The Chinese Lake Murders

Fourteenth Chapter

Late in the morning, shortly before the noon meal, Judge Dee opened a session of the tribunal. The court hall was crowded; the citizens of Han-yuan thought that a session held at such an unusual hour could only mean that important new facts had come to light regarding the two sensational cases that had occurred in their midst.

To their disappointment, however, the judge began at once with one of the matters he had been studying with Sergeant Hoong and Chiao Tai that morning, namely a quarrel between the fishermen and the management of the fish market regarding the methods of fixing prices. Judge Dee had representatives of both parties explain again their standpoint, then proposed a compromise that, after some discussion, was accepted.

He was just going to broach a taxation problem when loud shouts were heard outside. Ma Joong and Tao Gan entered, each dragging along a prisoner. They were followed by a dense crowd that had joined them on the way. The spectators stormed them with excited questions; the court hall was in confusion.

Judge Dee rapped his gavel three times.

"Silence and order!" he shouted in a thunderous voice. "If I hear one more word I'll have the hall cleared!"

All fell silent. No one wanted to miss the questioning of the incongruous pair that was now kneeling in front of the dais.

The judge looked at the prisoners with an impassive face. But inwardly he was far from calm, for he had immediately recognized the young man.

Ma Joong reported how he and Tao Gan had arrested the two men. Judge Dee listened, slowly stroking his beard. Then he addressed the youngster:

"State your name and profession!"

"This insignificant person," he replied in a low voice, "respectfully reports that his name is Djang Hoo-piao, a Candidate of Literature."

A murmur of astonishment rose from the hall. The judge angrily looked up and rapped his gavel. "This is my last warning!" he shouted. To the youngster he continued: "It was reported to this tribunal that Candidate Djang drowned himself in the lake four days ago!"

"Your Honor," the young man said in a faltering voice, "it distresses me beyond words that I, in my foolishness, created that wrong impression. I fully realize that I have acted with extreme rashness and showed a most reprehensible lack of decision. I can only hope that Your Honor, having taken cognizance of the special circumstances, will kindly view my case leniently."

Here he paused. Deep silence reigned in the court hall. Then he went on:

"Be it never given another man to undergo such a shattering transition from supreme bliss to deepest despair as I went through on my wedding night! United for one brief moment with my beloved, I found that my very love had killed her."

He swallowed with difficulty, then went on:

"Distracted with grief and horror, I stared at her still body. Then panic seized me. How was I to face my father, who had always tended me, his only son, with the greatest love and care-I, who had deprived him of the hope of seeing his family continued? The only thing I could do was to end my wretched life.

"I hastily put on a light robe and made for the door. But then I reflected that- the feast was still going on, and that the house was full of people. I would never be able to leave unnoticed. Suddenly I remembered that the old carpenter who had come the other day to mend the leaking roof of my room had left two boards of the ceiling loose. 'That'd be a useful place for storing valuables!' he had remarked to me. I stood on a tabouret, pulled myself up on a beam, and crept up in the loft. I replaced the boards and climbed out on the roof. Then I let myself down into the street.

"Since it was deep in the night there was no one about; I reached the bank of the lake unnoticed. I stood on a large boulder over the water and took off my silk girdle. I was going to strip, for I feared that my robe would keep me afloat and thus prolong my death struggle. Then, looking down in the black water I, miserable coward, became afraid. I remembered the macabre stories told about the foul creatures roaming in the water. I thought I could discern indistinct shapes moving about and malicious eyes staring up at me. Although it was very hot I stood there shivering; my teeth clattered in my mouth. I knew that I couldn't execute my plan.

"My girdle had dropped into the water, so I drew my robe close and ran away from the lake. I don't know where my feet took me. I came to myself only when I saw the gate of the Buddhist Temple looming ahead. Then that man there suddenly stepped out from the shadow and grabbed me by the shoulder. I thought he was a robber and tried to shake myself loose, but he hit me on the head and I lost consciousness. When I came to, I was lying in that horrible cave. The next morning that man immediately asked me my name, where I lived and what crime I had committed. I realized that he intended to blackmail me or my poor father, and refused. He just grinned and said that it was my good fortune that he had brought me to the cave, for the constables would never discover me there. He shaved my head despite my protests, saying that thus I would pass for his acolyte and that I wouldn't be recognized. He ordered me to gather firewood and cook rice gruel, then went away.

