Chapter 1: A Mysterious Visit
It was the July 4 weekend, 1930 in River Heights, Wisconsin. Mary Jones, 18 years of age, having graduated from High School the month previously, sat in zazen in her garden, facing Master Wan, her wizened old Chinese master. "There's nothing more I can teach you," he told her in Chinese.
Mary was a petite and striking young lady. Her dusky blonde hair had natural red highlights. It was cut short and fell straight in a practical bob. Her left eye was a solid blue and her right eye was greener. She had the face of an angel: a bob of a nose, twinkling eyes, a wide and easy smile, and a generally cheery disposition.
She was petite at 5 foot 2 inches, and her body was 110 pounds of solid muscle from all her physical training. Her breasts were lean and nicely shaped, as were her hips, but people rarely noticed such features, since she was always modestly attired in clothes somewhat baggier and less revealing than the norm so that her athletic form would not be so obvious and attention-grabbing to others. Both because of her disposition and future career plans, she preferred to be able to walk around as unnoticed as possible.
"Thank you for everything, master," she replied to Master Wan in flawless Mandarin. He bowed and left her presence. She rose and entered her house through the garden door. Mary lived with her father, James Jones, a prominent attorney in the state, and their housekeeper Margaret Roberts. Mary's mother had died in the influenza epidemic when Mary was only six, and her father doted on his only daughter and bought her whatever her heart desired, however arcane, for example, language and martial arts lessons from Master Wan.
Mary's ultimate intention was to graduate from Vassar and then use her considerable influence and skills to become the first female G-Man, or the first G-Woman, she supposed. Her father would be terrified to know of her plans. He was very overprotective, considering his wife's early death, and feared for her out in the wide world, feared for her even going to Vassar. So for now, as she worked on his nerves and having him loosen his grip on his dear and only child, she was content to take a rest from school, spend time with friends, and perhaps solve some local mysteries, which was her hobby.
Their housekeeper, Margaret Roberts, was a young negro woman of 22 years who had been working for them since Mary went back to attend high school four years ago. Before Margaret's arrival, Mary had run every aspect of her father's household since she had been a young teenager. During those years before she attended high school and in fact until a few months ago, her father had worked long hours all over the state, a tragic figure making fortune after fortune. But in the last few months, her father's whole disposition had changed. He gave up drink and smoking, began smiling again and laughing easily, and was home punctually at five o'clock PM no matter how serious his caseload.
It didn't take a deductive genius of Mary's caliber to know why. Her father was in love with her friend Margaret, and based on Margaret's always-joyous disposition, it must be mutual. But to notice it did take her observational skills and lack of bias in her thinking towards her fellow homo sapiens of whatever skin tone. Although others overlooked Margaret, didn't even notice her really, Mary knew there was discreet romance afoot.
Mary adored them both, and so was happy for them both. However, she knew only too well of the stupid social conventions of her time that if their affair was uncovered, it could bring terrible shame and ostracism for both her father and Margaret and perhaps even more dire consequences. As a result, she took an active interest in their relationship so that she could be sure that no breach of their privacy occurred.
After her graduation from high school and likely near term disappearance to Vassar, the fine ladies of the community started nosing around her rich widower father, and for a time were always asking Mary to petition her father on their behalf, upon which Mary would always refuse, explaining, "I have begged my father for many years to bring a little joy into his life by taking another wife, but he has always refused me angrily, stating without equivocation that since my mother's death he would never love another woman.