Mrs Ko uttered a suppressed cry, but he ignored her and continued:
‘The other day she tells me that a soothsayer has warned Ko that on the fifteenth he’ll be in danger of his life. She says that that’s nonsense of course, but we can use it for executing our plan. It’ll do nicely as a motive for suicide. She coaxes him into giving a dinner that night Before he goes to the pavilion, she gives him a good dose of the arsenic. I climb over the wall. She has sent all the servants to the other wing, to help with the dinner preparations. We push the bedstead away, I dig the hole. When we replace the bed, the earth and the loose slabs are safely underneath. Then we wait. Heaven, wasn’t I afraid! But not she, she’s as cold as a fish! At last we hear footsteps. I stand against the wall, and the old man comes in. She says, as sweet as sugar: “I fear your stomach is bothering you again, dear. I’ll make the powder!” He says: “Thank you! You are always so thoughtful! My friends out there only laugh at my troubles.” She looks at me over his shoulder, and nods. I think: now or never! I jump forward and stick my knife in his back. Fortunately there wasn’t much blood. We take off his robe and she notices there’s a sealed envelope in his sleeve. She pushes it into my hands and says: “Take that—it may be money!” I put it in my jacket. Then we place him in the clothes-box, seal the lid with plaster, and let it down into the hole. I shovel back the earth, replace the stone flags, and we push the bedstead back. As I am going to put the old man’s robe on, she suddenly embraces me and says, “Take me!” I say I have work to do, what does she think, the crazy slut! I put his cap on my head. Then she says: “The moon is out, they’ll recognize you!” She takes her scissors and cuts me here, under my hair. I bleed like a pig! I smear that blood over my face, and run out into the garden. When I have given the fellows in the pavilion a good look at me, I make for the river and jump in. Our house was on the bank, so I have known that river since I was a child. But I tell you that the water was cold! And with that extra robe on, I was glad when I saw a good place on the bank, with a lot of shrubs. I climb on land, make a bundle of the old man’s robe, throw his cap into the water, and creep into the undergrowth to wring my clothes dry.’
He looked over his shoulder, smirking. Judge Dee knew that the misguided youngster, carried away by his tale, had now got over his fright and was actually enjoying himself. He had now reached his wretched ideal, being looked upon as a dangerous criminal. The judge had learned all he wanted, he could tell the Student to shut up and sign his confession. But he decided to let him finish. The youngster had cowardly killed a defenceless old man, but the judge was convinced that the woman had goaded him on. And there were worse crimes, much worse than an actual murder. He thought with distaste of the task ahead, after the session.
The Student took a sip of tea, spat on the floor and continued:
‘Back in the inn I open that envelope. No money, no such luck! Only a book with financial notes. I think I’ll show it to her, perhaps she can find out from it whether the old geezer had other cash somewhere in the house. I went to see her the next day. We open the safe, but no two hundred gold pieces! I should have understood then what she was really up to! But, fool that I am, I help her search. Nothing doing, of course! I show her the notebook, but she can’t make head or tail of it. There we were! She says she’ll look everywhere for the gold, it must be there. If she doesn’t find it, she’ll sell her trinkets, we’ll go away as soon as we have the necessary cash. I think, all right, I am fed up with this town anyway, I can sell her to a brothel on the road and perhaps make a gold bar. She isn’t so new any more, but she knows at least what men want! When I am back at the inn I want to throw that notebook away. Then I think, you never know, I better have a second look at it, some time. I give it to the girl there to keep for me, she’s sweet on me too, you see. And the men are always snooping around in my room. Well, I think that’s about all.’
Judge Dee motioned to the scribe. He rose and read aloud his notes of the Student’s confession. The Student agreed that it was correct and impressed his thumb-mark at the end of each sheet. Then the headman brought the papers over to Mrs Ko. She also impressed her thumb-mark on them.
