The Haunted Monastery

XIX

The man righted himself and turned round. Seeing the judge standing there he said with a benign smile: "So you found this secret room all by yourself! You are a clever fellow, Dee! Sit down and tell me how you did it! You can sit there on the couch; I just cleaned it. But mind the blood on the floor!"

Judge Dee looked quickly at the life-size wooden statue of a naked woman that was standing in the corner. The plaster was peeling off, and where the left arm should have been there was only a ragged stump of worm-eaten wood. He sat down by the other's side and looked around. The room was scarcely six foot square, and contained no other furniture except the couch they were sitting on. In the wall in front of him was a round aperture, apparently an air-shaft. On his right he saw a dark niche. He said slowly: "I suspected there was a secret room here near the corner of the building, but judging by the depth of the window niches in the corridor, that was impossible. There didn't seem to be enough space for one."

"There isn't!" Sun said with a chuckle. "But a thick supporting wall is built on the outside against the corner of this building, and this snug little room is inside that wall. You can't see it from the other side of the ravine that runs along this side of the monastery, nor can you see it from the windows of the east wing opposite. The old builders knew their job, you see! What made you think there was a secret room here, Dee?"

"Only a lucky accident," the judge replied with a sigh. "Last night, shortly after my arrival here, a window blew open and I got a brief glimpse of this room. I saw you while you were moving that wooden statue which you had taken from the Gallery of Horrors. I only saw your back, and I mistook the smooth grey hair plastered to your head for a close-fitting helmet. And I thought the statue was a real woman. That was the hallucination I consulted you about."

"Well, well!" Sun said astonished. "So you consulted me about myself, so to speak!" He laughed heartily.

"That scene," Judge Dee continued with impassive face, "set me chasing after the actor Mo Mo-te, who wore such an antiquated helmet during his sword dance. I can't understand, though, why that window on the right there doesn't show on the outside. That is the window I must have seen."

"It is," Sun replied. "But it's a trick-window, you know. I can't claim any credit for it; it was there already when last year I discovered this useful little room. The shutters are, as you see, on the inside, and the panels of oiled paper on the outside are flush with the surface of the wall, and painted like bricks. Transparent paint was used, so that one can open the shutters at daytime and have light to see by, without any outside people noticing anything." He pensively caressed his short ringbeard and went on: "Yes, I remember now, last night I opened it to get some fresh air. The window is on the side away from the wind, you see. I didn't think it would do any harm, for I knew that the shutters of all the windows opposite were closed tightly because of the storm. When I heard one blow open, I quickly closed mine, but apparently I wasn't quick enough — I was a bit careless there, I fear!"

"You were even more careless when, during your explanation of the diagram in your library, you stated that the circle of the two forces is always divided vertically. I knew for certain that somewhere I had seen the circle with a horizontal dividing line, hut at that moment I didn't remember where and when that had been. If you had then told me that the circle might be represented in varying positions, I would have dismissed the subject from my mind, and forgotten all about it."

Sun hit his hand on his knee. He said with a smile: "Yes, now I remember you asking about that. I must confess that I hadn't thought at all about the secret lock when I was giving you my explanation. You are an observant fellow, Dee! But how did you manage to turn the disk around? It screws a vertical bar up and down along the side of the door, and it doesn't turn easily. There's a special key for it, you know!" He took from his bosom an iron hook with two protruding dents and a long handle. The judge saw that the dents would fit the two holes in the disk.

"I found that my hairpin did as well," he said. "It only takes more time, of course. But to come back to our subject I think you were careless a third time when you placed Miss Kang in the Gallery of Horrors. She couldn't move her head or body and the black paint on her hands and feet was a clever device, but with all those people about here, there was still a great risk that she would be discovered."

