Murder in Canton: A Judge Dee Mystery

by Robert Van Gulik

  ‘That explains why the coroner of the tribunal failed to discover it!’ Chiao Tai observed.

  ‘The coroner never saw the body,’ Judge Dee said wearily. ‘Tao Gan came back here an hour ago, with the Prefect. Together they had questioned the entire personnel of the tribunal, but nobody knew anything about the body of a vagrant sent to the temple last night.’

  ‘Holy heaven!’ Chiao Tai exclaimed. ‘So those two constables who took it there were impostors!’

  ‘They were. I had the prior summoned at once, but he couldn't give a good description of the two self-styled constables. They were just ordinary fellows and wore the regular uniform, leather jackets and black-lacquered helmets. Everything seemed perfectly in order. We can't blame the prior for not taking a closer look at them.’ He heaved a sigh and went on, ‘The fact that the Censor was seen in the temple earlier on the night of his murder, and the clue of the cricket, point to the deed having been done somewhere in that same neighbourhood. Since the uniforms of the constables must have been prepared beforehand, it must have been a premeditated murder. And since the Censor's body did not show any signs of violence and his face was calm, he must have been lured into a trap by a person or persons he knew well. Those are the facts we have to work with.’

  ‘That blind girl must know more about what happened, sir! You said she told Tao Gan that she had been squatting by the wall a long time before she caught the cricket; therefore she may have heard something. Blind people have a very acute sense of hearing.’

  ‘I have some very pertinent questions to ask that girl,’ Judge Dee said grimly. ‘I had a good look at the wall against which the mortuary is built. It has been repaired recently, and there is not a single crack between the bricks. Yes, I certainly want to meet that girl! I have sent Tao Gan to her house to fetch her. I am expecting them any moment now, for he has been gone quite some time. Well, did you have a good dinner at that Arab's place?’

  ‘Food and drink were all right, sir, but I must confess I don't like that fellow Mansur. He's as proud as the devil, and not too favourably disposed towards us. When the liquor had loosened his tongue a bit, I asked him about the Arab colony here, as you ordered.’ Rising, he bent over the map on the desk and went on, pointing with his forefinger, “This here is the mosque; Mansur and most of the other Moslems live in this neighbourhood. The inn where I am staying is close by. Outside the north-east gate there's a smaller colony, near the tomb of one of their saints. All these Arabs have settled down here for some time. The sailors who are here temporarily, waiting for the monsoon, live in these hostels here, on the riverfront.’

  When Chiao Tai had resumed his seat, the judge said annoyed:

  ‘I don't like this at all! How can we ever keep an eye on these foreigners that way! I shall speak to the Governor about it. All those Arabs, Persians and what not must be brought together in one quarter, surrounded by a high wall with only one gate that is closed between sunset and dawn. Then we shall appoint an Arab as warden, responsible to us for all that happens inside. Thus we shall keep them under control, while they can observe their own uncouth customs there without offending their Chinese co-citizens.’

  The door at the other end of the hall opened and Tao Gan came in. While he was taking the other chair in front of the desk, Judge Dee cast a quick glance at his worried face and asked:

  ‘Didn't you bring that blind girl with you?’

  ‘Heaven knows what's going on here, sir!’ Tao Gan exclaimed, wiping his perspiring brow. ‘She has disappeared! And all her crickets have gone too!’

  ‘Have a cup of tea, Tao Gan,’ the judge said calmly. ‘Then tell me the entire story. How did you happen to meet her, to begin with?’