The judge said something to Magistrate Teng. He cleared his throat and spoke:
‘This court finds Mrs Ko, n£e Hsieh, and Hsia Liang guilty of the premeditated murder of the silk merchant Ko Chin-yuan, and proposes the death sentence for them both. The higher authorities shall decide the manner of their execution, in relation to the degree of their respective guilt.’
He rapped his gavel, and Mrs Ko and the Student were led away.
Chapter 17
A loud murmur of voices rose from the crowd. Magistrate Teng had to rap his gavel several times. A cup of tea was placed at Judge Dee’s elbow. He looked round and saw Chiao Tai standing beside his chair. Apparently he had been there for some time, for his face was pale and drawn. The judge said to himself that Chiao Tai was never very lucky in his amorous escapades. He took a few sips, then said to Magistrate Teng:
‘Would you have the banker Leng Chien called now, please?’
As the headman went to fetch the banker from the jail, Judge Dee pulled the notebook from his sleeve and gave it to Teng, saying: ‘This is the book Hsia Liang spoke about It gives all details about Leng’s fraud, written out in his own hand.’
When Leng Chien had stated his name and profession, Judge Dee spoke:
‘You stand accused of fraud, having systematically robbed your associate, the late Ko Chih-yuan, for an amount totalling one thousand gold pieces. You yourself recorded everything in your notebook here. This court shall make a careful study of all pertinent documents and establish the extent of your fraud. Now, however, you are granted the opportunity to make a concise confession.’
‘I confess to having robbed my associate Ko Chih-yuan,’ Leng Chien said in a tired voice. ‘I am a ruined man, but I know at least that I have not driven my partner to his death! At last I can feel at peace!’
The same goes for your creditors!’ the judge said dryly. ‘The other day you didn’t show much concern over their interests! In due time the various creditors can submit their claims to this court for settlement.’ Turning to Teng, he asked: ‘Do you agree that the accused shall be remanded into custody, pending a second hearing after all pertaining documents have been studied?’
‘I agree,’ Teng replied. ‘Leng Chien, this court finds you guilty of fraud. It shall propose a term of imprisonment for you commensurate with your crime, as soon as the investigation shall have been concluded. Lead the prisoner back to jail!’
He rapped his gavel three times and dosed the session.
The two judges passed through the unicorn screen to the private office, followed by Chiao Tai and Pan Yoo-te.
Magistrate Teng said with a wan smile:
‘Well, you solved all my problems for me, Dee! I’ll go to my library now and change. Please have a cup of tea with me there later, when you have rested a while. Now that our journey to the Prefecture is off, we have plenty of time! We must plan a few excursions together for this week. There are some interesting places out in the mountains which I would like to show you.’
He bowed and left. Pan Yoo-te asked to be excused, as he had to go to the chancery to draw up with the scribes the official report on the court proceedings, to be forwarded to the Prefect. As Judge Dee sat down in an armchair, Chiao Tai placed a large package wrapped in coloured paper on the desk and said:
‘Here is your silk, Magistrate! Very best quality, as per order. I had a look at the villa of Mrs Teng’s sister. A very fine place, lots of money, I’d say. It all belongs to her, for Mrs Teng was her only sister. The servants also said that Leng Te used to stay out there regularly. He did several paintings of the garden; they are now hanging in the reception hall Leng Te’s death was a great blow to all of them out there.’
Judge Dee nodded. He pensively tugged at his moustache. After a while Chiao Tai asked:
‘How did you know that the Student murdere
d old Ko, sir?’
The question startled Judge Dee from his musings.
