Chapter 8 Chapter 8 Jamie's Visitor

As we write this, we must go back twenty minutes or so.At that time, Jamie Deciga woke up from his sleep, vaguely aware that a familiar voice was speaking to him in unfamiliar words. His sleepy mind tried momentarily to adjust to the situation, but failed.He yawned, rolled over and fell back asleep. "A young lady has come to see you, sir." The voice persisted, ready to repeat itself endlessly.Jamie DeSiga had to bow down to the inescapable situation.He opened his eyes and blinked. "Ah, Stevens?" he said, "Say it again." "A young lady has come to see you, sir."

"Oh!" Jamie tried to understand, "Why?" "I can't tell, sir." "Yes. I suppose so. Yes," he thought for a moment, "I suppose you can't tell." Stevens quickly grabbed a tray by the bed. "I'll get you some tea, sir. These are cold." "You think I should get up and - er - see the lady at the same time?" Stevens didn't answer, but his back was so stiff that Jamie saw he meant it. "Oh! well," said he, "I guess I'd better get up and see her, she didn't give her name?" "No, sir."

"Well. She can't be my Aunt Zhenmei, can she? Because if it's her, it's the end of me if I get up." "That lady can't be anyone's aunt, sir. Unless it's the youngest of a large family." "Aha," said Jamie, "young and sweet. Isn't she—what's she like?" "That young lady is undoubtedly quite educated, if I may say so." Stevens uttered the word "educated" in French. "Yes, yes," said Jamie kindly, "your French pronunciation is very good, Stevens, if I may say so. Much better than mine."

"Thank you for saying that, sir. I've been studying French lately." "Really? You're a great guy, Stevens." Stevens smiled proudly and left the room.Jamie lay, trying to think of any young, lovely, perfectly educated girl who might come to him. Stevens came in again with the re-brewed tea, and Jamie sipped it, amused and curious. "I hope you gave her the newspaper and all, Stevens," he said. "I gave her the morning paper and the magazine, sir." A doorbell ushered him out.After a few minutes, he returned to the room. "Another young lady, sir."

"what"? Jamie put his head in his hands. "Another young lady who won't say her name, sir, but says it's important." Jamie stared at him with open eyes. "This is very queer, Stevens. Very queer. Listen, what time did I get back last night?" "Just before five o'clock in the morning, sir." "And I—er—how do I look?" "Just a little jolly, sir—nothing more. And patriotic songs." "What a strange thing," said Jamie. "Patriotic songs, huh? I can't imagine myself singing patriotic songs when I'm sober. Must be - er - a couple of extra drinks to stimulate patriotism. I Remember, I was celebrating at the 'Mustard and Dutch Mustard' lounge. Not as innocent a place as the name sounds, Stevens."

He paused. "I'm wondering—" "What, sir?" "I wondered if I had put an ad in the paper for a housekeeper or some sort of woman, under the aforesaid impetus." Stevens coughed. "The appearance of two girls seems strange. I will never go to that lounge again." As he spoke, he dressed quickly.Ten minutes later, he was ready to face the unknown guest.When he opened the door of the living room, the first thing he saw was a girl with dark skin and a slender figure that he didn't recognize at all.She was standing, leaning against the hearth.Then his eyes moved to a large leather-covered armchair, and his heart skipped a beat.Rowling!

She was the first to stand up and speak nervously. "You must be very surprised to see me. But I had to come, and I will explain later. This is Miss Irene Brant." "Fast as the Wind—that's what I'm usually called. You've probably heard Bill Ivesley mention me." "Oh! Yes, of course I've heard," said Jamie, trying to fit the situation. "Sit, sit, let's have a cocktail or something." Neither girl wanted to drink, however. "Honestly," Jamie went on, "I just woke up." "As Bill said," said Swift, "I told him I was coming to see you, and he said you weren't up yet." "Oh, I'm up now," said Jamie encouragingly.

"It's about Jerry," Rowling said, "and now it's about Ronnie—" "What do you mean 'now it's about Ronnie again'?" "He was shot yesterday." "What?" Jamie yelled. Fast as the Wind tells her story a second time.Jamie heard it as if in a dream. "Old Ronnie—shot," he murmured, "what's the matter?" He sat down on the arm of a chair, thought for a minute or two, and then said in a calm, collected voice: "There's something I think I should tell you." "What's the matter?" Ji Rufeng said encouragingly.

