Necklace and Calabash: A Chinese Detective Story (Judge Dee Mysteries) Page 13

  After Judge Dee had emptied several cups of tea, Captain Siew came and handed the yellow roll to him. The judge rose, lit the incense in the bronze burner, and laid the yellow roll in front of it, the place of honour reserved for Imperial edicts. The captain opened the bundle wrapped up in red silk. Judge Dee exchanged his skull-cap for the high winged cap of black velvet, braided with gold, the front decorated with the golden insignia of his present exalted rank. After he had draped the broad yellow stole round his shoulders, he resumed his seat and told the captain the audience could begin.

  The double-doors were thrown open, and the Superintendent strode inside, magnificent in his wide ceremonial robe of violet brocade, embroidered in gold, and wearing a high, three-layered cap on his head. He was followed by the colonel, resplendent in his gilt coat of mail with the beautifully chiselled breast- and shoulder-plates. Both made a low bow, the long coloured plumes on the colonel's golden helmet sweeping the floor. Then they advanced to the front of the bench, and knelt on the stone floor.

  ‘You may rise,’ Judge Dee told them curtly. ‘This is a quite informal audience. You are allowed, therefore, to take those armchairs at the bench. The captain shall stand by the door and see to it that we are not disturbed.’

  His two guests seated themselves stiffly. Colonel Kang laid his broadsword across his knees. Judge Dee slowly emptied his teacup, then he sat up straight and spoke:

  ‘His Imperial Majesty has deigned to charge me with the investigation of some irregularities that have recently occurred in the Water Palace—irregularities culminating in the disappearance of an Imperial Treasure, the pearl necklace belonging to Her Imperial Highness the Third Princess. You two and the Chief Eunuch, being the three highest officials in the Water Palace, are held responsible. I need not, I trust, remind you of the extreme gravity of the situation.’

  The two men bowed.

  ‘I have now completed my investigation and we shall presently proceed to the palace where I shall order the Chief Eunuch to request an audience with Her Imperial Highness, so as to enable me to present my report. However, it so happens that the theft of the necklace is narrowly linked with another atrocious crime committed here in Rivertown. In order to clarify the complex situation, I want first to dispose of that murder case in your presence.’ Rising he added, ‘I invite you to accompany me to the inn of the Kingfisher.’

  XIX

  In the empty street two colossal, brocade-curtained palankeens stood waiting, each manned by a dozen bearers. In front of them, and behind, platoons of guardsmen had taken up position, armed to the teeth and holding their long halberds high.

  Judge Dee entered the Superintendent's palankeen and motioned him to step inside too. Not one word was said during the short journey to the Kingfisher.

  Mr Wei stood in the hall together with a dozen or so guests. They were eagerly discussing who could be the high Imperial official visiting Rivertown. The judge noticed among them a thin, rather handsome girl, quietly dressed in a pearl-grey gown. By her side stood an elegant-looking youngster, wearing a black scholar's cap. He had a moon-guitar under his arm, in a brocade cover. The judge surmised that this was the musical couple that occupied the room below his. He turned to Captain Siew, who had rushed ahead to the inn on foot together with his stolid lieutenant. ‘Clear the hall!’ Judge Dee ordered. ‘Have your men fetch three armchairs, and place them against the back wall.’

  The judge seated himself in the chair in the middle, and motioned the Superintendent and Colonel Kang to take the chairs on his right and left. Then he told the captain: ‘Lead the innkeeper Wei Cheng before me!’

  Two guardsmen led the innkeeper inside. He gaped at the three high officials in astonishment. The soldiers pressed him down on his knees.

  ‘Two weeks ago,’ the judge informed his companions, ‘this man reported that his wife had absconded with a secret lover.’

  The Superintendent tugged angrily at his grey goatee.

