The Lacquer Screen

XIV

The taproom was lighted by half a dozen smoking candles; it presented a lively scene. Gambling was in full swing, the foursome had been reinforced by Chiao Tai and the Student, who lustily joined in the rhyming chorus when a particularly good combination was thrown. The Corporal sat in the rat­tan chair with Carnation on his knee, one arm round her waist and the other beating the time of the ribald song she was singing. When he saw the judge, he shouted:

'Hey thief-catcher, did you catch your man?'

'I didn't find the fellow, let alone catch him!' Judge Dee said sourly.

'The wench here says you caught her all right, though!' the Corporal said with a broad grin. 'From now on we shall call each other cousin, hey? All the same family!' He pushed the girl from his lap and got up. Slapping her behind he shouted: 'Now you'll show me what new tricks the beard taught you!'

They went laughing to the stairs.

Judge Dee sat down at the table near the window. Chiao Tai had risen and fetched two wine beakers from the counter. As he seated himself the judge asked eagerly:

'Did Kun-shan turn up?'

'Hasn't been near here!' Chiao Tai replied.

Judge Dee set his beaker down hard on the table. He said peevishly:

'I should have followed your advice! I made a bad mistake letting that fellow go! I can't understand why he hasn't turned up. He is clever enough, he must realize that, now that the tribunal has arrested Leng, they may issue a proclamation that all his possessions'll be confiscated, and that the gold shop then won't honour the drafts any more.' He called over to the gamblers: 'Hey there, do any of you know where I can find Kun-shan?'

The bald man looked round and shook his head.

'I don't think he has a fixed place to stay, brother, and if he has we never heard of it. He sleeps curled up under a stone, together with the other worms, I suppose!'

The gamblers guffawed.

'Has the scoundrel done more dirty things?' Chiao Tai asked.

'Perhaps a murder,' Judge Dee replied. Then he told Chiao Tai in a low voice what had happened at the Ko residence.

By the time he had finished, the four gamblers had settled accounts and were drifting towards the staircase. The Student went out. The waiter came up to Judge Dee's table and asked whether they would be needing him. When they said no, he disappeared behind the counter.

'Does that fellow sleep there?' Judge Dee asked, astonished.

'Certainly!' Chiao Tai said with a grin. 'He just fits into the second shelf. As regards Kun-shan now, much to my regret I must say that he couldn't have murdered old Ko, because he never could have managed that dive into the river. I've seen it. The current is very swift, jagged rocks stick out of the water everywhere, and there are plenty of nasty whirlpools. The man who dives into it, swims down­stream and then comes out alive must not only know the river as well as the palm of his hand and have superior skill in swimming, but he must also have considerable strength and power of endurance. No, Magistrate, you can take my word for it — Kun-shan could never have done that.'

'In that case,' Judge Dee said, 'Kun-shan must have had an accomplice who jumped into the river. The scheme of the faked suicide itself bears the hallmark of Kun-shan's evil, tortuous mind. And, since he stole Leng Chien's notebook, he must have been there when the murder was committed. Tomorrow I'll tell Pan Yoo-te to send his best men out to arrest the scoundrel. He won't have left the city, not with­out the money or without trying to do us some dirty trick!'

'Talking about an accomplice,' Chiao Tai said slowly, 'when I visited Mrs Ko she told me that she had been expecting someone else, but that he hadn't turned up. Since I thought she was a courtesan, I took it that she referred to another customer. But it was probably her lover, and that man might be Kun-shan's helper! Heaven, that reminds me! She also said that she would be leaving town shortly!'

'She won't!' the judge remarked dryly. 'I had her put in jail, for she showed clearly that she knew about the murder. Tomorrow I'll ask Magistrate Teng to appoint me his temporary Assessor, so that I can take part in the ques­tioning of Mrs Ko. Then, when the session is over, I shall accompany Teng on a trip to Pien-foo.' He told Chiao Tai about the two visits of the painter and his paramour to the house of assignation, about the mysterious person who had spied on them, and about his final conclusion that the woman had not been Mrs Teng at all. 'Therefore,' he said, 'I am glad that I made good progress with Ko Chih-yuan's case, I feel I owe that to the magistrate. Well, what did you find out this afternoon?'

