Deadly injustice

TWELVE

‘ They’re just accusing each other. This is getting us nowhere.’

Lin nodded in agreement at my observations on our morning’s work.

‘We can’t just concentrate on the moment of the murder. We have to delve into the past and find out more about the reason why Geng was murdered.’ He sighed. ‘We need to go back to the beginning.’

‘But where is the beginning?’

I was getting more and more depressed about finishing this before Guan presented his play to the public showing Jianxu in all her innocence.

‘Is it when Jianxu was left as a child with the Gao family? How are we going to dig that far back?’

‘Jianxu herself can tell you.’

It was Gurbesu who spoke up. She had been sitting in the corner of the room listening to our debate. Tadeusz had not yet put in an appearance, and was presumably still ferreting around finding out what he could about where the aconite might have come from. I challenged Gurbesu’s opinion that the girl was the best source to go to for information about the past.

‘She was a child when she was left with Gao. Her knowledge of what happened will be clouded by the view of a child. And if she is guilty of murder her testimony will not be the most reliable.’

‘It will be a start, and we could check her story with neighbours. As for her fabricating facts to cover up her guilt, you yourself have said often enough that a murderer can be uncovered as much by their lies as by the truth.’

Lin laughed out loud.

‘You are caught out by your own words, Nick. Admit it; Gurbesu is right. We should speak to Jianxu again. If only to test Wenbo’s statement about him being about to marry her.’

Gurbesu corrected Lin sharply.

‘I was saying that I should speak to her, not either of you. It worked the first time, and will work best again if I speak to her alone.’

It was best not to contradict Gurbesu when she had the bit between her teeth. And she was right anyway. Jianxu would talk to her, and Gurbesu would know the truth. If she spun a yarn, Gurbesu would know that too. She was clever that way. We agreed that she would approach Jianxu alone, which suited me as I had business with the prefect that I didn’t want her to know about. Lin would have to be kept in the dark too, because it was not exactly above board. Once I had tempted Li Wen-Tao with a bagful of paper money, I had spotted where the business opportunity lay, and couldn’t resist taking it. But before I could get away, Tadeusz came rushing in. He had a big smile on his lopsided face that suggested he had made a discovery.

‘You won’t guess what I found out from one of the silversmiths. He had had some business dealings with Old Geng, and told me that a few months ago the old man had paid off some of his debts. When he asked Geng if he had at last got Taitemir to pay him, Geng pulled a face and said he had not, that he had had to borrow money at an extortionate rate to keep himself going.’

I didn’t know why Pyka was so pleased to have been told that. It did not get us any further on. But the little smith had news that did change things.

‘This time I had a hint as to who the moneylender was. The silversmith I spoke to was sure it was Madam Gao.’

‘The old lady loaned Geng money? Well I suppose she might if they were to be wed.’

Tadeusz sat down at the table and picked up a succulent peach from the porcelain bowl in its centre. He bit deeply, and wiped the juice from his mouth using his sleeve.

‘No, you have it wrong. The loan was well before Madam Gao moved into Geng’s house. And it wasn’t a loan from one friend to another. Don’t forget Geng complained the moneylender’s rates were painfully high. It was a purely business transaction at the time. You see, Madam Gao must be a moneylender by trade. She is well known in the town as a hard-headed businesswoman, tougher than her husband was. And the business, which traded in silk material, had many clients. She took over the business when her husband died, and ran it much more successfully than he did. It seems she used her wealth to lend money, extorting punitive rates of return. Everyone was surprised when she moved into Geng’s house.’

I looked at everyone around the table.

‘This changes matters. Both Gengs had reasons to want Gao dead — one owed her a lot of money, the other didn’t want to lose the family business. Do you think the murder of the old man was an attack on Madam Gao that went badly wrong?’

‘An attempt by the boy to kill the moneylender who had his father in a stranglehold?’

Tadeusz’s question was answered with more from Lin.

