The Willow Pattern
- Автор: ван Гулик Роберт Ханс
- Серия: Judge Dee #11
- Год: 101
- Язык: английский
- Жанр: Другие детективы
Электронная книга - «The Willow Pattern». Краткое содержание книги:
As Judge Dee copes with the administration of the plague-ridden Imperial Capital, he must also bring his skills to bear on the mystery of two seemingly unconnected murders that could mean the extinction of the city's oldest, most aristocratic families.
'A messenger from the municipal tribunal reports that Mrs Yee has hanged herself, my lord. Doctor Lew discovered her. The constables ...'
'I shall deal with the case personally,' the judge told him curtly. He rose and said to his lieutenants: 'What next, I wonder! And Doctor Lew found her! That suave philanderer again. What is my schedule for this morning, Tao Gan?'
'In an hour's time you have to preside at a council of the wardens, sir, to devise means for persuading the farmers to continue bringing their vegetables to the city. Thereafter you will have to receive ...'
'All right all right! We have an hour to see what happened at Yee's. Get me my robe and cap, we shall go there at once. The four of us.'
XIV
A large military sedan chair carried Judge Dee and his three lieutenants to the Yee mansion. The coroner and his assistant followed in a second chair. The fog had lifted to make place for a thin haze laden with humidity; the empty streets seemed to quiver in the hot air.
It was Doctor Lew who opened the small door in the iron gate. He stared in consternation at the judge.
'I ... I had expected an officer of the municipality, my lord. I ...'
'I decided to take the case myself,' Judge Dee told him curtly. 'Lead the way.'
Doctor Lew made a very low bow. They passed the same courtyards as on their previous visit. Arrived at the walled-in garden, however, the doctor did not take them to the gold-panelled door but to a side room which apparently had served as Mrs Yee's boudoir. After a quick glance at the elegant furniture of rosewood, the judge went straight to the couch where the still body was lying, covered by a white piece of cloth. Judge Dee folded back the top. One look at the distorted face with the protruding, swollen tongue sufficed. He motioned the coroner and his assistant to set to work. Having bestowed a pensive look on the maid, who was crouching on the floor in the corner, sobbing convulsively, he decided to question her later. He turned round and went outside, followed by Doctor Lew. His three lieutenants were standing about by the small lotus pond. The judge sat down on the rustic stone seat there and asked Lew:
'When did you find her?'
'Only half an hour ago, my lord. I had come to inquire after Madame Yee's health. Her husband's murder had been a severe shock, of course, and I feared——'
'Never mind that. Come to the point!'
The doctor gave him a pained look. He resumed in a resigned voice:
'The maid Cassia took me straight to the boudoir. She said she was glad I had called, for her mistress had not answered when she knocked on the door to bring her morning tea, and the door had been locked on the inside. Madame Yee's locking herself in always meant that she had had a bad night and was in a depressed mood. I said I would give her a palliative, knocked on the door, and called out that it was I who had come to see her. When I had repeated this several times without eliciting any response, I feared that she had become unwell during the night and would need immediate attention. I asked the maid to call her son, and he broke the lock with a hatchet.'
The doctor fingered his thin goatee and shook his head.
'She was hanging from the central rafter, my lord. We cut the cord at once, but her body was already stiff and cold. It appears that she had pushed the toilet table to the centre of the room, and, since an overturned chair was lying on the floor, she must have put that on top of the table, climbed on it, put the noose round her neck and kicked the chair away. I found that her neck was broken so she must have died at once. As her attending physician, my lord, I would suggest a verdict of suicide during temporary insanity.'
'Thank you. You will now join the coroner. Perhaps he will want to ask you some questions.' When Doctor Lew had gone inside again, Judge Dee told his three lieutenants: 'While they are busy here, we shall have a look around. First, the gallery. In broad daylight we may discover clues we overlooked last night. Where's that doorman?' He clapped his hands. As no one appeared, he said: 'Oh well, I think I remember the way.'
JUDGE DEE IN THE BOUDOIR OF A DEAD LADY
He took them through the empty corridors and, after but one wrong turn, found the steps that led up to the gallery. Judge Dee went in first, followed by Tao Gan. Seeing that all the roll curtains were down, he told Tao Gan:
'Better roll those——'
He was interrupted by a loud exclamation behind him. It was Ma Joong. He stood stock-still, staring dumbfounded at the gallery.
'What's wrong with you?' Chiao Tai asked testily.
'This gallery is exactly the same as I saw in Yuan's peep-show!' Ma Joong exclaimed. 'The scene of the man in black whipping a woman!’ He pointed excitedly at the portico. 'Only the couch had been pushed over there, in the centre. She was strapped to it face down, and——'
'What are you talking about?' the judge asked, astonished. 'Who is Yuan?'
Ma Joong pushed his helmet back and scratched his head.
'It's quite a story——' he began.
'In that case we shall sit down,' Judge Dee interrupted him. 'First roll those curtains up, Tao Gan. I don't like that musty smell in here.'
When they were seated on the couch, Ma Joong gave a detailed account of the puppeteer and his peepshow. 'Finally,' he said, 'Yuan showed me a second scene, of a villa on the waterside. I saw that scene only briefly, for then the candle in the box went out. And last night, when I was standing on the bridge, it was too dark to see Hoo's villa clearly. But now I recognize it all right.' Pointing at the window, he added: 'The second scene Yuan showed me was a picture of Hoo's villa over there.'
The judge looked round at the window, pensively tugging at his moustache. Then he told Ma Joong gravely:
'This can only mean that Yuan knows about Yee's whipping the bondmaid to death here in this gallery six years ago, and that Hoo was also involved in that despicable crime. Since his daughter told you that her father had been in Hoo's service, Yuan may even have been an eye witness. You must get hold of that puppeteer, Ma Joong. I must have a talk with him.'
'I shall do my best, sir!' Ma Joong said with a pleased grin.
Judge Dee got up.
'I would like you and Chiao Tai to have a look at the balcony. Tell me whether I am correct in assuming that only a trained athlete could manage to climb onto it.'
The two friends went to the windows, and the judge and Tao Gan began to walk up and down the gallery, taking in all its unusual features again.
Ma Joong held a brief consultation with Chiao Tai. They stepped up to the judge.
'Shinning up one of those pillars,' Chiao Tai said, 'that wasn't much of a job, sir. But to get up to the ledge is quite a different proposition. You'll have noticed that the ledge sticks out a foot or so over the pillars, then there's three feet again from the ledge up to the windowsill, and nothing to get a hold on. To get inside that way asks for strength and skill. A hunter, accustomed to climbing difficult trees, could manage it all right. But he would have to be a tall fellow too.’
'Hoo isn't tall,' the judge said pensively. 'But I noticed that he has long, ape-like arms. Therefore I would——'
Tao Gan was tugging at his sleeve.
'I overlooked something, sir, last night!' the thin man said ruefully. He pointed at the wainscoting. One of the panels had swung open, just beside the couch.
'It isn't even a secret door,' Tao Gan resumed. 'It has quite an ordinary knob. But those panels all look alike, and since the light was bad ...'