Pirate Vishnu (A Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt Mystery) (29 page)

Chapter 59

Grace turned herself in to the police. Inspector Valdez listened to the tape and told her it sounded like she had a good case for self-defense. It wasn’t up to him, he said. The DA would decide what to do. He asked her why she didn’t turn herself in in the first place. Her only encounter with the police had been before she came to the United States as a child. Back in Thailand, two of her relatives had been railroaded into false convictions by the police. It was one of the main reasons her family wanted to come to the U.S.

Connor was out on bail. He was charged with assaulting me and stealing my bag. He truly believed I’d killed his father, so when he didn’t think the police were taking his concerns seriously, he took matters into his own hands. It was true he didn’t care about the treasure his wife and father cared about. But he didn’t want the person he believed killed his father to have it either. He knew from his father that we were distantly related. That was what he had tried to tell me the night of the magic show before Christine stopped him.

Divers found the unnamed sunken ship off the coast of Lands End. Hidden inside the cargo was the Heart of India. Aside from being a little worse for wear due to barnacles, the elephant statue and massive pearl were intact. Even with evidence of its sojourn in the ocean, it was an impressive sight when it was hauled up. The statue representing a free and unified India that Anand had given his life to protect was more powerful than I’d imagined it could be. It made me smile that the stone-carver had the skill to give the elephant a personality—the creature was fierce, as was common in Indian art, but at the same time had the hint of a smile.

Along with the Heart of India, the divers found a diary that had been securely wrapped. The leather-bound journal was water-damaged but intact. It was Anand’s diary. Between the letter that Steven Healy’s grandmother had left him and Anand’s diary, we had the rest of the missing pieces of Anand’s story.

As Christine had said, Anand’s friend Spritualist Samuel was Samuel Healy. Samuel had betrayed him, looking for fast wealth through stealing the Heart of India for an eccentric patron, Mrs. Lancaster of the prominent San Francisco Lancaster family. Anand and Samuel were friends with a third man, Li Fong, the brother of Mai Fong. Samuel called Mai by the nickname Maybelle, and it stuck.

Mai was pregnant with Anand’s child when Anand died in what Mai described as a tragic accident. She wrote that Samuel had made the mistake of letting greed overtake him. He stole the Heart of India, and Anand went to great lengths to steal it back, to return it where it rightly belonged. Samuel and Anand fought, and Anand received a mortal wound. The Great Earthquake struck the week following Anand’s death, killing Mai’s brother Li. Mai was all alone, and Samuel wanted to make amends. It was many years before Mai would forgive Samuel, and they bore no children together, but she did accept his offer to take care of her and her son.

Samuel was a good husband, raising Anand’s son as his own, but Mai did not trust him when it came to the treasure. She never showed him the treasure map Anand had drawn and asked her to mail to his brother. She put that part of her life behind her, never sending it to Vishwan. She did write to Vishwan so that he would know his brother was dead, but she did not want him to grieve more than was necessary. She wrote an account that was as close to the truth as she dared come: that Anand had died trying to save his best friend, her brother Li, in the earthquake, when the truth was that he had died to save something greater than both of them. Though she did not send the map, she could not bring herself to destroy it. She left it for her grandson in her will—a grandson and great-grandson who I now knew I was related to.

Connor showed up at the expedition to unearth the treasure. He wasn’t after the treasure, but he was there because he wanted to apologize for the grief he’d caused me.

He’d sobered up and seemed like a decent guy who’d made a bad choice in who he married. He told me what I expected, that he’d realized Christine only wanted him for his wealth. He’d made a lot of money when he worked for his father’s firm, and until they lost it, he hadn’t realized he didn’t care about money. He wanted to live a fulfilling life. Part of that, he said, was making amends with me. He hoped that once he’d had a little bit more time to come to terms with his father’s death and finalize a divorce from Christine, he and I could meet over coffee to get to know each other. After all, we were distant cousins. I told him I’d like that. 

After I’d seen the contents of the ship safely removed and saw Anand’s diary, I sent off my completed paper for publication. I was in my office when a familiar face poked his head in my door.

“I thought you were off treasure hunting,” Naveen said.

“You mean the Heart of India?” I said. “The divers already located it where I thought it would be, if you hadn’t heard.”

“I’ve been too busy working on my book to keep up with trivial things,” Naveen said. “You might not know how that is.”

“Actually,” I said. “I’ve just sent off an article.”

Naveen frowned as I showed him my computer screen with the name of the journal.

“Knock knock,” said a voice from behind Naveen, and the dean stepped in. “Jaya! I was hoping I’d find you here. Bang-up job with the Heart of India. I’m told that no other historians suspected it wasn’t swept out to sea and that it was waiting to be rescued right here in San Francisco. Keep up the good work.”

Naveen’s mouth hung open as he watched the dean leave.

“Sorry I don’t have time to stay and chat, Naveen. There’s somewhere I need to be.”

Chapter 60

Nadia poured me a glass of gin, getting a vodka for herself.

“Why don’t you tell me about him,” she said.

“Uncle Anand?”

Nadia snorted. “You’ve already told me about him.  No, I mean you should tell me about the man who is confusing you so.”

“Is it that obvious?”

“You have a look about you.”

“It’s complicated.” I took a large swig of the gin.

“Life is always complicated, Jaya. If you wait for it to be simple, your whole life will pass you by.”

