by Ian Morson
When I had read the report concerning the examination of Geng’s dead body, and seen who had written it, I was not surprised at its meticulousness. It had been written by Masudi al-Din. I remembered him well from my time in Xanadu, picturing again his slight frame and bright, glittering brown eyes. It had been a coincidence that he had been in Pianfu at the time of Geng’s death, and was due to the fact he was travelling back to his home in Yazd in Persia. He was a physician with an interest in how and why people died. I could see him still, tugging on his straggly beard, and then cutting open a body with relish, seeking all the clues that led to an explanation of that strange companion we all must meet – Death. He was an Arab who used Turkish to communicate with the Mongol world, so I found following his notes easy. It read thus:
Aconite poisoning is verifiable by the symptoms. There is a sensation of burning, tingling, and numbness in the mouth, and of burning in the abdomen. Death usually supervenes before a numbing effect on the intestine can be observed. After about an hour, there is severe vomiting. Much motor weakness and cutaneous sensations similar to those above described soon follow. The pulse and respiration steadily fail, death occurring from asphyxia. All these symptoms were described to me by the victim’s son, Geng Wenbo, and by the young woman attending, Jianxu. I cut open the stomach and examined the contents, but could find no plant material present. I deduced that the cause of death was ingestion of aconite extracted from the plant, monkshood. It had not been eaten in its raw state, nor had the plant’s sap accidentally found its way onto the victim’s skin. Internal tingling would not have resulted from this form of contamination. Whether the ingestion of aconite had been accidental or deliberate, and self-administered or by another party, I leave to the prefect to decide.
As ever, Masudi al-Din had been concise and objective. It was not for him to ascribe motive, merely to record cause and effect. He had also pointed out that aconite was used in very small doses to good effect by Chinee practitioners as a treatment for Yang deficiency, or coldness, and for a number of pains. It would, therefore, be in the armoury of every doctor in Kubilai’s empire.
The administering of the poison was to be a subject high on our list of questions to ask those present in the house at the death of Old Geng. But our first port of call, out of courtesy, was the home of Li Wen-Tao. The prefect at first suggested he call the old lady and the boy to the prison to be interrogated by Lin and me. But I said that was not a good idea, as they would both be afraid of being tortured. Li Wen-Tao had looked astonished, suggesting that is exactly why he made the proposal.
‘Do you not want to frighten and whip the truth out of them?’
‘No, I would rather see them in their own home. They are not suspects, after all. Simply witnesses at this point.’
The prefect cast a look of appeal at Lin, presumably thinking his fellow Chinee would understand and countermand my wishes. Lin merely inclined his head.
‘Master Zuliani is the Chief Investigator. I am simply here to record what we learn.’
Li sighed and gave us directions to the Geng household.
The house was run-down and shabby at first sight. But when Lin and I stepped through the courtyard doors there were signs that someone had attempted to keep the place tidy. An old lady came hobbling over, her tiny feet encased in beautifully embroidered slippers. I knew from being at Kubilai’s court that only the elite and the rich bound the feet of their children to produce this effect. Madam Gao was not from a poor, peasant family therefore. She approached Lin, and bowed low before him, dressed as he was in his red robe, a symbol of his status. I was once again clad in Mongol jacket and breeches. Even as the old lady deferred to Lin, her eyes flickered over me uncertainly. She couldn’t place me in the pecking order, and therefore concentrated on the known quantity that was the official in red. Even so, she would not ignore me, as that in itself could have been a dangerous move on her part.
Lin eased her confusion with some words spoken in Chinee. I was beginning to understand some words now, and knew he was introducing me as the Khan’s investigator. She smiled nervously and bowed to me. Indicating that we should follow her, she went inside. A servant was called and a not unpleasant hot brew called tea was served. An awkward three-way conversation then developed, with Lin asking questions of Madam Gao in Chinee, and then translating for me. When I wanted to ask a question, I had to do it through Lin as intermediary. It made for a slow, and for me, frustrating interview. It went something like this, starting with Lin’s opening question.
