The Chinese Nail Murders

Second Chapter

Seated behind the high bench on the raised platform, the judge surveyed the crowded court hall. Down below more than a hundred people were assembled.

Six constables stood in two rows of three before the bench, with the headman by their side. Sergeant Hoong had taken his customary place behind Judge Dee's chair, and Tao Gan stood by the side of the bench, near the lower table where the senior scribe was arranging his writing brushes.

The judge was about to raise his gavel when two men clad in neat fur robes appeared in the entrance of the hall. They had difficulty in getting through the crowd, as a number of people accosted them with questions. The judge gave a sign to the head­man, who quickly went through the assembly and led the new­comers in front of the bench. Judge Dee hit his gavel hard on the table.

"Silence and order!" he shouted.

Suddenly the hall grew still, all watched the two men, who knelt down on the stone floor in front of the dais. The elder was a thin man with a pointed white beard, his face drawn and hag­gard. The other was heavily built; he had a round, broad face and wore a thin ring beard that circled his fleshy chin.

Judge Dee announced :

"I declare the morning session of the tribunal of Pei-chow open. I shall call the roll."

When the personnel had duly answered the roll call, Judge Dee leaned forward in his chair and asked:

"Who are the two men who apply to this tribunal?"

"This insignificant person," the elder man said respectfully, "is called Yeh Pin, a paper merchant by profession, and the person by my side is my younger brother, Yeh Tai, who helps me in the shop. We report to Your Honor that our brother-in-law, the an­tique dealer Pan Feng, has cruelly murdered our sister, his wife. We implore Your Honor . . ."

"Where is that man Pan Feng?" Judge Dee interrupted him.

"He fled the city yesterday, Your Honor, but we hope . . ."

"Everything in its own time!" the judge said curtly. "First state when and how the murder was discovered!"

"Early this morning," Yeh Pin began, "my brother here went to Pan's house. He knocked repeatedly on the door, but no one an­swered. He feared that something untoward had happened, be­cause Pan and his wife are always at home at that time. So he rushed home to . . ."

"Halt!" Judge Dee interrupted. "Why didn't he first ask the neighbors whether they had seen Pan and his wife go out?"

"Their house is located in a very lonely street, Your Honor," Yeh replied, "and the houses on both sides of Pan's place are empty."

"Proceed," the judge said.

The Yeh brothers report a murder

"We went back there together," Yeh Pin continued, "the house is only two streets from ours. Again we knocked and shouted but no one appeared. Now I know that place like the palm of my hand, and we quickly walked around the compound. We climbed over the wall, and went to the back of the house. The two barred win­dows of the bedroom were open. I stood on my brother's shoulders, and looked inside. I saw . . ."

Emotion strangled Yeh Pin's voice. Despite the cold, sweat was streaming from his brow. He mastered himself and went on:

"I saw on the oven-bed* (* In North China people use large ovens built of bricks heated by a slow fire that is kept burning inside. During the day this oven is used as a bench, during the night as a bed.) against the wall the naked body of my sister, covered with blood, Your Honor! I let out a cry, let go of the iron bars, and fell on the ground. My brother helped me up, and we rushed to the warden's office . . ."

Judge Dee hit his gavel on the bench.

"Let the plaintiff calm himself, and tell a coherent story!" he said sourly. "Having seen through the window the body of your sister covered with blood, how do you know that she is dead?"

Yeh did not reply, wild sobs racked his frame. Suddenly he raised his head.

"Your Honor," he stammered, "there was no head!"

Deep silence reigned in the packed hall.

Judge Dee leaned back in his chair. Slowly caressing his side whiskers he said:

"Proceed, please. You were saying that you went to see the warden."

"We met him on the corner of the street," Yeh Pin continued in a calmer voice. "I told him what we had seen and that we feared that Pan Feng might have been murdered, too. We asked for permission to break the door open. Who shall describe our anger when Warden Kao said that yesterday he had seen Pan Feng at noon, running along the street carrying a leather sack. He said he was leaving town for a few days.

"That fiend killed our sister and fled, Your Honor! I implore Your Honor to arrest that foul murderer so that the death of our poor sister will be avenged!"

"Where is that Warden Kao?" Judge Dee asked.

"I begged him to accompany us here to the tribunal, Your Honor," Yeh wailed, "but he refused, saying that he had to guard the house and see that nobody interfered with things there."

The judge nodded. He whispered to Sergeant Hoong: "At last a warden who knows his job!" To Yeh Pin he said:

"The scribe shall now read out your plaint, and if you find the record correct, you and your brother shall affix your thumb mark to it."

