The Chinese Bell Murders

Twenty-second Chapter:

Judge Dee slowly walked on to the first courtyard.

It was brightly illuminated now by dozens of large paper lanterns bearing the inscription 'The Tribunal of Poo-yang.'

Under the supervision of Sergeant Hoong and Chiao Tai the constables were busy adding pulleys to the cross beam of the bell tower.

When he saw the judge, Sergeant Hoong hurriedly came over to enquire about further developments.

Judge Dee noticed with satisfaction that the sergeant looked none the worse for his adventure under the bronze bell.

The judge described Lin Fan's arrest and the secret passage connecting his mansion with the temple.

While the sergeant assisted the judge in putting on his robes, Judge Dee said to Chiao Tai:

'Go to the farm of Lin Fan with five constables! There you will find the four constables who took over from you. Arrest all inhabitants of the farm. Also the people on the junk that is lying moored to the jetty. It is a long night for you, Chiao Tai, but I want all of Lin Fan's henchmen safely under lock and key!'

Chiao Tai answered cheerfully that he liked the excitement. He immediately began selecting five sturdy men from among the constables.

Judge Dee walked over to the bell tower.

The pulleys had been put in place. The heavy bell was slowly hauled up by strong cables till it hung in its normal position about three feet above the floor.

For a few moments Judge Dee surveyed the trampled area underneath. The bones had been scattered during the frantic half hour they spent trying to escape from their bronze prison.

'Chiao Tai has given you my instructions,' he said to the headman of the constables. 'I repeat that after you have collected the bones, the dirt and dust under the bell must be sifted with the greatest care. You may find other important clues. Thereafter you will help to search Lin Fan's mansion. Leave four constables on guard duty. Report to me tomorrow morning!'

Then Judge Dee and Sergeant Hoong left the Temple of Transcendental Wisdom. Their sedan chairs awaited them in the yard. They were carried back to the tribunal.

The next morning introduced a fine autumn day.

Judge Dee issued orders to the archivist to search in the land register for material relating to the Temple of Transcendental Wisdom and Lin Fan's mansion. Thereafter he had a late breakfast in the garden behind his private office, attended by Sergeant Hoong.

When the judge was once more seated at his desk and tea had been served, Ma Joong and Chiao Tai entered.

Judge Dee ordered the clerk to bring them a cup of tea also and then asked Ma Joong:

Well, was there any difficulty in apprehending Lin Fan's men?'

'All went very smoothly,' Ma Joong said with a smile. 'I found the steward lying unconscious where Your Honour had knocked him down. I turned him and Lin Fan over to the constables. Then we searched the entire mansion for others but found only one man, a burly ruffian who started to act a bit rough. With a little persuasion, however, he soon let himself be trussed up nicely. Thus we have four prisoners: Lin Fan, his steward, his henchman, and the old gatekeeper.'

'I have brought in one prisoner,' Chiao Tai added. 'It turned out that three people were living on the farm. All of them are simple Cantonese peasants. On the junk we found five men, that is to say the captain and four boatmen. The boatmen are just stupid sailors, but the captain has all the marks of a hardened criminal. I placed the peasants and the sailors in custody at the warden's house, but the captain I had taken to our jail here.'

Judge Dee nodded.

'Call the headman of the constables!' he ordered the clerk. 'Then go to Mrs Liang's house and tell her that I wish to see her as soon as possible.'

The headman respectfully greeted the judge and then remained standing in front of the desk. He seemed tired, but he had an unmistakably smug look on his face.

'In accordance with Your Honour's instructions,' he began importantly, 'we have collected the bones of Liang Ko-fa and placed them in a basket now in the tribunal. We carefully sieved the dirt under the bell but discovered nothing. Then, under my personal supervision, the entire mansion of Lin Fan was thoroughly inspected and the rooms sealed. Finally I myself examined the water passage under the trapdoor.

