The Chinese Lake Murders

Fifteenth Chapter

After Ma Joong and Chiao Tai had left, Judge Dee continued to Sergeant Hoong and Tao Gan:

"While our two braves are in Chiang-pei we shan't be idle either. When I was eating my noon rice I was thinking all the time about Liu Fei-po and Han Yung-han, our two main suspects of the murder of the courtesan. Let me tell you that I am not going to sit here quietly, waiting for the next move of those two gentlemen! I have decided to arrest Liu Fei-po today."

"We couldn't possibly do that, Your Honor!" Hoong exclaimed, aghast. "We have only some vague suspicions; how could we-"

"I certainly can arrest Liu, and I shall," the judge interrupted him. "Liu has proffered in this court a serious accusation against Dr. Djang, and that accusation has now proved to be false. I admit that nobody would blame me if I let the matter rest, especially because Liu was evidently beside himself with grief when he made the accusation, and because the professor hasn't brought forward a plaint against him for slander. Yet the law says that he who falsely accuses another of a capital crime shall be punished as if he himself had committed that crime. The law allows a broad margin of discretion in the application of this article, but in this case I choose to interpret it according to the letter."

Sergeant Hoong looked worried, but Judge Dee took his brush and wrote out an order for the arrest of Liu Fei-po. Then he selected a second form, and said while he was filling it out:

"At the same time I'll have Wan I-fan arrested, for giving false testimony in court regarding his daughter and Dr. Djang. Both of you go now with four constables to Liu's house and arrest him. On your way out, Hoong, tell the headman to take two men and arrest Wan I-fan. Let the two prisoners be conveyed here in closed palanquins, and have them locked up in cells that are far apart; they mustn't know that they share the hospitality of our jail! I shall hear both of them during the evening session. I think that then we'll learn a thing or two!"

The sergeant still looked doubtful, but Tao Gan remarked with a grin:

"It's the same as with gambling: if you rattle the dice well, you'll often throw a nice combination!"

When Hoong and Tao Gan had left, Judge Dee pulled out a drawer and took from it the sheet with the chess problem. He was by no means as sure of himself as he had made his two assistants believe. But he felt he had to start the attack, to take the initiative. And the two arrests were the only way he could think of to achieve that aim. He turned round in his chair and took a chessboard from the cupboard behind him. He placed the black and white men in the position indicated in the problem. He was convinced that it was this chess problem that contained the key to the plot discovered by the dead dancer. It had been made more than seventy years before, and the best chess experts had tried in vain to solve it. Almond Blossom, herself not a chess player, must have chosen it not as a chess problem, but because it could be given a double meaning which had nothing to do with chess. Was it perhaps a kind of rebus? Knitting his eyebrows, he began to rearrange the men, trying to read their hidden message.

In the meantime Sergeant Hoong had given the headman instructions regarding the arrest of Wan I-fan and went himself with Tao Gan to the house of Liu Fei-po. The four constables followed them at a discreet distance, with a closed palanquin.

Hoong knocked on the high, red-lacquered gate. When the barred peephole was opened he showed his pass and said:

"His Excellency the Magistrate has ordered us to have an interview with Mr. Liu."

The doorman opened the gate, and led the two men to the small waiting room in the gatehouse. Soon an elderly man appeared who introduced himself as Liu Fei-po's steward.

"I trust," he said, "that I'll be able to be of service. My master is just taking his siesta in the garden; he can't be disturbed."

"We have strict orders to speak to Mr. Liu in person," the sergeant said. "You'd better go and wake him up!"

"Impossible!" the steward exclaimed, horrified. "It would cost me my job!"

"Just take us to him," Tao Gan said dryly. "Then we'll wake him up ourselves! Get going, my friends; don't hinder us in the execution of our official duties!"

