The Emperor's Pearl

VII

When Judge Dee halted his horse in front of the main gate of the tribunal, it was about one hour before midnight. He leaned forward in the saddle and knocked with the butt of his riding-whip on the iron-bound door. Two guards quickly pushed the heavy gate open, and the judge rode under the stone arch on to the central courtyard of the compound. While he was handing his horse to a sleepy-looking groom he saw a light burning behind the paper window of his private office, next to the court hall. He walked over there, carrying his saddle-bag with him.

Sergeant Hoong was sitting on a tabouret in front of Judge Dee's large writing-desk, reading a document by the light of the single candle. He quickly rose as he saw the judge coming in and asked eagerly:

'What happened at Marble Bridge, Your Honour? Half an hour ago the village headman brought the corpse of a woman to the tribunal. I ordered the coroner to conduct the autopsy. This is his report.'

He handed the paper he had been reading to the judge. Standing by the desk, Judge Dee glanced it through. The corpse was described as that of a young married woman, killed by a dagger-thrust that had penetrated into the heart. There were no bodily defects, but her shoulders were dis­figured by old scars of undetermined origin. She had been in the third month of pregnancy.

Judge Dee gave the document back to Hoong, and seated himself in the large armchair behind his desk. He put the saddle-bag on the table, leaned back in his chair and asked:

'Did our headman bring in that fellow Sia Kwang, Tong Mai's friend?'

'No sir, he came an hour ago and told me that Sia hadn't returned yet. The old-clothes dealer, his landlord, said that it was no use waiting for Sia, for he keeps very irregular hours and often disappears for a day or two. The headman searched the attic Tong and Sia shared, then came back here. He left two constables there to watch the house till tomorrow morning, with orders to collar Sia as soon as he turns up.'

The sergeant cleared his throat and resumed:

'I had a long talk with Professor Ou-yang, sir. He doesn't share Dr Pien's and Mr Kou's high opinion of Tong. He told me that both Tong and Sia were clever enough, but dissolute youngsters, fond of wine and women, and not averse to shady financial deals. They were always very irregular in attending courses, and in recent months had hardly shown themselves in the temple school at all. The professor was not sorry about that, he said that those two had a bad influence on the other students. He was sorry for old Mr Tong, who was a learned, very cultured gentleman, he said. As to Sia Kwang, he thought that his parents lived in the capital. It seems they had disowned Sia because of his bad conduct.'

Judge Dee nodded. He sat up, took the saddle-bag and shook its contents out on the desk. Putting the two wrapped-up daggers aside, he untied the handkerchief and let the tortoise out. It crawled ahead, blinked solemnly at the candle, then withdrew into its shell. Sergeant Hoong stared at the small animal in speechless astonishment.

'If you let me have a large cup of hot tea, Hoong,' the judge said with a bleak smile, 'I'll tell you where and how I became acquainted with my small friend here.'

While the sergeant was busying himself over the tea-table in the corner, the judge got up and went, with the tortoise in his hand, to the back window. Leaning outside he placed the animal among the artificial rocks in the small, walled-in garden.

After he had resumed his seat, he gave Sergeant Hoong a detailed account of what had happened in the haunted house. He was interrupted only once, when the corporal of the south gate came in to report that neither he nor his col­leagues at the other city gates had found a man with a fresh knife wound. When the corporal had taken his leave, Judge Dee told Hoong also about his interview with Kou Yuan-liang.

'So it's clear, Hoong,' he concluded, 'that the facts at our disposal now admit of two entirely different theories. I shall outline these for you, just for our general orientation, mind you, and mainly to map out a course for our investigation. Have a cup of tea, Hoong.'

The judge emptied his own cup, and resumed:

'In the first place, let us base ourselves on the assumption that Mr Kou told me the complete truth just now. In that case Tong Mai was poisoned by an unknown person who had learned about the planned sale of the pearl; he wanted to keep the appointment with the Amber Lady in Tong's place, and steal the gold and the pearl. He had not hesitated to murder Tong in order to achieve this purpose, and he didn't hesitate to kill Amber, either because she attacked him with a knife, or just to silence her. Less likely, but also possible, is that the man who kept the appointment with the Amber Lady had nothing to do with the poisoning of Tong Mai. But he did know about the impending transaction in the deserted house. When he learned that Tong had sud­denly died, he then and there resolved to keep the appoint­ment in Tong's place, in order to obtain the gold and the pearl. In that case Amber must have been killed by accident, for thieves and murderers belong to classes apart.'

