Chapter 88
‘What can we do now that we couldn’t do ten minutes ago, Tilly?’ Poe said. ‘What’s changed?’
‘Nothing, Poe. We have no new lines of enquiry. The only thing Esmerée’s abduction has done is raise the stakes.’
Poe thought she was wrong, but he didn’t know why. He thought they did know something else, but right now he was too amped to drill into the hidden corners of his mind. He needed to calm down. To breathe. He needed to think.
‘We might not know anything new,’ he said after a beat. ‘But we damn sure have new information. And that means we can try something we weren’t able to before.’
He picked up his mobile and opened the web browser. He searched for the Szechuan Palace and tapped their phone number. When it was answered, he said, ‘Please may I speak with either Xiang or Chao?’
‘May I say who’s calling?’
‘Washington Poe. Tell them it’s urgent.’
He didn’t have to wait long.
‘Yes?’
It was Xiang, the restaurant’s owner. Poe recognised his voice.
‘It’s Poe,’ he said.
‘You shouldn’t call this number, Mr Poe,’ Xiang said.
‘I understand. Ordinarily I wouldn’t, but I’m in trouble and I don’t know where else to turn.’
‘What’s happened?’
‘The Red Chamber has taken the girl.’
‘The one you brought to my restaurant in Hexham? The one who didn’t want honey in her tea?’
‘That’s right. Esmerée.’
‘And the Red Chamber have her?’
‘They have.’
‘Why?’
‘Her mother, Océane, was one of their concubines. She murdered her benefactor. They want her back and they think I know where she is.’
‘I take it you don’t?’
‘Esmerée hired me to find her a few days ago. I’m no further forward. I have forty-eight hours to bring her to them.’
‘I don’t see how I can help, Mr Poe. My son and I told you everything.’
‘I know you did, Xiang,’ Poe said. ‘But I need you to call Kai Jin’s mother again.’
‘She won’t contact her son for you, Mr Poe. She says it is too dangerous. And because I know these men, I must agree with her.’
‘You said she is from an honourable family.’
‘I did.’
‘But what her son is doing is not honourable.’
‘He’s paying for the mistakes of youth.’
‘The Red Chamber aren’t what they claim to be, Xiang. Far from it. I need you to relay this message to Kai’s mother.’
‘What message, Mr Poe?’
‘There is no pot of gold at the end of the concubines’ rainbow.
The Red Chamber pocket their share of the cash.
They murder the girls. Skin their feet and mount her son’s tattoos.
Esmerée’s mother found out about this and killed her benefactor in order to escape.
The Red Chamber think she fled with evidence, evidence that would put them behind bars for the rest of their lives.
That’s why they’re desperate to find her. ’
‘And they think you know where she is?’
‘They do.’
‘Why?’
‘I don’t know. But that’s irrelevant. They’ve given me forty-eight hours to make the swap – Océane for Esmerée.’
‘And you think Kai is involved in the murders of these women?’
‘I’m hoping he isn’t. I’m hoping he’s still the decent man he once was. If he is involved, then Esmerée dies. If he’s unaware of the women’s fate, then maybe he’ll find the courage to call me.’
Xiang said nothing for nearly a minute. Eventually he said, ‘I’ll go and see Mrs Jin, Mr Poe. I’ll explain that staying quiet is no longer the honourable thing to do. That there are bigger things at stake than Kai’s gambling debts.’
‘And please do tell her that if her son is unaware of what happens twenty years after he tattoos the concubines’ feet, I’ll do everything I can to help him. She has my word.’
‘I’ll leave now.’
Poe ended the call.
‘What now, Poe?’ Bradshaw said. ‘What if Kai Jin doesn’t call? What if he calls but doesn’t know anything?’
Poe put his head in his hands. Took a moment to gather his thoughts. ‘We’ll think of something, Tilly.’
‘But what if we can’t?’
‘Then we’ll talk to someone who can think of something.’
The door to the office burst open and Estelle marched in.
She’d been crying. She’d been crying so much her mascara had run.
It made her look like a racoon. She wasn’t crying now, though.
She’d got it out of her system. Poe had never seen her like this before.
He shuddered. She planted her hands on the table.
Leaned across and got in his face. Poe shrank back.
Didn’t mean to, but the look on her face was terrifying.
‘Bring Esmerée back to me, Poe,’ she said, her voice flat and ominous. ‘Talk to whoever you need to talk to. Go wherever you need to go. Do whatever it takes. You don’t seek permission and you ignore the rules. This time there are no rules. Not when it comes to getting that poor girl back.’
Poe stood. He walked around the table and hugged her.
‘I’ll get her back,’ he whispered into her ear. ‘I don’t know how yet, but I swear to you, I will get her back.’
Behind them Bradshaw reached for the phone. ‘No rules,’ she muttered to herself. ‘I know just the man for that.’