‘The broth that your daughter-in-law made was intended for you, I believe.’
Gao pulled a face, the wrinkles on her brow turning into deep furrows.
‘Aiii, yes. To think if I had drunk it, I would now be dead. It does not bear thinking about.’
‘Then you think the poison was intended for you?’
‘I cannot say for certain. But what I am very sure of is that, if it was intended for me, then Jianxu still has to be innocent. Why should she want to kill me? I have looked after her since taking her in as a child. Her father could not afford his studies and her mother had died. He left Jianxu with me, and in return she served me as any proper daughter of my own blood would have. She even married my son.’
She began sniffling at this point, and Lin explained she was upset by having brought up the death of her son, Jianxu’s husband. I listened to his explanation of Jianxu’s history, and wanted clarification.
‘Then she didn’t just marry into the Gao family. She was adopted by Madam Gao first. Ask her who she thinks put the poison into the soup, if it wasn’t Jianxu.’
On being asked by Lin, the old lady looked cautiously over her shoulder before replying.
‘Who else could it have been but that lazy son of Geng’s? He didn’t want me to marry his father, because then he might lose the money from Old Geng’s business. It was him. He tried to kill me, and in his usual ham-fisted way ended up killing his own father.’
After Lin had translated this outburst for me, he asked me if there was anything else I wanted to ask the old woman. I said there wasn’t at present, and Lin dismissed her. He told her to send Wenbo to us. She shuffled off, muttering under her breath. I sipped at the bowl of tea, but it had gone cold and didn’t taste so good any more. I yearned for a good robust red wine. Just as we thought that the boy wasn’t going to turn up, we heard raised voices from another part of the house. Lin smiled.
‘That is Madam Gao telling Wenbo to get out of bed and speak to the investigator before she sets the demon on him. I think that’s you, Zhong Kui.’
I pulled a face that I imagined resembled the drawings I had seen of the demon in question. And just at that moment a skinny lad entered the room. Seeing me, he whimpered and almost fled. Lin waved his hand imperiously, and coaxed the boy to come and sit. Close up, I could see he was older than I had thought at first. He was twenty at least, though still somewhat gangly and awkward, which contributed to the impression he was much younger. He stared wide-eyed at Lin, hardly daring to look at me. Lin spoke sternly to him.
‘You worked for your father?’
The youth nodded.
‘If you had dealings with the staff at Taitemir the Mongol’s palace, then you can speak their language?’
Another nod. At this rate, I reckoned we didn’t need to tax Wenbo’s language skills. We would get all we wanted from him with a nod and a shake of the head. But Lin ploughed on.
‘Then you will speak directly in that language with the investigator.’
He pointed at me, and Geng Wenbo reluctantly turned his gaze my way. I started with a question designed to unbalance him, and elicit an unconsidered response.
‘Did you kill your father deliberately, or was it an accident?’
Wenbo gaped open-mouthed at me.
‘Accident? How could it have been an accident?’
‘Then you meant to do it.’
The youth’s voice went up a pitch.
‘Noooo, you are twist
ing my words. I didn’t do it. Nor did Jianxu. You should ask her–’ he hooked a thumb over his shoulder to indicate the absent Madam Gao, – ‘why she let my father eat the broth. I didn’t kill him. He was my father.’
‘And he was going to marry Madam Gao. Your hold on your father’s business would then have been precarious, especially as he thought you were incompetent.’
‘Who told you that? That old bitch? Yes, she had designs on my father. But that didn’t matter, because I was going to marry Jianxu. Did she tell you that as well?’
TWELVE
If you must play, decide on three things at the start: the rules of the game, the stakes, and the quitting time.
‘They’re just accusing each other. This is getting us nowhere.’
Lin nodded in agreement at my observations on our morning’s work.