‘The Student, you say? Oh, there were no less than four facts that pointed at him. First, when your adventure showed how little Mrs Ko had cared for her husband, I immediately thought, of course, of her having had a lover who could have been involved in Ko’s demise. As a matter of fact, the Student was due to meet Mrs Ko that night, but he couldn’t keep the appointment because I took him with me to the marsh. Second, on that trip the Student boasted to me that he was going to bring off a big coup, all by himself. Later he told you that he was going to get two hundred gold pieces, and both Leng Chien and Kunshan said there had been two hundred gold pieces in Ko’s safe. Third, when Baldy struck the Student in the face on our first night at the Phoenix Inn, the youngster started to bleed profusely, and Baldy remarked that there was a previous knife wound on his forehead. It was, however, the fourth and last fact that made me suddenly see all the others in their proper connection. I mean Kunshan’s statement that he had discovered Leng Chien’s water-stained notebook hidden behind the bed in Carnation’s room. I had noticed that the girl was fond of the Student, and the pleading look she gave me when Kunshan said he had found the book in her bedroom told me that the Student must have asked her to keep it for him, but that she didn’t want the Corporal to know. For the Corporal is willing to share her only with Baldy and a few selected friends—apart from “outside work”, of course. Heaven, that reminds me! The fellow is still in jail! Tell the headman to bring him here!’
When the headman had brought the Corporal and made him kneel in front of Judge Dee’s chair, the judge motioned him to leave them alone. He said to the Corporal:
‘Rise, and let’s have a friendly talk!’
The Corporal got up and stared dejectedly at the judge and Chiao Tai from under his ragged eyebrows. Wrinkling his low forehead, he said bitterly:
‘So you are really a thief-catcher, and he is your running dog! Heaven, can a man never trust anybody?’
‘If I acted a part,’ Judge Dee said, ‘it was only because I needed your help in solving a sordid crime. You did indeed help me, and I did enjoy your hospitality. I noticed that you maintain strict discipline among your men, you keep them to begging and other smaller offences and see to it that they commit no real crimes. I also had the military police look up your army record.’
‘So it’s worse than I thought!’ the Corporal muttered. ‘That means my head! Well, it wasn’t much of a head-piece anyway!’
‘Shut up and listen!’ Judge Dee said impatiently. ‘I have decided that you shall go back to the Imperial Army, that’s where you belong. Baldy shall keep the men under control, as you taught him. Here is a letter to the garrison headquarters, stating that you did useful work for the magistrate, who proposes that you be re-enlisted and promoted to sergeant. Go now and take this to the officer in charge of personnel there.’
‘Better to Captain Mao, he knows him!’ Chiao Tai interrupted.
‘To Captain Mao then. And when they have issued to you your helmet, cuirass and sword,’ Judge Dee continued with a smile, ‘you’d better dress yourself up in them and show yourself to Carnation. Keep her for yourself, Sergeant Liu, she’s too fine a woman to share. And she needs you.’ He took the package Chiao Tai had brought from the desk and held it out to the Corporal, saying: ‘Give her this small present from me, I want her to look nice as a sergeant’s wife! And tell her that I am sorry I can’t call myself your “cousin”!’
The Corporal stuffed the letter into his belt, and tucked the package under his muscular arm. Then he gave the judge a dazed look. Suddenly his face lit up, and he shouted: ‘Sergeant, by Heaven!’ He turned round and rushed out.
‘So that’s why you had him arrested!’ Chiao Tai said with a grin.
‘You don’t think he would have come to the tribunal of his own free will, do you?’ Judge Dee asked. ‘And I hadn’t got the time to go hunting for him. We’ll be leaving for home too, presently. Send a constable to the Hostel of the Flying Crane to get the clothes bundle we left there, and tell the groom here to select two good horses for us.’
The judge quickly rose and took off the damask robe and the official cap. Putting his own, well-worn black cap on his head he left the office and went across the large central courtyard to the magistrate’s private residence.
Chapter 18
The old steward came to meet him, and led him to the library.
Magistrate Teng had changed into an informal robe. He invited the judge to sit down next to him on the broad bench, and told the steward he could go. The scene reminded Judge Dee of their first meeting there. While the magistrate was pouring out a cup for Judge Dee, he noticed that his guest looked at the empty side wall where the lacquer screen had stood. He said with a sad smile:
‘I had the screen removed to the store-room. You’ll understand, it reminded me too much of…’
Judge Dee abruptly set down his teacup. He said sharply:
‘Spare me, I pray you, a repetition of that tale of the lacquer screen! Once is enough!’