The senior scribe read out his notes, and the Yeh brothers agreed it was correct. When they had impressed their thumb marks on the document, Judge Dee spoke:

"I shall proceed immediately with my staff to the scene of the crime, and you and your brother shall go there, too. Before leav­ing here, however, you shall give a full description of Pan Feng to the scribe to be circulated among the civil and military authori­ties. Pan Feng has a start of only one night, and the roads are bad, I don't doubt that he'll be arrested soon. Rest assured that this tribunal shall bring the murderer of your sister to justice."

The judge let his gavel descend on the bench and declared the session closed.

Back in his private office Judge Dee went to stand by the brazier. Warming his hands over the fire he said to Sergeant Hoong and Tao Gan:

"We'll wait here till Yeh Pin has produced his description of Pan Feng."

"That severed head," Sergeant Hoong remarked, "is very strange!"

"Perhaps Yeh was deceived by the semiobscurity in the room," Tao Gan said. "A corner of the quilt or so might have covered the woman's head."

"Presently we'll see for ourselves what happened," the judge said.

The clerk came in with Pan Feng's full description, and Judge Dee quickly wrote out the text for the placards, and drafted a note to the commander of the nearest military-police post. He or­dered the clerk: "See to it that this matter is attended to at once!"

Judge Dee's large palanquin was standing ready in the court­yard outside. The judge ascended and invited Sergeant Hoong and Tao Gan to join him inside. The eight bearers, four in front and four behind, lifted the poles on their shoulders and set off in a rhythmic gait. Two constables on horseback preceded them, and the headman followed behind with four other men.

As they entered the main street that crosses the city from north to south, the constables in front beat their small copper gongs and shouted at the top of their voices: "Make way! Make way! His Excellency the Magistrate is approaching!"

The main street was lined on both sides with shops, and there were many people about. They respectfully made way as the cortege approached.

They passed in front of the Temple of the War God, and after a few turns entered a long, straight street. On the left there was a row of godowns with small, barred windows, on the right a long high wall, here and there broken by a narrow door. They halted in front of the third door, where a small group of people stood waiting.

As the bearers lowered the palanquin a man with an open, in­telligent face came forward and introduced himself as Kao, the warden of the southeast quarter. He respectfully assisted the judge in descending from his palanquin.

Looking up and down the street Judge Dee remarked:

"This section of the town seems to be quite deserted!"

"A few years ago," the warden said, "when our Northern Army was still stationed here, the godowns opposite there were used for storing military materiel, and on this side of the street were eight compounds serving as living quarters of the officers. Now the godowns are standing empty, but a few families have come to live in the vacated officers' quarters, and among them were Pan Feng and his wife."

"What in the name of High Heaven," Tao Gan exclaimed, "ever made a curio dealer choose such a lonely neighborhood? You couldn't sell a bean cake here, let alone valuable antiques!"

"Exactly!" the judge said. "Do you know the answer to that, warden?"

"Pan Feng used to take his wares around to the houses of his clients, Your Honor," Warden Kao replied.

A cold blast blew through the street.

"Lead us inside," the judge said impatiently.

They first saw a large, empty courtyard, surrounded by one-story buildings.

"This area," Warden Kao explained, "is divided into units of three houses. In this unit the one in the middle is occupied by Pan, the two others have been empty for some time."

They entered the door straight across the courtyard and found themselves in a large hall, sparsely furnished with a few cheap wooden chairs and tables. The warden took them across to a second, smaller courtyard. There was a well in the center, and a stone bench. Pointing at the three doors opposite the warden said:

"The one in the middle is the bedroom. On the left is Pan's workshop, with the kitchen behind it, and on the right is a store­room."

Seeing that the door of the bedroom was standing ajar, Judge Dee asked quickly:

"Who has been inside there?"

"Nobody, Your Honor," Warden Kao said. "I saw to it that after we had broken open the door of the main entrance, none of my assistants went farther than this courtyard, so that nothing would be disturbed on the scene of the crime."

The judge nodded his approval. Entering the bedroom he saw that the left side was taken up nearly entirely by a broad oven-bed, covered with a thick, padded quilt. On it lay the naked body of a woman. It was lying on its back, the hands tied together in front, the legs stretched out stiffly. The neck ended in a ragged stump of torn flesh. The body and the quilt were covered with dried blood.

Judge Dee quickly averted his eyes from this sickening sight. Against the back wall, between the two windows, he saw a dressing table; a towel hanging over the mirror was fluttering in the icy wind that blew in through the open windows.

