Necklace and Calabash

III

The judge quickly walked on, holding the oiled cloth over his head as protection against the downpour. The main street was deserted, for the hour of the evening rice was approaching. With a wry smile he reflected that Captain Siew had been much too glib. His story about the problem presented by unwanted visitors had been so much eyewash. And Siew wasn't interested in the murder of the cashier either. There must be another reason why Captain Siew wanted him to stay in Rivertown incognito. And a very cogent reason too, otherwise the captain wouldn't-have made such elaborate arrangements to furnish him with a new identity. Siew was a shrewd customer, and observant too — he had spotted him at once on the quay, despite his dishevelled appearance.

Suddenly Judge Dee halted in his steps, oblivious of the rain. On the quay the captain had seemed rather slim, whereas Siew was a thick-set man. And on the quay he had got only a glimpse of the man's face, half-covered by his neckcloth. The judge creased his thick eyebrows. The lieutenant had expertly whisked him upstairs by a side-entrance, and nobody had seen him, the judge, enter or leave the captain's office. Now he was alone in a town he didn't know, and carrying faked papers. For one brief moment he had a premonition of trouble ahead. Then he shrugged. If there was any trickery about, he would know soon enough.

A large lampion was dangling from the eaves of a pillared por­tico, inscribed 'Inn of the Kingfisher'. Across the street he saw an even bigger one, bearing the inscription 'Inn of the Nine Clouds'. After a momentary hesitation he stepped onto the por­tico of the first. Having shaken out the wet oil-cloth, he entered the cavernous hall. It was lit by a tall brass candle that threw weird shadows on the plastered walls.

'All the large rooms are taken, sir,' the young clerk behind the counter informed him. 'But we have a nice small back-room left on the second floor.'

'That will do,' Judge Dee said. While filling out the register with his new name and profession, he added, 'Before going up I want a bath and a change of clothes. When you have shown me the bathroom, you'll send a man to the blacksmith on the quay to fetch my saddle-bags.' As he pushed the register back over the counter, he felt the weight in his sleeve. He took the abacus out. 'When I registered at Headquarters, they asked me to return this counting-frame. It belonged to the cashier here, whose body was found in the river.'

The clerk thanked him and put the abacus in the drawer. 'When the boss saw our poor Tai on the quay,' he said with a sneer, 'he thought this thing was the package with his twenty silver pieces. Serves the old miser right!’ He cast a quick glance over his shoulder at the high screen of lattice work. Behind it a man sat bent over a writing-desk. I'll lead the way, Doctor!’

The bath was located in the back of the inn. The dressing-room was empty, but the bundles of clothing lying about there and the raucous voices coming from behind the bamboo sliding-doors proved that other guests were using the pool. Judge Dee stepped out of his riding-boots and laid his sword, his wet cap and the calabash on the rack. He took the brocade folder with his money and his papers from his sleeve and put it under his cap, then stripped and opened the sliding-doors.

The shouting came from two naked men who were shadow-boxing in front of the large sunken pool. They were encourag­ing each other with bawdy remarks. Both were powerfully built and had the coarse faces of professional bullies. They fell silent at once when they saw the judge and gave him a sharp look.

'Go on boxing but keep your foul mouths shut!’ a dry voice ordered. The speaker was a portly, middle-aged man who was sit­ting on the low bench by the side of the pool. The bath attendant standing behind him was vigorously kneading his flabby shoul­ders. As the two bullies resumed their exercise, Judge Dee squatted on the black-tiled floor and sluiced himself with the bucket of hot water. Then he sat down on the bench, waiting for his turn to be scrubbed by the attendant.

'Where are you from, sir?' the elderly man by his side inquired politely.

'From the capital. My name is Liang; I am a doctor.' It would have been rude not to give a civil answer to a fellow bather. The bath is the only place in an inn where the guests meet socially.

The other surveyed Judge Dee's muscular arms and broad chest.

'You are a living advertisement for your medical skill, Doctor! My name is Lang Liu, from the south. Those two yokels are my assistants. I am ... brr!’ He broke off, for the attendant had sluiced him with cold water. He took a deep breath. 'I am a silk merchant, taking a holiday here. Hadn't counted on such infernal weather!’

They exchanged some remarks about the climate down south while the attendant scrubbed the judge clean. Then he stepped into the pool and stretched himself out in the hot water.

The elderly man had himself rubbed dry, then told the two boxers curtly, 'Get a move on!’ They quickly dried them­selves and meekly followed the portly man into the dressing-room.

