Poisoned Bride and Other Judge Dee Mysteries (6 page)

“When these two men”, answered Koong, “came to my hostel last night, I asked them for their names. One said his surname was Liu, the other Shao. Since at the time they were unpacking their luggage, I did not have an opportunity for asking their personal names.”

Judge Dee nodded and taking his vermillion brush, he wrote on a slip of paper: “One male person, of the surname Liu”. Then he ordered the coroner to look over the corpse. The coroner, carrying the slip with Judge Dee’s inscription respectfully with both hands in front of him, entered the court, and with the assistance of Djao San and the constables on duty, dragged the corpse lying on the left side to the centre, in front of the bench. Then the coroner said:

“I beg that Koong Wan-deh be ordered to come forward, and identify this corpse as that of the man called Liu.”

Judge Dee ordered Koong to do as required.

Koong, although he thought this a gruesome affair, could not but come forward, and approach the body all covered with blood. Trembling all over, with a great effort he collected himself, and gave it a good look. Then he said: “This indeed is the man Liu who stayed at my hostel last night.”

The coroner thereupon spread a reed mat on the ground, and had the corpse placed on top of it. He washed it clean with hot water, and then looked over the body inch by inch. He thus reported to Judge Dee:

“One male corpse, one knife wound at the back of the shoulder, 25 ½ inches long, ½ inch broad. On the left side a wound caused by a kick, ½ inch deep, 5 inches in diameter. One knife wound in the throat, 3 inches long, ½ inch broad, a deep cut right through the windpipe”.

This report was duly entered in the records by the coroner’s assistants, and the document was placed on the desk of the judge.

After Judge Dee had pondered over this report for a few moments, he descended from his chair, and himself carefully looked over the corpse. Having verified the coroner’s report as correct, he affixed his red seal to this document, and gave orders to place the corpse in a temporary coffin, and to put up an official notice to the public, asking all who knew the murdered man to present themselves at the tribunal.

Having resumed his seat behind the bench, he again wrote with his vermilion brush on a separate slip of paper: “One person, of the surname Shao”. Then the coroner proceeded as before, and asked Koong to identify the body.

Koong approached with bowed head, and dared to look up only when he was right in front of the corpse. Then he suddenly started violently, his eyes bulged, and uttering some incoherent sounds, he swooned.

Judge Dee, knowing that some unexpected development was about to occur, ordered Sergeant Hoong to assist Koong to regain his spirits, so that the inquest could be continued after he had given a full explanation.

A deep silence reigned, all spectators looking intently at Koong.

The sergeant made Koong sit up on the ground, and ordered his wife to bring a bowl of sweet tea quickly.

The crowd of spectators, who first had been fretting at this delay in the inquest, and had been thinking of returning home, now stayed where they were, eager to see further developments.

After a while Koong came to. He tried to speak, but only could bring out: “This .... is all wrong, this .... is a mistake!”

“Old man”, Sergeant Hoong said to him, “His Excellency is waiting for your report. Now speak up, who has made a mistake?” Then Koong said:

“This is the wrong corpse. The Mr. Shao of last night was a youngster, while this body is that of an elderly man with whiskers. How could he be the second guest? Evidently there is some mistake here. I pray Your Honour to clear this up”.

Both the coroner and Sergeant Hoong were quite disturbed by this new development. They looked to Judge Dee for clarification. Judge Dee said:

“How can this be? These two corpses have been lying here all day, why did Koong not discover earlier that one was a stranger? Now at the inquest, at the very last moment, he changes his mind. This proves clearly that he is trying to cheat us”.

He had Koong brought before him and angrily shouted at him to tell the truth.

Koong, in great trepidation, knocked his head on the ground several times, and said in a wailing voice:

“When Warden Pang tried to involve me in this affair, and threw the two corpses in front of my door, I was completely confused, and immediately rushed to the city to report. How could I be expected first to look over those two corpses carefully? Moreover this second corpse was partly covered by that of Liu, and having recognised that at first glance, I took it for granted that the other body was that of Shao. How could I have foreseen this development? I truly am innocent, and place my fate in Your Honour’s hands”.

Judge Dee recalled that when he saw the corpses the day before, one had actually been lying half over the other. Therefore he thought it quite probable that Koong’s mistake was unintentional. On the other hand this did not tend to simplify the case. He ordered Warden Pang to be brought in court, and Pang duly made his appearance, guarded by Chiao Tai and Ma Joong. Judge Dee said:

“You dogshead, you tamper with corpses and slander innocent people. You said that Koong murdered these men, and yesterday you therefore moved their bodies from the market to here. Thus you must have had ample opportunity for observing them. Now speak up quickly, what did they look like?”

Warden Pang, who had already heard the news that there had been some mistake about the corpses, now, being thus addressed by Judge Dee, greatly feared that he himself might be accused of the crime. He hastened to come forward with the truth, saying:

“I said that Koong was the murderer, only because the victims had been staying in his hostel, and because the murder happened to have been committed near there. One victim certainly was a youngster, and the other an elderly person with whiskers. But since Koong Wan-deh, displeased about my placing the corpses in front of his door, immediately rushed to the city, I had no opportunity to check with him whether he recognised both corpses. Whether or not there is a mistake about the identity, I therefore could not say, since I did not meet the two merchants when they arrived at Koong’s hostel the evening before”.

Judge Dee ordered the constables to give Pang a second beating with the bamboo, pronouncing that Warden Pang had been guilty of entering a false accusation, and of trying to involve an innocent person.