  Tao Gan gulped down the tea Chiao Tai had poured for him and replied:

  ‘I saw two ruffians assaulting her in a deserted street, sir. Near the market place. When I had shooed away those fellows and realized she was blind, I took her home. She lives in a tenement house over on the other side of the market. I had a cup of tea up in her room, and she told me how she had caught the Golden Bell. She lives alone in that room. When I went back there just now, the dozen or so small cages with crickets which had been hanging on a pole there were gone, and so were a few pots with fighting-crickets, and her tea-basket. I looked behind the screen that partitions the room, and only saw a bare couch—the bedding had gone!’ He took another sip, and went on, ‘I asked the market vendor who lives on the same floor about her. He had met the girl once or twice on the landing, but had never even spoken to her. Then I went to the market, and had the supervisor show me his register. Several stalls rented to cricket dealers were listed there, but none under the name of Lan-lee. Since he told me that some people are allowed to put up small temporary stalls rent-free, I accosted a regular cricket dealer. He said he had heard about a blind girl dealing in crickets, but never actually met her. That was all!’

  ‘It was just another hoax!’ Chiao Tai muttered. “The wench fooled you, brother Tao!’

  ‘Nonsense!’ Tao Gan said crossly. The assault could never have been arranged beforehand, for my benefit. Even if someone had been following me, how could he have known I would be taking that particular alley? I was walking at random. I could have taken a dozen other turns!’

  ‘I think,’ Judge Dee said, ‘that you were spotted when you were taking the girl home. You two must have made a conspicuous couple.’

  That's it, of course!’ Tao Gan exclaimed. ‘While we were talking, I heard the stairs creak! Some people must have eavesdropped on our conversation. When they overheard her telling me where she had caught the Golden Bell, they decided to abduct her!’

  ‘If she didn't disappear of her own free will, that is,’ the judge remarked dryly. ‘For I don't believe a word of her story of how she got the cricket. She picked it up when the Censor was being murdered, of course. On the other hand, the fact that she gave you a clue to the temple would seem to prove that she belongs to a group opposing the Censor's murderers, like the man who strangled Chiao Tai's prospective killer. Anyway, we are faced with a disgusting situation! Some persons apparently know exactly what we are doing, while we haven't got the faintest idea who they are or what they are after!’ He angrily tugged at his beard, then went on in a calmer voice, ‘The prostitute who saw the Censor in the temple told me that the Tanka boats lie close to the custom-house, which means they're not far from the Moslem quarter inside the Kuei-te city gate. It is possible, therefore, that it was not Arab affairs which made the Censor frequent their neighbourhood, but rather something going on among the people of the floating brothels. And the two self-styled constables who took the Censor's body to the temple were Chinese. All the more reason for not staring ourselves blind at the Arab aspect of our problems.’

  ‘Yet Dr Soo was killed by an Arab hooligan, sir,’ Chiao Tai remarked.

  ‘Arabs are the main customers of the Tanka harlots, I'm told,’ the judge said, ‘so the hooligan could well have been recruited in a Tanka brothel. I would like to know more about those strange people.’

  ‘Mansur's entertainment tonight included the performance of an Arab dancer with Tanka blood,’ Chiao Tai said eagerly. ‘It seems that she lives on a flowerboat. I might pay her a visit tomorrow, and let her tell me about the waterfolk.’

  The judge gave him a shrewd look.

  ‘Do that,’ he said evenly. ‘A visit to this dancer seems more promising than your planned talk with the sea captain.’

  ‘I'd better see him too, sir if you have no other work for me tomorrow morning, that is. I got the impression that Mansur hates Captain Nee. Therefore it might be worth while to hear what Nee has to say about Mansur!’

  ‘All right. Report to me after you have made those two calls. You, Tao Gan, will come here directly after breakfast. We must draw up together a preliminary report to the Grand Council on the Censor's murder. We'll send that to the capital by special courier, for the Council must be informed of the Censor's death with the least possible dela
y. I shall advise them to keep this news secret for a day or two, so as not to prejudice the delicate balance of power at court, and give me a little time to discover what is behind this foul murder.’

  ‘How did the Governor take the news about this second murder in his domain, sir?’ Tao Gan asked.

