The Chinese Gold Murders

by Robert Van Gulik

  Horrified, the judge saw the change that had conic over Tang's face. His green eyes were fixing him with narrowed pupils over cheekbones that suddenly seemed broader, his mouth contorted in a snarl that bared pointed, yellow teeth; the gray mustache stood on end like a bristle. Frozen with terror, the judge saw the ears moving. Two clawlike hands came up from under the cover.

  Suddenly the clawing fingers unbent, the arms fell down. T'ang's face changed into a hollow death mask. He spoke in a weak voice. "I would wake up lying in my bed again, drenched in sweat. I would rise, light a candle and hurry to the mirror. The relief, the unspeakable relief when I saw no blood on my face!" He paused, then said shrilly, "But now I tell you he is taking advantage of my weak condition, he is forcing me to take part in his vile crimes! Last night I knew I was attacking Tsao Min; I didn't want to spring on him, I didn't want to hurt him… But I had to, I swear I had to, I had to-" His voice was rising to a scream.

  The judge quickly laid a soothing hand on Tang's forehead, covered with cold perspiration.

  Tang's scream died out in a rattle, deep in his throat. He stared at the judge in panic, frantically trying to move his lips. But only a few inarticulate sounds came out. As the judge bent over him to listen better, Tang brought out with a last effort, "Tell me… am I guilty?"

  Suddenly a film closed over his eyes. His mouth sagged open. His face relaxed.

  The judge rose and pulled the cover over Tang's head. Now the Highest judge would answer the dead man's question.

  SIXTEENTH CHAPTER

  JUDGE DEE GOES OUT TO EAT NOODLES IN A RESTAURANT; HE APPLAUDS THE DECISIONS OF AN ANCIENT COLLEAGUE

  Judge Dee met Sergeant Hoong in front of the main entrance of the tribunal. Hoong had heard the news about Tang; he was on his way to the hostel to inquire after his condi tion. The judge told him that Tang had committed suicide because he had become despondent over Fan's murder. "A sinister fate persecuted Tang," he said and left it at that.

  Back in his private office judge Dee said to Hoong, "With Tang and Fan dead, we have lost the two top men of our clerical staff. Call the third scribe here, and tell him to bring along the files Tang was in charge of."

  Judge Dee spent the rest of the morning with the sergeant and the scribe going through those dossiers. Tang had kept the registers of marriages, births and deaths, and of the finances of the tribunal with meticulous care, but even the brief interval of the past two days had caused arrears. Since the third scribe made a good impression, the judge appointed him provisionally in Tang's place. If he should prove satisfactory, he would be promoted, and other shifts in the clerical staff would follow.

  These affairs having been attended to, judge Dee took his noon meal outside, under the large oak tree in the corner of the courtyard. When he was drinking his tea, the headman came and reported that the search for Po Kai had thus far failed to produce any clue to his whereabouts. The man seemed to have dissolved into thin air.

  Then Hoong left for the chancery to supervise the work of the clerks and to interview visitors. Judge Dee went back to his private office, let the bamboo curtains down, loosened his sash and lay down on the couch.

  He felt to his dismay that the strain of the past two days had begun to tell on him. He closed his eyes and tried to relax and to order his thoughts. The disappearance of Mrs. Koo and of Fan Choong had now been solved, but he reflected that the solution of the murder of the magistrate had not progressed beyond the initial stage.

