Murder in Canton

XVI

Four constables stood in front of the two-storeyed house, two of them waving paper lanterns on which four red letters signified 'The Tribunal of Canton'. They stood at attention when the bearers set the large palankeen down. Judge Dee descended, fol­lowed by Prefect Pao and his two lieutenants. He waited till the warden and Mr Yau had stepped from their litter, then asked the former:

'In what room was the murder committed?'

'The tea-room just to the left of the hall, Excellency,' the warden replied. 'Allow me to show the way.'

He conducted them into a fairly large hall, lit by lampions of white silk, hanging from two beautifully carved stands. A con­stable stood at the door on the left; on the right there was a sidetable and a big armchair. In the rear of the hall was a moon-door, a round door-opening with a half-drawn curtain of blue beads. They made a rattling sound as a white hand quickly pulled the curtain close.

'You sit down there and wait!’ Judge Dee told Mr Yau, point­ing at the armchair on the right. Then he asked the warden, 'You didn't touch anything on the scene of the crime, did you?'

'No sir. I went inside only once, put two lighted candles on the table, and verified that she was indeed dead. The woman in charge here knew her as Miss Wang. But I found in her sleeve a brocade folder with visiting cards, which said clearly that, she was our Prefect's wife. I left everything exactly as it was, sir.'

The constable had opened the door. They saw a small tea-room. In the centre stood a table of rosewood and three chairs; on the left a wall-table, bearing a vase filled with wilting flowers. The walls were plastered a spotless white, and decorated by a few choice scroll paintings of birds and flowers. In front of the single window lay a woman, dressed in a simple brown gown, her face to the floor. By her side was the fourth chair, overturned. Evidently it had been standing by the side of the table nearest to the win­dow.

Judge Dee took one of the candles from the table, and gave a sign to Tao Gan. His lieutenant knelt and turned the dead woman over on her back. The Prefect quickly averted his face. Chiao Tai went to stand between him and the dead body. Her features were horribly distorted, her swollen tongue protruding from her blood­stained mouth. With some difficulty Tao Gan loosened the silk scarf that had been tightened round her neck with savage force. He silently showed the judge the silver coin tied in the corner of it.

Judge Dee motioned Chiao Tai to cover the dead face, then he turned round and asked the warden, who had remained standing just outside the door:

'How was the murder discovered?'

'About half an hour after she had arrived here, sir, the youngest maid went in to serve tea, assuming that the man she was wont to meet here would have arrived too. When she saw the dead body, she began to shriek at the top of her voice. People passing in the street heard her. The window there was open, you see, just as it is now. It gives on to a narrow alley between this house and the next. Well, two men who were passing the entrance of the alley heard the maid shout and at once ran to my office to warn me. So I hurried here to see what was wrong.'

'Quite,' Judge Dee said. He ordered Chiao Tai and Tao Gan to search the room for possible clues, then to arrange the removal of the dead body to the tribunal. To Prefect Pao he said, 'I shall now interrogate the woman in charge here, together with you, Mr Pao. Warden, where did you put the inmates?'

'The woman in charge, a kind of housekeeper, I put in the reception room back of the hall, sir. The four young girls who are living here I ordered to keep to their own rooms, on the second floor. The maidservants I told to stay in the kitchen.'

'Good work! Come along, Mr Pao!'

As he went across the hall to the moon-door, Mr Yau jumped up from the armchair, but Judge Dee pointedly ignored him. The Prefect glared at him in passing and the harassed Mr Yau quickly resumed his seat.

The small reception room contained only a tea-table of carved blackwood, two chairs of the same material, and a high cupboard. The quietly dressed, middle-aged woman who was standing at the cupboard quickly made a low bow. Judge Dee sat down at the tea-table and motioned the Prefect to take the other chair. The warden pressed the woman down on her knees, then remained standing behind her, his arms crossed on his breast.

Judge Dee began to question her, starting with her name and age. She spoke the northern tongue haltingly, but by skilful ques­tions the judge elicited that Mr Yau had bought the house five years ago, and put her in charge of four girls. Two were ex-courtesans bought out by Mr Yau, the others former actresses. All of them were being paid a generous salary. Mr Yau used to come there about twice a week, either alone or with two or three friends.

'How did you come to know Mrs Pao?' Judge Dee asked her.

'I swear I never knew she was the wife of His Excellency the Prefect!’ the woman wailed. 'Else I'd of course never have agreed to Captain Nee bringing her here. He...'

'Didn't I tell you so?' Prefect Pao shouted. 'The lecher has...'

'Leave this to me, Mr Pao,' the judge interrupted. He glanced at the housekeeper. 'Proceed!'

'Well, the captain came here a couple of years ago, as I said, and he introduced her as a Miss Wang. Could he use a room now and then in the afternoon, to have a talk with her? he asked. Now the captain is a well-known man, sir, and since he offered to pay well for the tea and cakes, I...'