  ‘Are you quite sure, Excellency, that this sordid affair of a lowly innkeeper really does concern us, the highest…’

  ‘Quite sure,’ Judge Dee interrupted. He addressed Wei harshly:

  ‘You are a miser, Wei. In itself that is not a crime. But it may lead to a crime. In your case, it led to a heinous murder. You can't bear to part with your money, Wei, nor could you bear to part with your wife. You didn't love her, but she was your property, and you were not going to let others take your property away from you. You thought that your cashier Tai Min was making eyes at her.’ He pointed at the lattice screen. ‘Sitting there at your desk, Wei, you kept a close watch on your wife and your cashier, and you eavesdropped on their talks, here by the counter. When you discovered that Tai Min had marked a route on the map kept in the drawer there, you concluded that he was planning to elope with your wife. I think your conclusion was wrong, but I can't prove that, for the cashier is dead. And so is your wife. For two weeks ago you murdered her.’

  The innkeeper raised his haggard face.

  ‘It isn't true!’ he shouted. ‘The vile creature left me, I swear it! She…’

  ‘Don't make any more mistakes, Wei!’ the judge barked. ‘You have made two already, and those suffice to take you to the scaffold. You'll be beheaded, because you killed your wife without a shred of evidence that she had committed adultery. Your first mistake was that you nagged at your wife so persistently about spending too much money on herself that she often accepted sweetmeats from your colleague in the Nine Clouds. He had given her a few the same evening you murdered her. Your second mistake was that you didn't destroy all her clothes. Here again it was your grasping mind that caused the mistake. Instead of burning her clothes, you kept them to be sold to a pawnbroker. But no eloping woman will leave without some of her best robes, and certainly not without taking her favourite red jacket, which she knew suited her so well.’ The judge got up. ‘I shall now take you to the storeroom behind this inn, gentlemen. Captain, let your men seize the accused and follow me with the lieutenant.’

  Judge Dee walked through the innkeeper's office and crossed the backyard. The hens in the chicken-run began to cackle excitedly, frightened by so many persons in shining garb appearing among the scrawny trees and tall weeds.

  The judge went into the musty storehouse. He pushed a few broken chairs out of his way and stepped up to the pile of hemp sacks he had rested on the evening before. The ants that had been bothering him then were still there. They came crawling in droves out of a cracked tile in the floor, and marched in a regular army formation across the sacks to disappear into a small hole in the brick wall where a fragment of cement had dropped out. Judge Dee righted himself and turned round.

  The Superintendent had folded his arms in the capacious sleeves of his gorgeous robe. His arrogant expression clearly indicated that he thoroughly disapproved of the proceedings, but resignedly submitted to superior authority. Colonel Kang darted a questioning glance at Captain Siew, who raised his eyebrows and looked at the lieutenant. But Liu's eyes were riveted on Judge Dee. Wei was standing between two guardsmen, at the door. His eyes were on the floor. The judge pointed at the wall above the sacks and said:

  ‘Someone tampered with this section of the wall. In an amateurish manner. Fetch me a hammer and a crowbar from the kitchen, Liu!’ Pensively smoothing his beard, he reflected that the new white cement among the bricks had escaped him the previous night, in the bad light. He stared down at the empty bag he had stumbled over. Evidently it had contained chalk. As to the terrible nightmare he had when sleeping there… Doubtfully he shook his head.

  As soon as Liu had loosened a few bricks, a nauseating stench filled the room. The Superintendent stepped back quickly, covering his nose and mouth with his sleeve. Then the lieutenant brought his weight to bear on the crowbar, and a mass of bricks came crashing to the floor. The innkeeper swung round to the door, but the guardsmen grabbed his arms.

  In the hole in the wall was the shape of a standing woman, dressed in a blue robe stained wi
th chalk and crusted cement, her head at an unnatural angle on her breast, the long hair hanging down in a tangled mass. The innkeeper screamed as the corpse began to sag and slowly collapsed onto the floor.

  Judge Dee bent down and silently pointed at the two half-decayed sweetmeats that had dropped out of her left sleeve, black with crowding ants.

  ‘I admit that you didn't have much time, Wei,’ he said coldly, ‘but to immure the dead body without having inspected her dress was a bad blunder. The sweetmeats attracted the ants, and those industrious insects provided me with a clue to where you had hidden the body. Speak up, how did you murder your wife?’

  ‘It… it was the time of the evening rice,’ Wei stammered, his head down. ‘All the servants were busy serving the guests in their rooms. I strangled her, in my office. Then I carried her here… She…’ He burst into sobs.

