The conclusion is here.
Untold tales of a Migrant iv
part 11
Noon Tea ..,
By Jimmy Loong
iV
Owner
They traced the biscuits to my shop, and I was questioned for sometime by three officers. I tell you the kind of things they say about me and my family, I would had poisoned them the next time they come to my shop. But I maintain my innocence, and it was the Chief Inspector who came to my rescue. Its a real surprise that he only did that after I was subjected to these brute and their questions.
‘Kevin, you ever do this to me again, and I promised you you won’t had to say I am sorry to my face unless we meet in your Hell.’ And I walked out of the Station with a very angry expression. Even Ah Heng was avoiding me. But the shop was packed so I had to entertained my guests. They all came to support me and of course have a cup of tea, besides telling their sad stories with the Forces. I made money that day, but it was hard earned money for my hard work.
How was I know who could had taken my biscuits and placed cyanide in it?
I sell them everyday, and most days I cleared at least two trays of these biscuits. How was I to know they can sell so well?
How was I know why the almond smell like poison? I know they smelled like croakcoach smell to me, but I do not know that they can make poison.
The only poison I know is the metal blade I can sink into the flesh. And that is exactly what I felt like doing now.
But I did not do that. I was in my own corner wiping my tears of my own fate, sharing it with the crockcoach.
Chief Inspector
‘On whose instruction was it to bring the chinaman in?’ I questioned the three officers, who just looked down at the floor and said nothing. I knew they did what they thought was right and I was too occupied with my own investigation at the club then. I only knew of the questioning when I came back to the Station to replaced my whistle.
But I learned more at the club.
Michael Chan does owe the club some heavy debts for his tabs, but he asked for an installment payment. There is a review of that as the club consider him as a valued member. He did served on various committee and is regular here. They also confirmed his arguement with Mr Lim, but that was resolved when Cecilia pulled him away. From that day, Cecilia did not rejoined her afternoon tea friends but whenever she is in the club, She is normally seen sitting at the next table to Michael. She keep to herself and reads her books.
As for Colonel Mathew; he was a guest of Colonel Sebastian, and he did spend sometime with Michael on discussion. They did used the small rooms reserved for such discreet talks, and Cecilia do joined in. It was the day before the death of Colonel Mathew’s; the Colonel was in the room with Cecilia alone. That annoyed Michael when he arrived, and Cecilia was seen leaving in a rush. Soon after that, the Colonel left himself. Colonel Sebastian did not know of this as he was away in the plantations that day.
I also learned that yesterday Michael was every happy when he came to the club. He offered to buy everyone a drink, and had one too many himself. If not for Cecilia, he would had slept there last night.
I send out some telegrams to the other Stations to check on some background for me.
But now I have a friend to console on for his predicament as a baker for good biscuits.
Guess I will missed my favorite cup of tea and biscuit for a while.
Michael Chan
‘How can you tell me to stop this now? I am so close to seeing the result. If not for Tommy, I would had recovered the family true wealth?’
‘Michael, we have enough to live comfortably back in Manchester. Can we leave all this behind? I do not want to see you died like Colonel Mathews.’ Cecilia pleaded with me, but I am not leaving yet. I need to see my dream come true. I have the extra means now and she is telling me to leave.
‘Cecilia! Do not mentioned the Colonel’s name here. How dare he suggest to you to leave me for him? He is an old idiot who thinks he is well connected and can take all with his brother’s help. How can you meet him that day without telling me?’
‘I did not, as I thought you told me to be there. He said so, as I explained to you many times. I did not take his money for I love you, Michael. He wanted to loan his money to you because he wanted me. I detest that. I loathe such men. Men like him deserved to die.’
I held my wife in my arms and let her tears flowed. I knew then but I did not stopped it. I let the meeting went on, while I waited outside. I walked in to catch them in compromising positions, but there was none. Cecilia fought his advances, and she walked out. I confronted the Colonel, and he said to me;’You let it on, Michael. You are a loser yourself. You only looked at money and I have plenty. So do you want the money or your wife, chinaman?’
I told my answer and the Colonel walked out. So did my money that day.
‘How is the test, darling?’
‘It looks positive.’
And my tears came down my cheek. We made it to the next stage of our journey. Now we settle down for our cup of tea and almond biscuits.