‘We can’t just concentrate on the moment of the murder. We have to delve into the past and find out more about the reason why Geng was murdered.’ He sighed. ‘We need to go back to the beginning.’
‘But where is the beginning?’
I was getting more and more depressed about finishing this before Guan presented his play to the public showing Jianxu in all her innocence.
‘Is it when Jianxu was left as a child with the Gao family? How are we going to dig that far back?’
‘Jianxu herself can tell you.’
It was Gurbesu who spoke up. She had been sitting in the corner of the room listening to our debate. Tadeusz had not yet put in an appearance, and was presumably still ferreting around finding out what he could about where the aconite might have come from. I challenged Gurbesu’s opinion that the girl was the best source to go to for information about the past.
‘She was a child when she was left with Gao. Her knowledge of what happened will be clouded by the view of a child. And if she is guilty of murder her testimony will not be the most reliable.’
‘It will be a start, and we could check her story with neighbours. As for her fabricating facts to cover up her guilt, you yourself have said often enough that a murderer can be uncovered as much by their lies as by the truth.’
Lin laughed out loud.
‘You are caught out by your own words, Nick. Admit it; Gurbesu is right. We should speak to Jianxu again. If only to test Wenbo’s statement about him being about to marry her.’
Gurbesu corrected Lin sharply.
‘I was saying that I should speak to her, not either of you. It worked the first time, and will work best again if I speak to her alone.’
It was best not to contradict Gurbesu when she had the bit between her teeth. And she was right anyway. Jianxu would talk to her, and Gurbesu would know the truth. If she spun a yarn, Gurbesu would know that too. She was clever that way. We agreed that she would approach Jianxu alone, which suited me as I had business with the prefect that I didn’t want her to know about. Lin would have to be kept in the dark too, because it was not exactly above board. Once I had tempted Li Wen-Tao with a bagful of paper money, I had spotted where the business opportunity lay, and couldn’t resist taking it. But before I could get away, Tadeusz came rushing in. He had a big smile on his lopsided face that suggested he had made a discovery.
‘You won’t guess what I found out from one of the silversmiths. He had had some business dealings with Old Geng, and told me that a few months ago the old man had paid off some of his debts. When he asked Geng if he had at last got Taitemir to pay him, Geng pulled a face and said he had not, that he had had to borrow money at an extortionate rate to keep himself going.’
I didn’t know why Pyka was so pleased to have been told that. It did not get us any further on. But the little smith had news that did change things.
‘This time I had a hint as to who the moneylender was. The silversmith I spoke to was sure it was Madam Gao.’
‘The old lady loaned Geng money? Well I suppose she might if they were to be wed.’
Tadeusz sat down at the table and picked up a succulent peach from the porcelain bowl in its centre. He bit deeply, and wiped the juice from his mouth using his sleeve.
‘No, you have it wrong. The loan was well before Madam Gao moved into Geng’s house. And it wasn’t a loan from one friend to another. Don’t forget Geng complained the moneylender’s rates were painfully high. It was a purely business transaction at the time. You see, Madam Gao must be a moneylender by trade. She is well known in the town as a hard-headed businesswoman, tougher than her husband was. And the business, which traded in silk material, had many clients. She took over the business when her husband died, and ran it much more successfully than he did. It seems she used her wealth to lend money, extorting punitive rates of return. Everyone was surprised when she moved into Geng’s house.’
I looked at everyone around the table.
‘This changes matters. Both Gengs had reasons to want Gao dead – one owed her a lot of money, the other didn’t want to lose the family business. Do you think the murder of the old man was an attack on Madam Gao that went badly wrong?’
‘An attempt by the boy to kill the moneylender who had his father in a stranglehold?’
Tadeusz’s question was answered with more from Lin.
‘Is the boy so ham-fisted that his poisoning attempt went so drastically wrong? Would he not be totally distraught to have been the cause of his own father’s death?’