Teng looked, dumbfounded, at Judge Dee’s impassive face. Then he asked:
‘What on earth do you mean by that remark, Dee?’
‘Exactly what I said,’ the judge replied coldly. ‘It was a nice, sentimental tale, and you told it well. I was quite touched, the other night. But it’s a fantasy from beginning to end, of course. Your late wife had only one sister, not three—to mention only one small matter.’
Magistrate Teng’s face went livid. His lips moved, but no sound came forth. Judge Dee rose and walked over to the open window. His hands behind his back, he looked at the waving bamboos in the garden outside. Then, keeping his back turned to Teng, he spoke:
‘Your story of the lacquer screen was as fantastic as the one about your love for your wife, Silver Lotus. You love only one person, Teng, and that is yourself. And your fame as a poet, of course. You are an extremely conceited and utterly selfish man, but you never suffered from any attacks of insanity. I suspect, however, that nature stunted you in another manner. Since you remained childless and never took other wives or concubines, you utilized your defect for building up your false reputation as the “eternal lover”. I hate adulterous women, but I’ll say for your wife that her life with you must have been very unhappy.’
The judge paused. He heard only the heavy breathing of the magistrate behind him.
‘One day,’ he resumed, ‘you began to suspect that your wife Had adulterous relations with the young painter Leng Te. She must have first met him at the country house of her elder sister. I assume that they were drawn to each other by the fact that both of them were living under a dark shadow—he knew that he hadn’t long to live, and she was married to a cold and cruel husband. You had to be sure, so you followed them secretly to their rendezvous in the house near the west gate, and spied on them. You had covered your face with your neckcloth, but the woman in charge there remembered your limp. Pan Yoo-te had told me that at about that time you had sprained your ankle. That temporary limp was a good disguise, for it would distract attention from your other features, yet disappear as soon as it was healed. I had forgotten all about it, but last night my assistant Chiao Tai made a remark about Kunshan’s broken ankle, and then I remembered what Pan had told me, and the truth dawned on me.
‘The chastity of women is the basis and fundament of our sacred social order, and the law prescribes death for both the adulterous woman and her paramour. Having caught the pair in the act, you could have killed them then and there. Or you could have denounced them to the Prefect, and both would have been decapitated. But your conceit prevented you from taking either of those courses. You couldn’t bear to see the carefully built picture of the “eternal lovers” destroyed, you couldn’t bear it to become known that your wife had deceived you. You decided to say nothing, but to prepare a scheme to kill your wife without it becoming known that you did so to take revenge for her infidelity, and which would
confirm rather than destroy the image of the “eternal lovers”—and all that without running the risk of being prosecuted for murder, of course. Your grandfather’s mental disease and the lacquer screen gave you the idea. It was a very clever idea, Teng. You must have brooded over it many an evening, sitting alone in your library here. Perhaps at the same time your wife was meeting her lover in her sister’s villa, but that didn’t bother you. For you didn’t care a pin for her. On the contrary, I think you hated her, because she was a really great poetess, Teng, and you stole your best lines from her work. You were jealous of her talent, and therefore you prevented her from having her poetry published. But I saw her own manuscript copy, and I tell you that you’ll never reach that sublime height, Teng.
‘You thought out an excellent story. It had all the requirements for becoming a famous tale, told and retold in literary circles all over the Empire, with admiration and sympathy. There was an old family curse, there was a haunting antique screen, there was romance—I for one started by believing every word of it, and I was deeply moved. If all had gone according to plan, you would have killed your wife in a carefully staged fit of insanity. Then you would have denounced yourself to the Prefect, who of course would have acquitted you. You could have retired on a pension and devoted die rest of your life to building up further your fame as a poet. You have no interest in women, so you wouldn’t remarry, you would mourn faithfully for your wife till the end of your days.
The Lacquer Screen Page 15