The Lacquer Screen: A Chinese Detective Story (Judge Dee Mystery)

by Robert Van Gulik

  The Corporal gave them a dubious look. He pulled up a chair to the table, sat down and said:

  ‘I don't know Kun-shan too well. Tell me about the trouble!’

  ‘Me and my mate,’ the judge answered, ‘are simple businessmen trying hard to make an honest living along the road. This morning we met a merchant out in the mountains. He took a liking to us and gave us ten silver pieces to remember him by. Then he laid himself down by the roadside to take a nap, and we went on to town to invest our money. But that merchant woke up in a nasty temper, the crook ran to the tribunal and said we had robbed him. The constables came for us, and Kun-shan took us here. It was nothing but a slight misunderstanding, based on that merchant waking up too soon.’

  ‘That's a good one!’ the Corporal said with a grin. Then he asked, suspicious again: ‘Why do you drag along that beard with you? And why do you talk like a schoolmaster?’

  ‘That beard,’ Chiao Tai said, ‘he let grow to please his boss. He used to be a headman of constables in the olden days, but he had to retire before he had earned his pension, because of some financial misunderstanding. By the way, are you an ex-headman too? You seem in the habit of asking questions!’

  ‘I have to make sure, don't I?’ the Corporal said sourly. ‘And don't call me names, you! Ex-headman nothing! I am from the army. Corporal Liu of the Third Wing of the Western Army. Get that into your thick skull, will you?’ And, to the judge : ‘Is Kun-shan an old friend of yours?’

  ‘No,’ Judge Dee answered, ‘we met him for the first time today. He happened to be there when the law came for us.’

  ‘Good!’ the Corporal grunted. ‘Have a drink on the house!’ He shouted at the waiter, who came running with a wine-jar. When they had tasted the wine, the Corporal asked :

  ‘Where were you last?’

  ‘In Peng-lai,’ the judge replied. ‘We didn't like it there.’

  ‘Stands to reason!’ the Corporal grinned. ‘I have heard about the new thief-catcher-in-chief they have got there, fellow called Dee, the nastiest cross-patch in the whole province! A week ago he had the head of a friend of mine chopped off.’

  ‘That's why we left. We used to stay with the Butcher, in his inn near the north gate.’

  The Corporal crashed his large fist on the table.

  ‘Why didn't you say so at once, brother? That bastard Kun-shan hasn't got a patch on the Butcher! Straightforward man, the Butcher was. A bit short-tempered, maybe, much too ready with his knife. Told him a hundred times that that's a bad mistake.’

  Judge Dee was glad that the Corporal concurred in his verdict. The Butcher had treacherously stabbed a man to death, and he had sentenced him just before leaving Peng-lai for the Prefecture. He asked: ‘Does Kun-shan belong to your organization?’

  ‘No, he is a kind of independent worker. A high-class burglar, very good at his job, I am told. But he's a mean, cantankerous bastard, I am glad he doesn't come here too often. You two are all right, though. Have to be, since you stayed with the Butcher. Put a string of coppers in our pool, and you are welcome to stay with us here.’

  Judge Dee took a string from his sleeve. The Corporal threw it across the taproom to the bald man, who caught it dexterously.

  ‘We would like to stay here a few days,’ the judge said, ‘till the hue and cry has died down, so to speak.’

  ‘That's settled then,’ the Corporal said. He shouted at the girl: ‘Come over here, Carnation! Meet two new lodgers!’