Judge Dee paused. He caressed his side-whiskers for a while before he went on:

'My second theory is based on the assumption that Kou's statements were only partially true, and that he lied when he told me that he didn't know where the Amber Lady was going to meet Tong Mai. In that case Tong Mai and Amber were murdered on the instructions of Kou Yuan-liang.'

'How could that be possible, sir?' Sergeant Hoong ex­claimed.

'Remember that Tong grew up together with Amber, Hoong! Tong was a likeable, handsome young man, and Amber an intelligent, attractive girl. Suppose that these two young people had become lovers? Unfortunately there are not a few householders who condone intimacy between their young sons and maids or slave-girls in the house, and old Mr Tong may have been one of those. If that was so, then it is quite possible that the lovers continued their liaison in secret, after Amber had entered Mr Kou's house­hold.'

'That would have been black ingratitude on the part of Miss Amber!'

'It's often difficult to understand the actions of a woman in love, Hoong. Kou is a well-preserved, handsome man, but he is about twenty years older than she. And the autopsy showed that she was pregnant. Tong Mai might well be the father of her unborn child. Kou discovered that Amber was unfaithful to him; he kept his peace, waiting for an oppor­tunity to take his revenge. That opportunity came when Amber told Kou about Tong's pearl. He realized that now he could kill the guilty pair, recover his gold, and obtain the coveted pearl — all at the same time. Kou had plenty of opportunities for poisoning Tong when he was entertaining the crews in the wine-house, in Marble Bridge Village. Hav­ing thus disposed of Tong, he had only to hire a ruffian to keep the appointment in the deserted house, ordering him to kill the Amber Lady, take the gold bars, and find the pearl hidden by Tong in the pavilion.

'These are my two theories. I repeat, however, that all this is just guess-work. We must know a great deal more about the background of the persons concerned before we can take any definite action.'

The sergeant nodded slowly. Then he said worriedly:

'We'll have to do something about that pearl anyway, sir. Your unexpected arrival prevented the murderer from looking for it, it must still be in the pavilion. Shouldn't we go back to the deserted house now and make a search there?'

'No, that isn't necessary. Fortunately I ordered the village headman to post a strong guard there, just as a routine measure. Tomorrow morning we shall go there and make a search, in broad daylight. However, there's also another possi­bility, namely that Tong had been carrying the pearl on his person. Have we got his clothes here?'

The sergeant took a large sealed package from the wall-table. Judge Dee broke the seals and, together with Hoong, carefully searched the clothes. They felt all the seams, and the sergeant cut the soles of the shoes open. But they found nothing.

When Sergeant Hoong had packed up the clothes again, the judge silently drank another cup of tea. Then he said slowly:

'The fact that a theft from the Imperial Palace is con­nected with this murder case makes it an affair of the utmost gravity, Hoong. I find it rather difficult to assess Kou's personality. I would like to know a lot more about him. A pity that our best source of information, namely his First Lady, is useless because she is mentally deranged. Do you happen to know when and how she got that way, Hoong?'

'I have heard people talk about it, sir. It seems that it created quite a stir in this city, four years ago. Mrs Kou, Gold Lotus her personal name is, had gone out one night to visit a lady-friend living in the next street. But she never arrived there. She must have got an attack of brain-fever on the way, and lost her memory. It seems that she walked around aimlessly and apparently left the city by the east gate, passing the night roaming over the deserted fields. The next morning some peasants found her, lying in the grass, unconscious. She was dangerously ill for some weeks. When she had recovered, her mind was permanently deranged.'

The sergeant fell silent. He pensively fingered his thin grey moustache, then went on:

'When explaining your first theory, sir, you mentioned the possibility that Tong was murdered for a reason un­connected with the sale of the pearl. Now I remember that Tao Gan once told me that, although during the dragonboat races the betting of the common people involves only trifling amounts, wealthy traders and shopkeepers often bet con­siderable sums amongst each other. Tao Gan added that crooks sometimes practise all kinds of fraud and trickery with those large bets. Now it was generally assumed that Dr Pien's boat would win the race. If a crook knew before­hand that the drummer of Pien's boat would meet with an accident, he could make a small fortune by cornering bets. Perhaps it was such a crook who poisoned Tong Mai.'

