The Chinese LakeMurders

by Robert Van Gulik

  "The others will have told you already," Judge Dee said to him, "that we have strong reasons to assume that Candidate Djang's bride is alive too. Did you bring the brothel owner here, Chiao Tai?"

  "He did!" Ma Joong replied for him. "I saw that beauty waiting in the corridor outside!"

  "Bring her in!" Judge Dee ordered.

  Chiao Tai came back with a tall, rawboned woman with a coarse, flat face. She bowed deeply, then at once began in a whining voice:

  "He didn't even give me time for changing my robe, Your Excellency! How can I appear before Your Excellency in this terrible attire! I said to him-"

  "Be quiet and listen to your magistrate!" the judge cut her short. "You know I can close your establishment any time I choose, so you'd better be careful and tell the complete truth. Who was the woman brought to your place by Mao Loo?"

  The woman fell on her knees.

  "I knew the rascal would land me into trouble!" she wailed. "But what can a weak woman do, Your Excellency! He would have cut my throat, Excellency! Forgive me, Excellency!"

  Crying loudly, she knocked her forehead on the floor. "Stop all that noise!" Judge Dee commanded angrily. "Speak up; who was that woman!"

  "How could I know the wench!" the woman cried out. "Mao Loo brings her to my house in the middle o£ the night; I swear I had never seen her before! She wears a queer, single robe, and looks rather frightened. Brother Mao says: 'The chicken doesn't know what's good for her. Can you imagine her refusing a fine husband like me? But I'll teach her a lesson!' I see the poor girl is really ill, so I tell Mao Loo to leave her alone for the night. That's how I am, Excellency. I always believe in treating them kindly. I put her in a nice room; I give her some good rice gruel and a pot of tea. I remember exactly what I said to her, Excellency. 'Go to sleep, my chicken,' I say, 'and don't worry! Tomorrow you'll see that everything is all right!'" The woman heaved a deep sigh.

  "Oh, you don't know those girls, Excellency! One would have thought that the next morning she'd at least say thank you to me. But no! She woke up the whole house, kicking against the door and shouting at the top of her voice. And when I went up to her she cursed me and Brother Mao and said all kinds of foolish things about her being kidnaped and belonging to a good family-the kind of story they'll always tell. Well, there's one way to make them see reason, and that is to give them a taste of a piece of rope. That shut her up, and when Brother Mao came she went quietly away with him. I swear that's all, Excellency!"

  Judge Dee looked at her with contempt. He thought a moment of arresting her for having maltreated a girl, then reflected that she had only acted according to her lights. Those low-class brothels were a necessary evil; the authorities could control them so as to prevent excesses, but they could never eliminate entirely cruelty to the unfortunate inmates. He said sternly:

  "You know very well that you are not allowed to give lodging to stray girls. For the time being, however, I'll let you go. But I'll check your story, and if you didn't tell the truth you are done for!" The woman again began knocking her head on the floor, protesting her gratitude. On a sign of the judge, Tao Gan led her away. Judge Dee said gravely:

  "Yes, our theory is correct. Candidate Djang's wife is alive, but perhaps it would have been better for her to die than to fall into Mao Loo's hands! We must arrest Mao Loo as quickly as possible and deliver her from that ruffian. They are in a place called Three Oaks Island, in the district Chiang-pei. Does anybody know where that is?"

  Tao Gan said:

  "I have never been there, Your Honor, but I have heard plenty about it! It's a cluster of islands, or rather a swamp, in the middle of the Great River. The swamp is covered by close-growing bush, half-submerged the greater part of the year. The higher places consist of a dense forest of old trees. Only the outlaws who have gathered there know the creeks and waterways that lead to and through the swamp. They levy a toll on all passing ships and often make raids on the villages along the riverbank. They say that robber band counts more than four hundred men."

  "Why hasn't the government cleaned up that robber's nest?" the judge asked, astonished.

  Pursing his lips, Tao Gan replied:

  "That's not an easy undertaking, Your Honor! It would necessitate a naval operation that would cost many lives. The swamp would have to be approached in small craft, for war junks could not be used in those shallow waters. And the soldiers in those boats would be an easy target for the arrows of the outlaws. I have heard that the army has stationed a chain of military posts along the riverbank, and soldiers patrol the entire region. The idea is to blockade the swamp and thus force the outlaws to surrender. But they have been there for so many years now that they have many secret contacts among the population which are very difficult to trace. Up to now there are no signs that the robbers are short of food or anything else they need."