  ‘In due time, Siew’ Judge Dee said, ‘you'll arraign Wei on the charge of premeditated murder. You'll see that the murderer is locked up in jail, Liu.’ He turned round on his heels, motioning the others to follow him. While they were crossing the hall he pointed at the counter.

  ‘Take both drawers out, Siew, and bring them to the court hall. With all contents intact, mind you! We now return to Headquarters, gentlemen.’

  Inside the palankeen the Superintendent spoke, for the first time.

  ‘A remarkable example of deduction, Excellency. However, it was only a crude crime of violence, perpetrated in a low-class setting. May I ask what bearing it has upon the grave matters of the palace we are concerned with?’

  ‘You shall learn that presently,’ the judge replied evenly.

  XX

  When they were back in the court hall, Judge Dee ordered the captain to place the two drawers on the bench. Then he told him to fetch a large bowl filled with a lukewarm cleansing liquid, and a piece of soft white silk.

  Seated at the bench, the judge poured himself a cup of tea. The three men waited in silence till the captain reappeared. When Siew had placed a porcelain bowl and a piece of silk on the bench, Judge Dee said:

  ‘I now come to the question of the necklace. It was stolen by Tai Min, cashier of the Kingfisher. He had been hired for that purpose by a notorious gangster, temporarily residing in this town.’

  Colonel Kang sat up. He asked tensely:

  ‘How was it stolen, Excellency?’

  ‘The gangster's superiors had provided the cashier with precise instructions as to how the necklace could be stolen from outside: namely, by swimming across the moat to the north-west watch-tower, then walking along the ledge at the base of the north palace wall and scaling the wall, thus reaching the pavilion of Her Highness. The necklace happened to be lying on the side-table to the left of the moon-door, and the thief had but to stretch out his hand to take it. I trust, Kang, that you'll take the necessary measures at once to eliminate this serious gap in the security provisions.’

  Colonel Kang bowed, then he leaned back in his chair with a deep sigh. Judge Dee resumed:

  ‘After he had stolen the necklace, the cashier decided not to hand it over to the gangster who had hired him. He wanted to keep it, and sell the pearls one by one.’

  ‘An outrageous crime!’ the Superintendent exclaimed angrily. ‘Lese-majesty! That man ought to have been…’

  ‘He was a simple-minded youngster,’ the judge said quietly. ‘He didn't realize the implications of what he was doing. He wanted money, in order to win the love of the woman who he thought was waiting for him in a village in the neighbouring district. Let us not judge him too harshly. His life was grey and dull, and he longed for love and happiness in a far-away place, beyond the mountains. Many have dreamed such dreams.' Stroking his beard, Judge Dee cast a glance at Colonel Kang's impassive face. He resumed in a businesslike manner, ‘When he had come back from the palace, the cashier paid a brief visit to the Kingfisher inn, then rode off. But he was waylaid by the gangster's men, and when he told them he didn't have the necklace, he was tortured. He died before he could reveal where he had hidden it. Captain Siew, I shall now hear your testimony.’

  The captain knelt down at once.

  ‘Report what you found on the dead body of Tai Min, after it had been discovered in the river!’

  ‘He only wore his jacket, Excellency. In the sleeves we found a package of his name-cards, a map of this province, a string of thirty-two cash, and his abacus.’

  ‘That's all, Captain.’ Leaning forward, the judge resumed, ‘Tai Min hit upon a very simple but very effective hiding-place for the necklace, gentlemen. He cut the string, and concealed the loose pearls in an object which he as cashier, was handling every day, and which everybody would therefore take for granted. This!’

  He took the abacus from the drawer in front of him, and held it up.

  As his two guests gave the counting-frame an incredulous look, Judge Dee snapped the wooden frame of the abacus and let the dark brown beads glide from their parallel wire rods into the porcelain bowl. Then he began to shake the bowl, making the beads roll about in the lukewarm lye. While doing so he went on:

  ‘Prior to replacing the original wooden beads by the pearls, he had covered each pearl with a layer of brown gum, the sort cashiers use to stick bills together. The gum hardened, and even a night in the river did not dissolve it. This warm lye, however, should prove more effective.’

