Necklace and Calabash

XIX

In the empty street two colossal, brocade-curtained palankeens stood waiting, each manned by a dozen bearers. In front of them, and behind, platoons of guardsmen had taken up position, armed to the teeth and holding their long halberds high.

Judge Dee entered the Superintendent's palankeen and motioned him to step inside too. Not one word was said during the short journey to the Kingfisher.

Mr Wei stood in the hall together with a dozen or so guests. They were eagerly discussing who could be the high Imperial official visiting Rivertown. The judge noticed among them a thin, rather handsome girl, quietly dressed in a pearl-grey gown. By her side stood an elegant-looking youngster, wearing a black scholar's cap. He had a moon-guitar under his arm, in a brocade cover. The judge surmised that this was the musical couple that occupied the room below his. He turned to Captain Siew, who had rushed ahead to the inn on foot together with his stolid lieutenant. 'Clear the hall!’ Judge Dee ordered. 'Have your men fetch three arm­chairs, and place them against the back wall'

The judge seated himself in the chair in the middle, and motioned the Superintendent and Colonel Kang to take the chairs on his right and left. Then he told the captain: 'Lead the innkeeper Wei Cheng before me!’

Two guardsmen led the innkeeper inside. He gaped at the three high officials in astonishment. The soldiers pressed him down on his knees.

'Two weeks ago,' the judge informed his companions, 'this man reported that his wife had absconded with a secret lover.'

The Superintendent tugged angrily at his grey goatee.

'Are you quite sure, Excellency, that this sordid affair of a lowly innkeeper really does concern us, the highest ...'

'Quite sure,' Judge Dee interrupted. He addressed Wei harshly:

'You are a miser, Wei. In itself that is not a crime. But it may lead to a crime. In your case, it led to a heinous murder. You can't bear to part with your money, Wei, nor could you bear to part with your wife. You didn't love her, but she was your property, and you were not going to let others take your property away from you. You thought that your cashier Tai Min was making eyes at her.' He pointed at the lattice screen. 'Sitting there at your desk, Wei, you kept a close watch on your wife and your cashier, and you eavesdropped on their talks, here by the counter. When you discovered that Tai Min had marked a route on the map kept in the drawer there, you concluded that he was planning to elope with your wife. I think your conclusion was wrong, but I can't prove that, for the cashier is dead. And so is your wife. For two weeks ago you murdered her.'

The innkeeper raised his haggard face.

'It isn't true!' he shouted. 'The vile creature left me, I swear it! She ...'

'Don't make any more mistakes, Wei!' the judge barked. 'You have made two already, and those suffice to take you to the scaffold. You'll be beheaded, because you killed your wife without a shred of evidence that she had committed adultery. Your first mistake was that you nagged at your wife so persistently about spending too much money on herself that she often accepted sweetmeats from your colleague in the Nine Clouds. He had given her a few the same evening you murdered her. Your second mis­take was that you didn't destroy all her clothes. Here again it was your grasping mind that caused the mistake. Instead of burning her clothes, you kept them to be sold to a pawnbroker. But no eloping woman will leave without some of her best robes, and certainly not without taking her favourite red jacket, which she knew suited her so well.' The judge got up. 'I shall now take you to the storeroom behind this inn, gentlemen. Captain, let your men seize the accused and follow me with the lieutenant.'

Judge Dee walked through the innkeeper's office and crossed the backyard. The hens in the chicken-run began to cackle ex­citedly, frightened by so many persons in shining garb appearing among the scrawny trees and tall weeds.

The judge went into the musty storehouse. He pushed a few broken, chairs out of his way and stepped up to the pile of hemp sacks he had rested on the evening before. The ants that had been bothering him then were still there. They came crawling in droves out of a cracked tile in the floor, and marched in a regular army formation across the sacks to disappear into a small hole in the brick wall where a fragment of cement had dropped out. Judge Dee righted himself and turned round.

The Superintendent had folded his arms in the capacious sleeves of his gorgeous robe. His arrogant expression clearly indicated that he thoroughly disapproved of the proceedings, but resignedly sub­mitted to superior authority. Colonel Kang darted a questioning glance at Captain Siew, who raised his eyebrows and looked at the lieutenant. But Liu's eyes were riveted on Judge Dee. Wei was standing between two guardsmen, at the door. His eyes were on the floor. The judge pointed at the wall above the sacks and said:

'Someone tampered with this section of the wall. In an amateur­ish manner. Fetch me a hammer and a crowbar from the kitchen, Liu!’ Pensively smoothing his beard, he reflected that the new white cement among the bricks had escaped him the previous night, in the bad light. He stared down at the empty bag he had stumbled over. Evidently it had contained chalk. As to the terrible nightmare he had when sleeping there... . Doubtfully he shook his head.

As soon as Liu had loosened a few bricks, a nauseating stench filled the room. The Superintendent stepped back quickly, cover­ing his nose and mouth with his sleeve. Then the lieutenant brought his weight to bear on the crowbar, and a mass of bricks came crashing to the floor. The innkeeper swung round to the door, but the guardsmen grabbed his arms.

In the hole in the wall was the shape of a standing woman, dressed in a blue robe stained with chalk and crusted cement, her head at an unnatural angle on her breast, the long hair hanging down in a tangled mass. The innkeeper screamed as the corpse began to sag and slowly collapsed onto the floor.

Judge Dee bent down and silently pointed at the two half-decayed sweetmeats that had dropped out of her left sleeve, black with crowding ants.

'I admit that you didn't have much time, Wei,' he said coldly, 'but to immure the dead body without having inspected her dress was a bad blunder. The sweetmeats attracted the ants, and those industrious insects provided me with a clue to where you had hidden the body. Speak up, how did you murder your wife?'

'It ... it was the time of the evening rice,' Wei stammered, his head down. 'All the servants were busy serving the guests in their rooms. I strangled her, in my office. Then I carried her here... . She ...' He burst into sobs.

'In due time, Siew,' Judge Dee said, 'you'll arraign Wei on the charge of premeditated murder. You'll see that the murderer is locked up in jail, Liu.' He turned round on his heels, motioning the others to follow him. While they were crossing the hall he pointed at the counter.

'Take both drawers out, Siew, and bring them to the court hall. With all contents intact, mind you! We now return to Head­quarters, gentlemen.'

Inside the palankeen the Superintendent spoke, for the first time.

'A remarkable example of deduction, Excellency. However, it was only a crude crime of violence, perpetrated in a low-class set­ting. May I ask what bearing it has upon the grave matters of the palace we are concerned with?'

'You shall learn that presently,' the judge replied evenly.