Country Club
‘Colonel, did you see the price of gold today. Its soaring like the migration flocks. I tell you this is the time to find a mine, if there is any.’
‘As Lord Baden Powell put it; “If you make listening and observation your occupation you will gain much more than you can by talk.” I never served under the man, but I have my respect for him.’
‘So you did invest in one? You old fox, tell me where?’
‘Never a whisper from me, until the time is right. So shall we get back into the game. I see a winning hand here.’
‘Colonel, there is a package for you.’ The butler hands over the package. The Colonel opened the wrapping and find a small box. Inside the box was one piece of almond biscuit. And a note; it said ‘Mrs Kelvin Baker’.
‘My favorite...’ and he took a bite.
Owner
I despise most is when someone used my name of my shop for their own good. And this was one of them. I marched up to the person and gave the person a piece of my mind, but in this case, I had to understand why first.
‘Ah Heng, who told you to bake almond cookies? I told we do not do that anymore.’
‘Towkay, this is our best seller. And the orders came in while you were in the Station, so I decided to do so. After all, I know who I am selling to and how much they buy. I marked every box with an ‘X’ like in the books some of the kids read.’
‘And how many ‘X’ did you draw?’
‘About twenty boxes, and they all sold out.’
‘How many ‘X’ per box, Ah Heng?’
‘Only one ‘X’ so whoever gets poisoned without an ‘X’ on the box is not ours.’
‘Good answer, but who else you know bake almond biscuits?’
‘How do I know? Ask the shop who sells the almond. Silly question to asked me.’
It was a silly question then but then later it made sense.
I found out besides myself, there are twenty other customers who buy almond ingredients. For those who buy it for biscuits, there are only three in the town area. I am of the three.
The other two; one bakes for me, and the other learned from me. And they all had tea before in my shop.
Chief Inspector
We answered the call from the club, on the demise of Colonel Sebastian who took a bite of the biscuit he had received. We also recovered the partial eaten biscuit and its almond biscuit. Naturally, no one saw the delivery boy clearly and the claims of every descent was described by everyone but no one claimed to see the boy’s face. I asked to see the register for members coming in today, and noticed Michael Chan missing. I asked the butler, but they said he was not see today. I went over the house and I met Cecilia there in her apron and smelled of flour and sugar. I tell you everything of her that day reminds me of my affection back in Liverpool, but that was years ago.
‘Oh, Michael is in the hills. He said he will be back late, so I thought I surprised him with some baking. Do you like almond biscuits? I baked them myself. We never can keep up with the rate we consume. It goes nice with tea.’
I thanked her hospitality and asked where exactly did Michael go, but she was not sure. So I left her and her baking to herself. I went over the Land Office to check on some land titles. They told me it will take some time to get back as they need to look at the old records. I told the Chief Clerk that he will stay the night in the Station if I don’t get those reports by this evening.
And later I was back in the Station.
The telegrams were there, and I got some surprising news and confirmed some of my fears. These murders are pre-mediated on the families, but was in random on the victims. And the murderer is from this town.
So were the reports from the Land Office.
Mdm Wang
Sometimes, a woman can tell more from a man than he can of the woman. Even in love, as the man tends to see her from a physical perspective, but the woman feels the emotion and the depth of the man. I know as in my profession, we are all experts in extracting such information from the man. We are discreet in the knowledge, so all is safe with us. Unless you annoyed us, and then we will clawed you to the bones and bleed your soul with knowledge we hold over you.
For today, I learned sometimes, a woman can also be wrong in her judgement. I plea guilty to that, as I misjudged the man I put some money with. He displayed all his emotions and I thought I had it all, but I was wrong. He is more resourceful than me. If I am the fox, he is the forest for I run inside him knowing all his path, but never did I learned he laid them for me.
‘Ah Long, you tell me now you will never teach another to bake these almond biscuits in your shop, except Ah Heng. But you got another source to bake it in your shop too. And how long was this? Three months now, because Ah Heng asked you to allow it. Now Ah Lan left Ah Heng, you are back to doing it yourself with him. How can this be? Almond biscuits is your speciality. And who else would you teach that to besides Ah Lan? Another lover of Ah Heng?. And why not me?’
