Poets And Murder

by Robert Van Gulik

  The magistrate sighed and went on sombrely:

  ‘It’s damned hard luck, Dee! As soon as I have reported this disgraceful affair, the Metropolitan Court will suspend me, as guilty of dereliction of duty and criminal negligence. I’ll be condemned to hard labour on the frontier-if I am lucky, that is! To think that one of my reasons for inviting the woman here was to earn the praise of the panjandrums in the capital, for a kind gesture made to a famous poetess in distress!’ He pulled a large silk handkerchief from his sleeve and mopped his face.

  Judge Dee leaned back in his chair. He knitted his bushy eyebrows. His friend was in a very nasty predicament indeed. The Academician could pull strings for him, of course, try to have the case dealt with in the capital behind closed doors. Publicity wouldn’t be good for the Academician’s town reputation either. On the other hand … no, he was going much too fast. Taking hold of himself, he asked quietly:

  ‘What did the poetess say?’

  ‘She? When she comes into the green-room, she says, and sees the dancer lying there bleeding like a pig, she rushes up to her, and tries to raise her by her shoulders, to see what’s wrong! When she sees she’s dead, she rushes to us for help. At this moment she’s languishing on a couch in my First Lady’s room, being pampered with cold towels and what have you!’

  ‘Didn’t she say anything about who could have done it?’

  ‘Oh yes. Came across with the same information that flute-player downtown gave you, only with a different slant. Yoo-lan maintains that Small Phoenix was a pure girl, and many nasty, nasty men hated her for that! Says a rejected suitor slipped inside and killed her. Thus suggesting to me the easy way out! I left her without making any comment, only asked her to keep to the story of the dancer’s accident, for the time being.’

  ‘What about the coroner’s report?’

  ‘Nothing there we didn’t know or couldn’t have guessed, Dee. Confirmed she had been killed shortly before we saw her, ten, fifteen minutes at the most. Added that she was a virgin. Which doesn’t astonish me a bit. That pinched face, flat bosom! Well, the last people who saw her alive were two young dancing-girls, who brought Small Phoenix tea and cakes just before they packed up and went back to the Sapphire Bower. Then the wench was as right as rain.’

  ‘What did the servants say? And the musicians?’

  ‘Still thinking of that unknown intruder, eh? No such luck! Have been questioning everybody, together with my counsellor. The musicians watched the fireworks from the side-hall, and none of them left the room. And all that time there were a number of servants about, on the main stairs, and on the staircases at either end of the balcony. Impossible for your unknown intruder to have got up to the second floor unnoticed. Grilled everybody about a possible connection with the dancer. Nothing doing. She was a pure girl, remember! Also, that pair of scissors was of course a typical woman’s weapon. Fine, complete case! Beautifully simple.’ He pounded the table with his fist. ‘Great heavens, what a trial it’ll be! Nation-wide sensation! And me on the wrong side of the bench, mind you! A disgraceful ending to a promising career!’

  The judge remained silent for some time, pensively caressing his sidewhiskers. At last he shook his head doubtfully.

  ‘There is an alternative solution, Lo. But I am afraid you won’t like that either!’

  ‘Can’t say you are a comforting kind of chap, elder brother. But let’s have it anyway. A man in my desperate position’ll clutch at a straw!’

  Judge Dee put his elbows on the table.

  ‘There are no less than three other suspects, Lo. Namely your three distinguished dinner guests.’

  The small magistrate jumped up.

  ‘You’ve had one too many, Dee, at dinner!’

  ‘I probably had. Else I’d have thought earlier of the alternative. Go back to when we were watching the fireworks from the balcony, Lo. Can you visualize us as we were standing there at the balustrade? The poetess was on my left, and you were standing beside her. A little further on were your counsellor and your housemaster. Now although your firework display was lovely, I did look about me from time to time, and I know that none of us stirred from the balustrade. But I don’t know about Shao, Chang and the sexton, who were somewhere behind us. I got a glimpse of the Academician once at the beginning, and again at the very end of the display, when he came forward together with Chang and Sexton Loo. Did you see any one of them while the fireworks were going on?’