"No," Sun said reprovingly, "there you are completely wrong, Dee. Ordinarily there wouldn't have been any risk, the gallery is closed this time of the year. And it was a very original idea, don't you think? I presume the girl would have become quite amenable after passing one night there. I'll repeat the experiment, some day. Though painting her was quite a job, I'll tell you! But I like to do things well. You are an enterprising fellow, Dee. That deduction from the cat's eyes was quite clever of you. I had overlooked that clue when I suggested to our poor friend True Wisdom how he could eliminate the old abbot. True Wisdom, I regret to say, was really a mean person, only out for wealth and power, but lacking the initiative and will-power for acquiring all that by himself. When he was still the prior here, he once stole a large sum of money from the monastery treasury. He would have been done for if I had not helped him. Therefore he was obliged to help me with my own little pastimes! The old abbot now, that was another man for you! Clever as they make them! Fortunately he was getting on in years, and when he found out that something was going on with those girls here, he immediately suspected True Wisdom — that poor fish who didn't even know what a woman looks like! I found it safer to instruct True Wisdom to do away with old Jade Mirror, and I persuaded the Chief Abbot in the capital to appoint True Wisdom as successor."

Sun pensively pulled at his ragged eyebrows. Giving Judge Dee a shrewd look he went on: "True Wisdom had become rattled, of late. He kept worrying about the insinuations made by that rascally poet, and he also maintained that a strange monk had wormed his way into this monastery and was spying on him. It was a fellow with a morose face. True Wisdom thought he had seen him before somewhere. Presumably the same fellow you were after, Dee! All nonsense, of course. Just before your arrival I had to take True Wisdom up to my attic and give him a good talking to. But it didn't help, apparently. He was steadily losing his head; that's why the fool tried to kill you. He badly bungled that — I am glad to say."

The judge remained silent. He thought for a while, then said: "No, True Wisdom's fears of that morose monk were well-founded. Where did you find that girl called Liu who died here while you were treating her for a lingering disease?"

"Lingering disease is a most appropriate term!" Sun said with a chuckle. "Well, Miss Liu was something quite special, Dee. A strong, well-developed girl, and lots of spirit! She was a member of a band of vagabonds, and got arrested while stealing chickens from a farm outside the capital. My good Mrs. Pao got her by bribing the prison guards."

"I see. That morose monk, as you call him, was Miss Liu's brother. I was told that his real name might be Liu. At times he went about as a vagrant Taoist monk, and in that role he had visited this monastery before. He suspected that his sister had been murdered here. He came back in the guise of the actor Mo Mo-te, in order to find the murderer and to avenge her death. The abbot was quite right in worrying about Mo; he is a splendid swordsman, and you know how particular those gangs are with regard to settling blood-feuds."

"Well," Sun said indifferently, "the abbot is dead and gone, and we'll blame everything on him, so your bellicose Mr. Mo will be satisfied. My friend True Wisdom made a sad mistake, though, when at the last moment he wanted to denounce me to you, hoping thereby to save his own skin."

Judge Dee nodded. He said: "The abbot didn't commit suicide, of course. I ought to have suspected that at once. You pushed him from the landing, didn't you?"

"That's true!" Sun said happily. "I thought I showed great presence of mind on that occasion! I was quite impressed by your reasoning, Dee! It was so logical that I nearly began to believe that he had committed suicide myself! Listen, I am sorry I can't offer you a cup of tea. That is unfortunately not included in the facilities of this cosy little room!"

"Did you have other helpers here besides the abbot and Mrs. Pao?"

"Of course not! As an experienced magistrate you'll know very well, Dee, that if you want to keep something secret, you shouldn't rope in all the world and his wife!"

"I suppose you killed Mrs. Pao here?" the judge asked looking at the blood-stained chopper on the floor.