  As she came to the table the Corporal put his arm round her waist and said to the judge :

  ‘This is our housekeeper. She is an ex-professional, but still as good as new, eh, Carnation? Nowadays she only walks the street if she needs a new dress or so, amateur-like. I share her with Baldy, because he is my number two, you see, and since we share the money too.’ He looked thoughtfully at the judge, then asked suddenly : ‘Can you read and write? ‘As Judge Dee nodded he went on with enthusiasm : ‘Why don't you stay here longer, brother? You can have a room upstairs, drink down here, and if you get troubled by your human nature, I don't mind you taking Carnation through her paces, now and then. Don't look cross now, my wench, you'll get accustomed to that beard!’ He pinched the pouting girl, then went on : ‘You don't know the brain-work I have to do here, brother! I have more than seventy beggars and vagabonds working under me, and they come here every other night for the reckoning. Twenty per cent for me, ten for Baldy, and ten for the house. And, being no man of letters, I have to figure it all out with dots and crosses! That Student there could help me, only the men won't have it, they don't trust him yet. I'd let you start at five per cent, and what you earn yourself is tax-free. Speak up, is it a deal?’

  ‘It's a generous offer,’ the judge answered, ‘but I think I'd better pass on as soon as I can. I don't hold with murder, you know.’

  The Corporal pushed the girl away. Putting his large fists on his knees he asked tensely:

  ‘Murder, you say? Where?’

  ‘I heard a man at the market say that there's a murdered woman lying in the marsh. My mate and I do only robbery. We find it pays better, in the long run. Murder always means trouble. Big trouble.’

  ‘Baldy!’ bellowed the Corporal. And, as the bald man came running: ‘Why didn't you report to me that there's a murdered woman lying around, eh? Who did it?’

  ‘I don't know nothing about a murdered woman, boss, I swear it!’ the bald man whined. ‘Nobody told me about it!’

  ‘Shall I go out there and see whether it's true?’ the judge asked.

  ‘It wouldn't be you who slit her throat, would it now?’ the Corporal asked threateningly.

  ‘Would I go back there if I had done it?’ Judge Dee asked with scorn.

  ‘No, you wouldn't, I suppose,’ the Corporal muttered. He rubbed his low, corrugated forehead, looking morosely at his wine-cup.

  The judge got up and said:

  ‘Give me a man to take me there by the back streets, and I'll have a look. Don't forget that I've been a headman, I know all about dead bodies. Perhaps I can find out for you who did it too!’

  The Corporal hesitated. After a while he looked up and said :

  ‘All right, take the Student. I can't let the others go. Soon my men will be coming in for the accounts. Hey, Student, you go with the beard!’

  ‘You better stay here, mate!’ Judge Dee said to Chiao Tai. ‘The two of us together might attract the attention of the thief-catchers.’

  Chiao Tai had followed the conversation in speechless astonishment. He grunted something, then took the wine-jar and hurriedly refilled his cup.

  V

  The Student took Judge Dee along some less frequented streets and alleys down to the northern section of the town. He explained that the Phoenix Inn was located in the hilly, central quarter. The town was built on the mountain slope, and the northern quarter was the lowest part. The judge didn't say much. He was preoccupied with his own thoughts. It was clear that the Corporal knew nothing about the murder or about Kun-shan's plans. A number of facts pointed to his theory being right, yet…

  ‘Do many people pass that marsh during the day?’ he suddenly asked the young man.

  ‘Yes, in the morning there's a lot of traffic there,’ the Student replied. ‘The peasants come in from the plain beyond the north gate, bringing vegetables and so on for the market. But at night it's a very lonely place. They say it's haunted.’

  ‘Why didn't the authorities have the marsh filled up?’

  ‘We had a big earthquake four years ago, I was fourteen then, I remember it well. It was especially bad in the north quarter, and it destroyed the houses built where the marsh now is. There was a fire. Heaven, you should have seen it, it was a beauty! People with their clothes burning came rushing to the river, screaming their heads off, I never laughed so much in my life! A pity the fire didn't get to the tribunal, though! Well, later, when they started to clear the ruins, they found that the ground there had sunk below river level, it was too soggy to build t
here. So they let it lie waste, and now it's overgrown with weeds and shrubs.’

  Judge Dee nodded. He reflected that a region which has many hot springs often suffers from earthquakes.

  They were passing through a narrow, quiet street. The curved roofs of the dark houses stood out against the moonlit sky.

