Murder in Canton: A Judge Dee Mystery

by Robert Van Gulik

  ‘Of course he came!’ the Prefect shouted angrily. ‘But you did not see him, you fool! He came through the window, and…’

  Judge Dee raised his hand. He addressed the woman:

  ‘So you did not see the captain. Did other visitors come, directly before or after Mrs Pao's arrival?’

  ‘No sir. That is to say, yes…there was of course that poor girl; she came just before Madame Pao. Since she was blind, I…’

  ‘A blind girl, you say?’ the judge asked sharply.

  ‘Yes sir. She wore a plain brown dress, rather old, but she spoke civilly enough. Said she came to apologize for not having kept her appointment with Mr Yau the other night. I asked her whether she was the girl that used to sell crickets to Mr Yau and she said yes.’

  The housekeeper stopped abruptly and cast a frightened look over her shoulder at the moon-door.

  ‘Come on, tell me all you know about the girl!’ the judge ordered.

  ‘Well, then I remembered that Mr Yau had indeed been waiting for her, sir. He had told me that she used to come to his residence whenever she had a good cricket to sell, but that from now on she would be coming here. Mr Yau also ordered me to prepare a room, upstairs. Although she's blind, she is quite good-looking, sir, and very well-educated. And since Mr Yau likes variety…’ She shrugged. ‘Anyway, she did not turn up that night, and Mr Yau spent the night with one of the other girls here.’

  ‘I see. Did that blind girl go away at once when you told her that Mr Yau was not at home?’

  ‘No sir. We stood talking there for a while, at the door. She told me that besides seeing Mr Yau, she had wanted to look in this neighbourhood for a girl friend of hers who had entered a kind of private establishment recently. Somewhere near here, behind the Flowery Pagoda, she thought it was. I told her that she must be mistaken, because I knew of no such house in this neighbourhood. “Try the brothel behind us here, dearie,” I said. For when girls enter the profession, they often tell their friends that they are joining a private establishment; that sounds better, you see. Well, I took her straight to our back door, and explained to her how she could get to the brothel.’

  Suddenly the bead curtain was pulled aside and the warden came in, followed by Captain Nee between two constables. Prefect Pao wanted to rise but the judge laid his hand on his arm.

  ‘Where was the captain arrested, warden?’ he asked.

  ‘He came here in a litter, sir, with two friends! Walked inside as cool as a cucumber! And there's a warrant out for his arrest!’

  ‘Why did you come here, Mr Nee?’ the judge asked evenly.

  ‘I had an appointment with an acquaintance, sir. I should have been here earlier, but on the way I dropped in on a friend of mine, and found there a sea captain I used to know. We had a few rounds, talked about old times, and it grew late before I knew it. Therefore I took a litter, and my two friends accompanied me here, hoping that the trip would cool their heads. Then I saw constables at the door. Has there been an accident, sir?’

  Before answering Nee, the judge told the warden, ‘Verify that statement with the two other gentlemen!’ Then he asked Nee, ‘Who was the acquaintance you were going to meet here?’

  ‘Well, sir, I'd rather not say. It's one of Yau's girls, really, you see. I used to know her rather well before Yau had…’

  ‘Those lies are quite unnecessary, captain,’ the judge cut his explanations short. ‘She was murdered. In the tea-room where you always used to meet.’

  Nee grew pale. He wanted to ask something, then glanced at the Prefect and checked himself. There was a long, awkward silence. The Prefect had been fixing Nee with a furious glare. Now he wanted to speak up, but then the warden came in and said to Judge Dee:

  ‘Those two gentlemen confirmed the captain's statement, sir. And the maids told me that what this woman here said about those meetings was perfectly correct.’

  ‘All right, warden. Take the captain to Colonel Chiao; he can explain it all to him. You may return to your guard-duty outside, constables!’

  As they went outside, Prefect Pao hit his fist on the table and burst out in incoherent protests. But Judge Dee cut him short:

  ‘Your wife was murdered by mistake, Mr Pao.’

  ‘By mistake?’ Pao asked, perplexed.

  ‘Yes. Just before her arrival, the blind girl came. She had been followed here by one or more persons who wanted to kill her. As soon as they had seen her enter this house, they started to reconnoitre a way to get inside unseen. In the meantime the blind girl had been shown out by the back door, and your wife had been admitted by the maid. Your wife was dressed in approximately the same manner as the blind girl. When the assassins looked through the window of the tea-room from outside, and saw your wife sitting there with her back towards them, they mistook her for the blind girl, stepped inside and strangled her from behind.’

  The Prefect had been listening with a bewildered look. Now he nodded slowly.

  ‘My wife had met that cricket seller!’ he suddenly spoke up. ‘That blind girl must have been in league with the murderers ! She came here to divert the attention of the housekeeper so as to give those unspeakable scoundrels a free hand!’

  ‘That's an alternative theory I shall keep in mind,’ the judge said. ‘You'd better go home, Mr Pao. You will have understood by now that your wife never deceived you. Her continued association with Captain Nee, the friend of her youth, was unwise. But it did not tarnish your house. Good-bye!’

