The Chinese Nail Murders

Third Chapter

Judge Dee found the archivist waiting for him in his private office. While Sergeant Hoong and Tao Gan busied themselves over the tea stove in the corner, Judge Dee sat down behind his desk. Standing respectfully at his side, the archivist placed a sheaf of documents on the desk.

"Call the chief clerk!" the judge ordered as he started to glance through the papers.

When the clerk came in, Judge Dee looked up and said: "Presently the headman will bring the body of Mrs. Pan to the tribunal. I won't have outsiders and idlers gaping at it, so the autopsy shall not be conducted in public. Tell your assistants to help the coroner Kuo prepare everything in the side hall here, and tell the guards that besides the personnel of the tribunal, no­body shall be admitted except the two brothers of the victim, and the warden of the south quarter."

Sergeant Hoong handed the judge a cup of steaming tea. After a few sips he said with a faint smile:

"Our tea can't compare with the jasmine tea I had just now in Kuo's pharmacy. By the way, the Kuos are a rather ill-assorted couple—but they seem happy enough together."

"Mrs. Kuo was a widow," Tao Gan said. "Her first husband was a butcher here, Wang I think his name was. He died four years ago after a drinking bout. Lucky for the woman, I would say, for I have heard that he was a mean, dissolute fellow."

"Yes," the archivist added, "Butcher Wang left large debts, also in the brothel behind the market. His widow sold the shop and everything in it, but that covered only the debts incurred else­where. The brothel-keeper insisted that she serve as a bondmaid with him for settling the debt, but then old Kuo stepped in. He paid the money and married her."

Judge Dee impressed the large red seal of the tribunal on the document before him. Looking up, he remarked:

"She seems quite an educated woman."

"She learned much about drugs and medicine from old Kuo, Your Honor," the archivist said. "She is a fine women's doctor now. At first people disapproved of her going about in public so freely, her being a married woman, but now they are very glad that she does. She can treat women patients much better than a man, who is of course allowed only to feel their pulse."

"I am glad she is the matron of our women's jail," the judge said as he handed the papers to the archivist. "As a rule those women are despicable harridans who must be controlled continu­ally in order to prevent them from maltreating and cheating the inmates."

The archivist opened the door but stood aside to let pass two large, broad-shouldered men, clad in thick leather riding jackets and wearing fur caps with ear flaps. These were Ma Joong and Chiao Tai, Judge Dee's other two lieutenants.

As they strode in the judge gave them an affectionate look. Originally both had been highwaymen, "brothers of the green woods," as they are euphemistically called. Twelve years before, when Judge Dee was traveling to his first post as magistrate, they had attacked him on a lonely stretch of the road. But they had been so impressed by Judge Dee's fearless and compelling per­sonality that they had then and there forsworn their violent life and entered the judge's service. In the ensuing years this formi­dable pair had proved very useful to the judge in the apprehension of dangerous criminals and other difficult and risky tasks.

"What was the matter?" Judge Dee asked Ma Joong.

Loosening his neckcloth Ma Joong replied with a grin:

"Nothing to speak of, Your Honor. Two gangs of chair-bearers got quarreling in that wine shop, and when brother Chiao and I came in they were just settling down to a real knife fight. But the two of us patted them on their heads a little, and soon after, all went home quietly. We brought along the four ring­leaders and if Your Honor approves we might let them pass the night in jail."

"That's all right," the judge said. "By the way, did you get that wolf the farmers were complaining about?"

"Yes, Your Honor," Ma Joong answered, "and a mighty fine hunt it was! Our friend Chu Ta-yuan spotted the fellow first, a large brute. But he fumbled getting the arrow on the string, and Chiao Tai put his straight in its throat! A fine shot, Your Honor!"

"Chu's fumbling gave me my chance," Chiao Tai remarked with his quiet smile. "I don't know why he bungled the shot, he is a marvelous bowman."

"And he is at it every day, too," Ma Joong added. "You should see him practice on those life-size targets he fashions out of snow! He shoots while galloping around them, and nearly every arrow hits them right in the head!" Ma Joong sighed in admiration. Then he asked: "What is that murder all the people are talking about, Your Honor?"

Judge Dee's face fell. "That is a nasty affair," he said. "You go to the side hall now, and see whether we can start on the autopsy."

When Ma Joong and Chiao Tai came back and announced that everything was ready, Judge Dee went to the side hall, followed by the Sergeant and Tao Gan.

The headman of the constables and two clerks stood waiting by the side of a high table. As the judge sat down behind it, his four lieutenants ranged themselves along the wall opposite. Judge Dee noticed Yeh Pin and Yeh Tai standing in a corner, together with Warden Kao. The judge answered their bows with a nod, then gave the sign to Kuo.

