‘That hateful, despicable man Tao! How dare he slander my father! I hate him!’
She stamped her small foot on the floor.
‘Calm yourself, Miss Feng!’ Judge Dee said curtly. ‘Sit down and have a cup of tea.’
‘I won’t!’ she snapped. ‘I only want to tell you, once and for all, that my father had nothing to do with the death of that Tao Kwang. Absolutely nothing, do you hear? No matter what that loathsome old toad of a curio-dealer may say. And tell Tao that I never want to see him again, never! And that I love Kia Yu-po, and that I am going to marry him as soon as I can, and without Tao or any other middleman! That’s all!’
‘Quite a tall order!’ the judge said mildly. ‘I wager that you gave the Academician a good tongue-lashing!’
She had been turning to go, but now she stood stock still. Fixing the judge with blazing eyes, she asked sharply:
‘What do you mean by that?’
‘Well,’ Judge Dee said soothingly, ‘the collision on the river was the fault of the Academician’s boatmen, and it delayed your coming home one whole night, didn’t it? Seeing that you are not burdened by an excessive amount of shyness, I imagine that you gave him a good piece of your mind.’ She tossed her head back and said contemptuously: ‘You are completely wrong! Mr Lee apologized like a gentleman, and I accepted his apologies.’
She rushed down the front steps and disappeared among the flowering oleander shrubs.
Chapter 10
JUDGE DEE sat down again and slowly emptied his tea cup. Gradually he was getting an interesting insight into the relations of all these people. But it didn’t help much in solving any of his problems.
He rose with a sigh and strolled back to the warden’s office.
Feng Dai was waiting there for him, together with Ma Joong. Feng conducted them ceremoniously to the palankeen.
When they were being carried away, Ma Joong said: ,
‘That old curio-dealer lied, of course, when he said at the session that he went home straight from the banquet-that we knew already. But the rest of his statement fits more or less, I am sorry to say! Commissioner Hwang told me that he had indeed an appointment with Wen, for this evening, he thought. But now that Wen maintains that it was for last night, Hwang admits that he may have been wrong. So that is Wen. As to Kia Yu-po, his statement was a bit sketchy, so to speak. The old hag in charge of the courtesan’s dressing-room didn’t have at all the impression that Kia entered there by mistake. For the first thing he asked was whether Autumn Moon and Silver Fairy were there. When she replied that they had left together, he turned round and rushed out without another word. The manager of the inn Kia is staying in-that small hostel next door to ours-told me that he happened to see Kia pass by when he was standing in front of his door, about half an hour or so before midnight that was. He had expected Kia to turn in, but the fellow walked on and entered the alley to the left of the hostel. And that alley leads to the pavilion of the Queen Flower-now deceased. Kia came back home towards midnight, the manager said.’
‘Curious story!’ Judge Dee remarked. Then he told Ma Joong what Tao Pan-te had said about his father’s alleged murder, and his suspicions of Feng Dai. Ma Joong doubtfully shook his large head.
‘It’ll take some time to sort all that out!’ he said.
The judge made no comment. He remained deep in thought the rest of the way.
When they had stepped down from the palankeen in front of the Hostel of Eternal Bliss and were entering the hall, the portly innkeeper came up to Ma Joong and said, rather doubtfully:
‘Two eh … gentlemen would like to have a word with you, Mr Ma. They are waiting in the kitchen. It’s about salted fish, they said.’
For a moment Ma Joong stared at him, dumbfounded. Then he suddenly grinned broadly. He asked the judge:
‘May I go and hear what they have to say, sir?’
‘By all means. There’s a point I want to verify with our host here. Come to the Red Pavilion when you are through.’
While Judge Dee beckoned the innkeeper, a waiter took Ma Joong to the kitchen.
Two cooks, their muscular torsos bare, were sourly watching the Crab, who was standing in front of the largest stove, a flat frying pan in his hand. The Shrimp and four scullery boys were looking on from a safe distance. The giant threw a big flat-fish high up in the air, then neatly caught it on its other side, right in the centre of the pan.