“Why did you leave Russia?” I had never asked Nadia the question before, though I had often wondered. She spoke so little of her life before she came to San Francisco.

“That was another lifetime ago.” She paused and twirled her drink in her hand, a mischievous smile forming on her lips. “It is the future we should think of. This man in your life—is it the art historian you met earlier this summer?”

“Maybe.”

“How can the answer be
maybe
? If you do not wish to tell me, you can say so.”

“But that’s not what I mean. I
do
mean maybe. He and I shared something—and still do—but then…” I thought of Sanjay’s kiss. “Then things got complicated.”

Nadia nodded and topped off my gin.

Sanjay was waiting for me outside my door when I got upstairs from Nadia’s house. He sat on the top step doing card tricks, his bowler hat resting askew on his head.

“I’m surprised you didn’t let yourself in,” I said.

“You asked me not to.”

“Come on in,” I said, smiling to myself as I read a piece of mail Nadia had just handed to me.

“There’s one thing I’m still not clear on,” Sanjay said. “What ever happened to that guy I saw at the hospital in Trivandrum?”

“It’s a long story,” I said.

“But who
is
he?”

“He left me a note,” I said, holding up the slip of paper that had been left with my mail in a sealed envelope bearing only my name.

“A handwritten note? Can’t he email or use the phone like a normal person?”

“You want to take me to get a new phone today? My car is still impounded.”

“Fair enough,” Sanjay said, deftly plucking the note from my hand and reading it aloud.

Jones,

I need to lie low for a while, but I don’t expect you’ll let me stay away.

I should have seen the truth about your uncle as soon as you told me he called himself Pirate Vishnu. Vishnu restores order, which is exactly what Anand was trying to do. His legacy is safe.

L

“Damn,” said Sanjay. “Whoever he is, he’s a better Indian than either of us.”

AUTHOR’S NOTE

Pirate Vishnu
is a work of fiction. Though both the treasure and characters came from my imagination, the story is based on a real historical backdrop.

I was inspired to write this book after hearing a family legend about one of the first members of the Indian side of my family to come to the United States. He was said to have died in the Spanish Influenza Pandemic of 1918 in Pennsylvania. Not everyone in the family thought that was what really happened to him. What if they were right?

Several years ago, when I was traveling through the state of Kerala, India, I discovered an interesting—and very true—parallel between San Francisco and Kochi (Cochin), which is the connection Jaya makes in
Pirate Vishnu
. That’s where I got my initial idea for this book.

Over the centuries, the trading port of Kochi was home to many artisans who created artifacts and traded in wood and stone-carvings. Historically, India’s southwest coast was a cosmopolitan area in general. Various religious and ethnic groups traded in spices, textiles, and other commodities, and there were many Arab and Christian settlements. Young men like Anand Paravar came under the influence of egalitarian and nationalistic ideas in the late 19th
and early 20th centuries, but the authorities did not always tolerate the involvement of workers in nationalistic activities. It was not uncommon for young men to seek work on ships or in regions of India under the political control of the French or the British.

In the 1800s, a spiritualism craze swept through Europe and the United States, inspiring spirit cabinet performances and more intimate séances. Sherlock Holmes author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was one of the people who became a believer and magician Harry Houdini was one of the people who worked to debunk spiritualists.

The Great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906 caused the loss of many city records as well as the deaths of an unknown number of people and the displacement of thousands more. The history of San Francisco’s Barbary Coast area recounted in
Pirate Vishnu
is true, including the use of ships abandoned during the Gold Rush, but the saloon Anand frequented is a fictional composite of similar existing establishments.

READER’S DISCUSSION GUIDE

1. Chapters set in the past are interspersed with the present-day main storyline. How do details of the people and events in the past enhance the story? 

2. The idea for
Pirate Vishnu
was based on family lore. Do you have any family history you think would make a good mystery?

3.
Pirate Vishnu
begins shortly after
Artifact
ends. Jaya’s relationships are developing with old friends and new. Did you have a favorite character? Why?

4. What surprised you about the history of India and San Francisco?

5. Academia is competitive, especially as scholars begin their careers. Do you think Jaya is handling the pressure better than her colleague Naveen?

6. Jaya’s love life takes an unexpected turn she didn’t see coming. What do you think will happen in the future with the men in her life?

About Gigi Pandian

Gigi Pandian is the child of cultural anthropologists from New Mexico and the southern tip of India. After being dragged around the world during her childhood, she tried to escape her fate when she left a PhD program for art school. But adventurous academic characters wouldn’t stay out of her head. Thus was born the Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt Mystery Series. The first book in the series,
Artifact
, was awarded a Malice Domestic Grant. Learn more at www.gigipandian.com.

In case you missed the 1
st
book in

The Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt Mystery Series

ARTIFACT

Gigi Pandian

A Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt Mystery (#1)

Historian Jaya Jones discovers the secrets of a lost Indian treasure may be hidden in a Scottish legend from the days of the British Raj. But she’s not the only one on the trail…

From San Francisco to London to the Highlands of Scotland, Jaya must evade a shadowy stalker as she follows hints from the hastily scrawled note of her dead lover to a remote archaeological dig. Helping her decipher the cryptic clues are her magician best friend, a devastatingly handsome art historian with something to hide, and a charming archaeologist running for his life.

Read all about it and/or grab the book from Amazon

CLICK FOR ARTIFACT