'Yes,' Judge Dee said approvingly, 'that's another possi­bility we'll have to look into.'

There was a knock on the door. The headman entered and greeted the judge. He placed a soiled envelope on the desk and said:

'When I was searching the attic of those two students, Your Honour, I found this envelope in Sia's clothes-box. Tong's box contained only a collection of worn-out clothes. Not a scrap of paper!'

'All right, headman, you may go.'

The judge tore the envelope open and took from it three folded pieces of paper. The first was a diploma from the Classical School stating that Sia Kwang had successfully passed his first examination, the second his permit to reside in Poo-yang. As the judge unfolded the third, he raised his eyebrows. He carefully smoothed the paper out on the desk. Pulling the candle closer he said: 'Look what we have got here, Hoong!'

The sergeant saw that it was a rough map of the area south of the city. Pointing with his finger, Judge Dee observed:

'Here we have the Mandrake Grove, and this rectangle here is the old Tong mansion. Only the east pavilion is marked on it. So Sia was also connected in some way or other with the sale of the pearl! Heavens, we must get hold of that fellow! And as soon as possible!'

'He's probably hanging about somewhere downtown, Your Honour. Our old friend Sheng Pa, the former self-styled boss of the underworld, will doubtless know where to find him!'

'Yes, we might ask him. Since I appointed him Head of the Beggars' Guild, Sheng Pa has shown himself very co­operative.'

'Unfortunately he is rather an elusive person, Your Honour. The only time he is sure to be home is late at night. For then the beggars assemble there to pay him his share of their earnings. I'd better go and see him right now, sir!'

'Out of the question! You must be dead tired. You go to bed, Hoong, that's where you go!'

'It'll mean a delay of one whole day, sir! Besides, I get along quite well with Sheng Pa; I have come to know the sly old devil's funny little ways. I think he likes me too — although he doesn't think much of your other three lieuten­ants. He once told me confidentially that he considers my friends Ma Joong and Chiao Tai a pair of vulgar bullies, and Tao Gan a mean crook!'

'That's a good one, coming from Sheng Pa!' the judge said with a smile. 'Well, if you insist, all right then. But go there in an official palankeen, and take four constables with you. Sheng Pa is living in an unsavoury neighbourhood.'

After Sergeant Hoong had left, Judge Dee drank another cup of tea. He was much more worried about the course of events than he had let it appear to his old adviser. The mur­der of a poor student had suddenly developed into a case of national importance, concerning a theft from the Imperial House. He would have to obtain quick results, for he could not postpone for long reporting to the higher authorities the news about the Emperor's pearl. Yet he had to tread warily. He heaved a deep sigh and rose. Deep in thought, he walked across the central courtyard to his own residence, in the back of the tribunal compound.

He had assumed that his wives would have gone to bed long before, and was planning to pass the night on the couch in his library. But, when the steward had opened the front door and was leading him inside, he heard peals of laughter coming from the brilliantly lit women's quarters. Seeing his master's astonished face, the greybeard explained quickly:

'The First Lady of General Bao and of the Hon'ble Wan, the retired judge, called earlier in the evening, sir. The ladies made together the customary offerings to the Queen of Heaven, then the First Lady invited them to stay for a game of cards. The First Lady instructed me to apprise her at once of Your Honour's return, so that she could dismiss her guests and attend upon Your Honour.'

'Just tell her to come to the ante-room for a moment.'

When his First Lady entered the small room, the judge noticed with pleasure how handsome she was looking in her favourite robe of violet brocade, embroidered with golden flowers. After she had made her bow she asked anxiously:

'I hope nothing untoward happened after the races?'

'There cropped up an affair that needed my immediate attention. I just wanted to tell you that you must on no account break up the party because of me. It was rather a tiresome evening, I feel like turning in now. I shall sleep in my library and the steward will wait upon me.'

When she was going to say good night, he suddenly asked:

'Did you find that missing domino, by the way?'

'No, I didn't. We agreed that it must have dropped over­board.'

'Impossible! Our table was standing in the centre of the platform. Where could that confounded domino have gone to?'

She raised her forefinger and said, half seriously, half in jest:

'In all the years we have been married I have never known you to fret about insignificant trifles. You won't start doing so now, I hope?'

'No, I won't!' Judge Dee replied with a faint smile. He nodded to her and went on to his library.