Then he had the other three guests who were staying at Koong’s hostel brought before him, and again questioned them. All the three of them confirmed that both merchants had been young men, and that the elderly victim had not stayed at the hostel; they could not identify him, and did not know how he met his death. Then Judge Dee said:

“This being so, it is clear to me where we shall find the criminal”.

He ordered the coroner to proceed with the inquest on the corpse of the unknown man. The coroner reported:

“One corpse of an unidentified male person, on the left arm a bruise mark, measuring 3 inches, and in the small of the back a wound caused by a kick, measuring 3 by 5 inches. Under the ribs a knife wound, 1¼ inches broad, 5½ inches long, and 2¼ inches deep. And one knife wound in the back, 23 ¾ long.”

These details were duly noted down by the coroner’s assistants. When the formalities had been completed, Judge Dee said: “Since this man was probably from this district the corpse is to be left here, in a temporary coffin. His relations and his friends may not be living far from here. I shall now affix my seal, and have a notice put up, calling upon those who knew the man to report to me. In due time, as soon as the criminal is arrested, the trial shall proceed!

“Koong Wan-deh is released on bail, but must present himself again at the tribunal when this case is tried, to testify as a witness. For the time being, Warden Pang Deh will be kept under detention”.

Having issued these orders, Judge Dee then ascended his palanquin, and surrounded by the personnel of the tribunal, left Six Mile Village and returned to the city.

There he first proceeded to the temple of the tutelary deity of the town, and he burned some incense.

Then he proceeded to the tribunal, and seated himself behind the bench. He called the roll of the court personnel, and finding everything in order, retired to his private office at the back of the court hall.

Taking up his writing brush, he first drew up a despatch to the authorities of Kiangsu Province, giving a full description of the murdered man Liu, and asking them to try to locate his family and relations. Then he drafted a circular letter to the magistrates of the districts neighbouring his own, with the request to have their men watch out for a man answering the description of Shao, the merchant who had disappeared.

He handed the drafts to his clerks to be written out and despatched, and then called Chiao Tai and Ma Joong.

“This case has now become clear”, he told them. “There can hardly be any doubt that that man Shao is the murderer. If this man is caught, then we can try him and close the case. So I now order you two to make a search for him, arrest him and bring him here without delay.”

When Chiao Tai and Ma Joong had departed, Judge Dee called Sergeant Hoong. To him he spoke as follows:

“This unknown murdered man is probably an inhabitant of this district. You must make inquiries all over the countryside, and try to locate somebody who knows him. Further, I don’t think that the murderer will have fled to some remote locality; probably he finds it safer first to remain in hiding somewhere in the country around here, delaying his escape till the hue and cry has died down. Thus at the same time you might make discreet inquiries about this man Shao”.

Several days elapsed while Judge Dee waited for his detectives to return. But they neither appeared nor were they heard from.

At last Judge Dee became alarmed, and thought: “Since I assumed my office in this district, I have solved not a few intricate cases. How can it be that that which is apparently the last phase of this investigation, is so slow in materialising? It is best that I myself set out on a secret investigation to see whether I cannot trace this murderer”.

So the next morning Judge Dee rose early, and disguised himself as an itinerant physician. Like all literati, he had a good knowledge of drugs and the arts of healing, so that he did not risk exposure through ignorance of the medical science. Moreover he knew that people in general will tell a doctor more than others. He also reasoned that it was probable that the murderer during the scuffle would have suffered some injuries himself, and, being in hiding, would rather invoke the help of an itinerant doctor, than of a local physician.

Shouldering a portable medicine chest well stocked with herbs, pills and powders, Judge Dee set out on his investigation.

Leaving the city by the South Gate, he strolled along the road leading to Six Mile Village. For a considerable time he loitered about in the marketplaces along this highroad, but nobody approached him.

“Perhaps”, he thought, “I will have more success when I look for the portal of a large shop, and there display my drugs, in order to attract the people.”

At last he arrived at a marketplace that, although not as bustling with people as the shopping centres in the town itself, yet was doing a fairly brisk business. For it was situated at the crossing of two highroads, where there was a constant coming and going of officials, tradesmen, and peddlers. In the northeast corner stood a large memorial archway, with the three words “Huang Hua Chen”, “Imperial Glory Market” inscribed over it. Passing below this arch, he saw a three-storied building, with “Pawnshop” written in large characters on its signboard. Judge Dee thought that the large portal of this shop was an excellent place for setting up his temporary consultation room. He unpacked his medicine chest, and spreading out a piece of cloth on the stone flags, thereupon displayed his collection of drugs and herbs. Then he made a bow, and recited the following verses in a powerful voice:

Passers by from north and south, pause here for a little while. When you are in good health, you are apt to forget about illness. But skilled doctors are not easily found in this world,And when an ailment strikes you, it will find you unprepared.

Then he continued:

“I humbly announce my surname as Jen, and my personal name as Djieh, and I am from Shansi Province. Since my youth I have been engrossed in the study of rare books on medicine, and fully mastered the secrets of the art of healing. Although I would not dare to rank myself with the celebrated physicians of remote antiquity, I yet dare to say that I know the tradition of later famous doctors. I feel the pulse of men and women, I know both internal medicine and surgery, and also am expert in diagnosing strange maladies. Please consult me, and you will find out for yourself. You will see me issue the right prescription, which will cure light maladies right here and now, while I guarantee that serious illness will be cured within three days. To-day I happen to be here on the request of an old patient who especially sent for me. And, my duty being to help all who are in need of my service, I now pray everyone among you who might be suffering from some disease, to come forward to be treated”.