Perlmutter said nothing, soaking up a wave of jubilation. Several pieces were still missing in the puzzle, but a visible pattern was slowly emerging. “I owe you a great debt, Juan. You've just made my day.”
“Happy to have been of service,” said Mercado. “But do me a favor next time, will you?”
“Anything.”
“Call me during daylight hours. Any time my wife thinks I'm awake after we've gone to bed, she gets amorous.”
WHEN PITT RETURNED TO HIS HANGAR IN WASHINGTON, HE was pleasantly surprised to find Julia waiting in his apartment above the car collection. After a hug and a kiss, she presented him with a margarita on the rocks made the right way—without the sweet mix and crushed ice popular in most restaurants.
“You are so nice to come home to,” he said happily.
“I couldn't think of a more comfortable and secure place to stay,” she said, smiling seductively. She was wearing a blue leather miniskirt with a tan nylon mesh one-shoulder top.
“I can see why. The grounds outside are crawling with security guards.”
“Courtesy of the INS.”
“I hope they're more alert than the last group,” he said, sipping the margarita and giving an approving nod.
“Did you fly in from Louisiana alone?”
Pitt nodded. “Al is in a local hospital having a cast put on his broken leg. Admiral Sandecker and Rudi Gunn came in earlier to make a report directly to the President.”
“Peter Harper filled me in about your heroics on the Mississippi. You prevented a national disaster and saved countless lives. The newspapers and TV news programs are filled with stories of terrorists blowing up the levee and the battle between the United States and the National Guard. The whole country was rocked by the event. Strangely, there was no mention of you or Al.”
“Just the way we like it.” He raised his head and sniffed the air. “What's that appetizing aroma I smell?”
“My Chinese dinner for the party tonight.”
“What's the occasion?”
“St. Julien Perlmutter called just before you returned and said he thinks he and Hiram Yaeger have the inside track on a solution to the disappearance of Qin Shang's treasure ship. He said he intensely dislikes meeting hi government buildings, so I invited him for dinner to hear his revelations. Peter Harper is coming, and I also sent invitations to Admiral Sandecker and Rudi Gunn. I hope they can find time to come.”
“They're fans of St. Julien,” said Pitt, smiling. “They'll be here.”
“They'd better, or you'll be eating leftovers for two weeks.”
“I couldn't have had a nicer homecoming,” said Pitt, embracing Julia and squeezing the breath out of her.
“Phew!” she said, wrinkling her nose. “When was the last time you bathed?”
“It's been a few days. Except for diving in swamp water I haven't had the opportunity to jump in a shower since I last saw you on the Weehawken.”
Julia rubbed the reddish blush on one of her cheeks. “Your beard is like sandpaper. Hurry and pretty up. Everyone will be showing up in another hour.”
“Your presentation is magnificent,” said Perlmutter, eyeing the array of delectable dishes Julia had prepared buffet-style and set out on an antique credenza in Pitt's dining room.
“It looks absolutely scrumptious,” said Sandecker.
“I couldn't have described it better,” added Gunn.
“My mother took special pains to teach me to cook, and my father was a lover of fine Chinese food prepared with a French influence,” said Julia, basking in the flattery. She had changed into a red Lycra jersey tube dress and looked stunning amid the room full of five men.
“I hope you don't leave INS to open a restaurant,” joked Harper.
“Not much chance of that. I have a sister who owns a restaurant in San Francisco, and it's a hard job with long hours in a small, hot kitchen. I'd rather have freedom of movement.” Helping themselves and gathering around a table built from a cabin roof off a nineteenth-century sailing ship, they dug into Julia's feast with great anticipation. She didn't disappoint them. The compliments flowed and bubbled like fine champagne.
During dinner, the talk purposely skirted Perlmutter's findings and centered instead around the events on the Mystic Canal levee and the Army Corps efforts to repair the damage, All hated the idea of the United States being scrapped as she lay, and expressed the hope that necessary funding would be found to save and refit her, if not for voyaging then as a floating hotel and casino, as originally proposed. Harper filled them in on the indictments being handed down against Qin Shang. Despite his influence and the reluctance of the President and some congressmen, the charges of criminal conduct rolled over any opposition.