  "That sounds bad indeed!" Judge Dee said. Looking at Ma Joong and Chiao Tai, he asked: "Do you think you could get Mao Loo and the woman out of there?"

  "Brother Chiao and me will manage somehow, Your Honor!" Ma Joong answered cheerfully. "It's exactly the kind of job for us! We'd better go out there right now, to take stock of the situation!"

  "Good!" said Judge Dee. "I'll write a letter introducing you to my colleague the magistrate of Chiang-pei, and asking him to give you all assistance."

  He took up his writing brush and quickly jotted down a few lines on a sheet of official paper. He impressed the large square seal of the tribunal on it, then gave it to Ma Joong saying:

  "Good luck!"

  Fifteenth Chapter

  THE SERGEANT AND TAO GAN VISIT AN IMPORTANT PERSON; A BUSINESS PROMOTER CONCLUDES HIS VERY LAST DEAL

  After Ma Joong and Chiao Tai had left, Judge Dee continued to Sergeant Hoong and Tao Gan:

  "While our two braves are in Chiang-pei we shan't be idle either. When I was eating my noon rice I was thinking all the time about Liu Fei-po and Han Yung-han, our two main suspects of the murder of the courtesan. Let me tell you that I am not going to sit here quietly, waiting for the next move of those two gentlemen! I have decided to arrest Liu Fei-po today."

  "We couldn't possibly do that, Your Honor!" Hoong exclaimed, aghast. "We have only some vague suspicions; how could we-"

  "I certainly can arrest Liu, and I shall," the judge interrupted him. "Liu has proffered in this court a serious accusation against Dr. Djang, and that accusation has now proved to be false. I admit that nobody would blame me if I let the matter rest, especially because Liu was evidently beside himself with grief when he made the accusation, and because the professor hasn't brought forward a plaint against him for slander. Yet the law says that he who falsely accuses another of a capital crime shall be punished as if he himself had committed that crime. The law allows a broad margin of discretion in the application of this article, but in this case I choose to interpret it according to the letter."

  Sergeant Hoong looked worried, but Judge Dee took his brush and wrote out an order for the arrest of Liu Fei-po. Then he selected a second form, and said while he was filling it out:

  "At the same time I'll have Wan I-fan arrested, for giving false testimony in court regarding his daughter and Dr. Djang. Both of you go now with four constables to Liu's house and arrest him. On your way out, Hoong, tell the headman to take two men and arrest Wan I-fan. Let the two prisoners be conveyed here in closed palanquins, and have them locked up in cells that are far apart; they mustn't know that they share the hospitality of our jail! I shall hear both of them during the evening session. I think that then we'll learn a thing or two!"

  The sergeant still looked doubtful, but Tao Gan remarked with a grin:

  "It's the same as with gambling: if you rattle the dice well, you'll often throw a nice combination!"

  When Hoong and Tao Gan had left, Judge Dee pulled out a drawer and took from it the sheet with the chess problem. He was by no means as sure of himself as he had made his two assistants believe. But he felt he had to start the attack, to take th
e initiative. And the two arrests were the only way he could think of to achieve that aim. He turned round in his chair and took a chessboard from the cupboard behind him. He placed the black and white men in the position indicated in the problem. He was convinced that it was this chess problem that contained the key to the plot discovered by the dead dancer. It had been made more than seventy years before, and the best chess experts had tried in vain to solve it. Almond Blossom, herself not a chess player, must have chosen it not as a chess problem, but because it could be given a double meaning which had nothing to do with chess. Was it perhaps a kind of rebus? Knitting his eyebrows, he began to rearrange the men, trying to read their hidden message.

  In the meantime Sergeant Hoong had given the headman instructions regarding the arrest of Wan I-fan and went himself with Tao Gan to the house of Liu Fei-po. The four constables followed them at a discreet distance, with a closed palanquin.