The steward turned round, his gray goatee quivering with rage. He crossed a spacious courtyard paved with colored tiles, Hoong and Tao Gan following on his heels. They walked through four winding corridors to a large walled-in garden. Porcelain pots with rare flowers lined a broad marble terrace; beyond there was an elaborate landscaped garden with a lotus lake in the center. Rounding the lake, the steward brought them to an artificial rockery in the back of the garden, consisting of large pieces of rock of interesting shape and color, luted together with cement. Next to it was an arbor, a bamboo framework overgrown with thick ivy. Pointing at the arbor the steward said testily:

"You'll find my master inside there. I'll wait here."

Sergeant Hoong parted the green leaves. In the cool interior he saw only a rattan reclining chair and a small tea table. There was nobody.

The two men quickly rejoined the steward. Hoong rasped at him:

"Don't try to fool us! Liu isn't there!"

The steward gave him a frightened look. He thought for a while, then said:

"He'll have gone to his library."

"Then we'll follow his example!" Tao Gan said. "Lead the way!"

The steward again took them through a long corridor. He halted in front of a black ebony door, decorated with metalwork showing an intricate flower pattern. He knocked several times but there was no answer. Then he pushed, but the door was locked.

"Stand clear!" Tao Gan growled impatiently. He took a small package with iron instruments from his capacious sleeve, and started to work on the lock. Soon there was a click, and he pushed the door open. They saw a spacious, luxuriously furnished library. The heavy chairs and tables and the high bookcases were all made of ebony, elaborately carved. But no one was there.

Tao Gan went straight to the writing desk. All its drawers had been pulled out; the thick blue carpet was strewn with folders and letters.

"There's been a burglar here!" the steward cried out.

"Burglar nothing!" Tao Gan snapped. "Those drawers weren't forced; they have been opened with a key. Where is his safe?"

The steward pointed with a trembling hand at an antique scroll picture hanging in between two bookcases. Tao Gan went up there and pulled the painting aside. The square iron door in the wall behind it wasn't locked. But the safe was completely empty.

"This lock hasn't been forced either," Tao Gan remarked to the sergeant. "We'll search the house, but I fear that the bird is flown!"

After Hoong had called in the four constables, they went over the entire mansion, including even the women's quarters. But Liu Fei-po was nowhere, and no one had seen him after the noon meal.

The two men went back to the tribunal in a morose mood. In the courtyard they met the headman, who told them that Wan I-fan had been arrested without difficulty. He was now locked up in the jail.

They found Judge Dee in his private office, still absorbed in his study of the chess problem.

"Wan I-fan has been placed under lock and key, Your Honor," Sergeant Hoong reported, "but Liu Fei-po has disappeared without a trace!"

"Disappeared?" the judge asked, astonished.

"And taken along all his money and important papers!" Tao Gan added. "He must have slipped out through the garden gate, without telling anybody."

Judge Dee hit his fist on the table.

"I have been too late!" he exclaimed ruefully. He jumped up and started striding round the room. After a while he stood still and said angrily:

"It's all the fault of that silly bungler, Candidate Djang! If I had known sooner that the professor was innocent-" He pulled angrily at his beard. Then he said suddenly: "Tao Gan, go and bring Councilor Liang's secretary here, at once! There's still time to question him before the session begins!"

After Tao Gan had hurried outside, he continued to Sergeant Hoong:

"Liu's flight is a bad setback, Hoong! A murder is important, but there are things which are more important still!"

Hoong wanted to ask for some further explanation of that remark, but seeing Judge Dee's tight-lipped face he thought better of it. The judge resumed his pacing; then he stood himself in front of the window, his hands on his back.

In a surprisingly short time Tao Gan came back with Liang Fen. The young man seemed even more nervous than when the judge had seen him last. Judge Dee leaned against his desk; he didn't ask Liang Fen to sit down. Folding his arms across his chest and looking with great deliberation at the young man, he spoke.

"This time I'll speak in plain terms, Mr. Liang! I tell you that I suspect you of being concerned in a despicable crime. It's because I want to spare the old Councilor's feelings that I question you here instead of presently during the session of the court."

Liang's face turned ashen. He wanted to speak but the judge raised his hand.

