Necklace and Calabash

XI

Up in his room Judge Dee sat down heavily in the armchair by the window. The murder of Tai Min had been solved now. He would see to it that Lang Liu and the men who tortured and killed the unfortunate cashier would get their deserts. But first he would have to identify the real criminals who had planned the theft of the necklace. For now his surmise had been proved right: the theft was the essential part of some complicated court intrigue, and the contact of the mysterious Mr Hao must be inside the palace. It was only to be expected that there would be a Mr Hao, for when depraved courtiers want to hire professionals from outside to do their dirty work, they always employ a 'broker'. If only he could lay hands on Mr Hao! Arrested and interrogated, Hao would tell who his contact was. But something had gone wrong somewhere: Hao had not contacted Lang, and the judge had the uneasy feeling that Mr Hao had disappeared from the scene for good.

Again the soft sound of the moon-guitar came from the room below. A quick melody this time, expertly played; unfamiliar but quite attractive. It ended on an abrupt chord, then a woman laughed. There were no courtesans in Rivertown, but apparently some guests had brought their own girl friends along. Judge Dee tugged pensively at his moustache.

What could Tai Min have done with the necklace? It had been easy enough to grab it from the side-table where the Princess had put it. The cashier could have reached it even without stepping inside the pavilion. Could one of the plotters have been waiting for Tai Min, behind the bars of the water-gate, underneath the buttress? The water-gates had low arches, no higher than three or four feet, as the judge had seen for himself from the river, but presumably the underground canal could be negotiated in a small, flat-bottomed boat. The man could then have taken the necklace and handed Tai Min a reward through the iron grating; perhaps one gold bar, instead of the ten promised to Lang. The plotters in the palace were experts in intrigue, and it would not be beyond them to play such a trick on Lang. And the same transaction could have taken place in the pine forest — Mr Hao waiting there for Tai Min to return. In either case Tai Min could have hidden the gold bar, in a hollow tree, possibly, planning to retrieve it at a later date, after he and Mrs Wei had discussed their future in Ten Miles Village. The judge heaved a deep sigh. There were too many possibilities, too many unknown factors.

One thing was certain: Lang Liu had had nothing to do with the murderous attack on himself and Master Gourd. The killers had taken them to Lang's godown only because they knew Lang used the place for torturing victims and other dirty work, and that it was convenient, the neighbourhood being deserted at night. They had been hired by the same 'Mr Hao' for that was the name the bearded leader had just managed to pronounce before he died. The plotters' first attempt on his own life had failed. But they were apparently determined that he should not interfere with their scheme, and therefore he would have to reckon with a second attack. He sat up. There was a slight tap at his door.

Judge Dee took his sword from the side-table, pushed the bolt back and opened the door a few inches, his sword ready. It was Lang's accountant.

'Mr Lang asks you to step into the hall, sir. He has just received a message he wants to show you.'

The judge put his sword back on the table and followed the bullet-headed man down the broad staircase. Mr Lang stood at the counter, talking to the innkeeper.

'Ah, Doctor, glad you are still at home! One of my clerks has a bad stomach attack. I would be very grateful if you would have a look at him. I'll show you his room!’ About to turn round, Lang groped in his sleeve and brought out an open envelope, addressed to him in large, well-written characters. He showed it to Wei and asked: 'By the way, who delivered this letter just now, Mr Wei?'

'I was at my desk behind the lattice screen, sir. I only got a glimpse of the street urchin. He threw it on the counter and rushed off. When I saw it was addressed to you, I had the clerk take it to your suite at once.'

THE INNKEEPER TELLS MR LANG ABOUT A LETTER

'I see. Well, come along, Doctor.'

When the three men were back in Lang's study, the gangster handed the envelope to Judge Dee.

'You wanted proof,' he said dryly. 'The little scene at the coun­ter I staged for your benefit, to show you the letter was actually delivered here, and not a forgery made by me after you had left us just now.'

The judge unfolded the single sheet. It said that the under­signed regretted that unavoidable circumstances had prevented him from visiting Lang on the appointed day, to discuss the pur­chase of the raw silk. Today, however, he would be in Lang's godown at six. If the samples of silk were satisfactory, the deal would be concluded then and there. It was signed 'Hao'. The style was impeccable, the writing, the formal, regular hand used in chanceries. It was doubtless genuine, for it would have taken Lang at least a day to find in Rivertown a scholar who could write such a letter. Handing it back to Lang, the judge said:

'All right. This is indeed the proof I wanted, Lang. Our truce continues, as agreed. I shall be at the godown at six.'

Mr Lang raised his thin eyebrows.

'At the godown? You don't think we are going there, do you? The whole thing is off! Hao'll find no one there, and the door locked!'

Judge Dee gave him a pitying look.

'No wonder you can't get good personnel, Lang. You are losing your power of judgement! Heavens, man, here are ten solid gold bars coming to you, and you lock your door and put up a notice that you aren't at home! Listen to me, my friend, I'll tell you exactly what we'll do! We shall receive Mr Hao very politely, and in­quire whether he has the gold with him. If so, we'll gratefully accept it. Adding that we didn't get the necklace, but that we went to a hell of a lot of trouble and expense on his behalf, and that we are willing to consider the ten bars as an amicable settlement.'

Lang shook his head.

'That dogshead Hao must represent powerful people. High officials by the smell of it. Or friends of palace officials, seeing they knew so much about the lay-out of the place. I am a man of peace, brother, I don't like trouble.'

'Don't you see that we have them in the hollow of our hand, Lang, high officials or not? If Mr Hao doesn't like our fair pro­posal, we say that as law-abiding citizens we are perfectly willing to go together with him to the Headquarters of the Guard, and let the authorities decide the case. We shall then have to explain, of course, that we went along with the criminal proposal to steal an Imperial treasure only because we wanted to have full proof of the outrage before reporting it. And now we claim the govern­ment reward.'

Lang hit his fist on the table.

'By heaven!’ he shouted. 'Now I understand why your league always gets the best of us. You have real men, while I must make do with stupid sons of dogs like this self-styled accountant!’ He jumped up and viciously slapped the bullet-headed man twice. Having thus given vent to his feelings, he resumed his seat and told the judge with a broad smile: 'It's a beautiful, a splendid plan, colleague!’

'It means five gold bars to us,' Judge Dee remarked dryly. 'Four for the league, and one for me, as commission.'

'Your leaders ought to give you two!’ Lang said generously. He snapped at the accountant, 'This is your last chance to make good, fathead! You go to the godown with our colleague here.' And to the judge: 'I can't afford to go personally, of course. I have my reputation to consider. But you two won't be alone, for I shall post a dozen or so good men in the godown behind mine.' He shot the judge a quick look and added hurriedly, 'Just in case our Mr Hao brings a couple of men with him, you see!’

'Yes, I quite see your point!’ the judge said coldly. 'I'll be in the godown a little before six. Tell your men to let me pass, will you?' He went to the door, and Mr Lang saw him personally to the corridor, saying jovially:

'It was a pleasure making your acquaintance, colleague! We'll have a drink here together afterwards. To the friendly co-opera­tion of the Blues and the Reds!’