The Chinese Nail Murders

Twenty-third Chapter

At noon Judge Dee did not partake of the rice and soup that the clerk had placed before him. He could only drink a cup of tea.

Kuo had reported that the coffin had been brought to the tri­bunal without any interference. But now a large crowd was as­sembling in front of the main gate, shouting angrily.

When Ma Joong and Chiao Tai came in they looked very wor­ried.

"The people in the court hall are in an ugly mood, Your Honor," Ma Joong said gravely. "And in the street outside those who couldn't find a place in the hall are shouting curses and throw­ing stones against the gate."

"Let them!" Judge Dee said curtly.

Ma Joong gave Chiao Tai an appealing look. Chiao Tai said:

"Let me call the military police, Your Honor! They could throw a cordon around the tribunal and . . ."

The judge crashed his fist on the table.

"Am I not the magistrate here?" he barked at his lieutenants. "This is my district, these are my people. I don't want any outside help, I'll manage them alone!"

The two men did not say anything, they knew it was useless. But they feared that this time the judge was wrong.

The gong sounded three times.

Judge Dee rose and crossed the corridor to the court hall, fol­lowed by his two lieutenants.

As the judge entered the hall and sat down behind the bench he was greeted by an ominous silence.

The hall was packed to overflowing. The constables stood in their appointed places, looking uneasy. On the left the judge saw Loo Ming's coffin, with the undertaker and his assistants by its side. Mrs. Loo stood in front of the coffin, supporting herself on a stick. Tao Gan and Kuo stood next to the table of the scribe.

Judge Dee hit his gavel on the bench. He said:

"I declare the session open."

Mrs. Loo suddenly shouted:

"What right has a resigning magistrate to open a session?"

An angry murmur rose from the crowd.

"This session," Judge Dee announced, "is convened to prove that the cotton dealer Loo Ming was foully murdered. Under­taker, open the coffin!"

Mrs. Loo stepped on the corner of the platform. She screamed:

"Shall we allow this dog official to desecrate again my husband's corpse?"

The crowd surged forward. Shouts of "Down with that magis­trate!" rose on all sides. Ma Joong and Chiao Tai laid their hands on the hilts of the swords they kept concealed in the folds of their robes. People in the front row pushed the constable aside.

An evil glint shone in the eyes of Mrs. Loo. This was her triumph. Her wild Tartar blood exulted at the impending violence and bloodshed. She raised her hand and the people halted, looking at that striking figure. Her breast heaving she began, pointing at the judge:

"This dog official, this . . ."

When she took a deep breath, Judge Dee suddenly said in a matter-of-fact voice:

"Think of your felt shoes, woman."

With a cry Mrs. Loo bent and looked. When she righted her­self Judge Dee saw for the first time real fear in her eyes. The people in front quickly relayed this unexpected remark of the judge to those behind them. As Mrs. Loo took hold of herself and looked at the audience, groping for words, a confused babble of voices came from the crowd. "What did he say?" people at the back of the hall shouted impatiently. When Mrs. Loo started to speak, her voice was drowned in the hammer blows of the under­takers. With Tao Gan's help, the undertaker quickly placed the lid on the floor.

"You'll now see the answer!" Judge Dee called out in a sten­torian voice.

"Don't believe him, he . . ." Mrs. Loo began. But she halted as she saw that the crowd had attention only for the body that was lifted out of the coffin and placed on the reed mat. She shrank back against the side of the bench, her eyes fixed on the gruesome human remains stretched out on the mat.

Judge Dee hit his gavel on the bench. He spoke loudly:

"The coroner shall now examine only the head of the corpse. He shall pay special attention to the crown of the skull, and look between the hairs."

As Kuo squatted down, deep silence reigned in the packed hall. One heard only the muffled sounds of the people shouting in the street outside.

Suddenly Kuo righted himself, his face livid. He said hoarsely:

"I report, Your Honor, that among the hair I found a small iron point. It seems to be the head of a nail."

Mrs. Loo took hold of herself.

"It's a plot!" she screamed. "The coffin has been tampered with!"

But curiosity now dominated the onlookers. A thickset butcher in the front row shouted:

"My guildmaster himself sealed the tomb. Hold your peace, woman, we want to see what that thing is!"

"Verify your statement!" the judge barked at Kuo.