‘Not if he saw the benefits of what happened. He’s not that dim.’ I got up and straightened my breeches, which were tight around my nether regions. ‘Now, I have things to do, and so do you, Gurbesu. Talk to Jianxu today, and try and get to the bottom of this matter. We need to know everything, especially if the boy was going to wed Jianxu. That would change the perspective on him being a suspect. Why kill to keep the Geng business, if he would inherit it anyway? Tadeusz – see if you can discover the names of any of the other people Madam Gao has loaned money to. Without her knowing you want to know.’
‘You think someone else might have been trying to kill her?’
‘It’s a possibility. Though I still think this has more to do with the family than an outsider, but we must not exclude other possibilities.’
Having made sure all the others would be busy that afternoon, I turned to Lin. I was in no position to order him to do anything, but I did want to ensure he was occupied somehow. He saw my questioning look, and raised his hands, palms outward.
‘Don’t ask me to do anything. I have much to write up here. If we are to come out of this without falling into Ko’s trap, we need accurate records.’
I was relieved. Lin would be busy too.
‘I agree. Every step must be meticulously recorded, and every fact substantiated.’
Lin sighed.
‘And even then it may do us no good. Ko is a slippery eel of an enemy.’
‘I’m afraid he is. By the way, do you know if the actors’ troupe are rehearsing Guan’s play today?’
Lin shrugged his shoulders.
‘I don’t know for sure, but I fear they will be. That is another sword dangling over our heads.’
Lin waved for his servant, Po Ku, to bring paper and ink, and I left him to his work and his worries.
At that same moment, Ko Su-Tsung was ensconced in his private room. At the heart of his quarters, the room was deep in shadows, just as he preferred it. Much of his deeds were conceived and controlled from the darkness of this room. Now, he held the second communication from his spy at Pianfu. He smiled his cadaver smile. The letter contained a report on Lin Chu-Tsai’s meeting with the prefect, and the fact that Lin found nothing amiss in his behaviour. Ko was satisfied so far with the progress of events, but it was too soon to imagine that his enemy was trapped inexorably. He knew Lin was cleverer than that. And so was that foreign barbarian, Zuliani. Though he felt sure that Zuliani would make some sort of mess by getting involved in a shady deal or some such. It was in the man’s nature. In fact, he could make matters worse for Lin by drawing Zuliani into a bad deal that would compromise both
men. He lifted his writing implement and began to draft a message to be sent by the great Yam.
I went to Li Wen-Tao’s house via the theatre because I had to settle a little business there first. It occurred to me at the time to check on the person who had inserted the lines in the play the previous night – the words that had so concerned Lin. But I didn’t have the opportunity as a rehearsal was beginning. I would have to leave it for later, perhaps. For now, the business in hand was with the prefect.
Fat Li was still in the same position as when I had last seen him. In fact he looked fatter, and more food was being conveyed to his mouth with those little chopsticks. He paused long enough though to cast a greedy eye over my satchel. The last time he had seen it, it was stuffed with money. He had to do something for me first before I opened it up again, so I reminded him of our previous conversation.
‘Ho – the thief you mentioned. Have you come across him again? Have his light-fingered ways caused him to appear before your court?’
Li grinned, and some rice slid from his lips and down his chin.
‘It’s odd you should say that. He is awaiting my justice right now, having been found with stolen goods in his possession. A valuable vase and a bead necklace reported stolen from a middle-ranking official. I shall be very brutal with Ho this time.’
I lifted a hand to stay the course of his justice.
‘I have another suggestion. Will you let him off with a warning, and have him secrete his ill-gotten gains somewhere where they can be found?’
Li narrowed his eyes, and looked baffled.
‘Why would I do that?’
I know I had him hooked, and I began to reel him in.
‘I noticed that the Temple of the Earth-Goddess in the square has a shrine to the god of lost possessions. I understand that people who have lost something or have had something stolen go to the priest or priestess and ask them for help with the god who is in residence to have their items restored to them.’
