The Emperor's Pearl: A Judge Dee Mystery (Judge Dee Mystery Series)

by Robert Van Gulik

  His towering shape seemed to shrink; he made to turn away, but he could not detach his gaze from those burning eyes. Leaning forward she said harshly:

  ‘I accuse you here, before my dear husband, of having raped me there. You tied me naked to the marble altar, you said you would kill me slowly, cutting my veins one by one, and sprinkling my blood over the statue of the goddess. You said I would be given up as lost, no one would ever know what had happened to me. “ Pray! Pray to the goddess ! ” you sneered. Then you left to gather more twigs for the dying torch.

  ‘Lying there helpless on my back at the feet of the goddess, I saw above me the red ruby on her hand, glittering in the flickering light. Its red rays seemed to warm my naked body, strapped to the cold marble slab. I prayed to her, a woman herself, to help a violated woman, about to be tortured to death. I thought I felt the rope round my right wrist slacken. I tore at it in a desperate effort, and the knot slipped. I could free my hand, and I untied the other ropes. Righting myself I looked up at her in humble gratitude. In the uncertain light of the smoking torch I thought I saw her lips curve in a reassuring smile.

  ‘Then I sprang down, wrapped my undergarment around me and slipped outside through a gap in the wall, behind the statue. I plunged into the thick undergrowth. As I struggled ahead I heard you shout for me. I went on in a blind terror, not heeding the thorns that tore my hands. Then…’

  Suddenly she broke off. Turning half round, she gave her husband a bewildered look. In a barely audible voice she added:

  ‘No, I don’t know what happened thereafter. But I have come back now, here to my own house. I…’

  She swayed on her feet. Mr Kou hurriedly came round the table and took her arm. Looking at the judge, he stammered :

  ‘I don’t understand this at all! She didn’t go out tonight, how could she have…’

  ‘Your wife was speaking about what happened four years ago, Mr Kou,’ judge Dee said gravely.

  XVIII

  Mr Kou led her away, solicitously supporting her. The judge beckoned his men to enter. While the four constables stood themselves close by Yang, judge Dee snapped at the headman:

  ‘Light the wall candles!’

  There was another thunderclap. Then a torrential rain came clattering down on the roof. A strong gust of wind tore at the shutters. The tempest had broken loose at last.

  Dr Pien pointed at Yang.

  ‘He…he gave me the powder!’ he said in a tremulous voice. ‘He said it was a sleeping-drug, how could I have known that it…’

  ‘You stole my domino, Pien!’ judge Dee interrupted coldly.

  ‘I can explain, explain everything, Your Honour! Yang said that he wanted Sia to go to the deserted house in Tong’s place, later that night. In connection with a very important matter. Sia was to go there after the races. In the afternoon I asked Sia whether he had taken out a marker when leaving by the south gate. Sia said no. Therefore, when my eye fell on that double-blank domino, I took it and later handed it to Sia.’ Giving the judge an entreating look, he wailed: ‘Yang forced me to help him, sir, I swear it! I had borrowed money from him, too much money.…I had had such bad luck with my investments, my creditors were pressing me, my wife was harassing me, from morning till night. Yang could break my career, ruin me.…He gave me a small folder, told me it was a sleeping-drug, quite harmless. It looked exactly like it, I tell you! Later, when I realized I had poisoned Tong, I didn’t know what to do, I…’

  He buried his face in his hands.

  ‘You knew the murderer, Pien!’ judge Dee said sternly. ‘Your failure to denounce him makes you an accessory after the fact. The exact measure of your guilt shall be established later. Headman, let two of your men put the doctor in a palankeen and take him to jail.’

  Sergeant Hoong picked up Dr Pien’s stick from the floor and handed it to him. The doctor stumbled to the door, escorted by two constables.

  All that time the tall curio-dealer had been standing there, still as a graven image, his broad face blank.

  Now Judge Dee turned to him. Folding his arms in his sleeves he spoke:

  ‘You abducted and raped Mrs Kou, Yang, and you shall be condemned to undergo the severest form of capital punishment, that of the lingering death. Make a full confession now, including how you had Tong Mai poisoned and the Amber Lady knifed, how you killed with your own hands Sia Kwang and Mrs Meng, and how you tried to kill your accomplice Dr Pien. If you tell the complete truth, I may propose to have the death sentence executed in a less terrible manner.’

