Donovans 03 - Pearl Cove

translate.”
    Without turning away from Coco’s beautiful, sensual features, Hannah spoke to Archer. “Is she strong enough to chisel her way into the shed?”
    He looked at Coco, measuring the supple muscle beneath the soft skin, remembering the easy, lithe walk. “Yes.”
    “I no kill Len!” Coco said, her eyes bright with what might have been tears or simple fear.
    “But you saw who did,” Hannah said. It wasn’t a question. It was a summation of all the times she had turned around from any task in the pearl sheds or in the house and found Coco watching, watching. Always watching. “Who was it?”
    Coco laughed bitterly. “I tell and die like Len, trapped and alone.”
    “You’ll die the same way if you don’t tell,” Hannah said. “The Red Phoenix Triad isn’t famous for its compassion.”
    Coco paled beneath her golden skin. “You know?”
    Hannah’s smile showed teeth and no mercy. “I know. We met Yin in a triad hangout in Seattle.”
    “Stupid.”
    “It had its moments,” Hannah agreed dryly. “Who killed Len, Coco?”
    She shook her head.
    “Ten thousand dollars American,” Archer said. “Even if you did it yourself.”
    Coco laughed, but it was a sad, bitter sound. “I? I love Len.”
    Hannah’s eyes widened.
    “Is shock to you,” Coco said. Her full mouth turned down at the corners. “He is . . . fascination. Cold like snake. Danger like cyclone. Pain. Hate. He is all.”
    Hannah could only stare. The very things that had driven her away from Len had lured Coco. “He should have married you.”
    Coco’s shrug was as fluid as the sea. “Then he no more have you. A cat with a bird, to play, you understand? He take one pretty feather at a time.”
    “Yes,” Hannah said in a low voice. “I understand. He used my sense of honor to keep me within his reach. I knew it and I stayed anyway. I owed him my life. I thought I could change his for the better. I was wrong.” She felt the heat of Archer’s hands on her shoulders and wanted to lean against him. “The day Len died, Coco. What did you see?”
    “Qing Lu Yin,” she said simply. “He want the secret of the pearls. He hurt Len—fists, club, you understand?”
    “Yes,” Archer said. “Go on.”
    “Len smile. Make Yin crazy. Careless. Len move fast.” She made a striking motion with her hand again. “Try to cut throat of Yin with oyster shell. Len strong, ver’ ver’ strong, but Yin not cripple. He kick the wheelchair upside down and put knife in Len’s ribs.”
    Hannah went still but didn’t interrupt. She believed Coco. Only Archer had ever mentioned the knife.
    “Yin hammer shell in same place, hide knife wound. You understand?” Coco asked.
    “Yes,” Hannah said.
    “Len still live. He try to pull shell away. Too weak. Yin take all pearls he dare and run.”
    “Yin is good at running,” Hannah said, remembering the Dragon Moon café.
    “What did you do?” Archer asked when Hannah was silent.
    “I go to cottage, wait for big wind.”
    “You know the pearls that Len called the Black Trinity?” Archer asked.”
    “Oui.”
    “You know that Hannah would recognize them if they ever came on the market?”
    “Oui,” Coco said. “He hate her for that. Her eyes, better than his. Better than mine.”
    “You know what would happen if the Black Trinity was ever traced back to you?” Archer asked.
    She looked in his eyes and she knew. “Oui,” she whispered.
    “Tell me what happened to the Black Trinity,” Archer said, “and I won’t ask how Angelique Dupres’s Tahitian pearl farm ended up with a fortune in Pearl Cove’s new crop of pearls. The same pearls that went missing when Len died.”
    Hannah stiffened and tried to turn toward Archer. His hands tightened, holding her as she was.
    “You didn’t tell me,” she said.
    “I hoped I wouldn’t have to.”
    “Why?”
    “No one likes being betrayed by the people around them.” His hands became subtly caressing. “You’ve had enough pain. I didn’t want to be the one to bring you more. But that seems to be what I’m best at. Bringing you pain.” He lifted his hands and pinned Coco with a cold look.
    She spread her hands in an unconscious gesture of pleading. “I no see Black Trinity when Len die. I no see after. Pearls, they everywhere, you understand? Like—like sea-foam after storm. Yin take many. I take rest and send to sister to sell. Better Coco than the storm, yes?”
    “Have you stolen enough from Hannah for your