  The magistrate, who had been pacing the floor, now halted and resumed his seat.

  ‘When the fireworks started, Dee, the Court Poet was standing close behind me. I offered him my place, but he said he could see very well over my shoulder. And I got a glimpse of Sexton Loo, who was standing beside Chang. In the middle of the display I wanted to apologize to the sexton for the lack of Buddhist motifs among the symbolical figures, but when I looked round I saw nobody-the banquet hall was pitch dark, and my eyes were blinded by the flares of the fireworks.’

  ‘Just as I feared. Well, you yourself pointed out to me just now that every poet knows the story of the Consort’s Staircase, complete with the room behind the hall, and the door in the wall concealed by the screen. That means that each of your three guests had a splendid opportunity to murder the dancer in the green-room. They knew in advance she was there, because you had announced she would dance directly after the fireworks. Plenty of time to work out a simple and effective plan. When the servants had put out all the lights, and everybody was watching the garden, the murderer stepped back into the hall, slipped behind the screen and into the green-room. While saying a few kind words, he picked up the pair of scissors and killed her. Then he came coolly back to the balcony by the same route. Can’t have taken him more than three minutes, all of it.’

  ‘What if he had found the door locked, Dee?’

  ‘In that case he could have afforded to knock, for your fireworks were making a great deal of noise. And if he had found a maid together with Small Phoenix, he could just say that the fireworks bored him, and that he had dropped in for a friendly chat. Postponing his murderous plan for a subsequent occasion. It was a perfect set-up for murder, Lo.’

  ‘It certainly was, if you come to think of it,’ Lo said pensively, pulling at his short moustache. ‘But good heavens, Dee, isn’t it absurd that one of these great men would …’

  ‘How well do you know them, Lo?’

  ‘Well … you know how it is with those famous persons, Dee. I’ve met all three of them a couple of times, but always in company, and we talked about literature, and art, and so on. No, I know very little about their real characters. But look here, elder brother! Their careers are public property! If any of them had a strange streak in him, people would have … Except as regards the sexton, of course. He’d stick at nothing, absolutely nothing! Fellow wasn’t always as unworldly as now, you know. Formerly he administered a large tract of ecclesiastical property in the Lake District, and used to bleed the tenant farmers white. Later he repented, of course, but…’ He smiled wanly. ‘To tell you the truth, I haven’t yet digested this new development, Dee!’

  ‘I quite understand, Lo. It is indeed a bit of a shock when you have to consider those three illustrious persons as murder suspects. As to the sexton, he wrote a beautiful scroll for you, at the dinner table. I had it stuck up on the wall screen. Well, let’s forget all about great talent and exalted position, and consider our three men just as ordinary suspects in a murder case. We know all three had the opportunity. The next question is that of motive. The first thing is to make inquiries about the dancer in the Sapphire Bower. All of your three guests seem to have been in Chin-hwa for a day or two already, which means that they may have met Small Phoenix before she was introduced to them this afternoon. How did she meet them, by the way?’

  ‘Oh, when I was going upstairs with Shao and Chang to show them the banquet room, Yoo-lan and the dancer were just coming down, and I introduced her. Afterwards I saw from the balcony that Small Phoenix ran into Se
xton Loo, in front of my fox shrine. He’s staying in the small room behind the shrine, you know.’

  ‘I see. Well, when you’re back from the Sapphire Bower, we must try to find in the archives which dossier Soong had been studying there. For …’

  ‘Holy heaven! The murdered student! Two murders to solve! “Wait, what did my housemaster tell me again about Soong’s landlord? Oh yes, his chaps nosed about in that quarter, but the tea-merchant is a popular man there. Not a breath of scandal or shady dealings. I think his eagerness to foist his theory of the vagrant ruffian on us was just an attempt to show off his cleverness. Most people love to act the amateur detective, you know!’

