Tao Gan looked up and exclaimed:
'How could the Governor ever condone Mansur's scheme for sacking Canton, sir? Such a major disturbance here would break his career, no matter who supported him at court!’
'Of course he does not intend that scheme ever to be executed. He needed it only for bringing about the Censor's ruin. That aim achieved, he will doubtless eliminate Mansur. The simplest way would be to accuse Mansur, and have him executed as a rebel. Who would believe a wretched Arab criminal if he stated in court that a man like the Governor had abetted a plan to burn and plunder his own city? If the Governor is our man, it was he who had the rumours about the Arab scheme spread, probably by a second sub-agent of his, a Chinese, who maintains contact with the Chinese underworld on his behalf. As to the Governor's attempt at eliminating Chiao Tai, that is easily explained by Chiao Tai's rendezvous with Zumurrud; Chiao Tai crossed the Tanka boats on his way to her junk, and Tanka spies must have reported that visit. The Governor hates Chiao Tai as a rival in love, and at the same time he is afraid that Zumurrud may disobey the iron rule of the "world of flowers and willows", which forbids a girl ever to talk about her clients, and tell Chiao Tai something about him that would give us a clue to his identity. As to the Governor's hatred for Captain Nee, I have a certain theory that would offer a plausible explanation; I can easily verify it, but I prefer not to go further into this now. As regards point seven, we know that the Governor is interested in crickets, and concerning point eight, I told you already that I have reason to believe he knows the blind girl. Add a query there, Tao Gan: Is she perhaps the Governor's illegitimate daughter? All right, now we come to the last point: Does he qualify as the lover of Zumurrud? Well, reputedly he has a happy family life, but the novelty of the experience may have attracted him — as it did in the case of the Censor — and I have reason to believe that he is not averse to foreign women. Further, he wouldn't mind her being a pariah, for he is a northerner. One has to be born and bred in Canton to develop that abhorrence for the pariah class. Finally, it appears that the Censor distrusted him.'
Tao Gan put his writing-brush down.
'Yes,' he said pensively, 'we have quite a substantial case against the Governor. But how are we going to prove it?'
'Not so fast! There are others on our list besides the Governor. What about Prefect Pao? The man is emotionally perturbed, for the Governor is a hard taskmaster, and he thought that his beautiful young wife was deceiving him with Captain Nee. Frustrated, he may have taken up with Zumurrud; her sneering references to her patron suggest an elderly man. Being a native of Shantung, he would have no prejudice against her race and status. And he may have fallen for the proposals of the Censor's enemies at court when they promised him a high position in the capital as reward. That would give Pao an opportunity for getting even with the Governor, and at the same time for gratifying Zumurrud's wish to obtain citizenship. As a career civil servant, the Prefect has of course plenty of acquaintances in the capital who could have recommended him to the court clique. Further, he maintains a close and continuous contact with us. He is no amateur of crickets, but his wife knew the blind girl — probably better than she made it appear. The blind girl suspects Pao, but in deference to Mrs Pao she does not want to come out into the open and say so. The Prefect hates Nee, of course, and Chiao Tai too, for the same reasons as stated in our hypothetical case against the Governor.'
The judge paused and emptied his cup. As Tao Gan refilled it for him, he resumed:
'If Prefect Pao is indeed our man, then I have to abandon of course my theory that Mrs Pao was killed by mistake. Disgusted by the failure of the two Arab assassins to murder Chiao Tai in Nee's house, the Prefect sends that same afternoon Tanka stranglers to Yau Tai-kai's establishment, to kill there his adulterous wife together with Captain Nee. Mrs Pao is indeed strangled, but the captain fails to turn up. Didn't you notice that Pao received a written message during the conference yesterday? That may have been the news that the attack in Nee's house had miscarried.'
Tao Gan looked dubious. After a while he said:
'In that case, sir, Pao must indeed have a remarkably large and efficient secret organization.'
'Why shouldn't he? He is the head of the city administration, which gives him facilities for secretly maintaining contact with Mansur as well as Chinese hooligans. Finally, both he and the Governor have the education, experience and mental capacity to organize a complicated plot, and supervise its execution by underlings such as Mansur, while they remain in the background and pull the strings.
'Education, experience and mental capacity are there also in the case of our third suspect, namely Liang Foo. Liang, by the way, answers exactly Zumurrud's description of her patron: a wealthy man without official position. And his frequenting the Flowery Pagoda to play chess with the abbot could be a cover for visiting Zumurrud in the house behind the temple. These points, however, are not important — as I shall explain presently. As to Liang's motive, it is true that he occupies already a prominent position in this city and possesses vast wealth, but he may well be chafing under his status as a merchant, and yearn for an influential official post in the capital, as occupied by the late Admiral, his illustrious father. Being born and bred in this city, and being well versed in Arab affairs, it would be an easy matter for him to establish secret contact with Mansur. The fact that he went out of his way to draw our attention to Mansur's seditious plans would indicate that he is preparing to make Mansur the scapegoat, as I explained when reviewing the case against the Governor. He is not interested in crickets, and he has no relations with the blind girl, but to those two objections I shall come anon. For there is a third, and much more serious snag. Namely, that it is utterly unthinkable that Liang Foo, a well-born Cantonese gentleman, since his youth steeped in local prejudice, would ever stoop to associate with an Arab dancer of pariah blood. In order to solve this problem, we must assume just as in the case against the Governor, that Liang has two henchmen. One is Mansur, the other a Chinese. This second sub-agent must be the other Arab expert, Mr Yau Tai-kai. All clues that don't apply to Liang, apply to him.
'Yau cannot be the main criminal. He is a self-made man, well-known locally, but without the connections in the capital to recommend him to the traitors at court. Moreover, he is a shrewd businessman, but utterly incapable of evolving a complicated political plot. However, he is a vulgar lecher, and his depraved appetite for variety in his amorous exploits may well have made him overcome his prejudice against a pariah. Yau, too, answers exactly Zumurrud's description of her patron. He hates Chiao Tai because of his rendezvous with Zumurrud, and Nee because the captain meets in Yau's own house Mrs Pao, an attractive, wellborn lady whom Yau could never hope to make his mistress. He also covets the blind girl, but when he discovers that she is getting on his trail and may denounce him and his boss Liang Foo, he decides to have her murdered. When the attempt in his own house fails, he sends his Tanka stranglers after her in the Examination Hall. Only a man who knew her well could be aware of the fact that she used to hide herself there.'
Tao Gan slowly wound the three long hairs that sprouted from his left cheek round his long bony forefinger.