Looking with his bulging eyes at the two cooks, he said gravely:
‘Now you have seen how it ought to be done. It’s a flip, from the wrist. Now you do it, Shrimp!’
The small hunchback, looking furious, stepped forward and took the pan over from the Crab. He threw the fish up. It fell back in the pan, half of it lying over the rim.
‘Twisted again!’ the Crab said reproachfully. ‘You twist because you use your elbow. It should be a flip from the wrist’ Noticing Ma Joong, he motioned him with his head to the open kitchen door. He continued to the Shrimp: ‘Go on, try it again!’ and pulled Ma Joong outside.
When they were standing in a corner of the neglected side garden, he whispered hoarsely:
‘Me and the Shrimp had business hereabouts, matter of a fellow who cheated at the tables. Would you like to see that curio-dealer, Mr Ma?’
‘Not on your life! Seen his ugly mug already this morning. That’ll last me for a couple of years!’
‘Now, let’s suppose, just for the sake of argument,’ the Crab went on stolidly,’ that your boss wanted to see him. Then he’d have to be quick, for Wen is leaving town tonight, I heard. For the capital. To buy antiques, he says. I won’t guarantee it’s true. Take it as an informal, voluntary statement.’
‘Thanks for the tip! I don’t mind telling you now that we aren’t through with that old goat. Not by a long way!’
‘That’s what I thought,’ the Crab said dryly. ‘Well, I’ll go back to the kitchen. The Shrimp needs that practice. Badly. Goodbye.’
Ma Joong made his way through the shrubbery to the veranda of the Red Pavilion. When he saw that Judge Dee wasn’t there, he sat down in the large armchair, put his feet up on the balustrade, and contentedly closed his eyes. He fondly tried to visualize Silver Fairy’s many charms.
In the meantime Judge Dee had been interrogating the innkeeper on the history of the Red Pavilion.
The startled man scratched his head.
‘As far as I know, sir,’ he replied slowly, ‘the Red Pavilion is now exactly as it was fifteen years ago, when I bought this hostel. But if Your Honour wishes any changes made, I shall of course …’
‘Isn’t there somebody who was here before that time?’ the judge interrupted him. ‘Say about thirty years ago?’
‘Only the old father of the present doorkeeper, I think, sir. His son took over from him ten years ago because …’
‘Take me to him,’ Judge Dee snapped.
Muttering confused apologies the manager led him through the noisy servant quarters to a small yard. A frail old man with a ragged beard was sunning himself there, seated on a wooden box. Blinking at Judge Dee’s shimmering robe of green brocade, he made to rise, but the judge said quickly:
‘Remain seated, a person of your venerable age should not be bothered. I only want to know something about the history of the Red Pavilion, I am interested in old houses, you see. Do you remember when the bedstead in the Red Room was moved to the wall opposite?’
The greybeard tugged at his thin moustache. Shaking his head he answered:
‘That bedstead was never moved, sir, no. At least, not in my time, that is. It was standing against the south wall, on your left when you enter. That’s its proper place, and there it has been, always. I wouldn’t speak for the last ten years, though. They may have changed it recently, they are always changing things, nowadays.’
‘No, it’s still there,’ the judge reassured him. ‘I am staying in those apartments now.’
‘Fine rooms,’ the old man mumbled, ‘the best we have. And the w
istaria ought to be in bloom now. I planted it myself, must be twenty-five years ago, about. Did a bit of gardening, too, in those days. Took the wistaria from the kiosk in the park, I did. They were breaking down the kiosk; a pity, it was fine old carpenter’s work. They put up one of your modern buildings there, two stories, the higher the better! Transplanted trees there too. Spoiled the view from the veranda. You could watch beautiful sunsets from there, sir! See the pagoda of the Taoist temple against the evening sky. And those tall trees made the Red Pavilion damp, too, I’d say.’
‘There’s a thick shrubbery directly in front of the veranda,’ Judge Dee remarked. ‘Did you plant that too?’