'I discovered a small flat-bottomed boat moored under the archway. I took a torch and poled it all along the passage. It ends in the river, just outside the Watergate. There I found another stone arch in the river bank, hidden under the overhanging bushes. This arch is so low that the boat could not pass underneath, but if one jumped into the water, one could easily wade through.'

Caressing his whiskers, Judge Dee gave the headman a sour look.

' You, my friend,' he said, 'showed remarkable zeal so late in the night! I regret that your exploration of the water passage did not yield any hidden treasure. I take it, however, that in Lin Fan's mansion there were a few small things lying about that you could transfer to your capacious sleeves. But restrain yourself, my man, lest some day you find yourself in trouble. You may go now!'

The headman hurriedly took his leave.

'That greedy rascal,' Judge Dee said to his lieutenants, 'brought to light at least how the steward succeeded in leaving the city the other day without attracting the attention of the guards on the Watergate. He evidently went by this underground passage and waded under the archway into the river.'

As he spoke the archivist came in. He bowed and placed a sheaf of documents before the judge saying:

'Following Your Honour's instructions early this morning, I searched the files of the land registration. I located these documents relating to Mr Lin Fan's possessions.'

'The first document,' he continued soberly, 'is dated five years ago and records Mr Lin Fan's purchase of the mansion, the temple, and the farm. All three belonged originally to Mr Ma, the landowner who now lives outside the eastern city gate.

'This temple had been the headquarters of a secret, unorthodox sect, which had been suspended by the authorities. Mr Ma's mother firmly believed in Taoist magic. She installed six priests in the temple and had them read masses for her dead husband. In the deep of night she had the monks perform magical séances, during which the souls of the dead were called up and she could converse with them by means of the planchette. She had a passage built between the two compounds so that she could visit the temple at any time.

'Six years ago the old lady died. Mr Ma closed the mansion but allowed the priests to stay in the temple on the understanding that they kept it in good repair. The priests could provide their own living by reading masses and selling amulets to the devout.'

The archivist paused and cleared his throat. Then he continued:

'Five years ago Mr Lin made enquiries about a site in the north-west corner of the city. Shortly after that he purchased the mansion, the temple and the farm, paying a good price. This is the deed of sale. Your Honour will find a detailed ground plan attached.'

The judge glanced through the deed and then unfolded the map. Calling his lieutenants to his desk, he said:

'One can well imagine that Lin Fan was prepared to pay a high price! This property was eminently suited for his smuggling plans.'

Judge Dee's long finger traced across the map.

'You see on this map,' he said, 'that at the time of the purchase the passage between the two compounds consisted of an open stairway; the iron door and the secret trapdoor were later added by Lin Fan. I don't see any indication of the underground water passage. For that we shall have to refer to older maps.'

'The second document,' the head of the archives continued, 'is dated two years ago. It is an official communication signed by Lin Fan, addressed to this tribunal He reports that he has found out that the monks do not keep their vows and lead a dissolute life, engaging in drinking and gambling; that he has therefore ordered them to vacate the temple and that he requests that the compound be sealed by the authorities."

'That,' Judge Dee observed, 'must have been when Lin Fan discovered that Mrs Liang was on his track! I assume that when he told the monks to leave he gave them a good reward. It is impossible to trace such vagrant monks, so we shall never know what part they took in Lin Fan's secret activities, or whether they knew about the murder under the bell.' Addressing the archivist he added: 'I shall keep these documents here for reference. You'll now find me an old map of this city that shows the situation about one hundred years ago.'

When the head of the archives had gone, a clerk came in with a sealed letter. He respectfully handed it to the judge adding that it had been delivered by a captain from the garrison headquarters.

Judge Dee broke the seal and glanced through the contents. He handed it to Sergeant Hoong saying:

'This is the official notification that our garrison has returned to the city this morning and has resumed its duties.'