  ‘She is dead. Gone,’ the Prefect said stonily. ‘And she was still so young, she…’ His voice choked. He quickly rose and went outside.

  Looking after his bent figure, Judge Dee decided that he would see to it that Pao never came to know about his wife's brief Arab interlude. He vaguely wondered how a well-born Chinese lady could ever fall in love with an Arab, then took hold of himself and turned to the woman who was still standing there. He addressed her harshly:

  ‘Speak up! What other outside women used to come here? Including Arab ones!’

  ‘None, Excellency, I swear it! Mr Yau made some changes in the fixed personnel, from time to time, but…’

  ‘All right, I'll check that with him. Now as regards the men he took here, did you ever see among them a tall, good-looking northerner?’ He added a description of the Censor. But she shook her head and said that all of Mr Yau's friends were Cantonese.

  The judge rose. When Mr Yau saw him coming through the moon-door he again jumped up from the armchair.

  ‘Wait for me outside, in my palankeen,’ the judge told him curtly, then went on to the tea-room.

  Captain Nee was talking there with Chiao Tai and Tao Gan. The dead body had been removed. Tao Gan said eagerly:

  ‘The murderer came from the roof, sir! Next to this window stands a tall tree that reaches up to the eaves of the second floor. I saw several branches had been broken quite recently.’

  ‘That clinches it!’ Judge Dee said. And to Nee, ‘Mrs Pao was murdered by robbers. Your association with Mrs Pao has come to a tragic end—as it was bound to, sooner or later. There is no advantage in trying to keep alive a friendship with a married woman, captain.’

  ‘This was different, sir,’ the captain said quietly. ‘Her husband neglected her, and they had no children. She had no one she could really talk to.’

  ‘Except her blind girl friend,’ the judge remarked dryly.

  Captain Nee gave him a blank look. Then he shook his head.

  ‘No, she never mentioned a blind girl, sir. But you are right in so far as I am responsible for all this. For I ran out on her after a silly quarrel, some years ago. I went on a voyage, expecting to be back in a couple of months. But we ran into bad weather, I was shipwrecked on an island in the South Seas and it took me over a year to get back here. She had given me up, and married Pao. Then her sister died, and that together with her unhappy marriage made her an easy prey for Mansur. She wanted to consult me, and I thought that Yau's private house was the safest meeting-place. Mansur blackmai
led her, and…’

  ‘Why should a wealthy man like Mansur practise blackmail?’ Judge Dee interrupted.

  ‘Because at that time he was pressed for funds, sir. The Khalif had confiscated all his possessions. When Mansur discovered I was the one who was paying, he asked more, because he knows I have Persian blood, and he hates all Persians.’

  ‘Talking of Persians, who was the father of those two slave-girls of yours?’

  Nee darted a quick appraising glance at the judge. Then he shrugged.

  That I don't know, sir. I could have found out, formerly, but that wouldn't have brought their mother back to life, neither would it have given the twins a real father.’ He stared for a while at the empty place on the floor in front of the window, and resumed pensively, ‘She was a strange woman. Highly-strung, and very sensitive. I felt our talks meant so much to her, she…’ He broke off, desperately trying to control his twitching lips.

  Judge Dee turned to his two lieutenants.

  ‘I am going back to the palace now,’ he told them. ‘I'll have a talk with Mr Yau there, then eat my dinner. After you two have taken your evening rice, come straight to the palace. There is much to discuss.’

  When Chiao Tai and Tao Gan had seen the judge to his palankeen, they went back inside.

  ‘I breakfasted at dawn, on a pair of oil-cakes,’ Chiao Tai told the captain gruffly. ‘Then, instead of my noon rice, I got a wallop on the head. I am in urgent need of a good square meal and a large jug of the best. I invite you to join us, captain, on condition that you lead us to the nearest restaurant, by the shortest route!’

  The captain nodded gratefully.

  XVII

  Judge Dee remained deep in thought throughout the journey to the palace. His silence seemed to perturb Mr Yau still further. He shot the judge an uneasy glance now and then, but could not summon sufficient courage to address him.

  Arriving at the palace, the judge took him straight to the hall he used as his private study. Yau was visibly impressed by its grand dimensions. Judge Dee sat down behind his large desk, and motioned Yau to take the chair opposite him. After the major-domo had served tea and disappeared again, the judge slowly emptied his cup, fixing Yau with a sombre stare all the while. As he put down his teacup, he asked suddenly:

  ‘How did you come to know the blind cricket seller?’

  Yau gave him a startled glance.

  ‘Well, in the ordinary way, sir! Met her in the market. Cricket-fighting is rather a hobby of mine, you see. I noticed at once that she knew a tremendous lot about the subject. She used to come to my residence every time she had found a particularly good fighter. But recently I decided that it was more er…expedient to have her come to my er…private address.’

  ‘I see. Where does she live?’

  ‘I never asked her, sir! Didn't need to, either. As I just said, she would come when…’

  ‘I know. What is her name?’