"I passed that entire day debating with myself what to do. Now I would decide to flee to some faraway place, then again I thought it would be better to go back home and face my father's wrath. At night the man came back drunk. Again he started questioning me. When I refused to give any information he bound me with rope and beat me mercilessly with a willow wand. Then he let me lie there on the floor, more dead than alive. I passed a terrible night. The next morning the monk took off the ropes, gave me a drink of water, and when I had somewhat recovered ordered me to gather firewood. I decided to flee from that cruel man. As soon as I had collected two bundles, I hurried away to the city. With my shaven head and tattered robe nobody recognized me on the road. I was well-nigh exhausted; my feet and back were sore. But the thought of seeing my father again gave me force, and I reached our street."

Candidate Djang paused to wipe the perspiration from his face. On a sign of the judge the headman gave him a cup of bitter tea. After he had drunk that he resumed:

"Who shall describe my horror when I saw constables of the tribunal in front of our door! That could mean only that I came too late; my father, unable to bear the shame I had brought over his house, had himself put an end to his life. I had to make certain, and slipped inside through the garden door, leaving my bundles of firewood in the street outside. I looked through the window of my bedroom. Then I saw a fearful apparition! The King of the Nether World was staring at me with burning eyes! The ghosts of Hell were persecuting me, the patricide! I lost my head completely. I ran out again into the deserted street and fled to the forest. By dint of much searching through the woods I at last found the cave.

"The man was waiting for me. When he saw me he flew into a violent rage. He stripped me and again beat me cruelly, shouting all the time that I should confess my crime. Finally I fainted, unable to bear the torture any longer.

"What followed then was a terrible nightmare. I got fever and lost all notion of place and time. The man would wake me up only to give me a drink of water, then beat me again. He never took off the ropes. Apart from this physical agony there was always present in my feverish brain the dreadful thought that I had killed the two people I cared for most, my father and my bride…"

His voice trailed off. He swayed on his feet, then sank unconscious to the floor, completely exhausted.

Judge Dee ordered Sergeant Hoong to have him carried to his private office. "Tell the coroner," he added, "to revive this unfortunate youth and dress his wounds. Then give him a sedative and supply him with a decent robe and cap. Report to me as soon as he has recovered. I want to ask him one question before we send him home."

The judge leaned forward and asked the monk coldly:

"What have you to say for yourself?"

Now the monk had, during his checkered career, always managed somehow or other to steer clear of the authorities. He was, therefore, unfamiliar with the severe rules of the tribunal and the drastic methods used to enforce those rules. During the latter part of Candidate Djang's statement he had been muttering angrily, but he had been silenced by vicious kicks from the headman. Now he spoke up in an insolent voice.

"I, the monk, want to protest against-"

Judge Dee gave a sign to the headman. He hit the monk in the face with the heavy handle of his whip, hissing:

"Speak respectfully to His Excellency!"

Livid with rage, the monk rose to attack the headman. But the constables were fully prepared for such an eventuality. They at once fell on him with their clubs.

"Report to me when the man has learned to speak civilly!" Judge Dee told the headman. Then he started to sort out the papers before him.

After some time the sloshing of water on the stone-flagged floor indicated that the constables were reviving the monk by throwing buckets of water over him. Presently the headman announced that he could be questioned.

Judge Dee looked over the bench. The monk's head was bleeding from a number of gashes and his left eye was closed. The other stared up at the judge with a dazed look.

"I have heard," the judge said, "that you told a few gamblers about your dealings with a man called Mao Loo. I now want the truth, and the complete truth. Speak up!"

The monk spat a mouthful of blood on the floor. Then he began with a thick tongue:

"The other day, after the first night watch, I decide to go to the city for a walk. Just as I am coming down the path behind the Buddhist Temple, I see a man digging a hole under a tree. The moon comes out and I see it's Mao Loo. He is in a mighty hurry, using his ax as hoe. I think Brother Mao is up to some dirty trick. But although I am ready for him any time with bare hands or with a knife, I don't like that ax. So I stay where I am.

"Well, he had made his hole; then he throws in his ax, and a wooden box. When he starts shoving the earth in it with his hands, I come out and say: 'Brother Mao, can I help you?' joking-like. He only says: 'You are out late monk!' I say: 'What are you burying there?' He says: 'Nothing but a few old tools. But over there in the temple there's something better!' He shakes his sleeve, and I hear the good money clinking. 'What about a share for a poor man?' I say. He looks me up and down and says: 'This is your lucky night, monk! The people there saw me running away with part of the loot and they came after me, but I gave them the slip in the wood. Now there's only one fellow left in the temple. You go there now quick and grab what you can before they return. I have all I can carry!' And off he goes."

