressed on. When I reached the intersection where Wilkie had turned, I stopped again.

Wilkie had disappeared. I’d waited too long, and lost him. I stared down the street. Within sight of the thriving businesses of Market, the Barbary was a seedy refuge, with saloons spilling music and raucous laughter. I took a few halting steps.

Men staggered and women leaned and loitered. At one tavern a man thrust his head out the door and hollered at me, using foul, coarse words. I kept my head up and continued walking, looking for Wilkie, determined to find him.

But instead I found Min.

She hovered in a doorframe just beyond the corner, slipping in and out of the shadows, but there was no mistaking. I stopped, then stepped backward, turning to put the corner between us. She’d saved me from Wilkie—perhaps this was my chance to help her at last. If she was finally alone, away from Wilkie, why then, maybe I could spirit her away. But I needed to be sure.

From the far end of the alley a man approached Min’s doorway. I jerked back from the corner, plastering myself out of sight. I put my hands on the cold stone, pressed my back against the wall, mashed myself against it, closed my eyes. David. The man coming down the alley toward Min was David.

I heard their voices; I was only just around the corner. I couldn’t make out words; in fact, they spoke in their own tongue. Their tone was enough. Familiar, hushed, affectionate. David, familiar and affectionate with Min. With Wilkie’s Min.

David had let me go. He hated Wilkie. It must be that David was trying to rescue Min, just as I was. But for different reasons. Of course, David and Min—it made sense. They were the same.

I shut my eyes. I could hear them talking, so familiar. A tear rolled down my cheek, stopped at my trembling chin.

David’s voice became animated; I opened my eyes and leaned around the corner, trying to see.

“Ah, missie. And here we are again.” That familiar cadence, rasping and harsh, came from behind me like a slap right between my shoulder blades.

I’d forgotten how big Wilkie was. He stood so close, my stomach clenched from the stench of his breath.

A bubble of loathing and fear rose up quick at the sight of him. Fear that was compounded by the thought of Min and David standing just around the corner, unaware that this evil man was merely a few feet away. A prickle of sweat beaded on my forehead.

I sucked in my breath. “Wilkie, I was looking for you.” I tried to edge down the wall away from the corner, to draw him with me and away from David and Min. But he only angled closer, so I couldn’t move.

“Ah! Well, what d’you know. That makes two of us. Me looking for you, too, that is. And you know what? You thought I didn’t know you were on my tail?” He gestured with his finger. “You weren’t following me, girl, I was following you.”

“Stay away from Yue.” My knees shook, but my voice was sure.

His eyebrows shot up. “Now, Kula, that’s no way to talk to your friend.”

“I’m not your friend. You stay away from those girls. You don’t own them.”

“Ah, don’t I now?”

“No, you don’t! Stay away. And I’ll make sure you suffer for every injustice done to them.”

He smiled, that missing tooth a gaping black hole. “You can make sure of nothing, girl. I got to your father, and now I have you.”

“No one has me.”

“That so? You know, you’d fetch a fair price, you would. Now what if I was to tell you them girls is mixed up in the business about your pa’s box?”

That stopped me, choked my words in my throat. From a distance I heard a steamer horn and the clang of a cable-car bell. “How is that possible? You don’t even have the box anymore—Will told me.”

“Oh, so you know that everybody’s mixed up in it. Will, that Miss Everts, and that man of hers is, too.”

A weak sickliness weighed on my limbs. Wilkie moved closer to me still, close enough I had to turn my face away. My back was pressed so hard against the bricks, I thought I might push right through the wall.

He whispered. “You ever hear tell of folks being shanghaied? It’s when someone’s knocked for a loop and wakes up to find hisself—or
herself
—on a ship. Bound for the Orient. Where there’s good money for girls like you. Just a wink and you’d be gone, and no one would ever find you. This place around here, nobody cares what happens.”