Donovans 02 - Jade Island

were at least four separate homes with abutting walls and separate entrances on each block, only a few of the entrances actually opened onto anything. The rest were like the false fronts on old Western buildings, show without function.
    Inside the real entrances lay another world. A beautiful, serene one. In a central courtyard, spring bulbs bloomed beneath rhododendron and azalea, pine and dwarf maple and juniper. Birds drank from a pond where huge koi held station like lazy, colored flags. The smell of early lilies and sweet rain filled the silence.
    In summertime the courtyard shimmered with bees and the laughter of children. In fall it burned with all the colors of maple and Autumn Joy sedum. In winter the courtyard slept gracefully, like a black-and-white cat storing up energy for the tumult of spring.
    Lianne had seen the courtyard in all its moods, but never had she joined the Tang women who sat and laughed and talked while their children chased butterflies and each other. It wasn’t the language barrier that kept Lianne apart. It was the much more subtle, much more insurmountable social barrier. She was an employee, not an acknowledged member of the Tang family.
    A distant, aged Tang cousin who also acted as houseboy waited by the side door. He called out to her in Chinese. “Uncle Wen is still sleeping. The celebration last night tired him. Daniel will help you replace the jade.”
    Lianne’s heart hesitated, then beat steadily again. Daniel was Johnny’s Number Three Son. Her half brother. She had seen him at a distance many times but had never beenwithin speaking range of him. In truth, other than the party last night, Lianne couldn’t remember a time when she had been close enough to her half brothers to have a conversation.
    Before she could refuse help, Daniel came rapidly down the stairs to the service entrance, where she had parked. Though Lianne had never met him, she had learned about him as she had learned about her other half siblings. Daniel had been raised in Hong Kong until he was ten, when he was sent to live with relatives in Los Angeles. At twenty-six, he had a fine arts degree from the University of Southern California, a law degree from Harvard, and utter ease with two very different cultures.
    But what struck Lianne was how much he looked like his father. Her father. Their father. He had inherited Johnny’s athletic body, handsome face, and strong hands. He was eight inches taller and seventy pounds heavier than she was.
    And a single look at his face told Lianne that Daniel despised her.
    “Open the trunk,” he said curtly. “I’ll put the jade back in the vault. You don’t have to come in.”
    Lianne forced her voice to be businesslike and nothing more. “That’s kind of you,” she said as she walked around to the trunk and opened it, “but it’s my responsibility to make sure everything is replaced exactly as Wen left it.”
    “Listen, Ms. Blakely, there’s no need for you to hang around waiting for Wen’s approval. Just send your bill to the Jade Trader. My grandfather doesn’t need you underfoot.”
    A rush of anger mingled with shame tightened Lianne’s throat; her half brother was treating her like a door-to-door insurance salesman. For an instant she couldn’t say anything. Then her chin came up and she met Daniel’s cold glance with one of her own.
    “Wen Zhi Tang gave me the honor and responsibility of handling the Jade Trader exhibit in Seattle,” she saidin a clipped voice. “That includes putting every piece of jade back into the vault myself. If that bothers you, don’t watch.”
    “You’d like that, wouldn’t you? Being by yourself with all that jade.”
    “It would hardly be the first time.”
    “I know. That’s what worries me.”
    Lianne went cold. “Are you implying that I can’t be trusted?”
    “Hey, you’re sharp, aren’t you? But I already suspected that. I knew it for damn sure a few months ago.”
    “What are you talking about?”
    “Save the innocent act for someone who doesn’t know where you came from,” Daniel said bluntly. “From now on, every time you walk into the Tang vault, you’re going to have me at your elbow. If I’m not here, you’re shit out of luck. And I’m not going to be here a lot of the time.”
    “Let’s go to Wen right now and—”
    “You’re through going to Wen,” Daniel said, cutting off Lianne’s words. “He’s tired and old. He deserves rest. From now on, you deal with me. I’m