Judge Dee thought that Lang didn't look like one of the wealthy crooks the captain had spoken about. He even had rather a dis­tinguished appearance with his regular, haughty face and wispy goatee. And wealthy merchants often travelled with a bodyguard. The hot water was loosening up his stiff limbs, but now he realized that he was getting hungry. He got up and had the attendant vigorously rub him dry.

His two saddle-bags had been put ready in a corner of the dressing-room. Opening the first to get out a clean robe, he sud­denly checked himself. His assistant Ma Joong, who always packed his bags for him, was a neat man; but these clothes were folded carelessly. He quickly opened the second bag. His night-robes, felt shoes and spare caps were all there, but this bag had also been tampered with. He quickly looked under his cap on the rack. Nothing was missing from the brocade folder, but a corner of his new identity paper was wet.

'Inquisitive fellow, Mr Lang Liu,' he muttered. 'Or just careful perhaps.' He put on a crisp, clean under-robe of white cotton and on top of that a long-sleeved, dark-grey gown. His felt shoes were very comfortable on his tired feet. Leaving his wet clothes and dirty boots there for the servants to take care of, he covered him­self with a high square cap of black gauze, took his sword and calabash and walked back to the hall.

The clerk brought him to a small but clean room upstairs, and lit the candles on the table. He promised the judge his dinner would come soon. Judge Dee opened the window. The rain had ceased; a brilliant moon was shedding its silvery light on the glistening wet roofs of Rivertown. He noticed that the backyard of the inn had a neglected look. In the centre was a patch of scrawny trees and tangled shrubs; behind it a low store-house was built against the back wall. The gate to the narrow, dark alley behind the inn stood ajar. On the right of the yard were the stables, which reminded him that the next day he would have to tell the groom to get his horse from the blacksmith. The con­fused noise of shouted orders and the clatter of plates coming from the left wing proved that the kitchen was located there. In that corner of the yard was a roughly made chicken-run, perhaps a profitable hobby of one of the cooks. A knock on the door made him turn round.

With pleasant surprise he saw a slender girl come inside, clad in a long blue gown. It was fastened round her shapely waist by a red sash, the tasselled ends of which trailed down to the floor. While she was putting the dinner tray on the table he addressed her kindly:

'I saw you on the quay, miss. You shouldn't have come, for it was a terrible sight.'

She gave him a shy look from her large, shining eyes.

'Mr Wei took me, sir. The captain said two relatives were needed to officially identify the victim.'

'Yes, I see you aren't just a maidservant.'

'I am a distant cousin of Mr Wei, sir. Six months ago, after my parents had died, Uncle Wei took me on as help in the household. And since today the maids are all in a dither about what happened to our cashier ...'

She poured him a cup of tea, holding up the long sleeve of her right hand with her left in a natural, graceful gesture. Now that he could see her properly in the light of the candles, he noticed that it wasn't only her beauty that made her so attractive. There was a subtle charm about her, difficult to define. Sitting down at the table, he remarked casually:

'There's a fine, old-fashioned bath downstairs. I met one of my fellow guests there, a Mr Lang. Has he been staying here long?'

'Only two weeks, sir. But he is a regular visitor. Stands to reason, for he has his own silk shop here, downtown. A very wealthy man, he always travels with at least eight clerks and assistants. They have our best wing, downstairs.' She arranged the plates and bowls on the table and the judge took up his chop­sticks.

'I heard Mr Wei say on the quay that the unfortunate cashier had stolen twenty silver pieces from him.'

She sniffed.

'Perhaps those silver pieces existed only in my uncle's imagina­tion, sir! He was hoping to get that sum restituted by the authori­ties! Tai Min was no thief, sir. He was a simple, pleasant boy. Why should the robbers have maltreated him so horribly, sir? Tai never had much money on him.'

'Out of spite, I fear. Evidently they expected him to carry a large sum, as a cashier. Did you know him well?'

'Oh yes, we often went out on the river together, to fish. He was born and bred here, knew every nook and cranny of the riverbank!’

'Were you er ... very friendly with him?'

She laughed softly, and shook her head.

Tai Min only liked my company because I am rather good at handling a boat. If it hadn't been for that, he'd hardly have known I existed, for he was completely wrapped up in ...' She broke off suddenly and bit her lip. Then she shrugged and went on, 'Well, since poor Tai is dead, there's no harm in telling you. The cashier was head over ears in love with my aunt, you see.'

'Your aunt? She must have been much older than he!'

'She was, about ten years, I think. But there never was anything between them, sir. He just adored her from a distance! And she didn't care for him, for she eloped with another man, as you may have heard.'

'Do you have any idea who that man was?'

