'Ever since His Majesty fell ill, contending groups have been forming at court. Some support the Crown Prince, the rightful heir to the throne, others the Empress, who wants to replace him by a member of her own family; still others are uniting in a powerful combination that favours a Regency, after the Great Demise. The man who holds the balance of power is the Imperial Censor Lew. I don't think you have ever met him, but you have heard about him, of course. A young, but extremely capable man, dedicated to the interests of our great Empire. I have been maintaining close contact with him, for I have a high regard for his integrity and his great talents. If a crisis should develop, I shall give him all my support.'
Judge Dee sipped his tea. He considered for a while, and resumed:
'About six weeks ago Censor Lew travelled here to Canton, accompanied by his trusted adviser Dr Soo and a number of military experts. The Grand Council had ordered him to check the preparations for our naval expedition to Annam. He returned to the capital and handed in a favourable report, praising the work of Weng Kien, the Governor of the Southern Region, whose guest I am now.
'Last week the Censor suddenly came back to Canton, this time accompanied only by Dr Soo. He had no orders to do so, and nobody knows the purpose of this second visit. He did not notify the Governor of his arrival and did not present himself in the palace here; evidently he wanted to remain incognito. But a special agent of the Governor once happened to see the Censor and Dr Soo near the Arab quarter, on foot and rather poorly dressed. After the Governor had reported this to the capital, the Grand Council instructed him to trace the Censor's whereabouts, and to apprise the Censor that the Council had ordered him to return to the capital without delay, for his presence was urgently required at court. The Governor mobilized all his investigators, special agents, and so on. They combed out the city, but their efforts were of no avail. The Censor and Dr Soo had disappeared completely.'
The judge heaved a sigh. He shook his head and continued:
'The matter had to be kept a closely guarded official secret, for the Censor's prolonged absence from the capital might have serious political consequences. The Council suspected that something was seriously amiss here, and therefore informed the Governor that the matter had been disposed of, ordering him to call off the search. At the same time, however, the Council instructed me to go to Canton and institute a secret investigation, on the pretext of gathering information on foreign trade in connection with a query from the Board of Finance. In fact, however, our task is to establish contact with the Censor, find out from him why he came to Canton, and what is keeping him here. For Dr Soo we need not look any more. His dead body is lying in the side hall. Tell him what happened, Chiao Tai!’
Chiao Tai gave his astonished colleague a brief account of the double murder in the Arab quarter. When he had finished, Judge Dee said:
'I recognized the body brought here by Chiao Tai at once as that of Dr Soo. The doctor must have spotted Chiao Tai when you two were walking about on the quay, but he did not want to accost Chiao Tai as long as you, Tao Gan, were still with him, because he had never seen you before. So he followed you two to the wine-house, and after you had separated he spoke to Chiao Tai. However, Dr Soo himself had been followed by the Arab assassin and the mysterious dwarf. Those two must have seen Dr Soo accosting Chiao Tai, and they took quick action. Since the Arab quarter is a rabbit warren of crooked alleys and unsuspected shortcuts, they and their accomplices could run ahead and post themselves in the two or three alleys Chiao Tai and Dr Soo would have to pass through. The Arab assassin was partly successful, for he murdered Dr Soo. He had planned to kill Chiao Tai too, but then a third, unknown party intervened, and strangled him. Thus we have to reckon with two well-organized groups, equally ruthless in their methods, but pursuing conflicting aims. Which proves that the Censor is in very serious trouble indeed'
'Is there no indication at all regarding the nature of that trouble, sir?' Tao Gan asked.
'None but his evident interest in the Arabs here. After you had left this morning to look for a lodging, the Governor showed me over my quarters here in the east wing. I told him to send me the secret dossiers on the provincial and city administration of the last year, for my general orientation. I devoted the morning to a careful study of these. However, I found only routine problems, nothing connected with the Arabs here, and nothing that could conceivably rouse the Censor's special interest. I did find, however, the report of the agent who had got a glimpse of the Censor and Dr Soo. In it he states that both of them were dressed rather poorly, and looked wan and worried. The Censor was accosting a passing Arab. Just when the agent was stepping up to them to confirm their identity, the three men disappeared among the crowd. The agent then hurried to the palace and reported to the Governor what he had seen.' The judge emptied his teacup and went on, 'Before leaving the capital, I made a study of the affairs the Censor had been working on, but I failed to discover a single reference to Canton or to the Arabs here. As for his private life I know nothing beyond the fact that he is a man of considerable means but still unmarried, and that besides Dr Soo he has no close friends.' Giving his two lieutenants a sharp look, he added, 'The Governor must be kept ignorant of all this, mind you! When I had tea with him just now, I told him that Dr Soo was a dubious character from the capital who had got mixed up here with Arab hooligans. The Governor must be left under the impression that we are here only to investigate foreign trade.'
'Why, sir?' Chiao Tai asked. 'Since he is the highest local authority, he might help us in...'
The judge shook his head emphatically.
'You must remember,' he said, 'that the Censor did not apprise the Governor of his second visit to Canton. That may mean that the Censor's business here is so secret that he doesn't dare to take even the Governor into his confidence. It may mean also, however, that the Censor doesn't trust the Governor, and suspects him of being implicated in whatever mysterious business the Censor is tracing here. In either case we must abide by the Censor's policy of utter secrecy — at least until we know more about what is going on here. Therefore we can not avail ourselves of the facilities the local authorities could supply us with. After I had taken my noon rice, however, I did summon the head of the special branch of the military police, and he selected four secret agents who will assist us with the routine side of our investigation. As you know, the special branch is entirely independent; the local military authorities have no say over them, and they report directly to the capital.' He sighed and resumed, 'So you see we are confronted with a particularly difficult task. On one hand we must feign to collaborate closely with the Governor for a fictitious purpose, and on the other conduct our own investigation with the utmost discretion.'
'And with an unknown opponent closely watching us too!' Tao Gan remarked.
'Not us, but the Censor and Dr Soo,' Judge Dee corrected. 'For that person, or persons, can not possibly know the real purpose of our visit here; that is a secret of state, known only to the Supreme Council. They watch Dr Soo, and presumably also the Censor, because they do not want them to communicate with outsiders. And since they don't shrink from murder, the Censor may be in considerable danger.'
'Are there any grounds for suspecting the Governor, sir?' Chiao Tai asked.