  ‘Her personal name is Lan-lee, so she said, sir. I don't know her family name.’

  ‘Do you mean to tell me,’ Judge Dee asked coldly, ‘that you know nothing about your mistresses beyond their personal name?’

  ‘She isn't my mistress, sir!’ Yau cried out, indignant. He thought for a few moments, then went on in an apologetic tone, ‘I admit that I have toyed with the idea, once or twice. She's a remarkably cultured girl, sir. She's good-looking too, and since her blindness makes her different, I…er…’

  ‘Quite,’ Judge Dee said dryly. ‘It so happens that she is connected with a crime that was recently committed here.’ He cut short Yau's excited questions with a raised hand. ‘I am having her traced, for she is also involved in Mrs Pao's murder. As soon as she has been arrested, I shall check your statement, Mr Yau. Now you'll write down the names and full particulars of the girls in your private establishment. In this case you know a little more than just their personal names, I suppose?’

  ‘Certainly, sir!’ Yau answered obsequiously. He selected a writing-brush.

  ‘Good. I'll be back presently.’

  Judge Dee rose and went outside. In the anteroom he ordered the majordomo:

  Tell my four agents to follow Mr Yau when he leaves the palace. If he should go to a private house of assignment near the Flowery Pagoda, they must come and warn me at once. If he goes and meets a blind girl, they must arrest the two of them and bring them here. Wherever he goes, he is to be watched. The men must come and report to me as soon as they have any news.’

  He went back inside, glanced through what Yau had written, then told him he could go. The portly merchant left, looking greatly relieved.

  Judge Dee sighed. He called the majordomo, and told him to serve the evening rice.

  When Chiao Tai and Tao Gan entered the hall, they found the judge standing in front of the window where there was a slight breeze. After his two assistants had greeted him, he sat down behind his desk and said in a matter of fact voice:

  ‘As I explained already to Prefect Pao, his wife was murdered by mistake. The intended victim was the blind girl.’ Ignoring Tao Gan's astonished exclamation, he quickly told them what he had learned in Yau's love-nest. ‘The blind girl,’ he went on, ‘is apparently conducting an investigation all on her own. As I said before, she must have been present when the Censor died. But she does not know where exactly it happened. She suspects that it was in a house of assignment in the neighbourhood of the Flowery Pagoda, hence her questioning of Yau's procuress. Her associates discovered that she was on their trail, and decided to silence her. The assassin they employed must have been a Tanka, for again a scarf was used, weighted with a silver coin. As to Mr Yau Tai-kai, we shall soon know whether he spoke the truth about his relations with the blind girl, for I had him followed when he left here before dinner. He is an uncommonly shrewd customer, but I believe I frightened him sufficiently to try to contact some accomplice of his at once. Yau knows that we want to trace the blind girl, so if he is guilty he may make a second attempt on her life. I realize that she is trying to help us, but the issues at stake are too grave to let our concern for the girl—about whom we know next to nothing—interfere with our investigation.’ He paused and pulled pensively at his moustache. ‘As regards the murderous attack on you, Chiao Tai, I can't understand how Mansur could have known that you would be going back to Nee's house. I ordered you to do so on the spur of the moment. Even if those two Arabs had followed when you left here, how could they have had time to report to Mansur, receive his instructions, then go back to Captain Nee's house? And what was the motive? We know that Mansur hates Nee, but the attack was evidently aimed in the first place at you. And murder seems a rather drastic method of settling one's private feuds. I fear that there's much more behind it than meets the eye.’ He gave Chiao Tai a searching look. ‘I must say that those twins are plucky girls. Since you owe them your life, Chiao Tai, you'd better pay them a visit to thank them, and give them a suitable present.’

  Chiao Tai looked embarrassed. He muttered something about consulting Captain Nee first, then went on hastily:

  ‘If you have no other work for us tonight, sir, Tao Gan and I might have a look around for Mansur. I have a lump on my head as big as an egg; I'd love to get my hands on that sneaky bastard! At the same time we might try to locate the blind girl. It's true that the constables are looking for them too, but I have a very personal reason for getting Mansur, and brother Tao knows exactly what the girl looks like.’

  ‘All right. But whether you achieve anything or not, both of you come back here before turning in. I am still hoping that the secret letter from the Grand Council will arrive tonight, and its contents may necessitate immediate action.’

  The two friends bowed and took their leave.

  When they were standing outside in the street waiting for an empty litter, Chiao Tai said:

  ‘We'll just have to trust to luck in our search for Mansur. It's no use having a second look in the Arab quarter: they know me there by now, we don't speak their blasted language, and a
nyway I don't think he would hide there. We might board the Arab ships in port, and make a search for him there. Got any ideas about where to look for the girl?’

  ‘Well, she's got to hide not only from the constables, but also from her own people, who are out to kill her. That means inns or lodging-houses are out. I think she'd hide in a deserted house. Since she told me that she's thoroughly familiar with the market quarter, we might start there. We could narrow that down further by finding out which spots in that neighbourhood are known to be frequented by crickets, for those are the places she knows best, of course.’