The Willow Pattern

IV

Chiao Tai ascended the many marble stairs that led up to the terrace on the fourth storey. Slowly, for he had been on his feet since early in the morning. Doctor Lew followed him.

Judge Dee was sitting at the table, bent over a large map. Tao Gan was standing by his side, a sheaf of papers in his hand. While Chiao Tai saluted, the doctor knelt down on the upper step of the stairs.

'It was a street singer who screamed just now, sir,' Chiao Tai reported. 'This man claims she was accosting him. He is the Doctor Lew you wanted to see.'

The judge bestowed a cursory look on the kneeling man.

'Where is that woman?'

'She fled, sir.'

'I see.' Leaning back in his chair he told the doctor: 'You may rise!’

Lew quickly came to his feet and stepped on to the terrace. He made a low bow in front of Judge Dee's table, his hands folded respectfully in his long brocade sleeves. The judge observed him for a while in silence, slowly caressing his sidewhiskers. Then he asked:

'What happened down there in the street just now, doctor?'

'I was on my way to see a patient, my lord, carrying my box with powders and prescriptions.' Lew took out the flat red box and showed it to the judge. 'When I came round the corner, I saw a woman being bothered by two black men, scavengers employed for the disposal of the dead. After I had chased those wretches away, the woman accosted me. She turned out to be a streetwalker. And instead of saying thank you, she bothered me, my lord! When I told her to leave me alone, she grabbed my sleeve, and wouldn't let me go. So I had to give her a push, and she began to scream. Wanted to make a scene in order to extort money, of course. Fortunately just then the colonel here arrived, and she ran away.'

Chiao Tai opened his mouth to speak, but Judge Dee shook his head. He addressed Lew affably:

'I wanted to see you, doctor, to hear more about the demise of Merchant Mei, last night. I am informed that you were present.'

Lew shook his head, sadly.

'No, my lord, I did not actually witness the unfortunate accident. A terrible loss, not only for——'

'The coroner said you were there!’ Judge Dee interrupted him sharply.

'I was indeed in the Mei mansion, my lord. In the west wing, to be precise. The accident happened on the other side of the compound, in the east wing.'

'Well, tell the entire story!'

'Certainly, my lord. Mr Mei had summoned me early in the evening, just after seven, in fact. He wanted me to have a look at his housemaster. The old man had been going about his duties as usual, but half an hour before he had suddenly felt unwell, and Mr Mei had ordered him to go to bed at once. In a time like this, one has of course a ten­dency to think ... the worst. I examined the patient, but found it was just a bout of fever, not uncommon this time of the year. Then Mr Mei kindly invited me to have dinner with him. With the housemaster ill, and all the other ser­vants gone up to the mountain villa, Madame Mei attended upon us in person. A most embarrassing situation, I must say, being served by the lady of the house herself... . Well, we rose about nine, and Mr Mei announced that he would go up to his library, on the second floor of the east wing. He said he would read a bit, then pass the night on the couch there. "You have had a heavy day," he told his wife, "you had better have a good night's sleep, in the main bedroom." Mr Mei was a very considerate man, my lord. Always.'

Lew heaved a sigh, and went on: 'When I had taken leave of Mr Mei, on my way out I looked into the house­master's room, just inside the main gate, and found to my dismay that the fever was mounting. I administered a sooth­ing medicine to him at once, then sat down by his bed, to wait till the drug would take effect. It was dead quiet in that large mansion, normally a veritable beehive of activity. Almost an eerie atmosphere, I thought. All of a sudden I heard a woman scream, over in the east wing. I hurried outside, and in the central courtyard I met Madame Mei, in a terrible state. She——'

'What time was that?'

'It was getting on for ten o'clock, my lord. She told me sobbing that she had just found her husband lying at the bottom of the marble staircase in the hall, dead. While taking me there she told me that she had been planning to go up to his library, to see whether he needed something before she retired. Upon entering the hall, however, she saw him lying there. She screamed and ran to the main gate, hoping that the housemaster would have sufficiently recovered to——'

'We'll take that for granted. Did you examine the body?’

'Only cursorily, my lord. His head had struck the pointed top of the left newel, at the bottom of the stairs. I saw at once that the frontal bone had been crushed and that he must have died outright. He must have had a stroke when about to descend the steep staircase, for I saw an extin­guished candle lying at the top of the stairs, and one of his slippers halfway down. I have to tell you frankly, my lord, that this was not entirely unexpected. Mr Mei had been complaining to me about severe headaches lately, and I had warned him to take a rest, for he was nearly seventy, after all. But he did not heed my warnings. He insisted upon supervising the food distribution personally, every day, from morning till night. And patiently listened to the laments of all those noisy people too! He was so considerate! A great philanthropist. A terrible loss, my lord!’

'Quite so. What did you do next?'

'I prepared a sedative for Madame Mei, my lord. Then I had a look at the old housemaster, and when I found him sleeping peacefully, I told Madame Mei to leave everything as it was, and went straight to the Municipal Tribunal, to call the coroner. Everybody was very busy there, and the coroner could not be found. Someone told me that he was away, inspecting the communal pyre. So I went home, and repaired to the tribunal again early this morning. The coroner was there, and I took him to the Mei mansion. Fortunately the housemaster had quite recovered, so that he could go and summon the undertakers. The coroner examined the body in my presence. He found that——'

'Yes, I have seen his report. All right, Doctor Lew, that's all. I am rather worried about Mrs Mei. She'll need help in arranging the funeral service and so on. Go there now, doc­tor, and tell her that I shall send her a few chancery clerks, to assist her.'

'You are most kind, my lord! She'll deeply appreciate that.'

Doctor Lew made a low bow, then went down the marble stairs.

'Suave bastard!' Chiao Tai burst out angrily. 'What he told you about saving the girl from two scavengers is a damned lie, sir! It was he who was accosting her. Not she him!'

'I gathered as much,' Judge Dee said quietly. 'Not a very prepossessing person, the doctor. That's why I questioned him rather closely, as you heard just now. And although he is widely known as a learned physician, I didn't feel like consulting him on one point in our coroner's report that rather puzzled me. Can you get me that report, Tao Gan? It must be among those papers.'

Tao Gan rummaged among the documents till he found the official form filled out by the coroner. He handed it to the judge.

'Brief and to the point, as usual,' Judge Dee said with approval as he glanced through it. 'Listen!

Corpse of Mei Liang, male, profession merchant, age sixty-nine. Frontal bone crushed completely by hitting newel-top at bottom of staircase; some grey hair and blood found stuck to the sharp point of the said newel-top. Black smudges on left cheekbone, presumably soot, or black paint. Left and right flank badly bruised, more bruises on legs, back and shoulders. Provisional verdict: death by accident.'

He tossed the document on the table and said slowly:

'The bruises were of course caused when he tumbled down the stairs. It's those black smudges I am wondering about.'

'The old man had been up in his library, hadn't he?' Chiao Tai remarked. 'Did a bit of writing there, apparently, and got ink smudges on his face.'

'If you rub the ink-cake on a slab that is not perfectly clean,' Tao Gan added, 'the ink will spatter.'

'That could be the explanation,' Judge Dee agreed. 'By the way, have your guardsmen sealed off all the sewerholes, Chiao Tai?'

'Those uptown have been closed with iron gratings, sir. Not a rat will get through there. This afternoon our men started on those in the old city. I made an appointment with Ma Joong to go down there together tonight and see how things are getting along.'

'All right. I'll see both of you later, when you are back. I have to go over a number of administrative problems with Tao Gan, and we won't be through until midnight, I presume.'