‘My apologies, Mdm Wang. I did not teach you as your delicate hands may be scarred from the dough and baking. As for Ah Lan, well, she learned from Ah Heng first and then I saw she is good so I taught her. And she did offered to work for me for free. So I agreed but now she is leaving, so I am back to doing it. Its all Ah Heng’s fault.’
‘So why is Ah Lan leaving now? She works for the Chan’s family.’
‘Oh, Ah Lan said the master and mistress is leaving and so she is out of a job. And I cannot afford to feed her and Ah Heng; so I say bye bye to her.’
‘So when she is of no use, you discarded her. Why did I now see that coming? Tell Ah Heng, next time bring extra money or sit in the dark alley by himself’.
I disliked men who does that. Thats why I make sure they pay for my girl’s services. As for Michael Chan, I am concerned on him leaving so soon; how can that be? We just spoke of investment and I just parted him my money.
I must asked him of this.
Or is he discarding me too like this idiots. Its not pleasureable to do that to me, as I am known as Madam Wang. The last one who cheated on me, do not die of poison; he was made handicapped for his next life.
V
Chief Inspector
I read the Land Office reports and it began to make some inroads into the murders. And my last telegram came from Singapore. It gave me more than I would had expected.
I rushed over to the house and saw Cecilia waiting at the door. I asked her of Michael whereabouts and she said he did not come back last night. I was concerned so I asked her of his mine which he is working on. She gave me the directions.
I found it, and the mine did looked like it just collapsed. It was reported that the mine was a gold mine twenty five years ago and the Chan’s father bought the discarded mine from Lim thinking that it would produce gold again. It did but in small vein and deep down. Michael Chan must had gone digging for it. And could be trapped inside. The rescue team came and a search was mounted. They found mining equipment and some testing kits for leaching using cyanide. But not Michael or any trace of his whereabouts.
I turned back to the team who is still searching the area. All I want to do now was to go back to town to report the matter. And then go to the shop to have my tea.
But I felt I was wrong somewhere, and I am not sure where.
Owner
Its a large area to cover and I am no jungle tracker.I wished I never got involved, but I had to always by accident or personal favors like now. Mdm Wang told me that the mine was here in this hill but where in the hill. This place is all grown with thick undergrowth and only madmen will come here. It does has a nice view of the town and I can see the Chan’s house from here. Funny how when you walked in circle, you may just end up in some place somehow.
Its getting late, and I ought to go back or I will lose my lifeto some tiger and also my bicycle. I borrowed that from the neighbour as mine is in the workshop. As I was walking back the trail I took earlier, I saw a movement in the nearby trees. I slowly moved towards it and saw a hut there. I think it looked like any hut you may find in the orchards or plantations, but this one is different. It was built into the hillside, and there are no back entrance.
I moved towards it and saw Michael Chan leaving the hut. He is all covered with dust and dirt, and carrying a small box. I would had stepped out, if not for the others. They came out of the corner of the hut; there was Ram the club butler and Siva the Chettiah. Michael on seeing the duo tried to make a run for it but the box was heavy. The duo stopped him and there was a brief struggle before Michael was overpowered. The box fell from his hands and out came the contents. It shone slightly like daisy flowers, and then flicker for sometime.
‘That’s mine, you bastards.’ Michael was held in restraint by Ram in an armlock.
‘Not any more, Sir. I am now the new owner. You see, Barath told me more than he should. So I had you in my eyes for many days. I even got Ram here to watch over you at the club. Ram is my nephew by my wife side and he is also my enforcer for bad men like you.’
‘I took no money from you, so why did you followed me?’ Michael was trying to make sense of this matter.
‘Very simple. Barath took my money and lend you. You killed Barath so I now have to find you.’ Siva crouched down to scoop up the gold nuggets.
‘But I did not borrowed from Barath. He refused me. So I owed you nothing.’
‘You see, that is your word against the deadman’s. But he is dead and he took my money so I collect from you. You can then collect from him when you see him. Ram, see the gold value here. Ai-yoh, we can be rich man soon.’
‘Uncle, what about this man? Do we killed him here?’ Now Ram is getting edgy from his looks, and I think he has done it before. I wanted to run and called for help, but if I did, the man could die and the duo escaped. Its my words against them. If I fight them, I may win, or lose. So better don;t fight unless I know am sure to win.
