Poisoned Bride and Other Judge Dee Mysteries (8 page)

Judge Dee took him to his room on the second courtyard, and bade him enter. Sergeant Hoong first carefully locked the door, and then inquired respectfully: “When did Your Honour arrive here?” Judge Dee said quickly:

“We are in a hostel, and the walls have ears. So don’t address me thus again. Now, tell me how matters stand”.

Sergeant Hoong sadly shook his head, and said in a low voice: “Following your instructions, I have been searching diligently for several days, but could not discover anything. I fear that this man Shao has already left the neighbourhood. Perhaps Ma Joongand Chiao Tai have had better luck”.

Judge Dee said:

“While this double murder is not yet solved, today I discovered something in this locality that may well turn out to be a new case. Tonight we must gather some more information about it, so that tomorrow I can start an investigation”. Then he told Hoong Liang about his encounter with Mrs. Bee, and related what had happened. Sergeant Hoong observed:

“Although this affair certainly looks very suspicious, nobody has filed an accusation, while there is no evidence of a crime having been committed. How then can we open this case?”

“That”, Judge Dee answered, “is precisely the reason why we need some more information. Later this evening, you might go to the street where Mrs. Bee lives, and see whether you can discover anything about what is going on there. Furthermore you should gather some more details in that neighbourhood about the death of Bee Hsun, and where he has been buried.”

He then had some food brought in for the sergeant, and when he had finished his dinner, they waited till the first nightwatch. Then Sergeant Hoong called the waiter and told him to bring a pot of hot tea and help Judge Dee with his evening toilet. “I myself”, he added in a familiar tone, “am now going out to see a friend, but I shall be back presently”.

The waiter, hearing him speak thus, had not the slightest idea that these two were the district magistrate and one of his subordinates. He did as he was told, and Sergeant Hoong left the hostel.

Following Judge Dee’s directions, he found his way through various narrow and winding alleys without difficulty, and finally came to the street where Mrs. Bee lived. He walked up and down that street several times, but everything was as silent as the grave, and there were no passers by. He thought that it was probably too early in the evening, and went back to the market; after having had a look around there, he would return to the house of Mrs. Bee.

The market shops had not yet closed their doors for the night, and the streets were brightly illuminated by countless paper lanterns. Since the market was situated on the crossing of two highways, the place was still full of people.

Loitering about there, Sergeant Hoong came to a large public bathhouse. He thought: “What about entering here and taking a bath? Such a place is always full of idle people, and therefore most suitable for picking up some information”. He went in.

The bathhouse was indeed overcrowded, both pools being occupied by a number of bathers, who sat in the hot water. But he succeeded in finding an empty place on top of the large stone oven-bench by the side of the pools, and there squatted down. He said to the bath-attendant:

“How far is this market from the city of Chang-ping, and how many bath houses have you got around here?”

The attendant, seeing that this man was a newcomer to this locality, answered:

“It is about five miles to the city. Are you planning to go there tonight?”

“I have a relative there whom I wanted to visit. I suppose that this village here comes under the jurisdiction of the magistrate of Chang-ping. Who is the present magistrate, and has there been happening anything of interest here of late?”

The attendant was glad to find somebody who had not yet heard the great news, and said: “Our magistrate is the famous Judge Dee, one of the best in the empire. As to the news, it is just too bad that you did not come here a few days earlier. Then you could have seen something!” Thereupon he related with great relish the double murder of Six Mile Village, and what had happened during the inquest.

Sergeant Hoong showed suitable interest, and then took off his clothes, and enjoyed a good soaking in the hot water. Drying himself on the oven, he resumed his conversation with the attendant:

“I have heard”, he said, “that the Dragon Boat races are especially good in this locality. But I was told also that last year there was a dangerous epidemic here right during the festival, and that not a few people who went to see the races caught it and died miserably”.

The attendant laughed, and said:

“You are telling jokes, stranger! I have been born and bred in this place, and I have never even heard about such an occurrence. Who tried to foot you thus?”

“When I first heard it”, the sergeant said, “I doubted it myself. But then the fellow came with proof, and said that a certain Mr. Bee of this place had died directly after he had come back from the races. Now what about that?”

Before the bath attendant could answer, a young man of about eighteen years old who was sitting nearby said:

“Yes, that is actually true. But that man did not die because he went to see the races. According to what I heard, he died during the night from a stomach-attack”. Then a third guest said to the attendant:

“That certainly was a rather strange affair. How could it be that a strong fellow like young Bee, who that very day was still in perfect health, suddenly cries out once in the middle of the night, and then dies immediately? And remember, when his corpse was dressed, the eyes were bulging from their sockets in a perfectly gruesome manner. There are also people who say that strange apparitions are often seen near his grave. No wonder that people here have their doubts about his death. Have you seen that widow of his?”

The attendant said: “Now, now, you must not talk nonsense. That she, still such an attractive person, remains so true to her dead husband, and does not even once leave her house, that proves that she is faithful. How else could she endure all this? And as to the weird apparitions in the graveyard, out there at Gao-djiawa are any number of tombs. How do you know that these ghosts have anything to do with young Bee?”

The other said: “I was just indulging in some random talk. We in this world are like floating clouds passing before the eye. Today we are here, and tomorrow we may be dead. And then, after Bee Hsun had died his young daughter was stricken with dumbness. What a sad story”.So saying he put on his clothes, and left the bathhouse.

Sergeant Hoong concluded that this young man knew much about the Bee affair, and asked the attendant:

“Who is this gentleman? He seems a pleasant and honest fellow”.

“He is a shopkeeper of this market”, the attendant answered, “and formerly Bee Hsun had a small shop of woollen and cotton goods right next to his. His name is Wang, and since all of us have known him since he was born, we call him Little Wang. He is not too clever and loves to blurt out everything that comes to his mind, but he does not mean any harm”.

Sergeant Hoong made some appropriate reply and, after having given the attendant a generous tip, he left the bathhouse.

He first returned to Mrs. Bee’s house. On the way he reflected that although the features of the case had become outlined somewhat more clearly, there still was not yet a shred of proof; so how would the judge be able to go on with this case?

He again loitered about for half an hour or so in the narrow street where Mrs. Bee lived, but everything was perfectly quiet, and he could find no indication that anything was going on there. He went back to the hostel, and reported in detail to Judge Dee what he had heard in the bathhouse.Judge Dee said:

“Our best course evidently is to go to the graveyard of Gaodjia-wa tomorrow, and have a look there”.

The next morning Judge Dee and Sergeant Hoong rose early, and having breakfasted together, they paid the waiter a few pieces of silver and left the hostel, Judge Dee shouldering his portable medicine chest.

They asked an old man on the road for the way, and after a brisk walk they arrived at a barren plot of land, overgrown with weeds. Bleached bones were lying about everywhere, and all around were the earthen mounds of tombs.Sergeant Hoong looked disconsolately around, and said:

“Now that Your Honour has arrived here, how are we to find Bee Hsun’s tomb among all these grave mounds?”

Judge Dee said gravely:

“I, the magistrate, have come here with the express purpose of avenging his death. Now although the living and the dead are living in worlds apart, I still believe that if my intention is earnest and true, the dead man will succeed in giving us some sign. If Bee Hsun died a natural death, we shall probably not find his grave. But if he was dastardly murdered, his soul must still be hovering about near his dead body, and will manifest itself in some way or other”.

Then, standing there among the graves, Judge Dee sank in an earnest silent prayer.

By this time it was just noon. Suddenly the light of the sun darkened, and a violent gust of wind blew over the graveyard, making sand and stones whirl in the air for more than a fathom. Then there appeared a dark shape of indistinct outline, floating towards them in midair.

Seeing this weird phenomenon, Sergeant Hoong’s face turned ashen, his hairs stood on end as he tried to hide himself behind the judge.

Judge Dee, however, remained unmoved, and said in a solemn voice:

“I, Judge Dee, know that you have suffered a grievous wrong. But I cannot proceed to redress it without knowing your grave. I ask you to show us the way”.

Then a new gust of wind blew the shape about among the gravemounds, and Judge Dee and the sergeant followed it, till it stopped near a lonely mound, standing somewhat apart from the others. Then suddenly it disappeared, the wind ceased and everything was normal again.

Judge Dee and the sergeant examined the mound, and saw that it seemed fairly recent. Judge Dee said:

“A communication from the dead has directed us here. Now you had better go and find the undertaker or someone else around here, to make sure that we have not been fooled by some evil ghost, and that Bee Hsun really was buried under this mound. I shall wait for you here”.

Sergeant Hoong was still feeling far from well, and he set out alone rather reluctantly. After half an hour or so he returned together with an old fellow with a grey beard. That man immediately thus addressed Judge Dee:

“You drug-peddler, you must be a very dumb fellow. Finding on the market nobody who would buy your pills, are you now trying to do business on this lonely graveyard? I was peacefully working on my field, when this man of yours came and dragged me along, saying that you wanted to ask me something. Now speak up, what does all this mean?”

When the greybeard heard this, he just sneered, turned round and wanted to walk away. But Sergeant Hoong ran after him, gripped him by his jacket, and shouted angrily at him:

“Don’t think that your advanced age gives you the liberty to pick a quarrel with anybody you choose! If you were twenty years younger, I would give you a sound thrashing right here and now, and see whether you then still dare to insult people. You are not dumb, are you? Now answer a civil question, and quickly!”

The greybeard, in the firm clutch of the sergeant, could not but obey.

“It is not”, he said, “that I do not want to speak with your master, but he must at least talk reasonably. Now he says that this is a very auspicious graveyard; but how then do you explain that all the families that were buried here died out long ago? Don’t you see the neglected condition these tombs are in? Since last year’s burial, neither I nor the other undertakers have seen one single person who came to visit that last grave. And the daughter of the man buried there was stricken with dumbness shortly after her father’s death! How can you possibly say that this graveyard is auspicious from the geomanticpoint of view? Is that not pure nonsense?” Sergeant Hoong said:

“You must be wrong. Although we don’t belong to the local people, we come here very often. That family where the young daughter turned dumb was that of Bee Hsun. Now do you mean to say that the man buried under this mound is that selfsame Bee?”

“Fortunately you seem to know that at least,” the old man said sourly. “If he is not called Bee, then you must have altered his surname for him. Now this old man has some work to do on his field, I have no time for idle talk. If you don’t believe me, you had better go to the village and ask the people there”. Then he wrenched himself loose, and quickly walked away.

Judge Dee, having waited till the old man was out of earshot, said:

“There can be no doubt any longer that this Bee was done to death in dastardly manner, as is clearly proved by the manifestation of his ghost which we witnessed a while ago. Let us return to the city”.

They walked back to the market, and ate a hasty luncheon together in a small inn. Then they set out on the highway and reached the city just before nightfall. Having entered the tribunal by the backdoor, Judge Dee sat down in his private office.

In the meantime the constables of the court, and the other members of Judge Dee’s retinue, had become anxious when the judge did not appear in court for two successive days. They were just busily discussing whether it was possible that the judge had left on a private investigation in connection with the double murder, in the court hall, when Judge Dee suddenly emerged on the dais, and seated himself behind the bench.

After having called the roll, he first inquired whether Ma Joong and Chiao Tai had returned. The constables reported that they had come back the night before, but on hearing that the judge was away, they had again set out to continue their search. As yet there had been no report.

Judge Dee nodded, and told them to bring in the runner on day-duty. When he had come before the bench, Judge Dee said:

“I have here an official summons. Early to-morrow you take this to Huang-hua Village, and bring the local warden here. While there, you also go to a place nearby, called Gao-djiawa, and tell the undertaker in charge of the graveyard there to accompany you here together with the warden. I shall question them during the morning session of the tribunal”.

The runner went to the guardhouse and said to the guards who were sitting about there:

“The last two days have been nice and quiet, we have not heard about one single new case. And now suddenly there is this job to do. What can our judge have heard that he thus rushes me to Huang-hua Village? Who is the warden there anyway?”

One of the guards said: “Have you forgotten that man Ho Kai? Last year, when he received the appointment of warden of Huang-hua Village, he entertained all of us at a fine dinner party. Have you forgotten all this? Go to-morrow to Huang-hua Village and you are sure to find him. And you had better hurry. You know our boss”.

The runner went home to have a good rest, and early the next morning hastened to Huang-hua Village. He first went to the house of Warden Ho Kai, and had him send an assistant to Gao-djiawa, to fetch the undertaker there. In the meantime he had a good luncheon with the warden at the latter’s expense. They had just finished their meal when the old undertaker was brought in. Then the constable took both the old man and the warden back to the city.

The noon session of the tribunal had opened and Judge Dee was sitting behind the bench. He first addressed Warden Ho Kai:

“Has nothing occurred in your village since you were appointed warden? Why are you so negligent about your duties, that you have failed to report?”

Warden Ho knew now that Judge Dee thought he had discovered some crime committed in his village, and hastened to reply:

“This insignificant person was appointed in March last year, and early in April assumed his post. Since then I have diligently executed my duties. But since Your Honour has assumed this office, the lower functionaries are honest and the people at peace, so that in my village there was nothing to report. How would I dare to neglect my duties since I was deemed worthy of being honoured by receiving this appointment? I beg Your Honour’s favourable consideration”.

Judge Dee said:

“Since you say that you assumed your duties in April, why then are you ignorant of the fact that in the following May a murder was committed in your village?”