‘Is the boy so ham-fisted that his poisoning attempt went so drastically wrong? Would he not be totally distraught to have been the cause of his own father’s death?’

‘Not if he saw the benefits of what happened. He’s not that dim.’ I got up and straightened my breeches, which were tight around my nether regions. ‘Now, I have things to do, and so do you, Gurbesu. Talk to Jianxu today, and try and get to the bottom of this matter. We need to know everything, especially if the boy was going to wed Jianxu. That would change the perspective on him being a suspect. Why kill to keep the Geng business, if he would inherit it anyway? Tadeusz — see if you can discover the names of any of the other people Madam Gao has loaned money to. Without her knowing you want to know.’

‘You think someone else might have been trying to kill her?’

‘It’s a possibility. Though I still think this has more to do with the family than an outsider, but we must not exclude other possibilities.’

Having made sure all the others would be busy that afternoon, I turned to Lin. I was in no position to order him to do anything, but I did want to ensure he was occupied somehow. He saw my questioning look, and raised his hands, palms outward.

‘Don’t ask me to do anything. I have much to write up here. If we are to come out of this without falling into Ko’s trap, we need accurate records.’

I was relieved. Lin would be busy too.

‘I agree. Every step must be meticulously recorded, and every fact substantiated.’

Lin sighed.

‘And even then it may do us no good. Ko is a slippery eel of an enemy.’

‘I’m afraid he is. By the way, do you know if the actors’ troupe are rehearsing Guan’s play today?’

Lin shrugged his shoulders.

‘I don’t know for sure, but I fear they will be. That is another sword dangling over our heads.’

Lin waved for his servant, Po Ku, to bring paper and ink, and I left him to his work and his worries.

At that same moment, Ko Su-Tsung was ensconced in his private room. At the heart of his quarters, the room was deep in shadows, just as he preferred it. Much of his deeds were conceived and controlled from the darkness of this room. Now, he held the second communication from his spy at Pianfu. He smiled his cadaver smile. The letter contained a report on Lin Chu-Tsai’s meeting with the prefect, and the fact that Lin found nothing amiss in his behaviour. Ko was satisfied so far with the progress of events, but it was too soon to imagine that his enemy was trapped inexorably. He knew Lin was cleverer than that. And so was that foreign barbarian, Zuliani. Though he felt sure that Zuliani would make some sort of mess by getting involved in a shady deal or some such. It was in the man’s nature. In fact, he could make matters worse for Lin by drawing Zuliani into a bad deal that would compromise both men. He lifted his writing implement and began to draft a message to be sent by the great Yam.

I went to Li Wen-Tao’s house via the theatre because I had to settle a little business there first. It occurred to me at the time to check on the person who had inserted the lines in the play the previous night — the words that had so concerned Lin. But I didn’t have the opportunity as a rehearsal was beginning. I would have to leave it for later, perhaps. For now, the business in hand was with the prefect.

Fat Li was still in the same position as when I had last seen him. In fact he looked fatter, and more food was being conveyed to his mouth with those little chopsticks. He paused long enough though to cast a greedy eye over my satchel. The last time he had seen it, it was stuffed with money. He had to do something for me first before I opened it up again, so I reminded him of our previous conversation.

‘Ho — the thief you mentioned. Have you come across him again? Have his light-fingered ways caused him to appear before your court?’

Li grinned, and some rice slid from his lips and down his chin.

‘It’s odd you should say that. He is awaiting my justice right now, having been found with stolen goods in his possession. A valuable vase and a bead necklace reported stolen from a middle-ranking official. I shall be very brutal with Ho this time.’

I lifted a hand to stay the course of his justice.

‘I have another suggestion. Will you let him off with a warning, and have him secrete his ill-gotten gains somewhere where they can be found?’

Li narrowed his eyes, and looked baffled.

‘Why would I do that?’

I know I had him hooked, and I began to reel him in.

‘I noticed that the Temple of the Earth-Goddess in the square has a shrine to the god of lost possessions. I understand that people who have lost something or have had something stolen go to the priest or priestess and ask them for help with the god who is in residence to have their items restored to them.’