"The day Jerry Wade died, on the way to tell you the news"—he nodded to Rowling—"Lonnie said something to me in the car. That is, he started asking Tell me something. He wanted to tell me something, he started, and then he said he promised and couldn’t go on.” "I promised." Rowling said thoughtfully. "That's what he said. Of course I didn't make him go on. But he's been queer--very queer. I get the impression he's suspicious--oh. Something's up. I've heard him tell the doctor that. .But it was not the case, and there was no sign of it. So I thought I must be mistaken. Then all the evidence turned up—it seemed to be a very clear case. I think my suspicions were all wild imaginations."

"But you think Ronnie is still suspicious?" Ji Rufeng asked. Jamie nodded. "That's exactly what I think now, we haven't seen him since. I believe he's doing something alone - trying to find out the truth about Jerry's death, and furthermore, I believe he has found out .That's why the demons shot him. Then he tried to send me a message, but that's all he could say." "Seven clock faces." Ji Rufeng said tremblingly. "Seven clock faces," said Jamie heavily, "we've got this to work on anyway." Fast as the wind turned to Rowling:

"You were just about to tell me—" "Oh! Yes. First, about the letter," she said to Jamie. "Jerry left a letter? Miss Erin—" "Fast as the wind." "Ji Rufeng discovered it." Rowling explained the situation of the letter being discovered in a few words. Jamie listened carefully, interested.This was the first time he had heard of that letter. Rowling took the letter out of her purse and handed it to him.He looked, and then at her. "That might help us: What did Jerry want you to forget?" Rowling frowned slightly in confusion, and she said: "It's so hard to remember exactly now. I opened Jerry's letter by mistake once. It was written on cheap paper, I remember, and in very uneducated handwriting. Letter It had an address of 'Seven Clock Faces' on it. I knew it wasn't addressed to me, so I didn't read it, and put it back in the envelope." "Are you sure?" Jamie asked very gently. Rowling laughed out loud for the first time: "I know what you're thinking, and I admit women are curious. But, you know, that doesn't even look like an interesting letter, it's a list of names and dates." "Names and dates," Jamie said thoughtfully. "Jerry didn't seem to mind much," Rowling went on, "he just laughed a little. He asked me if I'd heard of the Mafia. Then he said it would be weird if something like the Mafia started popping up in England." Yes—but the British don't use this kind of secret society very much. 'Our criminals,' he said, 'have no vivid imagination.'" Jamie made a whistle between his lips. "I'm beginning to understand," he said, "that the Seven Faces must be the headquarters of some secret organization. As he said in his letter to you, he initially thought it was a joke. But apparently it wasn't— He said so, and he was so eager for you to forget what he told you; there could only be one reason for that—if the organization suspected you knew of its activities, you too would be in danger, and Jerry knew that. a danger, and he's very worried--for you." He paused, then continued calmly: "I kind of think we're all in danger—if we keep going." "What if—?" Ji Rufeng yelled angrily. "I'm talking to you both. I'm different. I'm a friend of poor old Ronnie." He looked at Swift. "You've done your best. You've taken his words to me. No , for God's sake, don't get involved, you and Rowling." Ji Rufeng looked at the other girl questioningly.She herself had made up her mind.But she didn't show it at the time.She didn't want to put Lorraine Wade in danger.But Rowling's petite face immediately revealed an expression of indignation. "You say that! Don't you think I'd be content to stay out of it—they killed Jerry—my dear Jerry, the best, kindest, dearest brother in the world. The only one in the world that belongs to me people!" Jamie cleared his throat uncomfortably.Rowling was something, he thought, simply something. "Look here," he said awkwardly, "you shouldn't say silly things like being alone in the world and so on. You've got a lot of friends - too happy to help you in any way they can. Understand me mean?" Maybe Rowling understood, because she blushed suddenly and began to hide her confusion by speaking nervously. "Just do it," she said, "I want to help. No one can stop me," "Me too, of course," said Swift. They both looked at Jamie. "Yes," he said slowly, "yes. Indeed." They looked at him inquiringly. "I was just thinking," Jamie said, "how do we get started."