The Brood of Dr.Chen: Body at the Blind Tiger

Chapter 5: Body at the Blind Tiger

    The papers carried the official explanation for the explosion:

    A massive explosion that rocked the west end this morning and killed five is now known to have been caused by a ruptured gas line that ignited as a result of illegal excavation beneath an abandoned church. A responsible party has not been named, but officials state firmly that the danger is contained and that corrective measures are being enacted to ensure no repeat incidents.

    Early reports that the destruction issued from an abandoned mansion in the area has been dispelled as rumor. One officer called the story “the last in a slough of haunted house stories” from the neighborhood.

    Lester cut out the clipping as he sat at breakfast in his rented house. He sat in his robe, the window behind him pouring in sunlight, giving the impression that the adventures of the other night had all been a bad dream.
    Cedric and he had undergone examinations from the police physician to ensure there were no ill effects from the explosion or the crash. By the time they'd finished it was past noon and Lester had to call ahead to the college with a story of a sudden illness to excuse him from the day's appointments.
    The police had combed through the wreckage in hopes of finding Chen's body or some lingering evidence, to no avail. The crater that had been the mansion was a mess of debris, but still showed remnant of the chamber where Lester had found the mysterious Mujin. The room was free of corpses and the center piece was strangely absent. Traces of a tunnel were discovered which lead to the river Charles. A witness, an old Irish woman, had been questioned who said she'd seen a boat depart from a hidden place along the river just before the explosion.
    It seemed Dr. Chen had slipped the noose again.
    Lester drained his cup of coffee and ate an orange as he glued the clipping into his scrapbook. All over the pages the face of Chen and of victims stared out in black and white, and the empty space on the new page seemed to question what would come next in this chain of grim events.

    Now it was Saturday and Donovan hadn't heard from his friend, so he decided to walk to the library and see about securing more texts in support of a paper he'd been writing.
    As he walked a colleague, Simon Keck, a tall and somewhat reckless looking young man, approached him “Donovan, you're out of your sick bed, I see!”
    "Only just,” Lester said. “I didn't think I ought to waste the whole day. There's work to be done.”
    “Did you hear that blast yesterday morning? It rattled my windows, quite startling.”
    “I missed it, I think in my misery I would have missed a full scale war.”
    “There might be another one.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “There's been a coup in Germany, a fellow named Kapp and another named Luzkwitt or something have taken over! Mark my words, they'll set about the Kaiser's work again and get their revenge.”
    “Well, we'll see, I suppose.”
    Keck was excited, kept raising his voice to a shout, walking almost in an orbit around Lester, who kept his pace.
    “That's not all,” Keck continued. “There's a red army in Germany now as well. It seems to me like it'll be a race to see who gets us first.”
    Lester chuckled “Maybe they'll cancel each other out and Poland will take over.”    
     “Oh you laugh now, but you'll see when the Germans take the harbor and force us all to eat strudel and saurkraut at gunpoint.”
    “I don't think I'd mind as long as I get some sausage and potatoes. Besides, I thought they put that Kapp fellow down already.”
    A man with a cane came up the walk in the other direction, forcing Simon Keck to walking in front of Lester, backwards. “Listen, do you think you're free for a drink later?”
    “I take it you refer to milk or water?”
    “I mean a drink, man, laws be damned!”    
    Lester sighed “Where? When?”
    “That place on the river we went to for Tom's birthday.”    
     “Oh, the mattress place.”
    “That's it. Around 7?”
    “I thought you had a lecture coming up on Monday. You've got everything sorted for it?”
     “Let me worry about that. Can you make it?”
    “Yes, I think so. If I'm late trying telephoning.”
    Keck backed into a letter box and Lester bumped into him.
    “It's not even safe to walk the streets,” Keck muttered. “See you tonight.”