For dessert, Julia served fried apples with syrup. After dinner was finished and Pitt had helped Julia clear the dishes and load them in the dishwasher, everyone settled in his living room filled with nautical antiques, maritime paintings and ship models. Sandecker lit up one of his big cigars without asking permission while Pitt poured them all a glass of forty-year-old port.
“Well, St. Julien,” said Sandecker, “what is this great discovery Pitt tells me you made?”
“I'm also interested in hearing how you think it concerns the INS,” Harper said to Pitt.
Pitt held up his port and stared at the dark liquid as if it was a crystal ball. “If St. Julien puts us on the wreck of a ship called the Princess Dou Wan, it will alter the relationship between the U.S. and China for decades to come.”
“Forgive me if I say that sounds wildly improbable,” said Harper.
Pitt grinned. “Wait, and you shall see.” Perlmutter eased his bulk into a big chair and opened his briefcase, retrieving several files. “First, a little history to enlighten those of you who don't yet know exactly what it is we're talking about.” He paused to open the first file and pull out several papers. "Let me begin by saying that rumors concerning the passenger ship Princess Dou Wan as leaving
Shanghai with a vast cargo of historical Chinese art treasures in November of nineteen-forty-eight are true."
“What was your source?” asked Sandecker.
"Name is Hui Wiay, a former Nationalist Army colonel who served under Chiang Kai-shek. Wiay now lives in Taipei. He fought the Communists until forced to flee to Taiwan when it was called Formosa. He's ninety-two years old but with a memory sharp as a razor. He vividly recalled following orders by Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek to empty the museums and palaces of every art treasure they could lay their hands on. Private collections belonging to the rich were also seized, along with any and all wealth found in bank vaults. All of it was packed in wooden crates and trucked to the Shanghai docks. There it was loaded on board an old passenger liner that was commandeered by one of Chiang Kai-shek's generals, whose name was Kung Hui. He seems to have dropped off the face of the earth the same time as the Princess Dou Wan, so there is every reason to believe he was on her.
“More treasure was seized than the ship could ordinarily hold. But since the Princess Dou Wan had been stripped of her furnishings and fixtures in preparation for her final voyage to the scrappers in Singapore, Kung Hui managed to cram over a thousand crates into the cargo holds and empty passenger staterooms. Most of the crates with large sculptures were tied down on the open decks. Then on November second, nineteen forty-eight, the Princess Dou Wan sailed from Shanghai into oblivion.”
“Vanished?” said Gunn.
“Like a midnight ghost.”
“When you say historical art treasures,” said Rudi Gunn, “is it known exactly what pieces were seized?”
“The ship's manifest, if there was one,” answered Perlmutter, “would make every curator in every museum of the world mad with envy and desire. A brief catalog would include the monumental designs of Shang-dynasty bronze weapons and vases. From sixteen hundred until eleven hundred B.C., Shang artists were advanced in the carving of stone, jade, marble, bone and ivory. There were the writings of Confucius inscribed in wood in his own hand from the Chou dynasty that reigned from eleven hundred to two hundred B.C.; magnificent bronze sculptures, incense burners inlaid with rubies, sapphires and gold, life-size chariots with drivers and six horses and beautifully lacquered dishes from the Han dynasty, two-oh-six B.C. to two twenty A.D.; exotic ceramics, books from China's classical poets and paintings by their masters living in the T'ang dynasty, six eighteen to nine-oh-seven A.D.; beautifully created artifacts from the Sung, Yuan, and the famous Ming dynasty, whose artisans were masters at sculptures and carvings. Their workmanship is widely known for the decorative arts, including cloisonne, furniture and pottery, and of course, we're all familiar with their famous blue- and white-porcelain.”