'Yes, indeed. I ... it belongs to me, as a matter of fact. I use it for entertaining business associates.'
'I order you to explain how...' the Prefect began, but Judge Dee cut him short.
'Mr Yau shall accompany us to the scene of the crime. He shall give further explanations there.'
He rose briskly, told the Governor to execute at once the measures agreed upon, then left the Council Hall followed by his two lieutenants, Prefect Pao and Yau Tai-kai. In the front courtyard the guards were lighting the lanterns already. While the judge stood waiting there for his palankeen, he asked Pao:
'How was it done?'
'She was strangled from behind with a silk scarf, sir,' Pao answered in a toneless voice.
Judge Dee gave his two assistants a meaningful look, but he refrained from comment. As the stepladder of the palankeen was being lowered, he told the Prefect:
'You'll ride together with me, Mr Pao, there's plenty of space inside. Warden, you'll take Mr Yau in your litter.'
He made Prefect Pao sit next to him, and Chiao Tai and Tao Gan took the seat opposite. As the bearers hoisted the long shafts on their calloused shoulders, Chiao Tai said eagerly:
'Yau mentioned that address to me last night, sir! It seems he keeps a couple of nice girls there. He put a woman in charge and...'
'Now I know why that worthless wife of mine went there!’ the Prefect burst out. 'She went there to meet that lecher, Captain Nee! They were lovers before I — old fool that I was — married her. I often suspected they had been continuing their sordid affair behind my back. Cheap adultery! And Yau connived at it. I demand that Yau and Nee are placed under arrest, sir, and I...'
Judge Dee raised his hand.
'Calm yourself, Mr Pao! Even if your wife went there to meet the captain, that does not prove that it was he who murdered her.'
'I shall tell you exactly what happened, sir! My wife knew that I would be in the palace the whole afternoon, for the conference, and therefore she made the appointment with her paramour. But although she is flighty, and often rather foolish, she is fundamentally a decent woman ... I am to blame, sir, I neglected her. Had to, the Governor always kept me so busy, I had no time...' His voice trailed off. He shook his head and passed his hand over his face. Then he took hold of himself and resumed in a soft voice, as if to himself, 'This time my wife must have told Nee that she wanted to put an end to the sordid affair, once and for all. Nee flew into a rage, and killed her. That must have been how it happened.'
'The fact that Nee seems to have gone into hiding may indeed point to his guilt,' Judge Dee remarked. 'But let's not indulge in premature deductions, Mr Pao.'
XVI
Four constables stood in front of the two-storeyed house, two of them waving paper lanterns on which four red letters signified 'The Tribunal of Canton'. They stood at attention when the bearers set the large palankeen down. Judge Dee descended, followed by Prefect Pao and his two lieutenants. He waited till the warden and Mr Yau had stepped from their litter, then asked the former:
'In what room was the murder committed?'
'The tea-room just to the left of the hall, Excellency,' the warden replied. 'Allow me to show the way.'
He conducted them into a fairly large hall, lit by lampions of white silk, hanging from two beautifully carved stands. A constable stood at the door on the left; on the right there was a sidetable and a big armchair. In the rear of the hall was a moon-door, a round door-opening with a half-drawn curtain of blue beads. They made a rattling sound as a white hand quickly pulled the curtain close.
'You sit down there and wait!’ Judge Dee told Mr Yau, pointing at the armchair on the right. Then he asked the warden, 'You didn't touch anything on the scene of the crime, did you?'
'No sir. I went inside only once, put two lighted candles on the table, and verified that she was indeed dead. The woman in charge here knew her as Miss Wang. But I found in her sleeve a brocade folder with visiting cards, which said clearly that, she was our Prefect's wife. I left everything exactly as it was, sir.'
The constable had opened the door. They saw a small tea-room. In the centre stood a table of rosewood and three chairs; on the left a wall-table, bearing a vase filled with wilting flowers. The walls were plastered a spotless white, and decorated by a few choice scroll paintings of birds and flowers. In front of the single window lay a woman, dressed in a simple brown gown, her face to the floor. By her side was the fourth chair, overturned. Evidently it had been standing by the side of the table nearest to the window.
Judge Dee took one of the candles from the table, and gave a sign to Tao Gan. His lieutenant knelt and turned the dead woman over on her back. The Prefect quickly averted his face. Chiao Tai went to stand between him and the dead body. Her features were horribly distorted, her swollen tongue protruding from her bloodstained mouth. With some difficulty Tao Gan loosened the silk scarf that had been tightened round her neck with savage force. He silently showed the judge the silver coin tied in the corner of it.
Judge Dee motioned Chiao Tai to cover the dead face, then he turned round and asked the warden, who had remained standing just outside the door:
'How was the murder discovered?'
'About half an hour after she had arrived here, sir, the youngest maid went in to serve tea, assuming that the man she was wont to meet here would have arrived too. When she saw the dead body, she began to shriek at the top of her voice. People passing in the street heard her. The window there was open, you see, just as it is now. It gives on to a narrow alley between this house and the next. Well, two men who were passing the entrance of the alley heard the maid shout and at once ran to my office to warn me. So I hurried here to see what was wrong.'
'Quite,' Judge Dee said. He ordered Chiao Tai and Tao Gan to search the room for possible clues, then to arrange the removal of the dead body to the tribunal. To Prefect Pao he said, 'I shall now interrogate the woman in charge here, together with you, Mr Pao. Warden, where did you put the inmates?'
'The woman in charge, a kind of housekeeper, I put in the reception room back of the hall, sir. The four young girls who are living here I ordered to keep to their own rooms, on the second floor. The maidservants I told to stay in the kitchen.'
'Good work! Come along, Mr Pao!'
As he went across the hall to the moon-door, Mr Yau jumped up from the armchair, but Judge Dee pointedly ignored him. The Prefect glared at him in passing and the harassed Mr Yau quickly resumed his seat.
The small reception room contained only a tea-table of carved blackwood, two chairs of the same material, and a high cupboard. The quietly dressed, middle-aged woman who was standing at the cupboard quickly made a low bow. Judge Dee sat down at the tea-table and motioned the Prefect to take the other chair. The warden pressed the woman down on her knees, then remained standing behind her, his arms crossed on his breast.
Judge Dee began to question her, starting with her name and age. She spoke the northern tongue haltingly, but by skilful questions the judge elicited that Mr Yau had bought the house five years ago, and put her in charge of four girls. Two were ex-courtesans bought out by Mr Yau, the others former actresses. All of them were being paid a generous salary. Mr Yau used to come there about twice a week, either alone or with two or three friends.
'How did you come to know Mrs Pao?' Judge Dee asked her.
'I swear I never knew she was the wife of His Excellency the Prefect!’ the woman wailed. 'Else I'd of course never have agreed to Captain Nee bringing her here. He...'
'Didn't I tell you so?' Prefect Pao shouted. 'The lecher has...'
'Leave this to me, Mr Pao,' the judge interrupted. He glanced at the housekeeper. 'Proceed!'