    Donovan whiled away an afternoon at the library and emerged with an armful of books, many of which related to ancient Persia. He had easily enough time to make it to the blind tiger, but he decided he wanted to be fashionably late, just to take a little of the wind out of Simon Keck's sails.
    As he walked along the riverfront Lester laughed to himself, wondering what Cedric would say if he knew he was going to visit an illegal saloon. He strolled into the mattress store, only ten minutes late, and walked towards the pool-hall set up in the back.
    Simon Keck leaned on a pool cue, tapping his foot, holding his pocket watch.
    “I thought you said you'd telephone if you thought you'd be late.”
    “Terribly sorry, Simon. I got held up at the library. That man in the rare books department can't tell Peking from Paris.”
    “There was a girl here I thought would have been perfect for you. In fact I was going to start warming her up for you, but you had to be late, didn't you?” Simon already had a glass in his hand.
    “I've told you before not to bother with that sort of thing. Keep the next one.”
    Simon surveyed the room “I think she was the last one. I can't understand how you could pass up a thing like a girl.”
    “What are you drinking? I'll get us some more.”
    “Gin and tonic.”
    Lester walked to the far wall, a wood paneled affair with peeling yellowed paint, and opened the drawer set in it. He threw in two dollars and said “Two gin and tonics” into a speaking tube, also buried in layers of paint. A moment later he opened the drawer again and took out the drinks.
    When he returned to the table he found Simon trying to debate a shot with the towering laborer with an imposing red beard. The man stood a head over Simon and hooked his thumbs in his suspenders, staring down menacingly.
    “You called the side pocket,” Simon shouted. “I distinctly recall it.”
    “You, sir, are mistaken.”
    “See here, I'm not a man to make mistakes, especially not about pool.”
    “There is a first time for everything.”
    Lester pulled Simon aside and put the drink in his hand. “You'll be a mess for your lecture, especially if you go picking fights with men who lay bricks for a living.”
    “You're a regular mother hen, Donovan.”
    “Did I say not to drink or visit places like these? I'm just saying to relax, old fellow.”
    “Sorry, it's just some people get my blood up and I feel like playing the hero, I can hear the trumpets in my ears, ready for the charge...”
    “If this place gets raided the charge will be violation of the Volstead act and accessories thereto.”
    “There's an escape hatch out the back, by the facilities.”
    “I think I'll go and inspect the facilities, make sure they measure up to the fire code and such.”
    “Right, I'll see if I can't win my money back.”
    “Stay out of trouble.”
    Lester followed an arrow marked “washroom” down a narrow hall. He entered the room marked “men”. When he emerged he saw two men dragging a third, who looked to be unconscious or drunk, down the hall towards the back. They opened a door to a back alley and threw the man into the bed of a waiting truck. The two men stepped out of sight,
    Curiosity got the better of him and Lester walked outside.
    The two men were nowhere to be seen, so he inspected the man lying in the truck bed. The face looked vaguely familiar, a high brow, furrowed, making him look to be mid-40s, graying mustache, beneath a very slight nose. Lester took hold of the chin in hopes of rousing him.
    The man was stone dead.
    Now in  a panic, Lester looked around for the two overcoated men who'd brought out the body. A yellow fog seemed to swallow the alley, eating up the night.
    He shrank back to the door as the men emerged and lay some burlap sacks over the corpse before climbing into the cab and driving off.
    Back inside at the pool table, Lester grabbed Simon's arm “I think we really ought to go now.”
    “Now?” Simon Keck snorted. “When I'm winning?”
    “There may not be a later, come on.”
    Something in Lester's voice must told Simon it was no joke. He drained his glass and followed him out.

    Just as Lester reached the front door of his house a car pulled up and the horn sounded. He spun around to see Cedric Niles waving him over from the open back door.
    “No time to doddle, Donovan,” Niles shouted. “We haven't a moment to lose.”
    Lester hopped in and the car shot off like a rocket. “This is an unexpected surprise.”
    “That isn't liquor on your breath, is it, old man?”
     “Medicinal, I had a bit of a...”
    “Never mind. There's a man we must see immediately, a former district attorney with some vital information about Dr. Qin Shi Chen. He's due for voyage around the world in the morning, so we have to talk to him now.”
    “You think Chen may have another poison dart for him?”
    Cedric shook his head, his eyes alive with the thrill of the hunt “No, the nefarious doctor has some other form of death in mind, no doubt. In my pursuit of him I've never once seen him repeat a method of execution. It's one reason law enforcement has been powerless against him for so long.”

    The car stopped before the towering face of the Kenmore Apartments where a detective met them and escorted them across a lavish lobby to the elevators.
    “Which former district attorney?” Lester asked on the ride up.
    “Elisha Lovell. He's been embroiled with the war on the tongs ever since he received a death threat. He's not a man to take corruption lying down.”
    “I know the name, but I'll admit I didn't follow him much in the papers.”
    “I didn't think you would, Donovan, you only follow statesmen dead for a millennium or two.”

    On the eight floor a policeman met them at the elevator and Cedric handed the officer his papers. The man looked them over and waved them to another officer standing at the door of the apartment.
    “Only two?” Donovan asked.
    Cedric smiled. “They've learned their lesson since last time. There are men at the stairs, men in the apartment, the rooms on all sides of Lovell's have been cleared out.”
    “I suppose Chen will use an aeroplane.”
    “I wouldn't put it past him.”
    They entered the room, passing two heavily armed policemen. Sitting in a chair, smoking a pipe, sat a man in his 40s with a high furrowed brow, graying mustache and very slight nose. Donovan started as he recognized the dead man from the blind tiger, now alive and well!
    Cedric spoke “Lester Donovan, meet Elisha Lovell.”