He settled back in his arm-chair and ordered a fresh pot of hot tea. 'Let Tao Gan come here also,' he added. 'I want to discuss with all of you how to initiate the case against Lin Fan.'

After Tao Gan had come in, all sipped a cup of hot tea. Just when Judge Dee put his cup down the headman came in and announced that Mrs Liang had arrived.

The judge shot a quick look at his lieutenants.

'This will be a difficult interview!' he muttered.

Mrs Liang seemed much better than the last time Judge Dee had seen her. Her hair was neatly done up and there was an alert look in her eyes.

When Sergeant Hoong had made her sit down in a comfortable arm-chair in front of the desk, Judge Dee said gravely:

'Madam, I have at last found sufficient evidence for arresting Lin Fan. At the same time I discovered another murder committed by him, here in Poo-yang.'

'Did you find Liang Ko-fa's body?' the old lady exclaimed.

'Whether it was your grandson, Madam, I can't say yet,' Judge Dee replied. 'Only a skeleton was left, and there was nothing to identify it.'

'It must be his!' Mrs Liang cried out. 'Lin Fan planned to kill him as soon as he learned that we had traced him to Poo-yang! Let me tell you that when we escaped from the burning redoubt, a falling roof-beam struck Liang Ko-fa's left arm. I had the broken bone set as soon as we were safe, but it never healed properly.'

The judge looked at her thoughtfully, slowly caressing his side-whiskers. Then he said:

'I regret to inform you, Madam, that the skeleton did indeed show a badly-healed fracture of the bone of the left upper arm.'

'I knew that Lin Fan murdered my grandson!' Mrs Liang wailed. She started trembling all over, tears came flowing down her hollow cheeks. Sergeant Hoong quickly gave her a cup of hot tea.

Judge Dee waited till she had composed herself. Then he spoke:

'You may rest assured, Madam, that this murder shall now be avenged. I hate to cause you more distress, but I must ask you a few more questions. The records you gave me state that when you and Liang Ko-fa had escaped from the burning redoubt, you found shelter with a distant relative. Could you give me a more detailed account of how you managed to elude the attacking ruffians, and how you made your way to that relative?'

Mrs Liang looked at the judge with a vacant stare. Suddenly she started to sob convulsively.

'It… it was so horrible!' she brought out with difficulty. 'I don't… I don't want to think of it… I____________________' Her voice trailed off.

Judge Dee gave a sign to the sergeant. He put his arm round Mrs Liang's shoulders and led her away.

'It's no use!' the judge said resignedly.

Tao Gan pulled at the three long hairs on his left cheek. Then he asked curiously:

'Why are those details of Mrs Liang's flight from the burning redoubt important, Your Honour?'

'There are a few points,' Judge Dee answered, 'that puzzle me. But we can discuss that later. Let's now see first what action we can take against Lin Fan. He is an extremely astute scoundrel, we'll have to formulate our charge with the utmost care.'

'It seems to me, Your Honour,' Sergeant Hoong said, 'that the murder of Liang Ko-fa provides the best approach. That's the most serious charge, if we can convict him on that we needn't bother about his attack on us or about his smuggling!'

The three others nodded their approval, but the judge made no comment. He seemed deep in thought. At last he said:

'Lin Fan had ample time to obliterate the traces of his salt smuggling. I don't think we could assemble sufficient evidence for getting him on that charge. Besides, even if I could make him confess to the smuggling, he'll slip through our fingers. For cases of infringing on the State monopoly are beyond my jurisdiction, they can be dealt with only by the Provincial Court. And that gives Lin Fan time and opportunity to mobilise his friends and relatives on his behalf, and have them distribute bribes wherever they can.

'Further, his attempt at trapping us under the bell is, of course, assault with murderous intent. And on an Imperial official to boot! I must look up the Code, if memory serves such an assault is even termed a crime against the State. Perhaps there's a good opening there.'

He pensively tugged at Ms moustache.

'But doesn't the murder of Liang Ko-fa provide a much better way of attack?' Tao Gan asked.

