Chapter 29

Lin didn’t need to have a huge command of English to tell her story. Where she could not formulate a word or phrase, she acted out the omission. Her tale was clear, concise, and bone-chilling.

“Sun Lin not my name—not real name.” She paused, searched for a word, then went on. “Not whole name. I am Jiang Ying Yue. Sun Lin is name from baby times. Brother not Sun Zhiang—is also childhood name. Brother Jiang Feng Mian. We come from China, from Sichuan, where the giant Buddha resides. Sent by grandfather, sent against our…wants…”

“Against your will? Your grandfather sent you here against your will?”

She nodded. “Yes, that is it. To California. Grandfather think we be safe so far away. But California not safe. We come here. Think we be safe here. But not safe here. Not safe anywhere.” Lin’s words were low and spoken with so much sorrow.

“Is that why you were disguised as a man? Why you pretended to be two men, you and your brother?”

“Yes. We think maybe no one look for two men. One man and one woman, yes. But two men? No.” She sighed, and it sounded pulled all the way from her feet. “But we wrong. They find us. Again, they find us.”

Violet could not imagine what it felt like to be pursued the way these siblings had been. And she couldn’t fathom why their family sent them so far from home—alone, no less. It made her angry, knowing they went into a new place with little language skills, with great danger following their every move.

“Who found you?”

A shrug. “The bad men. They find us. They kill brother. Now they try to kill me.”

There had to be something missing so Violet tried to get the story back to its roots. Father always said that a tree didn’t grow from the branches, but from the roots. Want to find out how something got to its present state, check beneath the surface.

“Why did your grandfather send you and your brother from China? Why send you across the world?”

Lin looked at her as if she were feeble-minded. “To keep alive. To save us.”

“Where are your parents? Why your grandfather?”

“Parents dead.”

“I’m sorry. What did your grandfather try to save you from, Lin?”

“Chinese curse. It say when last Jiang dead, riches of family belong to opposing family. I last. Grandfather killed after he send us on boat. We hear from others. Railroad workers like us.”

They heard about their family all the way from China? Those were some deep roots. The riches must be substantial, for one family to send someone to murder another family’s last surviving members.

“We have to go to the sheriff. He will help you.”

Lin shook her head. “No one can help. Jade burial piece in my possession. They want but I not give. Not their ancestor, they do not deserve.”

A Chinese man had knocked her down and stolen her reticule. Could it be possible he believed she had this jade thingamabob?

“How big is the jade that you have?”

“Not big. Fit in burial suit near chin. Right above heart of princess.” She reached inside the neckline of her dress. Her fingers emerged holding a small jade square dangling from a silver chain. It appeared centuries old and although Violet knew nothing at all about jade, she recognized it as priceless. It shone with a luster that made it nearly iridescent.

She leaned closer to see better and noticed something carved near one corner of the small square. “Are those letters? What does it say?”

Lin tucked the piece back inside her clothing. She gave it a pat where it must hang above her heart. “Ying Yue. Name of princess wearing burial suit.”

Violet’s heart stuttered in her chest. “But…isn’t that your name, too?”

A nod. “I am Jiang Ying Yue.”

“Are you a princess, too?” She had to ask the question because right now the notion did not seem out of the realm of possibility.

“I am the last princess.”