  ‘I would like to leave that gang of the Corporal's, you know,’ the Student resumed.

  The judge shot him a quick look. He had thought him a rather offensive specimen, but apparently he had done him an injustice.

  ‘Would you now?’ he remarked non-committally.

  ‘Of course!’ the Student said scornfully. ‘You can see that I am quite different from that riff-raff, can't you? My father was a schoolmaster, I got a good education, graduated from the town school. I ran away because I wanted to become something really big. But the Corporal's was the only gang I could join in this town. Petty thieving and begging, that's all they do! And the stupid dogs are always taunting me, just because they know I am a better man than they are!’

  ‘I see,’ Judge Dee said.

  ‘You and your mate are different,’ the Student went on wistfully. ‘I dare say you two have slit a few throats! You only told the Corporal you didn't like murder because you heard the waiter say that the Corporal won't have killings in this town. Don't worry about me, I can put two and two together!’

  ‘Is it still far?’ the judge asked.

  ‘Next street. It comes to a dead-end behind the tribunal, where the ruined houses are. Say, did you often torture women when you were still headman?’

  ‘Let's hurry!’ Judge Dee said curtly.

  ‘I wager they squealed like pigs when you put the hot irons to them! All women go for me, you know, but I have no use for them, the stupid bitches! When they put them on the rack, they also crush their arms in screws, don't they? Do they scream a lot?’

  The judge gripped the Student's elbow in a wrestler's lock. His iron fingers dug deep into the flesh and nerves. The Student yelled frantically until Judge Dee released him.

  ‘You dirty bully!’ the youngster sobbed, supporting his bruised arm with the other.

  ‘You asked a question, didn't you?’ the judge said affably. ‘Now you have supplied yourself the correct answer!’

  Silently they picked their way among half-ruined, deserted houses. They came out on a wide, open space. A hot grey mist hovered low over a stretch of small trees and thick undergrowth. Farther on loomed the crenellated watch-tower of the north city gate.

  ‘That's your marsh!’ the Student announced sullenly.

  It was very still. The din of the busy shopping streets farther uptown did not penetrate here. There were only the eery cries of waterfowl.

  Judge Dee followed the slippery footpath that seemed to run round the marsh, peering intently among the low shrubs. Then he halted. He had seen a patch of red, shimmering under the bushes. He quickly went up to it, his boots squelching in the mud. He parted the branches. A dead body was lying there, wrapped from neck to feet in a sumptuous long coat of red brocade with a golden flower pattern.

  Stooping he studied the still face for a moment, looking silently at the regular, handsome features and the curious, completely serene expression of the dead woman. Her extraordinarily long hair, of a strange silken beauty, had been clumsily bound up by means of a coarse cotton band. He put her age at about twenty-five. The earlobes were torn, but only a very few drops of blood were visible. He opened the coat, then quickly closed it again.

  ‘Go down the path and watch!’ he brusquely ordered the Student. ‘Whistle if you see somebody coming!’

  As the young man slunk away, the judge folded the coat back. The woman was completely naked. A dagger had been buried to the hilt under her left breast, and around it was a patch of dried blood. Scrutinizing the hilt, of beautifully chased silver but blackened by age, he decided that it was a valuable antique. The beggar hadn't recognized it as such, and therefore he hadn't taken it when he stole the earrings and the bracelets. He felt the breast. It was clammy. Then he lifted one of the arms, and found it was still limp. The woman had been murdered only a few hours before, he thought. The serene face, the clumsily gathered wealth of hair, the naked body and the bare feet pointed to her having been killed while she was in bed and asleep. Then the murderer had hastily bound up the hair, wrapped the body in the coat, and brought it out here. That fitted well with his reasoning.

