Murder in Canton: A Judge Dee Mystery

by Robert Van Gulik

  Tao Gan took the cricket cage from his sleeve and put it carefully at the end of the table. Then he got the maps out and folded them open. The cricket began to make a penetrating, whirring sound.

  Judge Dee gave the cage a sour look, then settled down to a study of the maps, slowly tugging at his sidewhiskers. He looked up and said:

  ‘These maps are old; this one of the Arab quarter is dated thirty years back, when the Arab ships began to arrive regularly here. But it is fairly accurate, as far as I can see. That red spot marking Chiao Tai's inn has been put in quite recently. The girl is no more blind than you or I, my friends! Can't you make that noisy insect shut up, Tao Gan?’

  Tao Gan put the small case back into his sleeve. Then he asked:

  ‘Have the men who followed Yau Tai-kai come back yet, sir?’

  ‘No,’ Judge Dee replied curtly. ‘The letter from the capital hasn't arrived either. And it's getting on for midnight!’

  He fell into a morose silence. Tao Gan got up and poured fresh tea. When they had drunk a cup, the majordomo came in with a thin man in a plain blue gown who was wearing a small skull-cap. His moustache was grey but he carried his broad shoulders in a soldier-like fashion. After the majordomo had left, he reported in a dry voice:

  ‘Mr Yau went straight home, and had his evening rice alone, in his garden-pavilion. Then he retired to his inner apartments. Our subsequent interrogation of the maidservants revealed that he then summoned his four wives and scolded them for being lazy good-for-nothings. Accusing his first lady of being responsible, he had the maids pull her trousers down and hold her while he personally gave her a caning. Then he called his six concubines and informed them that their allowances would be halved. Finally he went to his library and got himself thoroughly drunk. When the house steward said that Mr Yau was sound asleep, I came here to report to Your Excellency.’

  ‘Is there any news of Mansur?’ the judge asked.

  ‘No sir. He must have hidden somewhere outside the city walls, for we combed the Arab quarter, and the constables checked all the low-class inns.’

  ‘All right, you may go.’

  When the agent had left, Chiao Tai burst out:

  ‘What a mean bastard that Yau is!’

  ‘Not a very pleasant person,’ Judge Dee agreed. ‘And shrewd enough to have foreseen that I was going to have him followed, apparently. He tugged at his moustache, then suddenly asked Chiao Tai, ‘Are Nee's two slave-girls all right?’

  ‘Oh yes, they escaped with a shaking!’ He added with a grin, ‘However, by now they are no longer slaves, nor are they girls—if I appraised the situation correctly. I had the distinct impression, sir, that the captain, after he had recovered somewhat from the shock of his old love's murder, suddenly realized that their pure, detached relationship had worn a bit thin in the course of the years—even for a mystic like him! And that now that he had become a free man again, so to speak, he had better reconsider his paternal attitude towards his two young wards. Especially since those two saucy bits of skirt would like nothing better!’

  Tao Gan had given the judge a curious look when he heard his question about the twins. Now he asked:

  ‘Are those twins connected with the Censor's case, sir?’

  ‘Not directly,’ Judge Dee replied.

  ‘What could those two, even indirectly…’ Chiao Tai began, astonished. But Judge Dee raised his hand and pointed to the entrance. The majordomo was ushering in two officers in full battle-array. They wore peaked helmets and brass-bordered coats of mail, marking them as captains of the mounted military police. After they had stiffly saluted the judge, the elder took a large, heavily sealed letter from his boot. Laying it on the desk, he said respectfully:

  ‘This letter we brought here on the orders of the Grand Council, in a special mounted convoy.’

  Judge Dee signed and sealed the receipt, thanked the captains and ordered the majordomo to see to it that all the members of the convoy got food and suitable lodgings.