  Yang did not seem to have heard him. He was staring ahead with vacant eyes.

  ‘You may also confess,’ the judge resumed, ‘that you have been robbing the temple of the White Goddess, stealing the hoard of gold the priests had stored there.’

  ‘You’ll find the golden vessels in my wall-safe,’ he said in a toneless voice, ‘all nine of them. Cast by one of the greatest masters of our glorious Han dynasty. I needed the money, but I couldn’t bring myself to melt down those magnificent works of art. It’s there, all of it. Also the ruby.’ He paused. He looked hard at the judge and asked harshly: ‘How did you find that out?’

  ‘When I visited you this morning, you said that you had never been to the temple. Yet you described the altar as being separated from the pedestal. The book you showed me as source of your information states clearly that statue, pedestal and altar were carved out of one block of marble. I know, however, from a note written in the margin of my copy, that altar and pedestal were cemented together, and that the cement was removed by a later magistrate. I assumed, therefore, that you told me a lie when you said you had never visited the temple; and that, while describing the statue to me you inadvertently confused what you had read with what you had actually seen. It was only an assumption, of course; you might have read about the removal of the cement in another printed or handwritten source, unknown to me. But you confirmed it by falling into the trap I set here for you tonight.’

  ‘So you had only vague suspicions, after all,’ Yang said bitterly. ‘Well, your sending the sergeant to borrow from me a white hand with a ruby ring was a clever move. It made me wonder whether you had perhaps proof of my stealing the temple hoard; or whether the hand had nothing to do with me, and was really meant only for some experiment or other. I felt that I had to know what would be discussed here tonight. I came prepared to silence you, or that coward Pien.’ He pulled a long, thin knife from his bosom. The headman sprang to him, but Yang threw the knife on the table. ‘Don’t worry!’ he sneered at the headman with a contemptuous look. Then he went on to the judge: ‘I know when I am beaten. But I may as well tell you that I am an old hand in knife-throwing, and that I wouldn’t have missed. But she was there…she was in the way.’ He frowned. Suddenly he asked: ‘How did you discover that it was I who nearly killed that rat Pien this afternoon? ‘

  ‘I know enough about medical science,’ Judge Dee replied, ‘to realize that a blow on the head and a few kicks hardly justify a request not to be moved before internal injuries have been checked. One takes that precaution mainly if one has made a bad fall from a high place. Also, a footpad need not rip his victim’s robe nearly in two in order to get at his money-belt. I surmised that you threw Dr Pien out of the window of your study, on the second floor. His robe caught on one of the iron spikes under the sill, and that prevented him from breaking his neck or…’

  ‘I didn’t throw him out of the window,’ Yang interrupted gruffly. ‘Pien came to see me, snivelling about the strangling of the old hag. When he said he couldn’t keep silent any longer, I hit him a good blow in his face. Hadn’t realized what a weak-kneed wretch he is. He crashed against the screen and tumbled out of the window before I could grab him. I rushed down and outside, and found that the spike catching his robe had broken his fall. He wasn’t badly hurt, and conscious. I had to be quick, a passer-by might see us any moment. So I just told him that the little incident would have taught him a lesson, and shown him what would happen to
him if ever he’d try to betray me. I said that he should pretend that he had been attacked by a robber. Then I dragged him over to the other side of the street, bleating for mercy! I could have finished him off then and there, of course. But he was owing me a lot of money, and I thought that the story of the unknown attacker would serve nicely to confuse the issue.’

  Judge Dee nodded.

  ‘Tomorrow I shall hear your full confession in the tribunal. Now I only want to check the essential points. I take it that Dr Pien spoke the truth just now about his unwittingly poisoning Tong Mai?’