The monk licked his swollen lips. On a sign from the judge the headman gave the monk a cup of bitter tea. He emptied it in one draught, spat, and continued:

"I first started digging just to make sure there's nothing there he forgot to tell me about. But the fellow hadn't lied, for once. I find only a box with old carpenter's tools. So I go to the temple. I ought to have known better! The only thing I find is an old bald-pate snoring in a bare cell, and a coffin in an empty hall! I know that the son of a dog has told me a story just to get rid of me. That's all, Judge. If you want to know more, just catch that bastard Mao Loo and ask him!"

Judge Dee caressed his side whiskers. Then he asked curtly:

"Do you confess having kidnaped and maltreated that young man!"

"I couldn't let him get away from your constables, could I?" the monk asked sullenly. "And you can't expect a man to hand out food and lodging for nothing. He refused to work, so naturally I had to encourage him a bit."

"Don't prevaricate!" the judge barked. "Do you admit having abducted him to your cave by force and beaten him repeatedly with a willow wand?"

The monk shot a sidelong glance at the headman, who was fingering his whip. He shrugged his shoulders and muttered: "All right, I confess!"

The judge gave a sign to the clerk, who read out his record of the monk's statement. The part about Candidate Djang was phrased more positively than the monk had expressed himself, but he agreed that it was correct and affixed his thumbmark to the document. Then the judge said:

"I can have you punished severely on more than one count. I shall defer my verdict, however, till I have verified your statement as to your meeting with Mao Loo. You'll now be put in jail to meditate on what will happen to you if I find that you have lied!"

When the monk was being led away, Sergeant Hoong came in and reported that Candidate Djang had somewhat recovered. Two constables led him in front of the bench. He was now clad in a neat blue robe, and wore a black cap that concealed his shaven head. Despite his haggard appearance one could still see that he was a handsome young man.

He listened carefully to the scribe reading out the record of his statement, then impressed his thumbmark on it. Judge Dee looked at him gravely. He spoke.

"As you have stated yourself, Candidate Djang, you have behaved very foolishly, and thereby seriously impeded the course of justice. However, I deem your harrowing experiences of the past few days sufficient punishment for that. Now I have good tidings for you. Your father is alive and he doesn't blame you. On the contrary, he was deeply shocked when he thought you were dead. He was accused in this tribunal of having been involved in your bride's death; that's why you saw the constables at your house. The apparition you saw in your room was I. In your confused state of mind I must have appeared somewhat forbidding to you.

"I regret to inform you that the corpse of your bride has unaccountably disappeared. This court is doing everything in its power to have it recovered so that it can be given a proper burial."

Candidate Djang covered his face with his hands and started to cry softly. Judge Dee waited a little, then pursued:

"Before I let you return home, I want to ask you one question. Were there, besides your father, other persons who knew that you used the pen name Student of the Bamboo Grove?"

Djang replied in a toneless voice:

"Only my bride, Your Honor. I only started to use that pen name after I had met her, and I therewith signed the poems I sent her."

Judge Dee sat back in his chair.

"That's all!" he said. "Your tormentor has been thrown into jail; in due time he'll receive adequate punishment. You can go now, Candidate Djang."

The judge ordered Ma Joong to bring the youngster home in a closed palanquin, to recall the constables on guard in his father's house and to tell him that the house arrest had been canceled.

Then he rapped his gavel and closed the session.

When Judge Dee was sitting again in his private office, he smiled bleakly and said to Tao Gan, who was sitting opposite him together with Sergeant Hoong and Chiao Tai:

"You did your job very well, Tap Gan! The case Liu versus Djang is now solved, save for the problem of the vanished corpse!"

"Mao Loo shall tell us all about that, Your Honor!" the sergeant said. "Evidently Mao Loo killed his cousin for his money. When we have arrested him, he'll tell us what he did with the corpse of Mrs. Djang!"

Judge Dee didn't seem to agree. He said slowly:

"Why would Mao Loo have removed the corpse? I could imagine that Mao Loo, after he had murdered his cousin somewhere near the temple, went to look inside for a place to hide the corpse, and then found the coffin in the side hall. To open it was easy; he had his cousin's toolbox. But why didn't he then simply put the carpenter's body inside on top of that of the woman? Why remove her body-which left him with exactly the same problem as before, namely how to dispose of a dead body?"

Tao Gan, who had been listening silently, playing with the three long hairs sprouting from his cheek, now suddenly said:

"Perhaps a third person, as yet unknown to us, had removed the bride's body before Mao Loo found the coffin. That must have been a person who for some reason or other wanted to prevent at all cost that the corpse would be examined. The dead woman can't very well have walked off by herself!"