She vigorously shook her small head.

'My aunt managed that affair very cleverly; I never even dreamt that she could be unfaithful to my uncle. When he told us that she had left him for another man I could hardly believe my ears. She had always seemed such a quiet, kind woman ... much better than my Uncle Wei!’ She gave him a quick, appraising look and added with a faint smile, 'You are a very nice man to talk to, sir! Perhaps it's because you are a doctor.'

The last remark unaccountably annoyed the judge. He asked the first question that came to mind:

'Since the cashier admired your aunt so much, her eloping with another man greatly distressed him, I suppose?'

'No, he wasn't sad at all.' She pensively patted her hair. 'Rather strange, if you come to think of it.'

Judge Dee raised his eyebrows.

'Are you quite sure? Those prolonged, purely sentimental attachments often affect a man more deeply than a brief, pas­sionate affair.'

Absolutely. Once I even caught him humming a song while he was doing the accounts.'

The judge picked up a morsel of salted vegetable, and slowly chewed it. Mrs Wei had effectively hoodwinked her young niece. The cashier had been her lover, of course. She had gone alone to the village across the mountains marked in red on the map found on Tai Min's dead body. They had agreed that the cashier would follow after a few weeks. But highwaymen had attacked him on the way and murdered him. Now his mistress must be waiting for him in Ten Miles Village, in vain. He would give these facts to Captain Siew, to be passed on to the magistrate in the neighbouring district. Everybody assumed that Tai had been murdered by robbers, but it might be much more complicated than that. 'Eh, what did you say?'

'I asked whether you were here to see a patient, sir.'

'No, I am just on a holiday. Planned to do some fishing. You must tell me where to go some time.'

'I'll do better than that! I can take you up river myself in our boat. Today I must help the maids, but tomorrow morning I'll be free.'

'That's awfully kind of you. Let's see how the weather turns out. By the way, what's your name?'

'I am called Fern, sir.'

'Well, Fern, I mustn't keep you from your duties. Thanks very much!’

He ate his dinner with gusto. When he had finished, he slowly drank a cup of strong tea, then leaned back in his chair, in a pleasant, relaxed mood. In the room below someone was playing a moon-guitar. The lilting melody, faintly heard, stressed the silence of the rest of the inn. The judge listened for a while to the melody that seemed vaguely familiar. When the music stopped he sat up.

He decided that his worries about Captain Siew and his motives must be ascribed to the fact that he was tired after the long ride through the forest. Why shouldn't the captain be genuinely inter­ested in an outsider's views on the local situation? And as to the elaborate arrangement of his alias, well, he knew that secret service people always took delight in such details. He would be just as thorough himself now! With a smile he got up and went to the wall-table. Opening the lacquered box that contained writing material, he selected a sheet of good red paper, folded it, and tore it into six oblong pieces. He moistened the writing-brush and inscribed each of the improvised visiting-cards in large letters with his new name 'Doctor Liang Mou'. Having put those in his sleeve, he picked up his sword and his calabash and went down­stairs. He felt like taking a look at the town.

In the hall Mr Wei was standing at the counter, talking in undertones with the clerk. The innkeeper quickly came to meet the judge. After having made a low bow he said in his hoarse voice:

'I am Wei Cheng, the owner of this inn, Doctor. There was a messenger here for you just now, sir. Since he didn't give his name, I told him to wait outside. I was just going to send my clerk up to tell you.'

Judge Dee smiled inwardly. This had to be a message from Captain Siew. He found his boots standing amongst the other footwear by the door, stepped into them and went out. Dressed in a black jacket and wide black trousers a tall man with crossed arms was leaning against a pillar. Both his jacket and his round cap had red borders.

'I am Doctor Liang. What can I do for you?'

'A sick person wants to consult you, Doctor,' the other replied curtly. 'Over there in the palankeen.'

Reflecting that the captain's message must be very secret in­deed, the judge followed the man to the large, black-curtained palankeen a little farther down the street. The six bearers squat­ting with their backs against the wall rose at once. They wore the same dress as their foreman. Judge Dee drew the door-curtain aside. Then he stood stock still. He found himself face to face with a young woman. She wore a long black mantle with a black hood that set off the pallor of her comely but haughty face.

'I ... I must inform you that I don't deal with women's diseases,' he muttered. 'Therefore I advise you to consult ...'

'Step inside and I'll explain,' she cut him short. She moved over to make room for him. As soon as the judge had sat down on the narrow bench, the door-curtain was drawn close from the outside. The bearers lifted the shafts on their shoulders and went off at a quick trot.