"In the first place," he continued, "your touching story about the Councilor's reckless spending can also be explained as an attempt to cover up the fact that you are taking advantage of his condition for appropriating his money. Second, I have found in the room of the dead dancer, Almond Blossom, love letters written in your hand. The most recent letters proved that you wanted to break off the relationship, presumably because you had fallen in love with Willow Down, the daughter of Han Yung-han."

"How did you find that out?" Liang Fen burst out. "We had-" But again Judge Dee cut him short, saying:

"You can't have murdered the dancer because you were not on board the flower boat. But you did have a liaison with her, and had secret meetings with her in your room. You could easily let her in by the back door of your small garden. No, I haven't finished! I can assure you that I haven't the slightest interest in your private life; as far as I am concerned you may entertain all the damsels of the Willow Quarter. But you shall tell me all about your affair with the dead dancer. One foolish young man has already obstructed my investigation, and I will not have another repeating that stunt! Speak up, and tell the truth!"

"It isn't true, I swear it, Your Honor!" the young man wailed, wringing his hands in despair. "I don't know that courtesan, and I have never appropriated one copper of my master's money! I admit, however, and do so gladly, that I am in love with Willow Down, and I have reason to assume that my feelings are reciprocated. I have never spoken to her but I see her often in the temple garden, and- But since Your Honor knows this, my deepest secret, you must also know that all the rest is not true!"

Judge Dee handed him one of the dead dancer's letters and asked:

"Did you write this or not?"

Liang Fen carefully examined it. Giving it back to the judge, he said calmly:

"The handwriting resembles mine; it even reproduces some personal peculiarities. Yet I didn't write it. The person who forged it must have had many examples of my handwriting at his disposal. That is all I can say!"

The judge gave him a baleful look. He said curtly:

"Wan I-fan has been arrested; I shall presently question him. You shall attend the session. You can go to the court hall now."

When the young man had taken his leave, Sergeant Hoong remarked:

"I think that Liang spoke the truth, Your Honor."

Judge Dee made no response. He motioned the sergeant to help him don his official robe.

Three beats on the gong announced the evening session. Judge Dee left his private office, followed by Hoong and Tao Gan. When he had seated himself behind the bench, he saw that there were only a dozen or so spectators. The citizens of Han-yuan had apparently for the time being given up hope of hearing sensational news. But he noticed Han Yung-han and Liang Fen standing in the front row, and behind them Guildmaster Soo.

As soon as he had called the roll, Judge Dee filled in a form for the warden of the jail. He gave it to the headman and ordered him to lead Wan I-fan before the bench.

Wan I-fan seemed completely unperturbed by his arrest. He gave the judge an impudent glance, then knelt down and answered in a steady voice the formal questions about his name and profession. Then Judge Dee spoke:

"I have obtained proof that you have lied to this court. It was you who tried to persuade Dr. Djang to buy your daughter. Do you want to hear the details, or do you confess?"

"This person," Wan I-fan replied respectfully, "acknowledges that he has misled Your Honor. He let himself be led astray by his eagerness to help his friend and patron, Mr. Liu Fei-po, in the latter's case against the professor. Since, according to the law, I can be freed on bail for this offense, pending the payment of a fine, I beg Your Honor to fix the amount due. No doubt Mr. Liu Fei-po will be found willing to put up bail, and pay the required sum."

"Second," Judge Dee said, "this court has also proof that you, taking advantage of the Councilor's lapsing into his second childhood, persuaded him to engage in reckless financial transactions, to your own personal gain."

This second accusation didn't seem to make any impression on Wan either. He said placidly:

"I deny emphatically ever having financially injured Councilor Liang. Mr. Liu Fei-po had introduced me to His Excellency; it is on Mr. Liu's advice that I recommended the Councilor to sell some of his estates which in the expert opinion of Mr. Liu were due to diminish considerably in value in the near future. I beg Your Honor to have Mr. Liu deliver testimony."

"I shan't be able to do that," Judge Dee said curtly. "Mr. Liu Fei-po has left without any previous warning, taking away with him his liquid funds and important papers."

Wan I-fan jumped up. His face had a deadly pallor as he shouted:

"Where did he go to? To the capital?"