  He slit the envelope open, and slowly read the long letter. His two assistants anxiously watched his worried face. At last he looked up and said slowly:

  ‘Bad news. Very bad. His Majesty's illness has taken a turn for the worse. The physicians in attendance fear that the Great Demise is imminent. The Empress is forming a powerful political alliance that will advocate a Regency, with all executive power vested in her as Empress-Dowager. The Council insists that the Censor's disappearance must now be officially announced, and someone appointed to replace him at once, else the loyal group will have no one to rally to. Since any further delay would have disastrous consequences, the Council orders me to abandon my search for the missing Censor, and return to the capital at my earliest convenience.’

  The judge threw the letter on the desk, sprang up and began to pace the floor, angrily shaking his long sleeves.

  Chiao Tai and Tao Gan exchanged an unhappy look. They did not know what to say.

  Suddenly Judge Dee halted in front of them.

  ‘There's only one thing we can do,’ he said firmly. ‘A desperate measure, but justified by our woeful lack of time.’ He resumed his seat. Leaning forward on his elbows, he went on, ‘Go to the atelier of a Buddhist sculptor, Tao Gan, and buy a wooden model of a man's severed head. It must be nailed tonight to the gate of the tribunal, up high, so that from below you can't see it is a fake. Underneath it, on a placard, will be posted an official announcement, which I shall draw up now.’

  Ignoring the astonished questions of his two lieutenants, he moistened his writing-brush and quickly jotted down a brief text. Then he sat back in his chair and read it aloud:

  President Dee of the Metropolitan Court, now on a tour of inspection in Canton, has discovered here the corpse of a prominent official who, guilty of high treason, had fled from the capital with a price on his head. After the autopsy proved that the said criminal had been poisoned, the corpse was posthumously quartered, and the head is now displayed for three days in succession, as prescribed by the law. Whosoever brought about the death of this despicable traitor is ordered to present himself before the aforesaid President, so that he may receive a reward of five hundred gold pieces. All crimes or offences he may have committed previously, with the exception of capital crimes, shall be pardoned.

  As he threw the paper on the desk, Judge Dee resumed:

  ‘The main criminal won't be taken in by this ruse, of course. I am counting on his Chinese henchmen; for instance, the two men disguised as constables who brought the Censor's dead body to the Temple of the Flowery Pagoda. If the head is displayed and the same notice put up all over the city this very night, there's a good chance that someone seeing them early tomorrow morning will come rushing here before his principal has had time to warn him that it is nothing but a hoax.’

  Chiao Tai looked dubious, but Tao Gan nodded eagerly and said:

  ‘It's the only way to get quick results! The main criminal must have at least a dozen or so accomplices, and five hundred gold pieces they wouldn't get in five hundred years! They'll come rushing here, trying to beat each other to the reward !’

  ‘Let's hope so,’ Judge Dee said wearily. ‘It's the best I can think of, anyway. Set to work!’

  XX

  Chiao Tai was awakened at dawn by the booming voice of the Moslem priest. From the top of the minaret he was calling upon the faithful for the morning prayer. Chiao Tai rubbed his eyes. He had slept badly, and his back was aching. Passing his finger carefully along his swollen throat, he muttered to himself, ‘One late night and a scuffle shouldn't count for a hefty fellow of forty-five, brother!’ He got up naked as he was and threw the shutters open.

  He took a long draught from the spout of the teapot in the padded basket, gargled and spat lukewarm tea into the porcelain spittoon. With a grunt he lay down on the plank bed again. He thought he would grant himself a little nap before getting up and preparing himself for going to the palace.

  Just as he was dozing off, he was roused by a knoc
k on the door.

  ‘Go away!’ he shouted, annoyed.

  ‘It is I! Open up, quick!’

  Chiao Tai recognized Zumurrud's voice. With a delighted grin he sprang up and stepped into his trousers. He pulled the bolt back.

  She hastily came inside and bolted the door behind her. She was all wrapped up in a long, hooded cloak of blue cotton. Her eyes were shining; he thought she was looking even more beautiful than before. He pushed the only chair towards her and sat down on the edge of the bed.