Warden Ho Kai, on hearing this, felt as if a tub of cold water had suddenly been poured over his head. In great confusion he said:

“I make my rounds regularly every day and night, but never knew of such a case. If such a heinous crime had actually occurred, how would I have dared to keep it secret and not have reported it to Your Honour?” Judge Dee said:

“For the time being I shall not press you further. But how did Bee Hsun of your village meet his death? You are the warden, you must know something about this. Tell me the truth quickly!” Warden Ho Kai answered:

“I always thought that in my function there were on the one hand things that should be reported, and on the other routine matters that I need not report. Now several hundred families live in my village. There is not a single day that I don’t get a notice of a marriage, a burial, or the birth of a child. I could see nothing out of the ordinary in Bee Hsun’s death; his relatives did not report that there was anything suspicious about his demise, neither did the neighbours file any complaint or accusation. I know only that he died last year on the day of the Dragon Boat Festival. This is the complete truth.”

Judge Dee shouted angrily:

“You dogshead, be more careful about your duties! I know the truth, and you keep quibbling. This is sufficient to give me a very good general idea of your conception of your duty”.

Having thus scolded Warden Ho Kai, Judge Dee had the old undertaker brought before him.

That greybeard trembled in abject fright. Kneeling in front of the bench he said: “I old man am the undertaker of Gao-djiawa, and respectfully greet Your Honour”.

Judge Dee, seeing him so submissive, could hardly conceal a smile remembering his rude behavior on the day before. He asked:

“What is your name, and how long have you been undertaker there?”

“I old man am called Tao” started the greybeard, but the constables standing by his side immediately shouted at him: “You old dog, you insolent yokel. How dare you use the expression ‘I old man’ when reporting to His Excellency? Don’t you know you have to say ‘the insignificant person’ when standing before your magistrate? Here, we shall let you have a few with the bamboo, whether you are old or not”.

Thus barked at by the constables, the greybeard in great consternation hastily said: “This insignificant person deserves to die. I have been an undertaker now for the last thirty years. How can I serve Your Excellency?”

Judge Dee said: “Look up at me, and see whether you recognise your magistrate”.

The undertaker looked up timidly, and seeing Judge Dee thought that his soul was going to leave his body. He knocked his head on the floor several times and wailed:

“This insignificant person deserves to die! I did not know that yesterday I was addressing Your Honour. But believe me, henceforward I shall never again be rude to anybody who comes to that accursed graveyard!”

Hearing these words, the constables and other court attendants knew for the first time that Judge Dee had been out there himself on a secret investigation. Thereupon Judge Dee said:

“Now tell me exactly the circumstances of Bee Hsun’s burial; tell me who brought the coffin, and all you know about this affair”.

“Everytime a family comes to the graveyard to have somebody buried”, the old undertaker said, “they give me two hundred coppers for digging the grave, and making the mound over it. Last year, three days after the Dragon Boat Festival, a coffin was brought to the graveyard, accompanied by two women. They said that the dead man was Bee Hsun from the village, and that one lady was his old mother, and the other his widow. I first planned to bury that coffin right among the other tombs. But when! had dug the hole, and was going to shove the coffin into it, I heard a sound inside. That gave me quite a fright, and I asked the women whether they were sure he was really dead, and what had been his malady. Before the mother could say a word, the widow started scolding me, shouting that things had come to a bad pass if decent people were not allowed to bury their dead in peace any more. Then the old woman also went for me. Now I found it awkward to quarrel with two women, but on the other hand I was not going to let myself become involved in trouble, if later it should turn out that this man had not died a natural death, and if an exhumation were to be ordered. Thus I selected an easily recognizable spot, somewhat apart from the other tombs, and there buried the coffin. Thereafter, however, every night I heard ghostly cries near that spot, which never let me sleep in peace. That I was so rude to Your Honour yesterday, was simply because I have a deadly fear of that particular spot, and did not wish to tarry there. That is what I have actually seen and heard. But as to the manner of Bee Hsun’s death, I am completely ignorant. I beg Your Honour’s favourable consideration.” Judge Dee said:

“This being so, you may return home. But see to it that in due time you stand by in the graveyard.”

Then Judge Dee wrote out a Court order, and told Sergeant Hoong to go to Huang-hua Village that same night and summon Mrs. Bee and her daughter to appear for questioning at the noon session of the tribunal that very same day. After having given this order, Judge Dee retired to his private office.

The constables shook their heads, and said: “We have been visiting Huang-hua Village at least six or seven times every month, but we have never heard about this case! Certainly our judge has long ears! But he is really overdoing it, the double murder of Six Mile Village is not yet solved, and already he is working on a new case! What a hard life we have! And tell me, is there, among those concerned with all these cases, one person from whom we can squeeze a few coppers?”

Thus muttering amongst each other, they prepared to accompany Sergeant Hoong to Huang-hua Village.