  Hoong knocked on the high, red-lacquered gate. When the barred peephole was opened he showed his pass and said:

  "His Excellency the Magistrate has ordered us to have an interview with Mr. Liu."

  The doorman opened the gate, and led the two men to the small waiting room in the gatehouse. Soon an elderly man appeared who introduced himself as Liu Fei-po's steward.

  "I trust," he said, "that I'll be able to be of service. My master is just taking his siesta in the garden; he can't be disturbed."

  "We have strict orders to speak to Mr. Liu in person," the sergeant said. "You'd better go and wake him up!"

  "Impossible!" the steward exclaimed, horrified. "It would cost me my job!"

  "Just take us to him," Tao Gan said dryly. "Then we'll wake him up ourselves! Get going, my friends; don't hinder us in the execution of our official duties!"

  The steward turned round, his gray goatee quivering with rage. He crossed a spacious courtyard paved with colored tiles, Hoong and Tao Gan following on his heels. They walked through four winding corridors to a large walled-in garden. Porcelain pots with rare flowers lined a broad marble terrace; beyond there was an elaborate landscaped garden with a lotus lake in the center. Rounding the lake, the steward brought them to an artificial rockery in the back of the garden, consisting of large pieces of rock of interesting shape and color, luted together with cement. Next to it was an arbor, a bamboo framework overgrown with thick ivy. Pointing at the arbor the steward said testily:

  "You'll find my master inside there. I'll wait here."

  Sergeant Hoong parted the green leaves. In the cool interior he saw only a rattan reclining chair and a small tea table. There was nobody.

  The two men quickly rejoined the steward. Hoong rasped at him:

  "Don't try to fool us! Liu isn't there!"

  The steward gave him a frightened look. He thought for a while, then said:

  "He'll have gone to his library."

  "Then we'll follow his example!" Tao Gan said. "Lead the way!"

  The steward again took them through a long corridor. He halted in front of a black ebony door, decorated with metalwork showing an intricate flower pattern. He knocked several times but there was no answer. Then he pushed, but the door was locked.

  "Stand clear!" Tao Gan growled impatiently. He took a small package with iron instruments from his capacious sleeve, and started to work on the lock. Soon there was a click, and he pushed the door open. They saw a spacious, luxuriously furnished library. The heavy chairs and tables and the high bookcases were all made of ebony, elaborately carved. But no one was there.

  Tao Gan went straight to the writing desk. All its drawers had been pulled out; the thick blue carpet was strewn with folders and letters.

  "There's been a burglar here!" the steward cried out.

  "Burglar nothing!" Tao Gan snapped. "Those drawers weren't forced; they have been opened with a key. Where is his safe?"

  The steward pointed with a trembling hand at an antique scroll picture hanging in between two bookcases. Tao Gan went up there and pulled the painting aside. The square iron door in the wall behind it wasn't locked. But the safe was completely empty.

  "This lock hasn't been forced either," Tao Gan remarked to the sergeant. "We'll search the house, but I fear that the bird is flown!"

  After Hoong had called in the four constables, they went over the entire mansion, including even the women's quarters. But Liu Fei-po was nowhere, and no one had seen him after the noon meal.

  The two men went back to the tribunal in a morose mood. In the courtyard they met the headman, who told them that Wan I-fan had been arrested without difficulty. He was now locked up in the jail.

  They found Judge Dee in his private office, still absorbed in his study of the chess problem.

  "Wan I-fan has been placed under lock and key, Your Honor," Sergeant Hoong reported, "but Liu Fei-po has disappeared without a trace!"

  "Disappeared?" the judge asked, astonished.

  "And taken along all his money and important papers!" Tao Gan added. "He must have slipped out through the garden gate, without telling anybody."

  Judge Dee hit his fist on the table.

  "I have been too late!" he exclaimed ruefully. He jumped up and started striding round the room. After a while he stood still and said angrily:

  "It's all the fault of that silly bungler, Candidate Djang! If I had known sooner that the professor was innocent-" He pulled angrily at his beard. Then he said suddenly: "Tao Gan, go and bring Councilor Liang's secretary here, at once! There's still time to question him before the session begins!"

  After Tao Gan had hurried outside, he continued to Sergeant Hoong:

  "Liu's flight is a bad setback, Hoong! A murder is important, but there are things which are more important still!"