Judge Dee slowly shook his head.

'Not with the evidence we have at our disposal now,' he answered. "We don't know when and how that murder was committed. The records state that Lin Fan closed the temple because of the dissolute behaviour of the monks. He may give a very plausible explanation of the murder, saying, for instance, that Liang Ko-fa while spying on him struck up an acquaintance with the monks. And that it was presumably they who killed him after a gambling quarrel and concealed his body under the bell.'

Ma Joong looked unhappy.

'Since we know,' he said impatiently, 'that Lin Fan is guilty of Heaven knows how many crimes, why bother about legal technicalities? Let's put him in the screws and see whether he won't confess!'

'You forget,' Judge Dee said, 'that Lin Fan is an elderly man. If we subject him to severe torture, he may well die on our hands, and then we would be in serious trouble. No, our only hope is to get more direct proof. During the afternoon session of the tribunal I shall first hear Lin Fan's steward, and the captain of his boat. They are sturdy fellows, if necessary we shall question them with legal severities.

'Now you, Ma Joong, will go with Sergeant Hoong and Tao Gan to the Lin mansion, and institute a thorough search for incriminating documents or other clues. Also____________________'

Suddenly the door burst open and the warden of the jail came rushing in. He seemed very upset.

He knelt in front of Judge Dee's desk and knocked his forehead on the floor several times in succession.

'Speak up, man!' the judge shouted angrily. 'What has happened?'

'This unworthy person deserves to die!' the warden wailed. 'Early this morning Lin Fan's steward engaged one of my stupid guards in conversation, and the blockhead told him that Lin Fan had been arrested and would be tried for murder. Just now when I inspected the jail I found the steward dead.'

Judge Dee crashed his fist on the table.

'You dogshead!' he barked, 'didn't you search the prisoner for hidden poison and didn't you take his belt away from him?'

'All routine precautions were taken, Your Excellency!' the warden cried. 'The fellow bit his tongue through and bled to death!'

The judge heaved a deep sigh. Then he said in a calmer voice:

'Well, you could not help it. That man is a ruffian of unusual courage, and if such a man decides to kill himself there is little one can do to prevent it. Go back to the jail and have the junk captain chained hands and feet to the wall. Also put a wooden gag between his teeth. I can't afford to lose another witness!'

When the warden had taken his leave, the archivist came back. He unrolled a long scroll, yellowed by age. It was a pictorial map of Poo-yang, painted one hundred and fifty years before.

Pointing to the north-west section of the city Judge Dee said with satisfaction:

'The water passage is clearly marked here! At that time it was an open watercourse, feeding an artificial lake on the site now occupied by the Taoist temple. Later it was covered up, and Lin Fan's mansion was built over it. Lin Fan must have accidentally discovered this subterranean waterway, and found that the house was even more suitable for his smuggling than he had surmised!'

The judge rolled up the map again. Looking at his assistants he said gravely:

'Better be on your way now! I do hope that you find some clues in Lin Fan's mansion, for we sorely need them!'

Sergeant Hoong, Ma Joong and Tao Gan quickly took their leave, but Chiao Tai made no move to depart. He had taken no part in the discussion, but he had been listening intently to every word said. Pensively pulling at his small moustache he now spoke up:

'If I may speak frankly, Your Honour, I received the impression that Your Honour is loath to discuss the murder of Liang Ko-fa.'

Judge Dee shot him a quick look.

'Your impression is correct, Chiao Tail' he replied calmly. 'I consider discussion of that murder premature. I have a theory about it, but so fantastic that I can hardly believe it. Some time I shall explain it to you and the others. But not now.'

He took a document up from his desk and started reading it. Chiao Tai rose and took his leave.

As soon as the judge was alone he threw the paper on the table. He took from his drawer the thick roll with documents.relating to the case Liang versus Lin. He started reading it, his forehead creased in a deep frown.