It was then I remember the whistle.
I blew and blew with all my strength. I tell you this, these damned whistle can sure bring the herd of elephants if you blow it like I did. Well, no elephants appeared, but Ram forgot about his armlock and Michael was free of the restraint. Michael come loose and pushed Ram off. He then saw the nearby shovel and grabbed it. He faced his two surprised adversaries with his newly acquired weapon. It was then I calculated the odds was better, I stepped out of the trees with my heavy branch in my hands.
The two would be murderer tok to their heels and it was left to me and Michael. Now the odds are equal, so I am now re-looking my options.
Chief Inspector
‘Don;t do it, Michael. You need not add to your problem by killing him.’ I watched the man named Michael holding the shovel over my friend’s head. Ah Long was lying on the ground with one hand holding his left shoulder, and the other covering his forehead. If Michael hit him with that shovel , I may had to shoot him. And so will the other officer next to me. I see the hesitation in Michael’s face, but I am tired and its getting dark. No one knows what will happened next.
‘Michael, think of Cecilia. She is waiting for you at home for your afternoon tea. You don;t want to dissapoint her.’ Funny I said that, as it was actually me who wanted the cup of tea now. But it worked and my friend was safe from another near death act.
It was not by dusk when we were all in the Station, and the nice Corporal served us some hot tea. He said he boiled the tea again, and we all agreed it taste terrible. But we are relief to be alive. As for Michael, he was in the cells, and his wife was informed. Cecilia came later in the car driven by the servant, and she was relieved to see him alive.
The officer on duty next to me then asked me; ‘what is the charge on Michael?’
I said none; not yet anyway. Let the man be with his wife for now. We can discuss tomorrow. Right now, I sending a friend to his shop and hopefully get a cup of real tea.
But I did tell him to bring in Ram and Siva, the other two for more questioning.
Country Club
‘Did you hear it? Michael was arrested today. And he had some gold from the mine. Its a new one, and there was a sizeable load too. Its seems he really made it, but why was he arrested.’
‘I am an attorney at law. I will present myself to defend him.’
‘Screw your top, James. I am his attorney, and by George, I will handle his case.’
‘Screw yours too, Ian. Last I heard Michael threw you out on the last case of his. He is mine to defend as I am in talks to Cecilia.’
And so on was the legal fratenity at the Countty Club.
One butler said to the other, ‘I thnk you better tell the cook to boiled more water. We may need to serve more tea this evening.’
‘They pay tips or not?’ asked the other butler, with his hands securely tucked into the his vest pocket.
Michael Chan
‘Darling, I am okay. We got the gold out. It worked as you said it would. And we will be okay.’
‘I know it worked. And I am happy for you. We are free now.’
‘No, we need to pay those money we borrowed.’
‘But they are dead. Why must we returned it? There were no written records. More to it, their investment was on the old mine; this is from the new mine you discovered. Nothing here belongs to them. We can sell the gold and leave for Manchester soon. We can start again. And we can have the family you wanted.’
'No, darling. Its a matter of honor. I have Lim’s notebook and I will return every cent I borrowed. And also to the two Colonel’s. Its also in my family tradition to do so. More to it, the old mine led me to his new mine. I just created a new entrance and tunnel as its safer. Its still the same mine.’
‘And I done all that for nothing.’
‘What did you do, darling?’
‘Hush, my love. All is over now.’
‘Wait, Cecilia....don’t go. I love you.’
‘But you love your tradition and honor more than me. Farewell.... Michael.’
Chief Inspector
I never knew how to have a serious discussion with a lady before, not so when she is in the Station. If its over a cup of tea or dinner, I can do it. In fact, I am always having serious discussion that scared off most of my admirers. One did tell me off bluntly; ‘you are too stiff for your own good’. I never knew what she meant, but she was one of the few who told me off.
Today I am told off by another.
‘Chief inspector Kevin, I am here to confess to my crime. I, Cecilia Chan Brown murdered nine person with cyanide poisoning. I would had poisoned you too, but you did not eat my biscuit. I murdered them on behalf of my husband. Michael Chan. I will list down the names for you to check.’
I counted eight names I can linked to the files, but one was unknown.