  ‘Of course! You don’t think I would trust that nervous bungler with poisoning a man, do you? I told Pien only that I wanted Tong out of the way that night, because Sia had to keep Tong’s appointment in the old villa. I added that I also wanted Pien’s boat to lose, because I was planning to make a bit of money out of the betting. I gave Pien the powder saying “You put this sleeping-drug in Tong’s wine-cup during the entertainment at Marble Bridge!” Pien is afraid of me, and he owes me money, as I said before, so he had to do as I told him. But it was no sleeping-drug, it was a good, strong poison! I had bad luck, though. If that confounded coroner of yours hadn’t happened to be there when Tong’s body was brought on land, Pien would have thought that the sleeping-drug had affected Tong’s heart, Tong’s death would have been ascribed to heart failure, and nobody would have been any the wiser!’

  ‘You wanted Sia to keep Tong’s rendezvous in order to get the gold and the pearl,’ judge Dee stated curtly.

  ‘You are wrong! I knew nothing about gold, nothing about a pearl, I tell you! I only wanted Amber, that pretentious little whore! Do you know that she refused me when she was still a small ugly slave-maid? I told old Mr Tong that she had tried to make up to me while I was visiting there, and I saw her get her whipping. But that wasn’t enough punishment for that lewd slut! I am sure she bedded with Tong, even after that fool of a Kou had made her his second lady. Tong denied it when 1 taxed him with it, but he was nothing but a mean blackmailer, and she…I know her sort! I would teach her, make her beg for mercy, as did Gold Lotus there in the temple before…before I…’

  He suddenly fell silent. A sombre glow came in his eyes as he went on softly:

  ‘No, I should not mention that filthy little slave-maid together with Gold Lotus. I couldn’t have killed Gold Lotus there on the altar. How could I ever have stained that perfect naked body with blood? I only wanted to cow her, in order to possess that exquisite beauty, keep it for ever, for me only…. One can’t destroy such beauty, one can’t commit such a black crime! I couldn’t kill her either as she was standing here just now—four years later, yet unchanged….’

  He pressed his hands to his face.

  There was a long pause. The only sound heard was that of the clattering rain. Kwang was surveying Yang with raised eyebrows. He wanted to say something, but the judge quickly silenced him with his raised hand. Then Yang looked up. He resumed in a detached voice:

  ‘I had ordered Tong to repair the pavilion. The old hag’s hovel wasn’t safe any more. And she asked more money, and Tong asked more money—more money for those dirty, stupid women he got for me. They were dirty and stupid, but I needed them. Needed them to avenge the crime Gold Lotus had committed on me.

  ‘I dismissed Tong, promised him a monthly allowance, to keep him quiet. I employed Sia instead, a stupid, miserable sneak thief! But I had to have someone who could keep me informed about what went on here in this house. That wretched doctor kept assuring me that Gold Lotus would never recover. But I had to check that, had to know about her, how she was living, how…’ He paused. When he had recollected himself he went on in a steady voice: ‘Sia made himself useful by worming all kinds of information out of Tong. A few days ago Sia told me that now he had definite proof that Amber slept with Tong, for they were going to have a secret meeting in the pavilion, after the races. The lecherous pair would use my couch, the couch I had placed there for strapping whores to, for my rightful revenge! But I prevented it. Sia kept Tong’s appointment, instead of her lover she would find there a man who would strap her to the couch she had thought she would wallow on with her lover!’

  His face fell. He cursed under his breath and went on: ‘Imagine the fool bungling it! When Sia came back to the city, to the house of assignation near the south gate where we had agreed to meet, the wretch was in a terrible state. He babbled about her stabbing him when he tried to strip her, and he getting panicky and killing her when trying to defend himself. To make matters worse, he had apparently been followed to the deserted house, and by officers of the tribunal! I gave him a cup of wine and told him to lie down and rest. For I needed time to think. As I made him lie down, I noticed something heavy in his sleeve. I took it out and saw that it was a package containing ten gold bars! Sia let himself roll down from the couch, he wanted to rush out of the room. But I grabbed him by his neck and put my hands round his throat. The scoundrel then confessed that he had known that Amber would be bringing that gold to the rendezvous, Sia had planned to steal it and keep it for himself. I asked Sia why she had brought all that money, and the credulous fool replied that he had heard from Tong that it was for buying from him the Emperor’s pearl! Sia hadn’t understood that the story of the pearl was nothing but a mean trick of Tong and his paramour to get money out of Kou for eloping together! But I didn’t enlighten Sia, of course. For now that I had the gold and now that Amber had been killed, Sia would have to disappear. I told him that I would overlook his attempt at deceiving me, and even let him keep one gold bar—on condition that he help me to get the pearl. I added that he could pass the night in the house we were in, and go to the Tong villa early this morning, disguised as a carpenter.