  The judge picked two beads out of the bowl. He rubbed them dry carefully on the piece of silk, then showed them to the others in the palm of his open hand: two perfectly rounded pearls, shimmering with a pure white gleam. He resumed gravely:

  ‘Here in this bowl repose the pearls of the Imperial necklace, gentlemen. Presently I shall verify in your presence whether all the eighty-four are there. Captain, fetch a silk thread and a needle!’

  The Superintendent stared at the bowl, his thin lips compressed. Colonel Kang looked steadily at Judge Dee's impassive face, his mailed fists clenching the sword across his knees.

  Captain Siew came back in a surprisingly short time. Standing at the bench, he cleaned the pearls, then threaded them with his thick but very nimble fingers. After the judge had counted them and found that all were there, he put the necklace in his sleeve and said:

  ‘The gangsters who searched Tai Min's body went as far as slitting his belly open, but they never gave the abacus so much as a second glance. For one expects a cashier to carry an abacus. It was the most obvious hiding-place, and therefore the best.’

  ‘If the abacus was found on the cashier's dead body,’ the Superintendent said in his measured voice, ‘how did it get back to the counter of the inn?’

  Judge Dee gave him a sour look.

  ‘I put it back there myself,’ he replied curtly, ‘without realizing what it really was. It is true that at that time I did not yet know that a pearl necklace was missing, but I should have remembered it afterwards. I discovered it late—but just in time.’ He rose, turned round, and made a bow in front of the wall-table. Lifting the yellow roll in both hands, he told the captain, ‘You will go back to the inn now, and wind up affairs there.’ And to the two others: ‘We proceed to the Water Palace.’

  As soon as the cortège had crossed the broad marble bridge across the moat, the monumental palace gate was thrown open and the palankeens were carried inside.

  In the first courtyard the two rows of guardsmen lined up there presented arms. Judge Dee leaned out of the window and beckoned the officer in command.

  ‘When I was leaving here the night before last in my guise of Doctor Liang, my sword was taken from the black palankeen assigned to me. You'll see to it that it is located at once. It can be recognized by two characters inlaid in gold in the blade, reading “Rain Dragon”.’ As the officer saluted smartly, the judge told the Superintendent: ‘Now we'll go directly to your office.’

  They descended from the palankeen in front of the lofty hall. The judge beckoned Colonel Kang, then strode inside. By the Superintendent's desk his councillor was talking in a subdued voi
ce to three courtiers. They knelt down at once.

  Judge Dee pushed the yellow roll into his robe and spoke:

  ‘Rise and report about the condition of the Lady Hydrangea!’

  The councillor scrambled to his feet and made a low bow, his hands respectfully folded in his sleeves.

  ‘The attending physician reported, Excellency, that the Lady Hydrangea was suffering from a sudden attack of brain fever, not uncommon in this hot and moist climate. She was visited by terrible hallucinations. After sedatives had been administered, however, she fell into a deep sleep. This morning she had so much improved that she could be conveyed back from the dispensary to the apartments of Her Imperial Highness.’

  The judge nodded. ‘Where is the safe?’

  The councillor hesitated but Judge Dee caught his quick glance at the flower painting on the wall. He went there and pulled the picture aside. Pointing at the square door of solid iron embedded in the wall, he ordered the Superintendent: ‘Open up!’

  Seated at the high desk, Judge Dee went through the bundles of papers he had taken from the safe, slowly tugging at his moustache. He found that the documents comprised confidential personnel reports and other important papers relating to the administration of the Water Palace. Nothing about the private affairs of the Third Princess, nor about the scheme of the necklace. He got up and put the papers back, motioning the Superintendent to lock the safe.

  ‘Lead me to your office, Kang, The Superintendent shall accompany us.’

  The colonel's office was simply furnished but scrupulously clean. Its broad window afforded a view of an extensive, walled-in yard where a few guardsmen were practising archery. Colonel Kang unlocked the iron strongbox on the floor and the judge inspected its contents. But again he could find nothing that looked suspect. Putting his hands behind his back, he told the colonel: