'There are no traces of blood here, sir. And the four cut-off fingers are nowhere to be seen.'
'Evidently the man was mutilated and murdered somewhere else,' the judge said. 'His dead body was carried up here afterwards.'
'Then the murderer must have been a hefty fellow, sir. It isn't an easy job to carry a body all the way up here. Unless the murderer had assistance, of course.'
'Search him!'
As Tao Gan began to go through the dead man's clothes, Judge Dee carefully examined the head. He thought that the skull must have been bashed in from behind, with a fairly small but heavy instrument, probably an iron hammer. Then he studied the intact right hand. The palm and the inside of the fingers were rather horny, but the nails were fairly long and well kept.
'There's absolutely nothing, sir!' Tao Gan exclaimed as he righted himself. 'Not even a handkerchief! The murderer must have taken away everything that could have led to the identification of his victim.'
'We do have the ring, however,' the judge observed. 'He had doubtless planned to take that too. When he found it missing, he must have realized that it fell off the mutilated hand somewhere on the way here. He probably searched for it with a lantern, but in vain.' He turned to the headman, who was chewing on a toothpick with a bored look, and asked curtly: 'Ever seen this man before?'
The headman sprang to attention.
'No, Your Honour. Never!' He cast a questioning look at the two constables. When they shook their heads, he added: 'Must be a vagabond from up-country, sir.'
'Tell your men to make a stretcher from a couple of thick branches and take the body to the tribunal. Let the clerks and the rest of the court personnel file past it, and see whether any of them knows the man. After you have warned the coroner, go to Mr Wang's pharmacy in the market-place, and ask him to come and see me in my office.'
While walking downhill Tao Gan asked curiously:
'Do you think that pharmacist knows more about this, sir?'
'Oh no. But it had just occurred to me that the dead body might as well have been carried down as up hill! Therefore I want to ask Wang whether there was a fight among vagabonds or other riff-raff on the ridge last night. At the same time I want to ask him who else is living there, beside himself and that pawnbroker Leng. Heaven, my robe is caught!'
As Tao Gan was prying loose the thorny branch, Judge Dee went on: 'The dead man's dress points to a labourer or an artisan, but he has the face of an intellectual. And his sunburnt and calloused but well-kept hand suggests an educated man of means, who likes to live outdoors. I conclude that he was a man of means from the fact that he possessed that expensive emerald ring.'
Tao Gan remained silent the rest of the way. When they had arrived at the mud road, however, he said slowly:
'I don't think that the expensive ring proves that the man was rich, sir. Vagrant crooks are very superstitious as a rule. They will often hang on to a piece of stolen jewellery, just because they believe it brings them good luck.'
'Quite. Well, I'll go and change now, for I am wet all over. You'll find me presently, in my private office.'
After Judge Dee had taken a bath and changed into his ceremonial robe of green brocade, he had just time for one cup of tea. Then Tao Gan helped him to put the black winged judge's cap on his head, and they went together to the court-hall, adjoining Judge Dee's private office. Only a few routine matters came up, so the judge could rap his gavel and close the session after only half an hour. Back in his private office, he seated himself behind his large writing-desk, pushed the pile of official documents aside and placed the emerald ring before him. Then he took his folding fan from his sleeve and said, pointing with it at the ring:
'A queer case, Tao Gan! What could those cut-off fingers mean? That the murderer tortured his victim prior to killing him, in order to make him tell something? Or did he cut the fingers off after the murder, because they bore some mark or other that might prove the dead man's identity?'
Tao Gan did not reply at once. He poured a cup of hot tea for the judge, then sat down again on the stool in front of the desk and began, slowly pulling at the three long hairs that sprouted from his left cheek:
'Since the four fingers seem to have been cut off together with one blow, I think your second supposition is right, sir. According to our headman, that deserted hut was often used by vagabonds. Now, many of those vagrant ruffians are organized in regular gangs or secret brotherhoods. Every prospective member must swear an oath of allegiance to the leader of the gang and, as proof of his sincerity and his courage, himself solemnly cut off the tip of his left little finger. If this is indeed a gang murder, then the killers may well have hacked off the four fingers in order to conceal the mutilation of the little finger, and thus destroy an important clue to the background of the crime.'
Judge Dee tapped his fan on the desk.
'Excellent reasoning, Tao Gan. Let's start by assuming that you are right. In that case ...'
There was a knock on the door. The coroner came in and respectfully greeted the judge. He placed a filled-out official form on the desk and said:
'This is my autopsy report, Your Honour. I have written in all details, except the name, of course. The deceased must have been about fifty years old, and he was apparently in good health. I didn't find either any bodily defects, or larger birthmarks or scars. There were no bruises or other signs of violence. He was killed by one blow on the back of his head, presumably from an iron hammer, small but heavy. Four fingers of the left hand have been chopped off, either directly before or after the murder. He must have been killed late last night.'
The coroner scratched his head, then resumed somewhat diffidently:
'I must confess that I am rather puzzled by those missing fingers, sir. I could not make out how exactly they were cut off. The bones of the remaining stumps are not crushed, the flesh along the cuts is not bruised, and the skin shows no ragged ends. The hand must have been spread out on a flat surface, then all four fingers chopped off at the same time by one blow of some heavy, razor-edged cutting tool. If it had been done with a large axe, or a two-handed sword, one would never have obtained that perfectly straight, clean cut. I really don't know what to think!'
Judge Dee glanced through the report. Looking up, he asked the coroner:
'What about his feet?'
'Their condition pointed to a tramp, sir. Callosities in the usual places, and torn toenails. The feet of a man who walks a great deal, often barefooted.'
'I see. Did anybody recognize him?'
'No sir. I was present while the personnel of the tribunal filed past the dead body. Nobody had ever seen him before.'
'Thank you. You may go.'
The headman, who had been waiting in the corridor till the interview was over, now came in and reported that Mr Wang, the pharmacist, had arrived.
Judge Dee closed his fan. 'Show him in!' he ordered the headman.
The pharmacist was a small, dapper man with a slight stoop, very neatly dressed in a robe of black silk and square black cap. He had a pale, rather reserved face, marked by a jet-black moustache and goatee. After he had made his bow, Judge Dee told him affably:
'Do sit down, Mr Wang! We are not in the tribunal here. I am sorry to disturb you, but I need some information on the situation up on the ridge. During the daytime you are always in your shop in the market-place, of course, but I assume that you pass the evening and night in your mountain villa?'
'Yes indeed, Your Honour,' Wang replied in a cultured, measured voice. 'It's much cooler up there than here in town, this time of year.'
'Precisely. I heard that some ruffians created a disturbance up there last night.'
'No, everything was quiet last night, sir. It is true that all kinds of tramps and other riff-raff are about there. They pass the night in the forest, because they are afraid to enter the city at a late hour when the nightwatch might arrest them. The presence of those scoundrels is the only drawback of that otherwise most desirable neighbourhood. Sometimes we hear them shout and quarrel on the road, but all the villas there, including mine, have a high outer wall, so we need not be afraid of attempts at robbery, and we just ignore them.'