‘Aaron More is Colonel Sebastian’s son. He was your ex-fiance. How did you murder him? It was said he died of a heart attack, of which he did had a weak heart. That was why he never joined the army like his dad or his brothers.’
‘Aaron death was not of my causing alone. I assisted him in his suicide. He was upset with me leaving him for Michael. He came to see me in London, and I told of my engagement to Michael. He asked me to let him die if he cannot have me. I tried to talk him out but he won’t listen. So I agreed to the wish, but on one condition. He is to die after I have left London with Michael. I made the vial of cyanide with his guidance; he was a chemist then. He kept the vial until I left London. When did he actually took it, I did not know. But I heard of his death from a friend who came from London a year later. He died in his lab later, making it looked like an accident. I used to asked of Aaron from his father, and he would say,he will pass on the compliment. Colonel Sebastian lived here as if his son Aaron would had if he was alive with me. Colonel Sebastion hid his son;s death from me.’
‘But you did not killed Colonel Sebastian? His name is not here.’
‘No, I did not.’
‘How did you make the biscuits?’
‘I used to buy them from the shop, but when Ah Lan baked them, I helped her. I noticed the smell is similar to cyanide, and I tried on it one day. I fed it to my dog, which died. From there, I planned my murders on those who caused Michael’s problems. I will select one which will be laced with cyanide. I send them to victims with the special box and addressed to them. Everybody in the list likes almond biscuits, and I have send other boxes without cyanide to built up the trust. I was taking a chance they will eat it all by themselves due to the personal address. And so they did, but the Governess was a mistake. She must had taken it without her master knowledge. They were all responsible for the silly investment of my father in law, and as for Barath, Lim, Chong, I did it out of the money they loaned to Michael. If Michael fails in his mining, he would had not enough money to return to them. But if he had the gold, he would be alos giving away a chink of his wealth that he worked hard at. We needed the money for me. I am sick with cyanide poisoning.’
‘Cyanide poisoning?’
‘No, Chief Inspector. I did not poisoned myself. I got poisoned from the testing and leaching I did on the gold. Because of Aaron, I learned about cyanide and my nursing skiIl helped me. But I got careless or I was not trained properly. When I offered to help Michael, I got poisoned doing it for my real love. There is a difference between a nurse and a miner, although we know cyanide well.’
Michael Chan
‘I told her to be careful, and she told me not to worry about it. I send for the test kit from Bristol to check if she was sick. When we got the testing kit from Bristol, its confirmed that she had been contaminated with the poison. But there was a treatment suggested to work for her. She did seem to get better now, but the cure is still very far ahead of us.’
‘But who do you think can do the same as she did because Colonel Sebastian did not die from her poison, someone did copy her method.’
‘I don’t know anyone. For someone to copy her works, has to work with her. And I did not work with her. Nor did I murder him. I owed him money but I told him I will pay him off his tabs at the club.’
‘And Aaron?’
‘I never knew him. I never asked Cecilia of her past and she never did mentioned it.’
V
Owner
I read the notes in Kevins’ notebook. He is still missing one victim’s murderer. So I consulted Mdm Wang, who was still upset at her loss of her money. But she was more upset that her judgement of character was flawed. So I made her a cup of tea to soothe down her anger and we let the tea do their charm.
And I got my answer.
I was in time at the Train Station. She was standing there with her wicker case, and bamboo umbrella.
‘Hello, Lan. You are leaving the town so soon.’
‘Yes, Mistress paid me and asked me to go. So I bought the late train ticket to Penang.’
‘You mean you are going to Gemas. You are saying your last goodbye to Inspector Kelvin Baker. You missed him and hated the man who made him take that train that day. You killed the man who let your fiance took that train.’
‘How did you know?’
‘Colonel Sebastian lived with that thought in his head. And also of his son, Aaron. He is a retired army officer, and he fought many battles, but he could not win the last one. And the only persons he can talk to are his ‘discretion’ partners. They listened to him, and watched him cry, as well as cry with him. For they are the best to know the man, beside his own wife. Inspector Kelvin was his protege in the regiment and looked like Aaron. In fact he was Aaron’s mirror image. But he left the army to be with the Strait Forces. The colonel came here to be near his new ‘son’. That day, the Colonel told Kelvin to meet him in this town. The Colonel wanted to become his Godfather. But Kelvin was in Singapore with you, so he took the train back but never made it. Kelvin told you he was meeting Colonel Sebastian and will come back after that to marry you. But he never did come back. You blamed...’