  It was not that he was lacking suspects. Po Kai, Yee Pen, Dr. Tsao, and an as yet unspecified number of monks of the White Cloud Temple, including Hui-pen; the prior had appeared too soon after the abortive attempt on his life. It was clear that Yee Pen was connected with the criminal activities, but neither he nor Huipen nor Dr. Tsao seemed the type of person to act as their leader. The evil genius behind it all was doubtless Po Kai. He evidently was a man of many parts, and of remarkable presence of mind, and moreover a consummate actor. He had arrived in Peng-lai directly after the murder of the magistrate; it would seem that he had entrusted the preliminary work to Yee Pen and Kim Sang, then come himself from the capital to take over. But to take over what? The judge now had to admit that he must reconsider the conclusion he had arrived at together with Hoong, namely that the murderous attacks on himself and his two assistants meant that the criminals thought lie knew more about their plans than he actually did. Even an imperial investigator, assisted by a number of trained secret agents, had failed to discover the truth, and the criminals certainly knew that his own investigations had brought to light only that the monks' staffs were used to smuggle gold to Korea. Evidently the gold was brought from the interior in the form of thin bars, concealed in the hollow monks' staffs. Yet the monks who traveled to Peng-lai with these loaded staffs took considerable risks, k. for along all the roads and highways there were at regular intervals military posts, where all nonofficial travelers were searched for con traband. Gold had to be declared, and a road tax paid for every distance covered. The profit accruing from evading the road taxes, together with the evasion of export duties in Peng-lai, couldn't possibly amount to much. The judge had the uncomfortable feeling that the gold smuggle itself was nothing but camouflage, that his opponent was enmeshing him in a clever plot, meant to divert his attention from something much more important that was going on. So important that it justified the murder of an imperial official, and the attempted murder of another. And that important thing must be scheduled to happen very soon; that was the real explana-tion of the criminal's brazen attacks-they were pressed for time! And he, the magistrate, didn't have the slightest idea what it was all about, while that scoundrel Po Kai had sought out and befriended Ma Joong and Chiao Tai, and thus had kept himself abreast of developments inside the tribunal. And now that elusive rascal was directing affairs from a secret hideout!

  Judge Dee sighed. He wondered whether at this stage a more experienced magistrate would perhaps have taken a chance, and arrested Dr. Tsao and Yee Pen and questioned them with legal severities. But he thought he lacked sufficient proof for proceeding to such extreme measures. He could hardly arrest a man because he picked up a staff in a mulberry bush, and because lie didn't show much interest in the fate. of his daughter. As regards Yee Pen, lie thought lie had acted right. House arrest was a mild measure, sufficiently justified by his foisting on him the hoax about the arms smuggle. At the same time this deprived Po Kai of his second henchman, directly after he had lost Kim Sang. The judge hoped that this would hamper Po Kai in tire execution of his plans, perhaps force film to put off his great coup, and thus give the tribunal a little more time for further investigations.

  The judge reflected that events had been moving so fast that he had had no opportunity as yet for visiting the commander of the fort at the river mouth. Or should the commander come to see him first? The relations between civil and military Officials were always rather delicate. If the latter were of equal rank, the civic officials as a rule took precedence over them. But the commander of the fort was probably a captain over thousand, and those were usually haughty fellows. Yet it was most important that he ascertain the commander's views on the gold smuggle. The fellow was doubtless an expert on Korean affairs; perhaps he could explain why people would want to smuggle gold to a country where it fetched, sans taxes, about the same price as in China. It was a pity lie had not consulted Tang about local protocol; the poor old fellow had been a stickler for formality,; he would have known. The judge dozed off.

  He was awakened by loud voices in the courtyard Outside. He rose quickly and straightened his robes. He noticed to his dismay that he had slept longer than he had planned, dusk was already falling.

  A large group of clerks, constables and guards were standing together in the center of the courtyard, Over their heads the judge saw the tall figures of Ma Joong and Chiao Tai.

  When the men respectfully macle way for the magistrate, he saw four peasants lowering to the ground from their bamboo carrying poles the limp
form of a very large tiger, measuring nearly ten feet in length.

  "Brother Chaio got him!" Ma Joong shouted at the judge. "The peasants took us to the trail he uses in the woodland at the foot of the mountain slope. We put there a lamb as bait, and hid in the undergrowth, in a place Where we were upwind. We waited and waited, it was only in the afternoon that we spotted the brute.He came for the lamb, but didn't attack i t; he must have sensed danger.He lay there crouching in the grass for more than half an hour. Holy heaven what a wait that was! The lamb bleating all the time, and Brother Chiao creeping nearer and nearer his arrow ready on his crossbow I thought, `It the tiger jumps now, he'll Jump right on Brother Chiao's head!' I tried to creep up behind him with the two guards, our tridents ready. Suddenly the brute leapt; I saw only a streak in the air. But Brother Chiao got him, right in his flank, behind the right foreleg. Holy heaven, the arrow went in till three quarters of the shaft!"

