The Emperor's Pearl

Back in the tribunal, Judge Dee went straight to his own residence in the rear of the compound. He felt hot and tired. He took a quick bath, put on a clean summer robe of white cotton, and placed a cap of thin gauze on his head. Thus attired he walked over to his private office. Sergeant Hoong was waiting for him there.

The judge took a fan of long crane-feathers from the wall and sat down behind his desk, fanning himself vigorously. Even the brief walk from the residence through the tribunal compound had made him perspire profusely again. He asked the sergeant briskly: 'Well, what's the news?'

'I was lucky, sir, I met a talkative young maidservant of Kou's household, in a vegetable-shop near by. It took me little trouble to find out from her that Mr Kou did indeed go out for a ride, very early this morning.'

'Does he do that often?' Judge Dee asked quickly.

'Never, sir! The maid said the servants were agreed that Kou went out in order to take his mind off the Amber Lady's death. She added that, despite the difference in age, Kou and Amber were very fond of each other, and that Amber always helped Kou to look after his First Lady. It was a very harmonious, happy household, she said.'

Hoong waited for some comment, but Judge Dee remained silent. Suddenly the judge sat up and pointed at two small oblong pieces of bamboo that were lying among the papers on his desk. 'When did those markers arrive?' he asked.

'They were brought a few moments ago by the corporal in charge of the South Gate, Your Honour.'

The judge examined them eagerly. They were of about the same size, and each had the number 207 scrawled across its surface. But, whereas the figures of the one were put down laboriously in the clumsy manner of an uneducated man, those on the other betrayed the sure hand of an ex­perienced writer; the latter also had a thin, nearly invisible groove across it, dividing the marker into two equal squares. The judge moistened his forefinger and rubbed the number off. Putting the piece in his sleeve, he said with a satisfied smile:

'I'll keep this marker. The other can be returned to the south gate. Well, let me tell you now about my visit to Sheng Pa's girl-friend, Miss Violet Liang.'

'What is she, sir?' Hoong asked eagerly. 'Is she really such a refined, delicate girl?'

'Delicate isn't the first word that comes to mind,' Judge Dee replied wryly. 'She is a woman wrestler from Mon­golia, and quite a formidable one too!' He told the sergeant the gist of their conversation, and wound up: 'Thus we know now that a cruel maniac is on the loose in this city, and that he employed first Tong, then Sia to procure women for his base lusts. And of course it is the same fiend who is responsible for the three murders.'

'That indicates that we can rule out your first suspect, sir; Mr Kou Yuan-liang, I mean. I could imagine that jealousy made him kill his adulterous secondary wife and her paramour. But Kou is certainly not the kind of man who indulges in maltreating women just for pleasure!'

'I am not so sure about that, Hoong. To the outside world and even to his own servants Kou appears to be a cultured art-lover, and an affectionate husband, but it is quite possible that there's a perverse side to him. Such people usually conceal their depraved proclivities very well. That's why cases involving these perverts are always particularly diffi­cult to solve. The only ones who would know his true character would be, of course, his two wives. Viewed from this new angle, the story about Mrs Kou going out to visit a friend and suddenly losing her memory does not sound very convincing. What if in reality she was fleeing from her husband, who was habitually maltreating her? And that it was despair over the cruel torments inflicted upon her that unhinged her mind? I remind you also of the scars found on the Amber Lady's dead body, which could point into the same direction. I must say that in that case there were extenuating circumstances for her adultery and her planning to elope with Tong Mai.'

The judge slowly fanned himself for a while, then resumed:

'After my visit to Miss Violet Liang, I visited Yang in his curio-shop. Since Miss Liang had told me that the criminal was a collector of curios, I wanted to gather some informa­tion about Yang's clients. He gave me an interesting character-sketch of Kou Yuan-liang.' He told Sergeant Hoong about the incident with the Persian bowl, then continued: 'Kou destroyed a valuable antique just because it proved to have a small flaw. It's easy to imagine Kou's reaction on discovering that another valuable possession of his, namely the Amber Lady, had the most serious flaw a wife can have: infidelity.' He frowned and thought for a while. 'Yet there's a snag here! Assuming that Kou is a pervert of the type mentioned, would he then have had Amber killed by a hired underling such as Sia? Thus denying himself the pleasure of killing her with his own hands?' He shook his head impatiently.