  ‘Yes, we may count Meng out. I had been toying with the idea that Soong might have had a secret love-affair with Meng’s daughter. She’s a good-looking young girl, and her maid told me she could hear in her room the sentimental tunes Soong played on his flute at night. If Meng had learned about the liaison … However, now we know that it was Saffron Soong was fond of, and that he wanted to buy the silver trinkets for her. And Soong mentioned his landlord to Saffron, without saying a word about suspecting him of having murdered his father, so we have absolutely nothing against the tea-merchant.’ He smoothed his long black beard. ‘To come back to Small Phoenix. We were going to ask her for a description of Saffron’s father. You might inquire in the Sapphire Bower whether the dancer ever mentioned there that the guardian of the Black Fox Shrine was an illegitimate child, and that her father was still about here in Chin-hwa. Let’s draw up a programme for tomorrow, Lo. First, your visit to the Sapphire Bower. Second, a search in your old archives, for the eighteen-year-old case that interested the murdered student. Third …’

  ‘You’ll have to take care of the Sapphire Bower for me, Dee! I promised my wife and children that I would take my guests to view the Moon Altar they built in the fourth courtyard, and I am supposed to do that tomorrow morning. If my old mother feels well enough, she’ll be there too.’

  ‘All right, I’ll visit the Sapphire Bower directly after breakfast. Please send a letter of introduction over to my quarters, Lo, for the lady in charge there. Then I’ll join all of you to see the Moon Altar, and as soon as possible afterwards the two of us can go to the chancery and consult the archives together. As to my third point, I’ll have to see to that alone. Namely, go to the Black Fox Shrine, and persuade Saffron to leave that horrible place. You have a secluded corner here where she can stay, I suppose?’ When his colleague nodded, the judge went on slowly, ‘It won’t be easy to wean her away from her foxes and that ghastly lover of hers, but I hope I’ll be able to handle her. Talking about Saffron, Lo, I must tell you that Sexton Loo was staying in a temple very near the wasteland. And he has a weird theory that some human beings have a special affinity with foxes.’ He tugged at his moustache. ‘It’s a pity I didn’t ask Saffron whether her father was thin or heavy.’

  ‘Nonsense, Dee!’ Lo said impatiently. ‘Saffron told you that, according to the dancer, the man was good-looking!’

  Judge Dee nodded approvingly. Despite his absent-minded airs, his colleague was a very good listener.

  ‘She did indeed, Lo. But Small Phoenix may have said that just to please the poor girl. I shall go after luncheon to the ruined temple to get her so that I have the whole afternoon for that delicate job. Unless, of course, the Prefect should summon me.’

  ‘Heaven forbid!’ Magistrate Lo shouted, aghast. ‘Can’t tell you how grateful I am, Dee! You have given me a ray of hope!’

  A very thin ray only, unfortunately. What time were you thinking of starting the banquet on the Emerald Cliff, by the way? The place lies outside the city, I suppose?’

  ‘It does. Our most famous scenic spot, elder brother! High up on the nearest mountain range, about half an hour by litter from the west city gate. At the Mid-autumn Festival one’s supposed to ascend a high place, as you know! There’s a pavilion there, on the edge of a century-old pine forest. You’ll love it, Dee! The servants’ll go ahead in the afternoon, to prepare everything. We’ll have to leave here about six, so that we’ll be there in time to admire the sunset.’ He got up. ‘It’s past midnight, and I am dog-tired, Dee. I think we’d better be off to bed. I’ll just nip upstairs for a moment, though, to have a look at the scroll Sexton Loo wrote for me.’

  Judge Dee had risen too.

  ‘You’ll find the writing magnificent,’ he said. ‘But the contents suggest that he knew the dancer was dead.’

  Chapter 13

  JUDGE DEE woke up early. He pushed open the sliding-doors and went to stand on the verandah in his nightrobe, to enjoy the fresh morning air. The rock garden was in shadow; a thin film of dew still covered the bamboo leaves.