  ‘That I don't know,’ Judge Dee answered with a faint smile. ‘I told his physician that the Censor's body was that of one of my men, who had got into trouble with a Tanka woman. I had the corpse encoffined at once, to be sent to the capital at the first opportunity, together with Dr Soo's. When I see the Governor tomorrow, I shall tell him the same story as I told his physician after he had conducted the post mortem. We'll have to be careful with that doctor, by the way; he's a quick-witted fellow! He said that the Censor's face looked familiar to him, you know. Fortunately he had only seen the Censor all dressed up in his ceremonial dress when he paid his first visit to Canton six weeks ago. When we have finished the report to the Council, Tao Gan, we'll call together on Mr Liang Foo. He visits that confounded temple regularly to play chess with the abbot, and we could do with more information about that huge sanctuary. At the same time I shall consult Liang about the possibility of the Arabs making mischief here. They are only a handful compared to the total population of this vast city, but Chiao Tai just pointed out to me on the map the strategic points they control. They could easily create a disturbance, not important in itself, but dangerous in so far as it could be used as cover for some other devilry here or elsewhere. Can we trust that other expert on Arab affairs, Mr Yau Tai-kai?’

  Chiao Tai frowned and replied slowly:

  ‘Yau's jovial airs are not quite genuine, sir. He's not what I'd call a nice person to know. But as to engaging in murder, or in political plots…no, I don't think he is the type for that.’

  ‘I see. Then there's still that enigmatic blind girl. She must be traced as quickly as possible, and without the local authorities getting wind of it. Tomorrow morning, Tao Gan, you will call at the tribunal on your way here. Give the headman of the constables a silver piece, and ask his men to look for her, as a personal favour. Tell him she's a niece of yours who misbehaved, and to report directly to you. In that way we won't endanger her safety.’ He rose, straightened his robe, and added: ‘Well, let's have a good night's rest now! I advise you two to keep your doors locked and barred, for it has now been proved that both of you are marked men. Oh yes, when you have had your talk with the headman, Tao Gan, visit the Prefect, and give him this scrap of paper. I have jotted down the name and address of the prostitute I talked with in the temple yard. Order Pao to summon her together with her owner, buy her out and have her conveyed back to her native place by the first military transport going north. Tell him to give her half a gold bar, so that she can get herself a husband when she's back in her village. All expenses are to be charged to my private account. The poor creature gave me valuable information, and she is entitled to a reward. Good night!’

  IX

  The next morning Chiao Tai woke up before dawn. He washed quickly by the light of the single candle supplied by the inn, then dressed. About to slip his coat of mail over his head, he hesitated. He threw the heavy coat on the chair, and put on instead an iron-plated vest. ‘My medicine against a sudden pain in the back!’ he muttered, putting on his brown robe over the vest. After he had wound the long black sash round his waist and put on his black cap, he went downstairs and told the yawning innkeeper that when a litter came for him, the innkeeper should tell the bearers to wait for his return. Then he went outside.

  In the semi-dark street he bought four oil-cakes, hot from the portable stove which the hawker was fanning vigorously. Munching them contentedly, he walked down to the Kuei-te Gate. On arrival at the quay, he saw that the red rays of dawn were colouring the masts of the craft moored alongside. Mansur's ship was gone.

  A troup of vegetable dealers filed past him, each carrying on a pole across his shoulders two baskets loaded with cabbage. Chiao Tai accosted the last one, and after some complicated haggling in sign language bought the whole lot, including the carrying pole, for seventy coppers. The man trotted off singing a Cantonese ditty, happy that he had overcharged a northerner, and saved himself the long trip to the boats into the bargain.

  Chiao Tai shouldered the carrying pole and stepped on to the stern of the first boat alongside the quay. From there he went over to the next, and on to the third. He had to tread warily, for the mist had made the narrow planks connecting the boats rather slippery, and the boat people apparently considered the gang-boards the proper place for cleaning fish. Chiao Tai cursed under his breath, for on many boats slatternly women were emptying buckets of night-soil into the muddy river, and the stench was overpowering. Here and there a cook hailed him, but he disregarded them. He wanted to find the dancer first, then have a closer look at the waterfolk. Thinking of Zumurrud gave him a queer tight feeling in his throat.