Judge Dee shot him a sharp look. He folded his arms in his sleeves and, huddled in his armchair, remained deep in thought for some time.

Suddenly he straightened himself. He hit his fist on the table and exclaimed:

"That's exactly what she did, Tao Gan! For that woman wasn't dead!"

His lieutenants looked at him in utter astonishment.

"How could that be, Your Honor?" Sergeant Hoong asked. "A professional physician pronounced her dead; an experienced undertaker washed her body. Then she was lying in a closed coffin for more than half a day!"

"No!" the judge said excitedly. "Listen to me! Don't you remember the coroner's saying that in such cases the girl would often faint, but that death was rare! Well, suppose she fainted and that the nervous shock caused her to fall into a condition of suspended animation! Our medical books record cases of persons who were in that state. There is complete cessation of breathing, no pulse of the wrist, the eyes lose their luster and sometimes the face will even show cadaveric characteristics. This state has been known to last for several hours.

"Now we know that she was encoffined in a great hurry, then carried at once to the Buddhist Temple. Fortunately, the coffin was only a temporary one of thin boards; I myself noticed the crevices. Else she would have died from suffocation. Then, when the coffin had been placed in the temple, and everybody gone, she must have regained consciousness. She'll have shouted and beaten against the walls of her wooden prison, but she was in a side hall of a deserted temple, and the caretaker was deaf!

"The following is just a theory. Mao Loo kills his cousin and steals his money. He searches the temple for a place to hide the body, and hears the sounds from the coffin!"

"That must have given him a bad fright!" Tao Gan remarked. "Wouldn't he have run away as fast as he could?"

"We must assume he didn't," Judge Dee said. "He took his cousin's tools, and opened the coffin. The woman must have told him what had happened and-" His voice trailed off. He frowned, then resumed with annoyance: "No, there we are up against a snag! Wouldn't Mao Loo, upon hearing her story, have realized at once that Dr. Djang would give him a generous reward for having saved his daughter? Why didn't he bring her back immediately?"

"I think she saw the carpenter's corpse, Your Honor," Tao Gan said. "That made her a witness to Mao Loo's crime, and he was afraid she would denounce him."

Judge Dee nodded eagerly.

"That must be it!" he said. "Mao must have decided to take her with him to some distant place, and keep her there till he would have heard that the coffin had been buried. Then he could let her make her own choice: either be sold as a prostitute, or be taken back home, on condition that she promised to tell Dr. Djang some trumped-up story about Mao Loo's saving her. In that manner Mao Loo would in either case earn a couple of gold bars!"

"But where was Mrs. Djang when Mao Loo buried the toolbox!" Hoong asked. "You may be sure that the monk searched the temple thoroughly, and he didn't discover her."

"We'll learn all that when we have caught Mao Loo," the judge said. "But we know already where Mao Loo concealed that unfortunate woman these last days, namely in the brothel behind the fish market! 'Mao Loo's wench,' as the one-eyed man referred to her, is nobody else but Mrs. Djang!"

A clerk came in carrying a tray with Judge Dee's noon meal. While he was placing the bowls on the table, the judge resumed:

"We can easily verify our theory about Mrs. Djang. You three can have your noon meal now too; then Chiao Tai goes to the brothel and brings the owner here. He'll give us a description of the woman Mao Loo brought there."

He took up his chopsticks, and his three lieutenants left.

Judge Dee ate without really tasting his food. He was trying to digest the new facts that had come to light. There could hardly be any doubt that the case Liu versus Djang was now solved; only some details remained to be filled in. The real problem was to find the link between this case and the murder of the courtesan. One could now safely assume that the professor was innocent, but the whole affair threw a curious light on Liu Fei-po.

When the clerk had cleared the table and poured out a cup of tea, the judge took the documents relating to the murder on the flower boat from the drawer, and started rereading them, slowly caressing his side whiskers.

Thus his four lieutenants found him when they entered the private office. Ma Joong said:

"Well, I now have seen the professor show some real emotion! Wasn't he glad to see his son!"

"The others will have told you already," Judge Dee said to him, "that we have strong reasons to assume that Candidate Djang's bride is alive too. Did you bring the brothel owner here, Chiao Tai?"

"He did!" Ma Joong replied for him. "I saw that beauty waiting in the corridor outside!"

"Bring her in!" Judge Dee ordered.