  No sound came from the residence behind him. Everybody seemed to be late. It must have taken the servants till long after midnight to tidy up after the banquet. From the tribunal compound in front, however, there came shouted commands, and the clatter of arms. The guards were going through the morning drill.

  After a leisurely toilet the judge dressed in a wide robe of blue silk and put a square cap of stiff black gauze on his head. He clapped his hands and told the heavy-eyed boy servant to bring him a tea-basket and a bowl of rice gruel with pickles. The boy came back carrying a tray heaped with food: steaming white rice, assorted pickled vegetables, cold chicken, crab omelette, stewed bean curd, a bamboo box with fritter cakes, and a dish of sliced fresh fruit. Apparently such a luxurious breakfast was the rule in the residence. Judge Dee told him to move the table outside, under the eaves of the verandah. Just after he had started breakfast, a clerk brought him a sealed envelope. It was a note from his colleague: Elder Brother,

  The housemaster is taking the dancer’s body to the Sapphire Bower. He shall impress on them that it is in their own interest to keep the case secret till tomorrow, when I shall deal with it in the tribunal. Please find enclosed a letter of introduction addressed to the lady in charge. Your ignorant younger brother, Lo Kwan-choong.

  The judge put the letter in his sleeve and told the clerk to take him to the side entrance of the tribunal, explaining that he wanted to take a morning stroll. On the corner of the street he rented a small litter, and ordered the bearers to take him to the Sapphire Bower. Being carried through the streets, crowded with early market-goers, he wondered how his colleague had managed to keep the fact that the dancer was dead from his host of servants. Probably the wily old housemaster had made the necessary arrangements. The bearers lowered the chair in front of a simple black-lacquered door in a quiet, residential street. The judge was just about to tell them that it must be the wrong address, when he noticed the two letters ‘Sapphire Bower’ inscribed on a discreet small brass plaque on the doorpost.

  When the surly gatekeeper had admitted him he found himself in a well-kept paved courtyard, decorated by a few flowering plants in basins of sculpted white marble. Over the red-lacquered double-gate at the rear was a white board, inscribed in large blue letters ‘Among the Flowers reigns Eternal Spring’. It was not signed, but the calligraphy resembled closely that of his colleague.

  A broad-shouldered rascal with a pockmarked face accepted Judge Dee’s letter with a dubious expression, but when he saw the large red stamp of the tribunal on the back, he made an obsequious bow. He led the judge along an open corridor lined by red-lacquered, carved balustrades, round a charming flower garden, to a small anteroom. Judge Dee sat down at the tea-table of polished sandalwood. The blue pile carpet was soft under his feet, and blue brocade hangings covered the walls. Smoke of ambergris curled up from the white-porcelain incense burner on the wall-table of carved rosewood. Through the open sliding-doors he could just see a corner of the two-storeyed building facing the garden. From the gilded lattice-screens along the balcony came the tinkling of zithers. Apparently the inmates were already at their music lessons.

  A large woman in a black damask gown came in, followed by a demure maid carrying a tea-tray. Folding her hands in her long sleeves, the madam
e delivered a polite speech of welcome. The judge took in her pasty face with the pendulous cheeks and the crafty, beady eyes, and decided he didn’t like her. ‘Has the housemaster of the residence already arrived?’ He cut her harangue short.

  She told the maid to put the tea-tray on the table and to leave them alone. Straightening her robe with her large, white hand, she said:

  ‘This person profoundly regrets the unfortunate accident, sir. I do hope it did not inconvenience the honourable guests.’

  ‘My colleague informed them the dancer only wounded her foot. Could you get me her papers?’

  ‘I knew you would want those, sir,’ she replied with a smirk.

  She took a bundle of documents from her sleeve and handed them to the judge. He saw at once that there was nothing of special interest. Small Phoenix had been the youngest daughter of a vegetable dealer, sold three years ago for the simple reason that she had four elder sisters already, and her father couldn’t afford any more dowries. The house had her taught to dance by a well-known teacher, and she had also received tuition in elementary reading and writing.