The hunchback drew aside the quilt that covered the reed mat on the floor, in front of the table. For the second time that day the judge looked down on the mutilated body. With a sigh he took up his brush and filled in the official form, reading aloud as he wrote, "The body of Mrs. Pan, nee Yeh. Age?"

"Thirty-two years," Yeh Pin said in a strangled voice. His face had a deadly pallor.

"The autopsy can begin," Judge Dee said.

Kuo dipped a piece of cloth in the copper basin with hot water standing by his side, and moistened the hands of the dead woman. He carefully loosened the rope. Then he tried to move the arms, but they were quite stiff. He took the silver ring from the right hand, and placed it on a piece of paper. Then he washed the body carefully, examining it inch by inch. After a considerable time he turned it over, and also washed the bloodstains off the back.

In the meantime Sergeant Hoong had told Ma Joong and Chiao Tai in quick whispers all he knew about the murder. Now Ma Joong sucked in his breath.

"See those welts on the back?" he muttered angrily to Chiao Tai. "Wait till I get my hands on the fiend who did that!"

Kuo spent a long time on the stump of the neck. At last he rose and began his report:

"The body of a married woman. Skin smooth, no birthmarks or old scars. No wounds on the body, but wrists lacerated by the ropes, and bruises on breasts and upper arms. Back and hips show welts, apparently inflicted by a whip."

Kuo waited till the clerk had filled in those details. Then he continued:

"On the stump of the neck are the marks of a large knife, I presume a cleaver as is used in the kitchen."

Judge Dee angrily pulled his beard. He told the clerk to read out Kuo's report, then made the coroner affix his thumb mark to it. He ordered him to give the ring to Yeh Pin. Yeh gave it a curious look, then said:

"The ruby is missing! I am certain it was still there when I met my sister day before yesterday."

"Did your sister wear no other rings?" Judge Dee asked.

As Yeh shook his head, the judge continued: "You may now take the body away, Yeh Pin, and have it placed in a temporary coffin. The severed head has not yet been recovered; it was neither in the house, nor in the well. I assure you that I shall do my utmost to apprehend the murderer and find the head, so that in due time it can be encoffined together with the body for final burial."

The Yeh brothers bowed silently, and Judge Dee rose and re­turned to his private office, followed by his four lieutenants.

When he entered the spacious room he shivered despite his heavy furs. He said curtly to Ma Joong:

"Put more coal in the brazier!"

While Ma Joong got busy they sat down. Slowly stroking his long side whiskers the judge remained silent for some time. When Ma Joong was seated also, Tao Gan observed:

"This murder certainly poses some curious problems!"

"I can see but one," Ma Joong growled, "and that is to get that fiend Pan Feng in our hands! Slaughtering his wife like that! And a shapely wench, too!"

Judge Dee, deep in thought, had not heard him. Suddenly he burst out angrily:

"It is an impossible situation!"

He rose abruptly. Pacing the floor he continued:

"Here we have a stripped woman, but not a single piece of her clothes, not even her shoes. She has been bound, maltreated and beheaded, and there is no sign of a struggle! The husband who allegedly did it, carefully packed up the severed head and all the woman's garments, tidied up the room, and fled—but leaving behind his wife's valuable trinkets and the silver in his drawer, mind you! Now, what do you say about that?"

Sergeant Hoong remarked:

"One would think, Your Honor, that a third person was in­volved."

Judge Dee halted. He resumed his seat behind the desk and looked steadily at his lieutenants. Chiao Tai nodded. He said:

"Even a strong man like an executioner, armed with his huge sword, sometimes has difficulty in cutting off a criminal's head. And we have heard that Pan Feng was a weak, elderly man. How could he have severed his wife's head?"

"Perhaps," Tao Gan said, "Pan found the murderer in the house, and got such a fright that he ran off like a hare, leaving all his possessions behind."

"There is much in what you say," Judge Dee said. "In any case we must get that man Pan as soon as possible!"

"And get him alive!" Tao Gan added significantly. "If my theory is correct, the murderer will be on his heels!"

Suddenly the door was pushed open and a spare old man shuffled inside. The judge gave him an astonished look.

"What brings you here, steward?" he asked.

"Your Honor," his old house steward said, "a messenger has arrived on horseback from Tai-yuan. The First Lady wonders whether Your Honor could spare her a few moments."

Judge Dee rose. He said to his lieutenants:

"Come and meet me here' again toward dusk. Then we shall go along together to Chu Ta-yuan's dinner party."

With a curt nod he left the room, followed by his steward.