'Did Mr Yau know of the arrangement?' the judge asked.

The woman went red in the face. She stammered:

'Since the captain always came in the afternoon, sir ... and only for a cup of tea, I ... I didn't think it necessary, really, to consult Mr Yau and...'

'And you pocketed the captain's money.' Judge Dee completed her sentence in a cold voice. 'You know, of course, full well that the captain slept with the woman. This means that you'll be flogged, for having kept a bawdy house without a proper licence.'

The woman knocked her forehead on the floor several times, then she cried out:

'I swear that the captain never as much as touched her hand, sir! And there isn't even a couch or bench in that room, anyway! Ask the maids, please, sir! They went in and out there all the time, bringing tea and sweets, and so on. They'll tell you how they just sat there talking. Sometimes they played a game of chess — that was all!’ She burst into tears.

'Stop your sniffling and rise! Warden, verify her statement with the maids!’ Then he asked the woman again, 'Did the cap­tain always warn you beforehand when he came here with Mrs Pao?'

'No sir, he didn't.' She wiped her face with the tip of her sleeve. 'Why should he? He knew that Mr Yau never came in the after­noon. The captain and she always came separately, sometimes the captain was first, other times she was. Today she arrived first. The maid let her into the room they always used, thinking that the captain would turn up too, before long. But he didn't come this time.'

'Of course he came!' the Prefect shouted angrily. 'But you did not see him, you fool! He came through the window, and...'

Judge Dee raised his hand. He addressed the woman:

'So you did not see the captain. Did other visitors come, directly before or after Mrs Pao's arrival?'

'No sir. That is to say, yes... there was of course that poor girl; she came just before Madame Pao. Since she was blind, I...'

'A blind girl, you say?' the judge asked sharply.

'Yes sir. She wore a plain brown dress, rather old, but she spoke civilly enough. Said she came to apologize for not having kept her appointment with Mr Yau the other night. I asked her whether she was the girl that used to sell crickets to Mr Yau and she said yes.'

The housekeeper stopped abruptly and cast a frightened look over her shoulder at the moon-door.

'Come on, tell me all you know about the girl!' the judge ordered.

'Well, then I remembered that Mr Yau had indeed been waiting for her, sir. He had told me that she used to come to his residence whenever she had a good cricket to sell, but that from now on she would be coming here. Mr Yau also ordered me to prepare a room, upstairs. Although she's blind, she is quite good-looking, sir, and very well-educated. And since Mr Yau likes variety...' She shrugged. 'Anyway, she did not turn up that night, and Mr Yau spent the night with one of the other girls here.'

'I see. Did that blind girl go away at once when you told her that Mr Yau was not at home?'

'No sir. We stood talking there for a while, at the door. She told me that besides seeing Mr Yau, she had wanted to look in this neighbourhood for a girl friend of hers who had entered a kind of private establishment recently. Somewhere near here, behind the Flowery Pagoda, she thought it was. I told her that she must be mistaken, because I knew of no such house in this neighbourhood. "Try the brothel behind us here, dearie," I said. For when girls enter the profession, they often tell their friends that they are joining a private establishment; that sounds better, you see. Well, I took her straight to our back door, and explained to her how she could get to the brothel.'

Suddenly the bead curtain was pulled aside and the warden came in, followed by Captain Nee between two constables. Prefect Pao wanted to rise but the judge laid his hand on his arm.

'Where was the captain arrested, warden?' he asked.

'He came here in a litter, sir, with two friends! Walked inside as cool as a cucumber! And there's a warrant out for his arrest!’

'Why did you come here, Mr Nee?' the judge asked evenly.

'I had an appointment with an acquaintance, sir. I should have been here earlier, but on the way I dropped in on a friend of mine, and found there a sea captain I used to know. We had a few rounds, talked about old times, and it grew late before I knew it. Therefore I took a litter, and my two friends accompanied me here, hoping that the trip would cool their heads. Then I saw constables at the door. Has there been an accident, sir?'

Before answering Nee, the judge told the warden, 'Verify that statement with the two other gentlemen!’ Then he asked Nee, 'Who was the acquaintance you were going to meet here?'

'Well, sir, I'd rather not say. It's one of Yau's girls, really, you see. I used to know her rather well before Yau had...'

'Those lies are quite unnecessary, captain,' the judge cut his explanations short. 'She was murdered. In the tea-room where you always used to meet.'

Nee grew pale. He wanted to ask something, then glanced at the Prefect and checked himself. There was a long, awkward silence. The Prefect had been fixing Nee with a furious glare. Now he wanted to speak up, but then the warden came in and said to Judge Dee:

'Those two gentlemen confirmed the captain's statement, sir. And the maids told me that what this woman here said about those meetings was perfectly correct.'

'All right, warden. Take the captain to Colonel Chiao; he can explain it all to him. You may return to your guard-duty outside, constables!’