  ‘Want a cup of tea?’ he asked awkwardly.

  She shook her head, kicked the chair away and said impatiently :

  ‘Listen, all my troubles are over! You needn't take me to the capital any more. Only take me to your boss. Now!’

  To my boss? Why?’

  ‘Your boss promised a reward, big money, that's why! I heard the fishermen shouting the news to the people of my boat. They had seen the placard put up on the gate of the custom-house. I didn't know that the Censor had been mixed up in political trouble, thought he had come to Canton only for me. But that doesn't matter any more. What matters is that I can claim the reward. For I am the one who poisoned him.’

  ‘You?’ Chiao Tai exclaimed, aghast. ‘How could you…’

  ‘I'll explain!’ she interrupted him curtly. ‘Just to show you why you must take me to your boss at once. And put in a good word for me, too.’ She took off the blue cloak, and carelessly threw it on the floor. Underneath she wore only a single robe of transparent silk that showed every detail of her perfect body. ‘About six weeks ago,’ she resumed, ‘I passed the night with my patron in the house near the temple. When I was leaving in the morning, he said that there was a festival in the Flowery Pagoda, and that I'd better call there on my way to the quay to pray for him—the bastard! Well, I went anyway and burned incense before the large statue of Our Lady of Mercy there. Suddenly I noticed that a man standing close by was eyeing me. He was tall and handsome, and although he was plainly dressed, he had a marked air of authority. He asked me why I, an Arab, prayed to a Chinese goddess. I said a girl can't have too many goddesses looking after her. He laughed, and thus began a long conversation. I knew at once that this was the man I had been hoping to meet all my life. Treated me like I was a real lady, too! I fell in love with him, at first sight, like a snotty chit of sixteen! Since I felt that he liked me, too, I asked him to have a cup of tea with me in the house. It's quite near the back entrance of the temple, you see, and I knew that my patron had left. You can imagine for yourself what followed. Afterwards he told me he wasn't married and that he had never slept with a woman before. That didn't matter, he said, because now he had met me. He said many other such nice things, then added that he was an Imperial Censor! When I had explained my troubles to him, he promised he would get me Chinese citizenship, and pay my patron all my expenses. He would have to leave Canton in a few days, but he would come back to fetch me and take me to the capital with him.’

  Patting her hair, she continued with a reminiscent smile:

  ‘The days and nights we passed together were the happiest in my life, I tell you! Imagine me, who has slept with heaven knows how many hundreds of men, feeling like a young girl in the throes of her first love! I was so silly about him that I got into a bad fit of jealousy when he was about to return to the capital. And then I acted like a blooming fool, messed up everything with my own hands!’ She paused and wiped her perspiring brow with the tip of her sleeve. Grabbing the teapot, she drank from the spout, then resumed listlessly, ‘You must know that we waterfolk prepare all kinds of weird drugs, love philtres, some good medicines, but also some poisons. The recipes have been handed down among us Tanka women for generations. We have one particular poison which our women give to their lovers when they suspect they intend to leave them for good, under the pretext of going on a journey. If the chap returns, they give him an antidote, and he never knows what has been done to him. I asked the Censor when he would come back to Canton to fetch me, and he said in two weeks, without fail. At our last meeting I put the poison in his tea, a dose that would be harmless if he took the antidote in three weeks’ time. But if he deceived me and never came back, I wanted him to pay for it with his life.

  ‘Two weeks went by, then another one. That third week was terrible…. I could hardly eat, and those nights…After the three weeks had passed, I lived in a trance, mechanically counting the days…. On the fifth day he came. Came to see me on my boat, early in the morning. Said he had been detained in the capital by an urgent affair. He had arrived in Canton two days before, strictly incognito, accompanied only by his friend Dr Soo. He had put off calling on me because he had to see some Arab acquaintances, and also because he hadn't been feeling well, and wanted to have a brief rest. But he had become worse, therefore he had come now, ill as he was, hoping that my company would cure him. I was frantic, for I hadn't got the antidote with me, I had hidden it in the house near the temple. I talked him into going there with me at once. He fainted as soon as we were inside. I poured the antidote down his throat, but it was too late. Half an hour later he was dead.’