  Chiao Tai smiled happily. Pointing at the white patch that covered the huge right paw of the tiger, he remarked, "This must. have been the saine tiger we saw the other night on the opposite bank of the creek. I think I was a bit hasty in my conclusions, then! Though it beats me how the beast got there."

  "We shouldn't worry about supernatural phenomena as long as we have our hands full with perfectly natural ones!" Judge Dee said. "Congratulations on your catch!"

  "We'll now skin it," Ma Joong said, "Then we'll divide the meat among the peasants. they feed it to their children to make them strong. When we, have prepared the skin, magistrate, we'll present it to you, for the armchair in your library, as a slight mark of our respect."

  The judge thanked him., then he took Sergeant Hoong to the main gate. Groups of excited people were coming in, eager to see the dead tiger and the man who killed it.

  "I overslept," Judge Dee said to Hoong. "It's about time for dinner. Let's go together to that restaurant where our two braves met Po Kai for the first time, and dine for a change. At the same time we might see what they say about Po Kai there. We can walk; the fresh night air may help to clear the cobwebs from my brain!" They strolled through the busy streets in a southerly direction and found the restaurant without difficulty. Upstairs the owner came hurriedly to meet them, his round face creased in an oily smile. He detained them long enough to give the other guests an opportunity to see what a distinguished visitor lie had, then led them deferentially to a luxuriously appointed separate room, and asked what his humble kitchen might offer them. "A few quail eggs, stuffed shrimps, sliced roast pork, salted fish, smoked ham, shredded cold chicken to begin with, then-"

  "Bring us," judge Dee cut him short. "two bowls of noodles, a platter of salted vegetables and a large pot of hot tea. That's all."

  "But allow me to offer your excellency at least a small cup of Rose Dew liqueur!" exclaimed the crestfallen manager. "Just to whet the appetite!"

  "My appetite is excellent, thank you," said the judge. When the manager had passed on the modest order to the waiter, judge Dee resumed. "Did Po Kai frequent this restaurant?"

  "Ha!" the manager exclaimed. "I knew at once that he was a mean criminal! Always when he came in I noticed that furtive look of his, the way he put his hand in his sleeve as if he were ready to produce a dagger from it. When 1 heard this morning that there were placards up for his arrest, ï said, "I could have told that to his excellency long aga."

  "A pity you didn't do that then," the judge remarked dryly. lie recognized in the manager that distressing type of witness, a man with no eyes and a fertile imagination. He said, "Send your headwaiter in."

  The headwaiter proved to be a shrewd-looking fellow.

  "I must say, sir," he began, "that I would never have thought that Mr. Po Kai was a criminal! And in my job one learns to assess the guests. He certainly seemed an educated gentleman, and that lie remained, no matter how much lie drank. He was always kind to the waiters, but never so as to invite familiarity. And I once overheard the head of the Classical School near the Temple of Confucius remarking on the excellent quality of his poetry."

  "Did he eat or drink here often with other people?" Judge Dee asked.

  "No, sir, during the ten days or so that he came here regularly he ate either alone, or with his friend Kim Sang. They were fond of making jokes together, those two gentlemen. And Mr. Po Kai's arched eyebrows gave his face such a funny expression! Sometimes, though, I noticed that his eyes weren't funny at all; they didn't belong to the eyebrows, so to speak. Then I asked myself whether lie wasn't perhaps wearing some kind of disguise. But then he started laughing again, and I knew that I had been wrong."

  The judge thanked him and quickly finished his noodles. He paid his bill despite the energetic protests of the manager, gave the waiters a generous tip and left.

  In the street he said to Sergeant Hoong, "That waiter is an observant fellow. I greatly fear that Po Kai indeed wears a disguise. Remember that when lie met Miss Tsao and didn't have to act his part, he struck her as `having an air of authority.' He must be our main opponent, the master criminal behind all this! And we can give up now all hope that our men can discover him, for he doesn't even need to hide. He just sheds his disguise, and no one recognizes him. What a pity that I never met him!"