‘I blamed him for my fiance death. If he did not called Kelvin to come back to this place, I would be called Mrs Kelvin and not Ah Lan. It was by coincidence I met Cecilia, as I wanted to get access to the club to see the monster. When I knew of Cecilia plans on how to kill the other men, I did the same for the monster. I send him the package. I addressed it to him care of ‘Mrs Kelvin Baker’.’
‘But why Ah Heng?’
‘You men are all alike. Just because I am close with him, makes me his lover. I actually was close with him to learn how to bake better biscuits and make good tea. And he was to me more like an elder brother duirng my short stay here. I told Cecilia when I am finished here, I want to start a new life as a Governess. But for me to be one, I needed to learned from both Cecilia and you as all of you are the best. But your mind is twisted.’
I did not stopped her from boarding the train because in my twisted mind, I was not able to act.
Mdm Wang was right. We men looked at thing at the surface, and never in depth. But sometimes, she is wrong too, as I did in some instances. One of it was this case; I learned that Ah Heng sometimes addressed her as Mrs Kelvin Baker when they were baking. I thought he is playing his pranks on her, as the name was of no importance to me. When Ah Heng mentioned the name, Ah Lan will raised her left hand to show a ring on her finger. To me again then, it was like role playing these two lovers in their own realm. But how was I to know that I was wrong in my own judgement of character too.
Right now, all I wanted was a cup of tea. So I pop into the Train Station coffeeshop and shared one with an old friend of mine there. His tea is the second best in town next to mine.
Michael Chan
I confronted the Chief Inspector on my wife confession. I wanted to say I did it all, but he said the case is closed. Cecilia got her case as suspended for she is dying and may not last long. As for me, I have two thing to do.
‘Mdm Wang, this is your investment plus the profit margin.I hoped you are pleased, but this is the only time we can do it. That is the last of the gold from the mine.’
She was happy and thank me. I am glad I managed to pay someone back their loan personally.
‘Chief Inspector Kevin, I murdered my brother Tommy. I fixed his brakes and he died as a result of it.’
‘Let us discuss the case over a cup of tea.’
Chief Inspector Kevin
‘Well, Towkay. We did not solve the case, but the case was closed by the confession of the murderer. So technically we did close the case.’
‘Kevin, you are wrong. We solved the case as it was all about greed. Just as the victims deserved their punishment, the murderer also accepted her’s. But why did you not convict Michael Chan of his brother’s accident?’
‘Michael Chan did not caused his brother’s accident. The report showed the brakes was good on the car. Michael must had fixed the wrong car. I think the man wanted was to keep his family wealth in place as part of the tradition. He did that as now with the gold he mined, his family true wealth is back to the previous level. He lived to the family tradition well. But why did you let Ah Lan go?’
‘Ah Lan? Oh, there was no case to be built against her. It was Mrs Kelvin Baker who murdered the Colonel and we are still looking for Mrs Kelvin Baker. So Ah Lan is free of the crime.’
So we parted ways at the Train Station.
As I sat at the carriage, I looked at the report I replaced at the file of Tommy Chan. I did get to read it as it flew off into the river below the bridge we were crossing. Just like Mrs Kelvin Baker, no one will ever see the true story.
Now where is my cup of tea. And almond biscuits.
And the cat to drink from my saucer.
Mdm Wang
I am looking at my investment payback and smiled. I am still good at my judgement of man, and Michael Chan did not diminish my faith in it.
But I doubt I will see him here for a while. I hear he is busy with his business and taking care a lovely wife in her last days. But they will eventually when the need arise.
Cecilia Chan
‘Please tell me I kept up with your tradition.’
‘Yes, you did. Darling, you made the Chan’s family together again, and you make the best tea in this town. And also almond cookies.’
‘Well,I learnt from the best in the family. Your mum taught me the basics, and I just refined it with Ah Lan. We both used it to our advantage and it worked.’
Owner
‘Coffee? We only served tea here. So drink up or get up.’
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