"Yes, I could take no chances with her, after I had found the gallery open and Miss Kang gone. Killing her presented no problem of course, but I had to do some hard work to get her remains through that air-shaft over there, she was a portly woman, you know. But her pieces will rest in peace, if you'll allow me a feeble pun! At the bottom of the ravine is a cleft; nobody has yet succeeded in exploring its depths. I somewhat regret the loss of Mrs. Pao, though, for she made herself quite useful, and I had built up an excellent reputation for her in the capital. But the pious widow had to go, for she was the only one who could testify against me after you had wrecked my plans with little Miss Kang." He added with a quick smile: "Don't think I hold that against you, Dee! I enjoy a battle of wits with a clever opponent like you. You are doubtless a fine chess player. Let's have a game tomorrow. You do play chess, don't you?"

"Hardly," Judge Dee replied. "My favourite game is dominoes." "Dominoes, eh?" Sun said, disappointed. "Well, I won't quarrel with another man's tastes. As regards Mrs. Pao, I'll soon find another woman who'll continue her pious work."

"Mrs. Pao was indeed an important witness," the judge said slowly. He caressed his side-whiskers, looking pensively at his host. Then he resumed: "Tell me, why did you leave the capital and settle down in this lonely monastery?"

A reminiscent smile curved Sun's thin lips. He patted the silvery locks on his large round head and replied: "When I had the signal honour of explaining to His Majesty the Taoist creed, a few courtiers and Palace ladies became interested in the secret rites. I found the daughter of a certain chamberlain rather attractive, and she was so enthusiastic! Unfortunately the stupid wrench killed herself. It was all hushed up, of course, but I had to leave the Palace. I found this monastery a suitable place for continuing my studies. Mrs. Pao got three girls to keep me company during the past year, quite satisfactory ones. Unfortunately all of them died, as you doubtless know."

"What did really happen to the girl who fell from the tower above us here — by accident, as it was said?"

"She didn't go up to the tower at all! At least not on the day she died. She had been to my special room up there, of course. You should see it, Dee, it's all draped with yellow brocade! Miss Kang was quite impressed, I think. But to come back to the other one, Miss Gao, as she was called. She went the same way as Mrs. Pao just now, but of her own free will, mind you. I had put her in this room here, and chose to forget about her for a day or so, to teach her a lesson. She succeeded in wriggling through that narrow air-shaft there. She was quite a slender girl, you see."

"If you confess as readily in my tribunal as you do now," Judge Dee said dryly, "you'll make things very easy for me." Sun raised his tufted eyebrows.

"In the tribunal?" he asked, astonished. "What on earth are you talking about, Dee?"

"Well," the judge replied, "You committed five murders, not to speak of rape and abduction. You weren't thinking I would let you get away with that, did you?"

"My dear fellow!" Sun exclaimed. "Of course you'll let me get away with it — if you insist on using that vulgar expression. Your only witnesses against me were our good abbot and Mrs. Pao — and neither of them is with us any more. After the instructive experiences I had with the two girls in the old abbot's time, I never showed myself before the girls were completely under control. All the blame for the treatment Miss Kang underwent will go to True Wisdom and Mrs. Pao." As Judge Dee shook his head emphatically, Sun exclaimed: "Come now, Dee, I think you are a clever man, don't disappoint me! Of course you could never initiate a case against me. What would the higher authorities think if you accused me, the famous Taoist sage and former Imperial Tutor Sun Ming, of a string of fantastic crimes, and that without a shred of proof? Everybody would think you had gone raving mad, Dee. It would break your career! And I would be genuinely sorry for that, for I really like you, you know!"

"And if, in order to substantiate my case, I referred to that unsavoury affair in the Palace you just told me about?"

Sun Ming laughed heartily.

"My dear Dee, don't you realize that the said little mishap is a closely guarded Palace secret, involving most illustrious names? As soon as you breathed one word about that, you would find yourself demoted and sent to a far-away place — if they didn't put you in jail, in solitary confinement for the rest of your life!"

Judge Dee thought for a while, slowly stroking his beard.

"Yes," he said with a sigh, "I am afraid that you are quite right."