  ‘I went out there too, telling my assistant that I had to see a farmer about an inscribed stone he had dug up. I know a short cut to the Tong villa. Half a mile down the highway I entered the mud road next to the large farmstead there, then rode through the rice fields to the east edge of the Mandrake Grove. Three white elms mark the entrance to a narrow pathway leading through the forest to the temple, and on that same spot begins another path that circles the grove, ending up behind the Tong villa. I tethered my horse near the elm trees, then went on to the villa.

  ‘Well, Sia did his best; he’s a cunning thief, I’ll say that for him! He first searched the roof of the pavilion and looked under the eaves, for Tong had told him he had hidden the pearl in a place no one would ever think of. Of course Sia found nothing there but a few bird’s-nests, for the tale about the pearl had been a hoax. Then I made Sia take the interior of the pavilion apart. I thought that would give you something to think about. I have known you for more than a year, magistrate, and you are nobody’s fool, I grant you that! When Sia was about through, I took up a brick and smashed his head. After I had thrown the body into the ditch, I went back to the city the same way I had come. Just before leaving I saw that smug skinflint arriving.’

  Kwang began to mutter angrily, but the judge said quickly to Yang:

  ‘I suppose you recognized Miss Lee when she was brought to the tribunal, this morning? ’

  ‘How could I’ve missed that silly round face?’ Yang asked with disdain. ‘I had told Sia that I wanted her last week. She was just the stupid type that screams her head off. When I saw her being marched to the tribunal together with three ruffians, I knew that Sia had failed to warn the men that the deal was off; that they had been caught red-handed, and would blab in the tribunal about the old hag’s place. And she would promptly denounce me, of course. To save her own skin! So I rushed out there. That time I was in luck, I found her all alone!’

  ‘Quite’ judge Dee said dryly.’ That’s all.’ He gave a sign to the headman.

  The judge looked on silently for a while as the constables put the giant into chains. Suddenly he spoke:

  ‘I gather that you bore Mrs Kou and the Amber Lady a grudge because they rejected your advances. But why did you torture those other women? Women
you didn’t even know?’

  Yang’s chains rattled as he righted himself.

  ‘I don’t think you would ever understand’ he answered calmly. ‘But let me try to tell you anyway. For a moment I was indeed interested in Amber because I recognized in that dirty small girl a budding beauty—as Kou did also. But Amber was nothing but empty form, inside she was just a lewd little slave-girl. As to Gold Lotus, hers is the beauty of perfect form, glowing with an inner radiance, a glow tempered by the subtle charm of breeding and refined culture. Gold Lotus represents perfect beauty: the only thing I have lived for, because it is the only thing that makes life worth living.’ His voice quickened as he went on: ‘Beauty as caught in stone or wood, silver or porcelain, bronze or gold can never compete with the beauty that lives and pulsates embodied in woman. And that supreme beauty must be enjoyed by physical possession, every day to be admired and gazed at, stroked and fondled, ever revealing new charms, new delights. Possessing Gold Lotus was the ultimate goal of my life, the crowning delight that my long years of loving, preserving, and studying beauty had fully entitled me to. That night, in the temple, she murdered me. “With one cruel blow she killed my capacity for enjoying beauty, leaving me maimed, with nothing but the desire for revenge. With the burning desire to avenge the cruel, inhuman crime committed against me!’ His eyes glittered with a maniacal gleam as he exclaimed exulting: ‘I have taken that revenge! I, a murdered man risen from the grave! I have tortured woman, the heartless murderess, she who tempts and entices man with coy smiles and shy glances, then to repel him with a sneer, leaving him a pitiable wreck, crippled in both body and mind. All those others I made grovel before me begged for mercy in her voice, it was her flesh I lacerated, her blood I saw flow, her…’ He broke off and licked the foam from his snarling lips. Suddenly his distorted face relaxed. He said quietly: ‘I did what I felt I had to do. I shall take the consequences.’