The headman wanted to press Wan down on his knees again, but the judge quickly shook his head. He said:

"Mr. Liu has disappeared and his household is ignorant of his whereabouts."

Wan I-fan was rapidly losing his self-control. Sweat pearled on his forehead. He muttered, half to himself: "Liu has fled…" Then he looked up at the judge and said slowly: "In that case I shall have to reconsider some of my previous statements." He hesitated, then went on: "I beg Your Honor to grant me time for reflection."

"Your request is granted," Judge Dee replied at once. He had seen the look of frantic entreaty in Wan's eyes.

When Wan had been led back to jail, Judge Dee raised his gavel to close the session. But just at that moment Guildmaster Soo came forward, together with two members of his guild. One proved to be a jadeworker, the other a retail dealer in jade. The latter had sold to the artisan a block of jade, but upon splitting it up into smaller pieces the jadeworker had found it had a defect, and he refused to pay. Since he had discovered that the block was faulty only after he had cut it up, he couldn't return it to the dealer either. Soo had tried to make them accept a compromise, but the men had rejected all his proposals.

Judge Dee listened patiently to the long-winded explanations of both parties. Letting his eyes rove over the court hall, he noticed that Han Yung-han had left. When Soo had again summed up the position, Judge Dee spoke to the dealer and the jadeworker:

"This court finds that both of you are at fault. The dealer, as an expert, ought to have noticed that the block was faulty when he purchased it, and the jadeworker, as an experienced professional, ought to have discovered the defect without cutting up the block. The dealer bought the block for ten silver pieces, and sold it to the jadeworker for fifteen. This court rules that the dealer shall pay the jadeworker ten silver pieces. The cut pieces shall be divided equally among them. Thus each pays a fine of five silver pieces for his lack in professional skill."

He rapped his gavel and closed the session.

Back in his private office Judge Dee said contentedly to the sergeant and Tao Gan:

"Wan I-fan wants to tell me something he didn't dare to reveal in the public session. It is against the rules to question a prisoner in private, but in this case I feel justified to make an exception. I shall have him brought here now. You'll have noticed that he said that Liu Fei-po fled. Now we shall hear more about-"

Suddenly the door flew open and the headman came running inside, followed by the warden of the jail. The former panted:

"Wan I-fan has killed himself, Your Honor!"

Judge Dee crashed his fist on the table. He barked at the jail warden:

"Didn't you search the prisoner, you dog's-head?"

The warden fell on his knees.

"I swear that he didn't have the pastry on him when I locked him in, Your Honor! Somebody must have smuggled that poisoned cake into his cell!"

"So you have admitted a visitor to the jail!" the judge shouted.

"Nobody from outside has come into the jail, Your Honor!" the warden wailed. "It's a complete riddle to me!"

Judge Dee jumped up and went to the door. Followed by Hoong and Tao Gan, he crossed the courtyard, passed through the corridor behind the chancery, and entered the jail. The warden led the way with a lighted lantern.

Wan I-fan was lying on the floor in front of the wooden bench that served as bed. The light of the lantern shone on his distorted face; his lips were covered with foam and blood. The warden pointed silently at a small round piece of pastry on the floor, next to Wan's right hand. One piece was missing; Wan had evidently taken only one bite from it. Judge Dee stooped. It was a round cake filled with sugared beans, as sold by every baker in town. But there was impressed on its top, instead of the usual baker's shop sign, a small picture of a lotus flower.

The judge wrapped the cake up in his handkerchief and put it in his sleeve. He turned round and walked back silently to his office.

Sergeant Hoong and Tao Gan looked worriedly at Judge Dee's tight face as he sat down behind his desk. The judge knew that the sign of the lotus had not been meant for Wan, for it was dark in his cell when a messenger brought him the deadly gift. The sign of the lotus was intended for him, the magistrate! It was a warning from the White Lotus. He said in a tired voice:

"Wan was murdered in order to seal his lips. The poisoned cake was given to him by a member of the personnel. There's treason here in my own tribunal!"