  She bit her lips and stared for a while at the roofs of the houses outside. Chiao Tai looked up at her, dumbfounded. His face had turned deadly pale. She went on slowly:

  There was no one in the house I could turn to, for my patron didn't even keep a maidservant there. I rushed to him and told him what had happened. He only smiled and said he would take care of everything. The bastard knew that I was now completely at his mercy, for I, wretched pariah, had murdered an Imperial Censor. If he denounced me, I'd be quartered alive! I told him that Dr Soo would start to worry if the Censor didn't return to their inn that night. My patron asked whether Dr Soo knew about me and the Censor. When I said no, he said he'd see to it that Soo made no trouble.’

  She took a deep breath. Giving Chiao Tai a sidelong glance, she continued:

  ‘If you had taken me to the capital, I would have taken a chance on my patron keeping his mouth shut. He counts for nothing in the capital, and you are a colonel of the guard. And if he had blabbed, you could have hidden me where they couldn't get at me. But now everything has turned out for the best. Your boss announced that the Censor was a traitor, which means that instead of committing a crime, I did the state a great service. I'll tell him that he can keep half of the gold, if he gets me citizenship, and a nice little house in the capital. Get dressed and take me to him!’

  Chiao Tai looked up in utter horror at the woman who had just pronounced her own death sentence. Staring at her as she stood there with her back to the window, her magnificent body outlined against the red morning sky, he suddenly saw in his mind's eye, with horrifying clarity, the scene of the scaffold at dawn—this lithe, perfect body mutilated by the executioner's knife, then the limbs torn asunder…. A long shudder shook his powerful frame. He rose slowly. Standing in front of the exultant woman, he groped frantically for some way to save her, some way to…

  Suddenly she cried out and fell into his arms, so vehemently that he nearly lost his balance. Clasping her supple waist, he bent his head to kiss her full, red mouth. But then he saw that her large eyes were getting glazed; her mouth twitched, blood stained her chin. At the same time he felt warm drops trickling down his hands, pressed in the small of her back. In utter confusion he felt her shoulders. His fingers closed round a wooden shaft.

  He stood there motionless, the dying woman's round bosom against his breast, her warm thighs against his. He felt her heart flutter, as it had once before when he had held her in his arms on the boat. Then it stopped beating.

  He laid her down on the couch and drew the javelin from her back. Then he softly closed her eyes, and wiped her face. His mind was frozen. Dazedly he stared at the flat roofs of the Arab houses outside. Where she had stood at the window she had been an easy target for an expert javelin thrower.

  Suddenly he realized that he was standing there by the dead body of the only woman he had ever loved, loved with his en
tire being. He fell on his knees in front of the couch, buried his face in her long, curling locks and burst into strange, soundless sobs.

  After a long time he rose. He took her blue cloak and covered her.

  ‘For the two of us, love meant death,’ he whispered. ‘I knew it, as soon as I had seen you, that first time. I then saw a battlefield, smelled the heady smell of fresh blood, saw its red flow….’

  He cast one long look at the still figure, then locked the room and went downstairs. He walked all the way to the palace, through the grey streets where only few people were about at this early hour.

  The majordomo told him that Judge Dee was still in his bedroom. Chiao Tai went upstairs and sat down on one of the couches in the anteroom. The judge had heard him. Bare-headed and still wearing his nightrobe, he pulled the door-curtain aside. He had a comb in his hand; he had just been doing his beard and whiskers. Seeing Chiao Tai's haggard face, he quickly stepped up to him and asked, astonished:

  ‘What in heaven's name has happened, Chiao Tai? No, don't get up, man! You look ill!’ He sat down on the other couch and gave his lieutenant a worried look.