Li was still unclear where I was taking him, but he could sense something profitable at the end of all this, just as I had. I went on.

‘It occurred to me that if, say, the old priestess knew where Ho has hidden the items he has stolen, then she could tell the owners, who will be most grateful to the god. They will reward the god through the old woman.’

‘They will indeed. But what benefit is that to us?’

I had him for sure. He was looking for the scam already.

‘If Ho told you where the goods were, and you told the old woman, then she would feel obliged to share her spoils with you. As for me, I would only want a small amount for suggesting this to you. And by way of sealing our deal, I could… deposit some of my paper money with you.’

It put my hand in the satchel, and produced a bundle of black notes with the seals of reputable men. Li’s eyes widened. He made to take the money, but I held my hand over the top of it.

‘Of course, this is not a one-off deal. If any other thefts should come your way, we could make the same arrangements. As and when they happened.’

Li nodded eagerly, and I lifted my hand off the money. It disappeared as if by magic up his long and voluminous sleeve. My little moneymaking scheme was under way.

Lin seemed preoccupied when I got back to the house we were quartered in, and he called me into the room he had taken over as his private office. Papers lay scattered around in a way I had not seen before. Lin was usually so neat and meticulous. He saw me looking at the mess and apologized.

‘I have been busy this afternoon, and haven’t had time to get things straight. Let me call Po Ku and he can sort my papers out as we speak.’

He disappeared for a moment and when he returned the rangy Po Ku was following him. With some simple instructions from Lin, the youth began collecting the scattered documents. I was surprised Lin trusted him to understand the order in which they needed to be arranged, but he seemed to be satisfied Po Ku was doing as requested. He turned to me, a grim smile on his soft, oval face.

‘After I had finished making notes of our progress so far, I went to the actors’ theatre in the square.’

For a moment my heart sank. Had Lin divined the reason for my clandestine visit there? If he had, it would complicate matters no end. But to my relief he made no mention of my having been to see the troupe myself.

‘I wanted to speak to whoever had rewritten the words for the play we saw. There seemed to be so many veiled hints in the script, I was sure it had been intended that we heard them and investigated. I tried to speak to Tien-jan Hsiu, but he was rehearsing Guan’s play with most of the rest of the acting crew. I did manage to speak with the ticket-seller, but he could only tell me that the manager of the troupe was responsible for the scripts of the older plays. He goes by the stage name of P’ing-Yang Nu — slave from P’ing-Yang — and was playing the part of the executioner in Guan’s play. He too was onstage, therefore. I stood and watched for a while, having been told the man I wanted was the one with tattoos all over his arms and legs. He looked my way a couple of times, but wouldn’t come offstage. Then, when the rehearsal finished, he must have slipped away behind the shen-cheng — the backcloth — because Tien-jan came over to talk to me. And when I looked for Nu he was nowhere to be seen.’

‘A guilty conscience?’

‘Or fearful of going any further than he has done. Letting the words he wanted us to hear be spoken in public but understood only by us was clever. But it suggests he is afraid of being seen to speak directly to us. Never mind, we will find him. And when we do, he will have to tell us what he knows.’

I wasn’t so optimistic.

‘How can you be sure he knows anything? Could it not be merely coincidence, and you are reading too much into the lines you heard?’

Lin’s face hardened in a way I had not seen before. This case and its possible consequences were beginning to tell on him.

‘No. I am sure he knows more. You see, I checked some old posters I saw in the street. They had been partially torn down, or new ones had been pasted over them. But I could read enough of the posters to know that the troupe had been performing in Pianfu right at the time of Old Geng’s death.’ He looked triumphantly at me. ‘It proves they were here when the old man was murdered. Nu could have been seeking a loan — acting troupes are notoriously short of cash and need loans — so, at the very least, he could have seen something. He could have seen who the real murderer was, and not realized it until their return this time round.’