"Come inside and close the door!" the judge ordered Sergeant Hoong and Tao Gan. And to the warden: "Stand guard outside and let no one disturb us! When the Yeh brothers arrive, they can wait in the hall."

When the door had closed behind the warden, Judge Dee stud­ied the rest of the room. Against the wall opposite the oven-bed stood the usual pile of four large clothes boxes of red leather, one for each season, and in the corner nearby a small, red-lac­quered table. Except for two stools the room was empty.

Involuntarily his gaze went back to the dead body. Then he said:

"I don't see any of the victim's discarded clothes. Have a look in those clothes boxes, Tao Gan!"

Tao Gan opened the one on top. He said:

"There is nothing here but neatly folded garments, Your Honor!"

"Look through all four of them!" the judge said curtly. "The Sergeant will help you."

While the two set to work, Judge Dee remained standing in the center of the room, slowly tugging his beard. Now that the door had been closed, the towel hung down over the mirror. He noticed that it was stained with blood. He remembered that many people think it bad luck to look at a corpse reflected in a mirror. Apparently the murderer was one of those. A cry from Tao Gan made him turn around.

"These jewels I found in a secret compartment in the bottom of the second box," he said, showing the judge two beautiful golden bracelets set with rubies, and six hairpins of solid gold.

"Well," Judge Dee said, "I suppose an antique dealer has op­portunities to get those things cheap. Put them back, this room will be sealed, anyway. I am more interested in missing clothes than in jewels that are there. Let's have a look at the storeroom."

As he saw the room stacked with packing boxes of all sizes the judge said:

"You look through all those boxes, Tao Gan. Remember that next to garments, we have also a severed head that is missing. I'll go on with the Sergeant to the atelier."

The walls of Pan Feng's small workshop were lined with shelves bearing all sorts of bowls, vases, carved jade, statues and other small antiques. The square table in the center was loaded with bottles, books, and a large collection of brushes of all sizes.

At a sign from the judge, Sergeant Hoong pulled out the large clothes.

Judge Dee opened the drawer of the table and rummaged through its contents. "Look!" he said, pointing to the heap of loose silver lying among bundles of old bills, "Pan Feng was in a mighty hurry to leave! He didn't take his jewels, nor his money!"

They had a look in the kitchen, but found nothing of any im­portance there.

Tao Gan joined them. Dusting his robe, he said:

"Those cases contain large vases, bronzes and other antiques. Everything is covered with dust; evidently no one has been there for at least a week or so."

The judge looked, perplexed, at his two assistants, and slowly caressed his side whiskers.

"An amazing situation," he said at last. He turned around and left the house, followed by the two men.

Warden Kao was waiting in the hall, together with the head­man of the constables and the Yeh brothers.

Judge Dee acknowledged their bows with a nod, then ordered the headman:

"Let two of your men get grapples and dredge that well. Also get a stretcher and blankets, and transport the body to the tribunal. Then seal the three back rooms, and leave two men on guard until further orders."

He motioned the two Yeh brothers to sit down in front of his table. The Sergeant and Tao Gan took the bench against the wall.

"Your sister has indeed been foully murdered," the judge said gravely to Yeh Pin. "There is no trace of her severed head."

"That fiend Pan took it away with him!" Yeh Pin cried out. "The warden here saw he was carrying a leather sack with a round object inside!"

"Tell me exactly how you met Pan and what he said," Judge Dee ordered the warden.

"I met Pan Feng walking very fast down the street in westerly direction," the warden said. "I asked him, 'What is the hurry, Mr. Pan?' He did not even halt for a civil reply but muttering something about leaving town for a few days he brushed past me. He looked flushed, despite the fact that he wore no fur coat. In his right hand he carried a leather sack with some bulging ob­ject inside."

The judge thought for a while. Then he asked Yeh Pin:

"Did your sister ever tell you that Pan maltreated her?"

"Well," Yeh Pin answered after some hesitation, "to tell Your Honor the truth, I always thought that they got along together rather well. Pan is a widower, much older than she, of course, with a grown-up son who works in the capital. He married my sister two years ago, and I always thought he was rather a nice fellow, though a little dull, and always complaining about his bad health. The clever devil must have been fooling us all the time!"

"He never fooled me!" the younger Yeh suddenly burst out.

"He is a mean, nasty person and . . . and my sister often com­plained that he beat her!"

Yeh Tai angrily puffed out his flabby cheeks.

"Why did you never tell me that?" Yeh Pin asked, surprised.