  Hoong wanted to ask for some further explanation of that remark, but seeing Judge Dee's tight-lipped face he thought better of it. The judge resumed his pacing; then he stood himself in front of the window, his hands on his back.

  In a surprisingly short time Tao Gan came back with Liang Fen. The young man seemed even more nervous than when the judge had seen him last. Judge Dee leaned against his desk; he didn't ask Liang Fen to sit down. Folding his arms across his chest and looking with great deliberation at the young man, he spoke.

  "This time I'll speak in plain terms, Mr. Liang! I tell you that I suspect you of being concerned in a despicable crime. It's because I want to spare the old Councilor's feelings that I question you here instead of presently during the session of the court."

  Liang's face turned ashen. He wanted to speak but the judge raised his hand.

  "In the first place," he continued, "your touching story about the Councilor's reckless spending can also be explained as an attempt to cover up the fact that you are taking advantage of his condition for appropriating his money. Second, I have found in the room of the dead dancer, Almond Blossom, love letters written in your hand. The most recent letters proved that you wanted to break off the relationship, presumably because you had fallen in love with Willow Down, the daughter of Han Yung-han."

  "How did you find that out?" Liang Fen burst out. "We had-" But again Judge Dee cut him short, saying:

  "You can't have murdered the dancer because you were not on board the flower boat. But you did have a liaison with her, and had secret meetings with her in your room. You could easily let her in by the back door of your small garden. No, I haven't finished! I can assure you that I haven't the slightest interest in your private life; as far as I am concerned you may entertain all the damsels of the Willow Quarter. But you shall tell me all about your affair with the dead dancer. One foolish young man has already obstructed my investigation, and I will not have another repeating that stunt! Speak up, and tell the truth!"

  "It isn't true, I swear it, Your Honor!" the young man wailed, wringing his hands in despair. "I don't know that courtesan, and I have never appropriated one copper of my master's money! I admit, however, and do so gladly, that I am in love with Willow Down, and I have reason to assume that my feeling
s are reciprocated. I have never spoken to her but I see her often in the temple garden, and- But since Your Honor knows this, my deepest secret, you must also know that all the rest is not true!"

  Judge Dee handed him one of the dead dancer's letters and asked:

  "Did you write this or not?"

  Liang Fen carefully examined it. Giving it back to the judge, he said calmly:

  "The handwriting resembles mine; it even reproduces some personal peculiarities. Yet I didn't write it. The person who forged it must have had many examples of my handwriting at his disposal. That is all I can say!"

  The judge gave him a baleful look. He said curtly:

  "Wan I-fan has been arrested; I shall presently question him. You shall attend the session. You can go to the court hall now."

  When the young man had taken his leave, Sergeant Hoong remarked:

  "I think that Liang spoke the truth, Your Honor."

  Judge Dee made no response. He motioned the sergeant to help him don his official robe.

  Three beats on the gong announced the evening session. Judge Dee left his private office, followed by Hoong and Tao Gan. When he had seated himself behind the bench, he saw that there were only a dozen or so spectators. The citizens of Han-yuan had apparently for the time being given up hope of hearing sensational news. But he noticed Han Yung-han and Liang Fen standing in the front row, and behind them Guildmaster Soo.

  As soon as he had called the roll, Judge Dee filled in a form for the warden of the jail. He gave it to the headman and ordered him to lead Wan I-fan before the bench.

  Wan I-fan seemed completely unperturbed by his arrest. He gave the judge an impudent glance, then knelt down and answered in a steady voice the formal questions about his name and profession. Then Judge Dee spoke:

  "I have obtained proof that you have lied to this court. It was you who tried to persuade Dr. Djang to buy your daughter. Do you want to hear the details, or do you confess?"

  "This person," Wan I-fan replied respectfully, "acknowledges that he has misled Your Honor. He let himself be led astray by his eagerness to help his friend and patron, Mr. Liu Fei-po, in the latter's case against the professor. Since, according to the law, I can be freed on bail for this offense, pending the payment of a fine, I beg Your Honor to fix the amount due. No doubt Mr. Liu Fei-po will be found willing to put up bail, and pay the required sum."