‘Never, sir! There oughtn’t to be shrubbery close to a veranda, sir. If it isn’t kept clean, it’ll attract snakes and other vermin. The park guards planted those, the silly fools! I caught a couple of scorpions there; the guards are supposed to keep the place tidy, supposed, I say! I prefer an open, sunny place, sir, especially since I got this rheumatism. It came sudden-like, I said to my son, I said …’
‘I am glad to see,’ the judge interrupted hurriedly, ‘that you are remarkably hale and hearty, for your age. And your son is looking after you well, I hear. Well, thanks very much!’
He walked back to the pavilion.
When he stepped out on the veranda Ma Joong hurriedly jumped up, and reported to him what the Crab had said about Wen’s travelling plans.
‘Of course Wen can’t leave,’ the judge said curtly. ‘He is guilty of false testimony. Find out where he lives, we’ll pay him a visit this afternoon. Now, go first to Kia’s hostel, and tell the youngster that I want to see him, here and now. Then you can go and have your noon-rice. But see to it that you are back here in an hour or so. There’s much to do.’
Judge Dee sat down near the balustrade. Slowly caressing his long sidewhiskers, he tried to reason out how the old gatekeeper’s statement could be made to fit Tao Pan-te’s story. The arrival of the young poet roused him from these cogitations.
Kia Yu-po looked very nervous; he made several bows in quick succession in front of the judge.
‘Sit down, sit down!’ Judge Dee said, irritated. When Kia had taken the bamboo chair, the judge sourly studied his dejected face. After a while he began suddenly:
‘You don’t look like a habitual gambler, Mr Kia. What made you try your luck at the gaming table? And with disastrous result too, I am told.’
The young poet looked embarrassed. After some hesitation he replied:
‘I am really a quite worthless person, Your Honour! Except for a certain facility in making poetry, I have nothing to commend myself. I am much given to moods, always let myself drift along with the circumstances of the moment. As soon as I had entered that accursed gambling hall, the spirit of the place took hold of me, I … I simply couldn’t stop! I can’t help it, sir, it’s just the way I am… .’
‘Yet you are planning to pass the State examinations for entering upon an official career?’
‘I had my name listed for the examinations only because two of my friends did, sir, I let myself be carried away by their enthusiasm! I know full well that I am not good enough for becoming an official; my only ambition is to live quietly somewhere up-country, read and write a little, and …’ He paused, looked down at his restless hands, then went on unhappily: ‘I feel terribly embarrassed towards Mr Feng, sir, he has such great expectations of me! He has been very kind to me, even wants me to marry his daughter … I feel all that kindness as … as a burden, sir!’
Judge Dee reflected that this young man was either utterly sincere or a consummate actor. He asked evenly:
‘Why did you lie this morning in court?’
The youngster’s face turned red. He stuttered:
‘What … what does Your Honour mean? I …’
‘I mean that you didn’t enter the dressing-room by mistake, you went there expressly to inquire after Autumn Moon. Thereafter you were seen entering the path that leads to her private pavilion. Speak up, were you in love with her?’
‘In love with that haughty, cruel woman? Heaven forbid, sir! I can’t understand why Silver Fairy admires her so much, she often treated her and the other girls most harshly, whipping them at the slightest provocation! She even seemed to take pleasure in that, the repulsive creature! I wanted to make sure that she wasn’t going to punish Silver Fairy for spilling wine on the robe of that wretched old curio-dealer, that’s why I went after them, sir. But when I passed the Queen Flower’s pavilion, all was dark there. So I went on and walked in the park for some time, to cool my head.
‘I see. Well, here’s the maid with my noon-rice. I’ll have to change into a more comfortable dress.’
The poet hurriedly took his leave, mumbling excuses and looking even more dejected than before.
Judge Dee changed into a thin grey robe, then sat down to his meal. But he hardly tasted what he ate, his thoughts were elsewhere. After he had drunk his tea he got up and started to pace the veranda. Suddenly his face lit up. He stood still and muttered:
‘That must be the solution! And that puts the death of the Academician in quite a different light!’
Ma Joong stepped out on the veranda. Judge Dee said briskly:
‘Sit down! I have found out what happened to Tao’s father, thirty years ago!’