  It was still fairly cool and his load was not too heavy, but being unaccustomed to this particular method of carrying things he was soon perspiring profusely. On the stem of a small boat he halted and had a look around. He couldn't see the city wall any more, for he was surrounded on all sides by a forest of masts and stakes, hung with fishing nets and wet laundry. The men and women moving about on the boats seemed a race apart. The men had short legs but long, muscular arms that accentuated their swift, loping walk. Their high cheekbones jutted out from their swarthy faces, and their flat noses had wide, flaring nostrils. Some of the young women were rather pretty in a coarse way; they had round faces and large, quick eyes. Squatting on the gangways of the Tanka boats and beating the laundry with heavy round sticks, they were busily chattering together in a guttural language that sounded completely unfamiliar.

  Although men and women alike studiously ignored Chiao Tai, he had the uncomfortable feeling that he was being stealthily observed all the time. ‘Must be because few Chinese come here!’ he muttered. ‘Those ugly dwarfs stare at me as soon as my back is turned!’ He was glad when at last he saw a narrow strip of open water ahead. A bamboo bridge led to a long row of large, gaudily painted Chinese junks, anchored stem to stern. Alongside the first row was a second, then a third, connected by broad gangways provided with banisters. The fourth row was the last, close to midstream. Chiao Tai climbed onto the stern of the nearest junk and saw the broad expanse of the Pearl River. He could just discern the masts of the craft moored alongside the opposite bank. He counted and found he was on the third boat of the fourth row. The ship heading it was as large as a war junk. Its high masts were decorated with silk banners, and all along the eaves of the cabins hung limp garlands of coloured lampions, swaying to and fro in the faint morning breeze. He got on board by walking along the narrow side decks of the intervening junk, carefully balancing his baskets.

  Three sleepy-eyed waiters were loitering near the hatch. They gave him a casual look and resumed their conversation as he brushed past them and entered the dark passage ahead. It was lined with shabby doors and a nauseating smell of cheap frying fat hung in the air. As there was no one about, he quickly put down his baskets and went on to the hind deck.

  A plain girl wearing only a soiled skirt was sitting cross-legged on the wooden bench, paring her toenails. She gave him an indifferent glance and didn't even bother to pull her skirt down. Things looked rather dreary, but Chiao Tai's spirits rose when he arrived midships. On the other side of the neatly scrubbed deck he saw a high double door, lacquered a bright red. A fat man in a nightrobe of costly brocade was standing at the railing, gargling noisily. A sullen-looking young woman in a rumpled white gown held the tea-bowl for him. Suddenly the man retched and vomited, partly over the railing, partly over the girl's dress.

  ‘Cheer up, dearie!’ Chiao Tai told her in passing. ‘Think of the fat commission you'll get on last night's wine bill!’

  Ignoring her angry retort, he slipped inside. The passage was dimly lit by white silk lampions suspended from the curved rafters. Chiao
Tai studied the names inscribed on the lacquered doors. ‘Spring Dream’, ‘Willow Branch’, ‘Jade Flower’—all names of courtesans, but none that could be a Chinese rendering of the name Zumurrud. The last door, at the end of the passage, bore no name, but it was elaborately decorated with miniature paintings of birds and flowers. Trying the knob, he found the door was not locked. He pushed it open and quickly stepped inside.

  The semi-dark room was much larger than an ordinary cabin, and luxuriously appointed. A smell of musk hung heavily in the close air.

  ‘Since you are here, why not come closer?’ the dancer's voice spoke.

  Now that his eyes had become adjusted to the light, he discerned in the rear of the room a high bedstead, with red curtains half-drawn. Zumurrud was there, reclining naked against a brocade pillow. She wore no make-up and her only jewelry was a necklace of blue beads set in gold filigree.