The coroner took a pair of clippers from his sleeve. Mrs. Loo sprang over to him, but the headman grabbed her and held her back. While she was fighting like a wildcat, Kuo extracted a long nail from the skull. He held it up to the crowd, then de­posited it on the bench in front of the judge.

Mrs. Loo's body went limp. When the headman released her, she staggered blindly to the table of the scribe and stood there with bent head, supporting herself on the table edge.

The spectators in the front row shouted what they had seen to those behind them. The people started talking noisily; some men in the back row rushed outside to tell the people in the street.

The judge hammered on the bench. When the noise died down he addressed Mrs. Loo:

"Do you confess having murdered your husband by driving a nail into the top of his head?"

Mrs. Loo slowly raised her head. A long shiver shook her body. Pushing a lock of hair away from her forehead, she said in a toneless voice:

"I confess."

A ripple of noise came from the audience as this final news also was relayed through the court hall. Judge Dee leaned back in his chair. When the hall was still again, he said in a tired voice:

"I shall now hear your confession."

Mrs. Loo drew her robe around her slight frame. She said forlornly:

"It seems so long ago now, does it really matter?" Leaning her back against the table, she looked up at the window high in the wall. Then she said suddenly:

"My husband, Loo Ming, was a dull, stupid man, what did he understand? How could I go on living with him, I, who was searching ..." She heaved a deep sigh, then went on: "I had a daughter of him, then he said he wanted a son. I could not bear it any longer. One day he complained of a stomach ache, and I gave him strong wine as medicine, mixed with a sleeping powder. When he was sound asleep, I took the long nail I use for punching the holes in the soles of my shoes, and drove it with the mallet into the top of his skull, till only the head showed."

"Kill the witch!" someone shouted and angry exclamations fol­lowed. Quick to change their attitude, the fury of the crowd now directed itself against Mrs. Loo.

Judge Dee crashed on the bench with his gavel.

"Silence and order!" he shouted.

The hall was still at once. The authority of the tribunal had been restored.

"Dr. Kwang stated it was a heart attack," Mrs. Loo continued. She added contemptuously: "I had to be the mistress of that man in order to obtain his help. He thought he knew the secrets of magic, but he was only a useless beginner. As soon as he had signed the death certificate, I severed our relations. Then I was free . . .

"One day, about a month ago, I slipped in the snow when leaving my shop. A man helped me up, and led me inside. I sat on the bench in my shop, and he massaged my ankle. With every touch of his hand I felt the vital force with which this man vi­brated. I knew that this was at last the partner I had been waiting for. I concentrated all my mental and physical powers to draw this man toward me, but I felt him resisting. Yet, when he left, I knew he would come back."

Something of her former animation came back to Mrs. Loo as she continued:

"And he came back! I had won. That man was as a burning flame. He loved and hated me at the same time, he hated himself for loving me, yet he loved me! It was the very roots of life that bound us together ..."

She paused. Then she bent her head, and her voice was again tired as she went on:

"Then I knew that I was losing him again. He accused me of sapping his strength, of interfering with his disciplines. He told me we would have to part. ... I was frantic, I could not live without that man, without him I felt the forces of life ebbing away from me. ... I told him that if he left me, I would kill him just as I had killed my husband."

Shaking her head disconsolately she went on:

"I shouldn't have said that. I knew it by the look he gave me. All was over. Then I knew also that I had to kill him.

"I put the poison in a dried jasmine flower, and went to the bathhouse dressed as a Tartar youth. I said I had come to offer him my apologies, that I wanted to part from him on good terms. He was coldly polite. When he didn't say anything about keeping my secret, I dropped the flower in his teacup. As soon as the poison took effect, he gave me one terrible look. He opened his mouth but he could not speak. But I knew that he had cursed me, and that I was lost. . . . Heaven, he was the only man I ever loved . . . and I had to kill him."

Suddenly she raised her head. Looking straight at the judge she said:

"Now I am dead. With my body you can do what you like!"

Judge Dee looked with horror at the sudden change that had come over her. Deep lines had appeared on her smooth face, her eyes had become dim, she had suddenly aged ten years. Now that her indomitable, fierce spirit was gone, there was indeed nothing left but an empty shell.

"Read out the confession!" he ordered the scribe.

Dead silence reigned in the hall while the scribe read out his notes.

"Do you agree that this is your true confession?" the judge asked.

Mrs. Loo nodded. The headman presented the document to her, and she impressed her thumb mark on it.

Judge Dee closed the session.