Ma Joong sat down heavily. He was tired but happy. At the Widow Wang’s he had found Silver Fairy much better, and while the widow was preparing the noon meal, he had done considerably more with the girl up in the attic than talk about their native place. In fact he had been so busily engaged that, when they went down at last, he had only had time for one quick bowl of noodles.
‘Tao’s father was indeed murdered,’ the judge resumed,’ and in the sitting-room here.’
Ma Joong slowly digested that announcement. Then he protested:
‘But Tao Pan-te stated that he had found the corpse in the Red Room, Your Honour!’
‘Tao Pan-te was mistaken. I discovered that because he mentioned that the bedstead was on his right side, against the north wall. I made inquiries and found that the bedstead of the Red Room has always been where it is now, on the south side, against the wall on the left. However, although the inside of these apartments has never been changed, thirty years ago the outside was entirely different. The wistaria that now partly screens this veranda was not yet there, neither were the park restaurant and the tall trees opposite. From this veranda one had an unobstructed view, and one could enjoy beautiful sunsets.’
‘I suppose one could,’ Ma Joong said. Silver Fairy was really a sweet girl. Knew what a man wanted, too.
‘Don’t you see it? The boy had never been here before, but he knew that the suite was called Red Pavilion because the bedroom was done all in red. When he entered the sitting-room it was bathed in the red glow of sunset! No wonder he mistook the sitting-room for the Red Room-which he had expected to see!’
Ma Joong looked over his shoulder at the sitting-room, taking in the sandalwood furniture, all left its natural colour. He nodded ponderously.
‘Tao’s father was killed in the sitting-room,’ Judge Dee went on. ‘It was there that his son saw his dead body, and got a glimpse of the murderer, clad in a white undergarment-not in a red robe, as the boy thought. As soon as the boy had rushed out, the murderer removed the body to the Red Room, locking the door behind him. He threw the key inside through the barred window, thus setting the stage for the alleged suicide. He assumed that nobody would pay attention to what the frightened young boy might say.’ He paused a moment, then resumed: ‘Since the murderer was clad in a white undergarment, I take it that he had a tryst with the courtesan, Green Jade, in the Red Room. Tao Kwang, his rival in love, surprised them, and he killed Tao with his dagger. Tao Pan-te’s theory is right, his father was murdered. This throws a new light on the death of the Academician, Ma Joong. That was also a murder staged as a suicide, in exactly the same manner as thirty years ago. The Academician was killed in the sitting-roo
m, where anybody can enter freely and unobserved by way of this veranda. Then his body was brought to the Red Room, with his papers and everything. It worked once, so the murderer thought he might as well repeat the trick! And that constitutes an important clue to his identity!’
Ma Joong nodded slowly.
‘That means that either Feng Dai or Wen Yuan is our man, sir. There’s one important difference between the two cases, though. When the Academician was found dead, the key was not on the floor but inside the lock! You can’t throw it into that position, sir. Not in ten thousand years!’
‘If Feng is indeed our man, I could explain that point too,’ the judge said pensively. ‘In any case, I am certain that, if we identify the murderer of Tao Kwang and the Academician, we shall also know exactly what happened to the Queen Flower.’ He frowned and added after some reflection: ‘Yes, I’d better have a talk with Silver Fairy, before I see the curio-dealer. Do you know where we can find her?’
‘In her dormitory behind the Crane Bower, Your Honour. She said she would go back there today.’
‘Good. Take me there!’
Chapter 11
SINCE IT WAS STILL EARLY in the afternoon, the street of the dormitories was quite busy. Messengers and tradesmen went in and out of the front doors, and everywhere one heard the sound of flutes, guitars and drums as the courtesans practised music and singing.
Ma Joong halted in front of the door marked ‘Second Rank, No. 4’. He explained to the surly elderly woman who opened that they wanted to see the courtesan Silver Fairy, on official business. The woman silently led them to a small waiting-room, then went to fetch the girl.
Silver Fairy came in and made a low bow. She discreetly ignored the wink that Ma Joong gave her behind Judge Dee’s back. The judge motioned the elder woman to leave them alone, then kindly addressed the girl:
The Red Pavilion Page 9