Chapter 3
The old myth that Chinese people were inscrutable was one that never held with Jarrod, and Mike Chang especially did not go with it. If the man was angry or upset, he'd let you know about it. He wouldn't scream or screw up his face, but he'd let you know how he felt with his words, and to Jarrod and to his closest friends, with his eyes.
His eyes were nervous as well as saddened as he said, "Come in, Jarrod, Nick. Come in."
Jarrod and Nick entered Chang's office, not far from the courthouse, and Chang closed the door behind them. "Mike, we just saw the sheriff," Jarrod said.
"I'm a bit surprised you found out about this so fast," Chang said.
"There was a reason," Jarrod said. "Nick and Heath and I went to see Jake Kyles and his sons. All three of them had been murdered, shot in the head."
Chang closed his eyes, slumping just a little.
"Mike, we have to put a stop to this somehow," Jarrod said.
"You understand what it's about," Chang said.
"Of course," Jarrod said. "It's about Col. Ashby's opium operation. What have you heard? Anything?"
"Only speculation," Chang said, "but I do not believe the orders for these killings are coming from Stockton. I believe they are coming from Sacramento."
"Sacramento?" Nick asked.
Chang nodded. "The Colonel's operations were headquartered there, not here."
"That wasn't my understanding," Jarrod said.
"I talked extensively with the government's investigator, Mr. Harmon, after Korby Kyles's trial," Chang said. "He told me that his investigation would be moving to Sacramento after Korby was arrested and tried."
"Then why are killings occurring here?" Jarrod asked.
"For the reason you suspect," Chang said. "The orders now come from Sacramento, but the people to be eliminated are here. The people connected with Korby and with Col. Ashby here."
"Is the killing over?"
"I do not know," Chang said. "I am still trying to find out if anyone else is at risk, but of course, there is no one anxious to talk, even those who may be in danger."
"The sheriff has men out asking questions," Jarrod said.
"They will learn nothing," Chang said.
"And that means we just have to stand by and watch the killing go on?" Nick asked.
"No, it means we have to try harder to shake something loose out of someone," Jarrod said.
"Who?" Nick asked.
"Mike, can you point me to anyone in particular?" Jarrod asked.
"No, not yet," Chang said. "The people I have been talking to will not talk to you."
"What about your contact in the Tong?" Jarrod asked.
"The Tong deny any part in the killings, and shooting people in the head is not their way," Chang said.
"So you believe they aren't involved."
"I believe that the person or persons ordering these killings are white, not Chinese," Chang said. "I would suspect it is a white person in Sacramento. I have already wired my contact there and asked him to locate Mr. Harmon."
"Harmon didn't have any names beyond Ashby's he'd give me when I was defending Korby," Jarrod said.
"But his investigation has been continuing. When I hear from him, I will contact you and the sheriff and let you know what he says. Right now, I think that's the most we can do."
"You'd better be careful, Mike," Jarrod said. "If whoever is behind this is worried enough, he might think you know something you need to be silenced about."
"I can say the same for you, Jarrod," Chang said.
Nick straightened.
"You defended Korby," Chang said. "It is quite possible whoever is behind this is concerned about what you might have learned from Korby."
"I can't say I haven't thought about that, Mike," Jarrod said. "That's why Nick is sticking with me. Heath has gone out to the Kyles place with the sheriff. When he gets back, the three of us will be sticking together until we can get a handle on this. But what about you? The wrong people are going to find out you're asking questions."
Chang smiled a little. "I can't say my contact in the Tong is my friend, but he will keep an eye on my interests, and the fact that he is doing so will spread in the Chinese community. Whoever is behind this, whether it is a white man or a Chinese man – he will not want to bring the Tong into it."
"I thought the Tong was already involved," Nick said. "That's what the government man said on the stand."
"They are involved further down the chain," Chang said. "Col. Ashby and his people were the main suppliers. The Tong are distributors. The two men who have been killed were associated with Col. Ashby's part of the syndicate, not the Tong's."
"You're sure of that?" Jarrod asked.
"I am sure," Chang said. "I am more concerned with your well-being for what you might know than I am with mine, Jarrod."
"Well, in case anyone needs to be informed, Korby didn't tell me much of anything beyond how he and Col. Ashby were connected," Jarrod said.
"Except that his family has been killed," Chang said. "They may have been involved."
"They may have been killed because they might have known something, not because they were involved," Jarrod said.
"That is the same reason you may be at risk," Chang said. "Just be very careful, especially at night."
"We will be," Nick said quickly and plainly.
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"I'm not worried about myself," Jarrod said to Nick as soon as they left Mike Chang, "but we'll be careful anyway."
"You're dammed right we will," Nick said. "I'm sticking to you like glue, and when Heath gets back, we're gonna be sure to head home before it gets too dark, at least for the next few days."
Jarrod didn't object or even comment.
Nick asked, "Who else do you want to see?"
"A couple Chinese men I know," Jarrod said. "I don't think they're likely to help me much – unless they think they're at risk."
"Wouldn't they go to the sheriff if they thought they were?"
"Not without prompting," Jarrod said. "There's not much trust in the law in the Chinese community, unless some white man backs them up."
"A white man like you," Nick said.
"Like me," Jarrod said. "Let me find a couple men and see if I can get anything out of them, or get them to go see Fred. After that, I don't have any other resource I can go to right now. We'll just have to see if anything breaks."
"That doesn't make me very comfortable, Pappy."
"Me either," Jarrod said, "but we've got a lot of distrust to deal with, as well as a lot of criminality. Every minute I regret taking Korby's case more and more."
"Wait a minute," Nick said, stopping his brother there on the street. "You can't think you have any responsibility for this."
"I put Asa Harmon on the stand," Jarrod said. "I brought this opium ring to light. If I hadn't represented Korby – "
"If you hadn't, Matt Cooper would have, and the same information would have come to light," Nick said. "Korby would have ratted Col. Ashby out to him instead of to you, and Cooper would have taken it to the trial. You know that."
"I wonder," Jarrod said.
"Wonder what?"
"Whether Cooper had the guts to dig into Korby's claim, or the interest. I'm not so sure."
"These killings are still not your fault. Don't you go thinking they are."
"Oh, I'm not," Jarrod said. "I did what I had to do. And in the end – breaking up Ashby's operation was going to happen whether I was involved in it or not. Harmon was just about to blow it open. And I know from experience with this sort of thing in San Francisco, when that happens, people die."
"People die from taking opium," Nick said. "Just a different set of people."
Jarrod nodded. "Yeah. Filthy business."