"I didn't want to cause you worries," Yeh Tai said sullenly. "But now I'll tell everything! We'll get that dog's head!"

"Why," Judge Dee interrupted, "did you go to see your sister this morning?"

Yeh Tai hesitated a moment, then answered:

"Well, I just thought I would see how she was getting along."

The judge rose.

"I shall hear your full report in the tribunal, where it can be placed on record," he said curtly. "I'll return there now, and you two shall proceed there, too, in order to witness the autopsy."

Warden Kao and the Yeh brothers conducted the judge to his palanquin.

When they were passing again through the main street, one of the constables rode up to the window of Judge Dee's palanquin. Pointing with his whip he said:

"That's the pharmacy of Kuo, the coroner, Your Honor. Shall I go in and tell him to come to the tribunal?"

Judge Dee saw a small, neat-looking shop front. The sign­board bore three large, well-written characters reading, the cin­namon grove.

"I shall speak to him myself," the judge said. As he descended he added to his two lieutenants: "I always like to see pharmacies. You'd better wait outside, I don't think there is much room."

When Judge Dee pushed the door open he was met by an agreeable smell of dried herbs. A hunchback stood behind the counter, absorbed in cutting up a dried plant with a large knife.

He quickly came around the counter and bowed deeply.

"This person is the pharmacist Kuo," he said in a surprisingly deep, well-modulated voice.

He was only four feet high, but he had very broad, heavy shoulders and a big head with long, untidy hair. His eyes were unusually large.

"I have had no occasion yet to call on your services as a coro­ner," Judge Dee said, "but I have heard about your skill as a doc­tor, and used this opportunity for looking in. You'll have heard that a woman has been murdered in the southeast quarter. I want you in the tribunal for the autopsy."

"I'll go there immediately, Your Honor," Kuo said. Looking at the shelves stacked with jars and bundles of dried herbs he added apologetically: "Your Honor, please excuse this poor shop, everything is in such disorder!"

"On the contrary," Judge Dee said affably, "I see that every­thing is arranged very well." Standing in front of the large, black-lacquered medicine cupboard, he read a few of the names en­graved in neat white characters on the countless small drawers. "This is a good assortment of anodynes. I see you even have the Moon Herb. That is fairly rare."

Kuo eagerly pulled out the drawer indicated and took from it a sheaf of thin dry roots. As he carefully disentangled them the judge noticed that he had long, sensitive fingers. Kuo said:

"This herb grows only on the high crag outside the north city gate. Therefore the people here call that crag Medicine Hill. We gather it in winter, from under the snow."

Judge Dee nodded. "In winter its efficiency should be at its peak," he remarked. "All the sap is then accumulated in the roots."

"Your Honor has expert knowledge!" Kuo said, surprised.

The judge shrugged his shoulders.

"I like to read old books on medicine," he replied. He felt some­thing move along his feet. Looking down he saw a small white cat. It limped away and started to stroke its back against Kuo's leg. Kuo picked it up carefully and said:

"I found it in the street with a broken leg. I put it in a splint but unfortunately it did not set rightly. I should have asked the boxing master Lan Tao-kuei, he is a wonderful bone-setter."

"My lieutenants told me about him," Judge Dee said. "Accord­ing to them he is the greatest boxer and wrestler they ever saw."

"He is a good man, Your Honor," Kuo said. "There aren't many like him!"

With a sigh he put the kitten down again.

The blue curtain at the back of the shop was drawn aside and a tall, slender woman entered, carrying a tray with cups of tea. As she offered him his cup with a graceful bow, the judge noticed that she had a regular, delicately chiseled face. She wore no make­up, but her face was smooth and white as the purest white jade. Her hair was done simply in three coils. Four large cats followed on her heels.

"I have seen you about in the tribunal," Judge Dee said. "I am told that you keep the woman's jail in excellent order."

Mrs. Kuo bowed again and said:

"Your Honor is too kind. There is very little work in the jail; except for now and then a female camp follower who strays here from the north, the jail is empty."

The judge was agreeably surprised by her self-possessed, yet perfectly courteous, manner of speaking.

While he sipped the excellent jasmine tea, Mrs. Kuo carefully draped a fur cloak around her husband's shoulders. Judge Dee saw the affectionate look she gave him while she knotted his neck­cloth.

Judge Dee felt reluctant to leave. The peaceful atmosphere of this small shop, pervaded by the fragrance of sweet herbs, was a welcome change after the sickening scene in the cold murder room. With a regretful sigh he put down his cup and said:

"Well, I have to be on my way!"

He stepped outside and was carried back to the tribunal.