"Of course I am right! I quite enjoyed this conversation, it's nice to be able to discuss one's hobbies with such an understanding person as you. But I must ask you to forget all about this, Dee. You'll return to Han-yuan with the personal satisfaction that you solved for yourself some knotty problems, and got the better of me in the case of little Miss Kang. And I'll continue my peaceful life here in the monastery. Of course you won't try to restrain either directly or indirectly my future activities. You are much too clever for that — you are doubtless aware of the fact that I still have considerable influence in the capital. You have now learned the valuable lesson, Dee, that law and custom are only there for the common people; they don't apply to exalted persons like me. I belong to that small group of chosen people, Dee, who because of their superior knowledge and talents are far above ordinary human rules and limitations. We have advanced beyond such conventional notions as ‘good' and ‘bad.' If the storm destroys a house and kills all the inmates, you don't summon the storm to your tribunal, do you? Well, this lesson you'll find very useful later, Dee, when you have been appointed to a high post in the capital, as doubtless you will be. Then you'll remember this conversation, and you'll be grateful to me!" He rose and clapped the judge on his shoulder. "We'll go down to the hall now," he added briskly. "The monks'll be starting the preparations for breakfast by and by. This mess here I'll clean up later. First of all we need a good meal. Both of us had rather a strenuous night, I dare say!"

Judge Dee also got up.

"Yes," he said wearily, "let's go down." Noticing that Sun was going to take his wide cloak he said politely, "Allow me to carry that for you, sir. The weather has cleared."

"Thank you!" Sun said, handing him the cloak. "Yes, it's funny with these mountain storms; they'll start suddenly, rage for a time with incredible vehemence, then as suddenly subside. I don't complain, though, as they occur only at this time of the year. Generally the climate here suits me very well."

Judge Dee took up the lantern. They passed through the cupboard. As Sun turned the disk to close the secret door he said over his shoulder: "I don't think I need to change this lock, Dee! There aren't many persons like you who are observant enough to notice that the design of the Two Forces is in an unusual position!"

Silently they walked through the corridor, then descended a steep flight of steps that brought them to the portal of the temple. Sun looked outside and said with satisfaction: "Yes, it is indeed dry now and the wind has gone down. We can walk to the refectory across the courtyard."

When they were descending the steps leading down into the paved court, grey in the morning twilight, Judge Dee said: "What did you use that other secret room for, sir? Up there, above the store-room? I saw a small round window there, barely visible. Or shouldn't I ask that?

Sun halted in his steps.

"You don't say!" he exclaimed astonished. "I never knew about that one! Those ancient architects were up to all kinds of tricks! You are a useful fellow to have around, Dee! Show me where you saw that window!"

Judge Dee took him over to the high gate that closed the space between the east wing and the building of the store-room. He put the lantern and the cloak on the ground, lifted the heavy crossbeam from the iron hooks, and pulled the door open. When Sun had gone inside, Judge Dee stepped back and closed the door. As he replaced the crossbar, he heard Sun knocking on the panel of the peephole. Judge Dee took up the lantern and opened it. The light shone on Sun's astonished face.

"What do you mean by that, Dee?" he asked perplexed.

"It means that you shall be judged inside there, Sun Ming. Unfortunately you were right when you explained to me that I could never initiate a case against you in my tribunal. I therefore now leave the decision to a Higher Tribunal. Heaven shall decide whether five foul murders shall be avenged, or whether I shall perish. You have two chances, Sun, whereas your victims had none. It is quite possible that your presence there shall be ignored. Or, if you are attacked, you may be able to draw the attention of the one man that can save you."

Sun's face grew purple with rage.

"One man you say, you conceited fool? In an hour or so there'll be scores of monks about in the yard, they'll set me free at once!"

"They'll certainly do so — if you are then still alive," the judge said gravely. "There is something with you in there."

Sun looked round. Indistinct sounds came from the darkness.

He grabbed the bars of the peephole. Pressing his distorted face close to them he shouted frantically: "What is that, Dee?"

"You'll find out," the judge said. He shut the panel.

As he entered the temple building again, a scream of terror rent the air.