  Hoong had not heard judge Dee's last words. He was listening intently to the sound of cymbals and flutes that came from the direction of the street where the Temple of the City God was located.

  "There's a troupe of traveling actors in town, your honor!" he said excitedly. "They must have heard about the ceremony in the White Cloud Temple, and have set up their stage to make some money from the crowd that is on foot tonight. Shall we have a look, your honor?" he added hopefully.

  The judge knew that the sergeant had been a devotee of the stage all his life; it was the only relaxation he ever indulged in. He nodded with a smile.

  The open space in front of the temple was crowded with people. Over their heads the judge saw the high stage made of bamboo poles and matting. Red and green streamers fluttered in the air above it; actors in glittering costumes were moving about on the stage, lighted by many gaudy lampions.

  The two men elbowed their way through the crowd of standing onlookers till they had reached the wooden benches of the paying audience. A heavily made-up girl in a garish stage costume took their money, and found them two empty places in the back row. Nobody paid any attention to the newcomers; all eyes were watching the stage.

  Judge Dee looked casually at the four actors. He knew very little about the theatre and its conventions, but he supposed that the old man in the green brocade robe and with the flowing white beard who stood gesticulating in the center must be an elder. The two men who were standing in front of him and the woman kneeling between them he could not place.

  The orchestra stopped, the old man began a long recital in a high-pitched voice. The judge was unfamiliar with the queer, drawn-out theatrical diction; he could not follow it.

  "What's it all about?" he asked Hoong.

  The sergeant replied immediately, "The old man is the elder, your honor. The piece is nearing its end; he is now summing up a plaint the fellow on the left brought against his wife, the kneeling woman. The other man is the brother of the plaintiff; he came along to attest to his high character." He listened awhile, then continued excitedly, "The husband was away traveling for two years, and when he came back he found his wife pregnant. He brought the case before the elder, in order to obtain permission to repudiate her on the ground of adultery."

  "Quiet!" a fat man sitting in front of the judge snapped over his shoulder.

  Suddenly the orchestra struck up with a scraping of fiddles and clashing of cymbals. The woman rose gracefully and sang a passionate song, the contents of which escaped the judge entirely.

  "She says," Sergeant Hoong whispered, "that her husband came back home late one day eight months ago, and spent the night with her. He departed again before dawn."

  Pandemonium was breaking loose on the stage. All four actors sang and t
alked at the same time; the elder walked around in circles, shaking his head so that his white beard fluttered around him. The husband turned to face the audience; waving his arms, he sang in a strident voice that his wife was lying. The forefinger of his right hand had been smeared with lampblack, so as to make it appear that the finger was missing. His brother stood nodding his head approvingly, his arms folded in his long sleeves. He was made up in such a way as to resemble the other closely.

  Suddenly the music stopped. The elder roared something at the second man. He acted as if he were very frightened; he turned round and round, stamping his feet on the stage and rolling his eyes. As the elder shouted again at him, the man took his right hand from his sleeve. His forefinger was missing, too.

  The orchestra burst out in a frenzied melody. But the music was nearly drowned in the roar of acclamations from the crowd, Sergeant Hoong joining in at the top of his voice.

  "What does it all mean?" Judge Dee asked testily when the din was diminishing.

  "It was the husband's twin brother who visited the woman that night!" the sergeant explained hurriedly. "He had cut off his finger, so that the wife would think he was indeed her husband! That's why the piece is entitled `One Finger for One Night of Spring'!"

  "What a story!" Judge Dee said, rising. "We'd better go back." The fat man in front of him was peeling an orange, and throwing the rinds carelessly over his shoulder into judge Dee's lap.

  The stagehands were unrolling a huge red banner inscribed with five large black characters.

  "Look, your honor!" Sergeant Hoong, said eagerly. "The next piece is `Three Mysteries Miraculously Solved by Judge Yü'!" "Well," Judge Dee said, resigned, "Magistrate Yü was the greatest detective of our glorious Han Dynasty, seven hundred years ago. Let's see what they make of that."