  He pushed aside the branches overhead and let the moonlight fall on the slim body. He sat back on his haunches, rolled up his sleeves and carefully examined the lower part of the corpse. He had a wide knowledge of medicine, including the special science of the coroner. As he wiped off his hands on the wet grass, his face bore a perplexed expression. The woman had been raped. That upset his entire theory! He stood up and wrapped the body in the red coat again, then dragged it farther under the overhanging branches so that it could not be seen from the path. He walked back.

  The Student was sitting hunched on a large boulder, nursing his elbow. ‘I can hardly move it!’ he muttered.

  ‘You distress me!’ Judge Dee said coldly. ‘Wait here for me. I am going to search those houses over there.’

  ‘Please don't leave me alone here!’ the youngster whined. ‘They say the ghosts of the people who died here during the fire still haunt this place!’

  ‘That's bad!’ the judge said. ‘You said just now that their cries amused you. The ghosts will have heard that. But wait, I'll help you!’ He walked three times round the boulder with measured pace, muttering some weird spells under his breath. ‘You are safe!’ he announced. ‘I learned to make that magic circle from an old itinerant Taoist monk. No ghost can come inside.’

  He left, convinced that the youngster wouldn't meddle with the dead body while he was away.

  After he had made his way through the ruins, he came on a row of inhabited houses. On the next street-corner he saw the lighted lampions of the teahouse where he had been sitting that afternoon with Chiao Tai. A short walk brought him to the back door of the tribunal compound. He knocked.

  VI

  Sooner than he had expected the door opened. The old steward said with evident relief:

  ‘So you did get the message our headman left in the hostel! My master has been waiting up for you, Mr Shen, hoping that you would come.’

  He led the judge straight to Magistrate Teng's library. They found him dozing in the armchair behind his desk. The light of two large silver candelabra shone on his shrunken face. When the steward had woken him up, he rose quickly and came round the desk to meet the judge. He waited till the steward had left, then exclaimed agitatedly:

  ‘Thank Heaven that you came! I am in an awful predicament, Dee! I badly need your advice. Take a seat, please!’

  When they had sat down at the tea-table, Judge Dee said:

  ‘I presume that it concerns the murder of your wife.’

  ‘How did you know? ‘Magistrate Teng asked aghast.

  ‘I'll first tell you what I know. Then you'll explain what happened.’

  Teng raised his teacup with a shaking hand, spilling some tea on the polished table top.

  ‘When I visited you this afternoon’ Judge Dee began, ‘I couldn't help noticing how ill and perturbed you were. Concerned about you, I later asked Pan Yoo-te what was ailing you, but he said that you had been perfectly all right in the morning. Thus I knew that you must have had a severe shock, just before my arrival. I remembered that when your steward inquired about your wife, you said that during the siesta she had unexpectedly received a summons to go and visit her elder sister. But the steward had said that her bedroom door was locked. That struck me as curious. Why should your wife have locked her bedroom when she left? Surely the maids would have to go there to make the bed and so on? At the same time the steward informed you that an antique vase in your wife's ante-room had been broken. You took that news very calmly, yet Pan told me afterwards that it was a costly heirloom which you valued highly. Evidentl
y you knew already about that mishap, and more important things than a broken vase were weighing on your mind. Thus I concluded that during the siesta something must have happened in your wife's bedroom that greatly upset you. Since, however, your household affairs are no concern of mine, I didn't give those matters further thought.’

  The judge took a sip of his tea. As Magistrate Teng remained silent, he pursued:

  Then fortuitous circumstances placed in my hands some jewellery which a beggar had stolen from the dead body of a woman, said to be lying out in the marsh. Among those jewels was a pair of earrings, silver lotus flowers, in a very elaborate, costly setting of gold and rubies. Since the value of the setting must be twenty or thirty times that of the silver lotus flowers, evidently the motif of the lotus had a special meaning. I feared that they belonged to your wife, whose name is Silver Lotus. Of course I couldn't be certain that there wasn't another lady in this town called Silver Lotus, but remembering your agitation and the curious sudden departure of your wife, I suspected that there was a connection.