Chiao Tai came back with a tall, rawboned woman with a coarse, flat face. She bowed deeply, then at once began in a whining voice:

"He didn't even give me time for changing my robe, Your Excellency! How can I appear before Your Excellency in this terrible attire! I said to him-"

"Be quiet and listen to your magistrate!" the judge cut her short. "You know I can close your establishment any time I choose, so you'd better be careful and tell the complete truth. Who was the woman brought to your place by Mao Loo?"

The woman fell on her knees.

"I knew the rascal would land me into trouble!" she wailed. "But what can a weak woman do, Your Excellency! He would have cut my throat, Excellency! Forgive me, Excellency!"

Crying loudly, she knocked her forehead on the floor. "Stop all that noise!" Judge Dee commanded angrily. "Speak up; who was that woman!"

"How could I know the wench!" the woman cried out. "Mao Loo brings her to my house in the middle o£ the night; I swear I had never seen her before! She wears a queer, single robe, and looks rather frightened. Brother Mao says: 'The chicken doesn't know what's good for her. Can you imagine her refusing a fine husband like me? But I'll teach her a lesson!' I see the poor girl is really ill, so I tell Mao Loo to leave her alone for the night. That's how I am, Excellency. I always believe in treating them kindly. I put her in a nice room; I give her some good rice gruel and a pot of tea. I remember exactly what I said to her, Excellency. 'Go to sleep, my chicken,' I say, 'and don't worry! Tomorrow you'll see that everything is all right!'" The woman heaved a deep sigh.

"Oh, you don't know those girls, Excellency! One would have thought that the next morning she'd at least say thank you to me. But no! She woke up the whole house, kicking against the door and shouting at the top of her voice. And when I went up to her she cursed me and Brother Mao and said all kinds of foolish things about her being kidnaped and belonging to a good family-the kind of story they'll always tell. Well, there's one way to make them see reason, and that is to give them a taste of a piece of rope. That shut her up, and when Brother Mao came she went quietly away with him. I swear that's all, Excellency!"

Judge Dee looked at her with contempt. He thought a moment of arresting her for having maltreated a girl, then reflected that she had only acted according to her lights. Those low-class brothels were a necessary evil; the authorities could control them so as to prevent excesses, but they could never eliminate entirely cruelty to the unfortunate inmates. He said sternly:

"You know very well that you are not allowed to give lodging to stray girls. For the time being, however, I'll let you go. But I'll check your story, and if you didn't tell the truth you are done for!" The woman again began knocking her head on the floor, protesting her gratitude. On a sign of the judge, Tao Gan led her away. Judge Dee said gravely:

"Yes, our theory is correct. Candidate Djang's wife is alive, but perhaps it would have been better for her to die than to fall into Mao Loo's hands! We must arrest Mao Loo as quickly as possible and deliver her from that ruffian. They are in a place called Three Oaks Island, in the district Chiang-pei. Does anybody know where that is?"

Tao Gan said:

"I have never been there, Your Honor, but I have heard plenty about it! It's a cluster of islands, or rather a swamp, in the middle of the Great River. The swamp is covered by close-growing bush, half-submerged the greater part of the year. The higher places consist of a dense forest of old trees. Only the outlaws who have gathered there know the creeks and waterways that lead to and through the swamp. They levy a toll on all passing ships and often make raids on the villages along the riverbank. They say that robber band counts more than four hundred men."

"Why hasn't the government cleaned up that robber's nest?" the judge asked, astonished.

Pursing his lips, Tao Gan replied:

"That's not an easy undertaking, Your Honor! It would necessitate a naval operation that would cost many lives. The swamp would have to be approached in small craft, for war junks could not be used in those shallow waters. And the soldiers in those boats would be an easy target for the arrows of the outlaws. I have heard that the army has stationed a chain of military posts along the riverbank, and soldiers patrol the entire region. The idea is to blockade the swamp and thus force the outlaws to surrender. But they have been there for so many years now that they have many secret contacts among the population which are very difficult to trace. Up to now there are no signs that the robbers are short of food or anything else they need."

"That sounds bad indeed!" Judge Dee said. Looking at Ma Joong and Chiao Tai, he asked: "Do you think you could get Mao Loo and the woman out of there?"

"Brother Chiao and me will manage somehow, Your Honor!" Ma Joong answered cheerfully. "It's exactly the kind of job for us! We'd better go out there right now, to take stock of the situation!"

"Good!" said Judge Dee. "I'll write a letter introducing you to my colleague the magistrate of Chiang-pei, and asking him to give you all assistance."

He took up his writing brush and quickly jotted down a few lines on a sheet of official paper. He impressed the large square seal of the tribunal on it, then gave it to Ma Joong saying:

"Good luck!"