'My job was easy. I left here after I had my little nap. That unpleasant youngster, the Student, insisted on accom­panying me part of the way. He told me, very confidentially, about some big coup he is planning, all by himself, and which would net him two hundred gold pieces!'

'Not in two hundred years!' Judge Dee said. 'On our way to the marsh he dished out a similar tale to me. What did they say at headquarters about our kind host?'

'As usual,' Chiao Tai replied with a grin, 'I had to run around a bit before I found the right man. The officer in charge of personnel said that the files on deserters were with the military police, and the military police said that per­sonnel had them. At last a clever sergeant took me apart and warned me that if I were going to wait for that file I'd have to wait till my hair had turned grey. But he knew that Captain Mao of the military police had served in the Third Wing of the Western Army too, and he thought that he might remember the case. Well, this Captain Mao is a nephew of Colonel Mao, of the fort in Peng-lai. He has the fiercest moustache I've ever seen in my life, but he proved to be a very likeable fellow notwithstanding, and he remem­bered our Corporal quite well. Mao said he had been an excellent soldier, several times commended for bravery in battle, and worshipped by his men. Thereafter, however, there came a new commanding officer, a certain Captain Woo, a crook who kept part of the soldiers' pay for himself. When a soldier protested, Woo ordered the Corporal to give him hundred lashes with the bowstring. The Corporal re­fused, and when Woo started beating him, the Corporal, he knocked Woo down. Since beating an officer is, of course, a capital offence, the Corporal took to his heels. Later it was discovered that Woo had accepted bribes from a secret agent of the barbarians, and he was beheaded. Captain Mao told me that if our Corporal had managed to stay out of mischief after his desertion, they would in this special case make an exception and forget about his offence. The army now needs good men like him, and if the magistrate recommends him, he'll be re-enlisted and promoted to sergeant. That's all.'

'I am glad to hear that,' Judge Dee said. 'The Corporal is a rough-and-ready rascal, but he has his heart in the right place. I'll see what I can do for him. Now, what about that soothsayer?'

'There can't be the slightest doubt that he is genuine. He's a dignified old man, very serious about his work. He had known Ko Chih-yuan for a long time, and liked him. He said old Ko was a bit nervous and fussy about small things, but a good and kind man, always ready to help others. I described Kun-shan to him, but he had never seen him. Then I asked the old gentleman to have a squint at my future too! He looked at my hand and said I would die by the sword. I told him that nothing would suit me better! But he didn't like that, for, as I said already, he's dead serious about his forecasts.'

'Well, that settles that! ' the judge said. 'I reckoned with the possibility that someone who wished to harm Ko had bribed the soothsayer to indicate the fifteenth as a dangerous day, so as to be able to lay his plans beforehand. Now we'd better be off to bed, for we'll have to be at the tribunal early. This is our last night here in the Phoenix Inn, Chiao Tai. Tomorrow I'll have to give up my incognito. We'll stay in the guest quarters of the tribunal for the rest of my leave.'

Chiao Tai took the candle, and they went upstairs.

They found their small bedroom even hotter and closer than the night before. Judge Dee would have opened the window, but the myriad tiny thuds resounding from outside against the dirty oil-paper reminded him that clouds of winged insects were waiting for the assault. With a sigh he lay down on the hard couch, pulling his robe close so as to be protected somewhat against the other hordes that presently would come crawling from the crevices among the planks. Chiao Tai again stretched himself out on the floor, his head close to the door.

Judge Dee turned and tossed on the plank-bed, but sleep would not come. Soon he found that the air had become suffocating. Since, now that he had doused the candle, there seemed to be fewer flying insects attacking the window, he decided to open it. But he pulled and pushed in vain; it had become stuck in its frame. He took the hair-needle out of his top-knot, and, with its sharp point, cut the oil-paper from the square window panes. A slight breeze came in, together with the cool rays of the moon, and he felt somewhat relieved. He again lay down on the plank-bed, and put his neck-cloth over his face to protect himself against the mosquitoes. After a while his fatigue asserted itself, and he fell asleep. Except for the rhythmic snoring, the Phoenix Inn was still.