As they went outside, Prefect Pao hit his fist on the table and burst out in incoherent protests. But Judge Dee cut him short:

'Your wife was murdered by mistake, Mr Pao.'

'By mistake?' Pao asked, perplexed.

'Yes. Just before her arrival, the blind girl came. She had been followed here by one or more persons who wanted to kill her. As soon as they had seen her enter this house, they started to reconnoitre a way to get inside unseen. In the meantime the blind girl had been shown out by the back door, and your wife had been admitted by the maid. Your wife was dressed in approximately the same manner as the blind girl. When the assassins looked through the window of the tea-room from outside, and saw your wife sit­ting there with her back towards them, they mistook her for the blind girl, stepped inside and strangled her from behind.'

The Prefect had been listening with a bewildered look. Now he nodded slowly.

'My wife had met that cricket seller!’ he suddenly spoke up. 'That blind girl must have been in league with the murderers! She came here to divert the attention of the housekeeper so as to give those unspeakable scoundrels a free hand!’

'That's an alternative theory I shall keep in mind,' the judge said. 'You'd better go home, Mr Pao. You will have understood by now that your wife never deceived you. Her continued association with Captain Nee, the friend of her youth, was unwise. But it did not tarnish your house. Good-bye!’

'She is dead. Gone,' the Prefect said stonily. 'And she was still so young, she...' His voice choked. He quickly rose and went out­side.

Looking after his bent figure, Judge Dee decided that he would see to it that Pao never came to know about his wife's brief Arab interlude. He vaguely wondered how a well-born Chinese lady could ever fall in love with an Arab, then took hold of himself and turned to the woman who was still standing there. He addressed her harshly:

'Speak up! What other outside women used to come here? In­cluding Arab ones!'

'None, Excellency, I swear it! Mr Yau made some changes in the fixed personnel, from time to time, but...'

'All right, I'll check that with him. Now as regards the men he took here, did you ever see among them a tall, good-looking northerner?' He added a description of the Censor. But she shook her head and said that all of Mr Yau's friends were Cantonese.

The judge rose. When Mr Yau saw him coming through the moon-door he again jumped up from the armchair.

'Wait for me outside, in my palankeen,' the judge told him curtly, then went on to the tea-room.

Captain Nee was talking there with Chiao Tai and Tao Gan. The dead body had been removed. Tao Gan said eagerly:

'The murderer came from the roof, sir! Next to this window stands a tall tree that reaches up to the eaves of the second floor. I saw several branches had been broken quite recently.'

'That clinches it!’ Judge Dee said. And to Nee, 'Mrs Pao was murdered by robbers. Your association with Mrs Pao has come to a tragic end — as it was bound to, sooner or later. There is no ad­vantage in trying to keep alive a friendship with a married woman, captain.'

'This was different, sir,' the captain said quietly. 'Her husband neglected her, and they had no children. She had no one she could really talk to.'

'Except her blind girl friend,' the judge remarked dryly.

Captain Nee gave him a blank look. Then he shook his head.

'No, she never mentioned a blind girl, sir. But you are right in so far as I am responsible for all this. For I ran out on her after a silly quarrel, some years ago. I went on a voyage, expecting to be back in a couple of months. But we ran into bad weather, I was shipwrecked on an island in the South Seas and it took me over a year to get back here. She had given me up, and married Pao. Then her sister died, and that together with her unhappy marriage made her an easy prey for Mansur. She wanted to consult me, and I thought that Yau's private house was the safest meeting-place. Mansur blackmailed her, and...'

'Why should a wealthy man like Mansur practise blackmail?' Judge Dee interrupted.

'Because at that time he was pressed for funds, sir. The Khalif had confiscated all his possessions. When Mansur discovered I was the one who was paying, he asked more, because he knows I have Persian blood, and he hates all Persians.'

'Talking of Persians, who was the father of those two slave-girls of yours?'

Nee darted a quick appraising glance at the judge. Then he shrugged.

'That I don't know, sir. I could have found out, formerly, but that wouldn't have brought their mother back to life, neither would it have given the twins a real father.' He stared for a while at the empty place on the floor in front of the window, and re­sumed pensively, 'She was a strange woman. Highly-strung, and very sensitive. I felt our talks meant so much to her, she...' He broke off, desperately trying to control his twitching lips.

Judge Dee turned to his two lieutenants.

'I am going back to the palace now,' he told them. 'I'll have a talk with Mr Yau there, then eat my dinner. After you two have taken your evening rice, come straight to the palace. There is much to discuss.'

When Chiao Tai and Tao Gan had seen the judge to his palan­keen, they went back inside.

'I breakfasted at dawn, on a pair of oil-cakes,' Chiao Tai told the captain gruffly. 'Then, instead of my noon rice, I got a wallop on the head. I am in urgent need of a good square meal and a large jug of the best. I invite you to join us, captain, on condition that you lead us to the nearest restaurant, by the shortest route!'

The captain nodded gratefully.