The Emperor's Pearl

Judge Dee greedily emptied the cup the sergeant had given him. He changed the towel round his neck for a new one, then continued in a business-like manner:

'As to that unknown maniac, my list of suspects is headed by three persons. Each had the opportunity, and for each I could imagine a compelling motive.

'Kou Yuan-liang is still the main suspect. My case against him is substantially the same as I have outlined to you already. Let's now try to reconstruct what happened if he is indeed our man. Kou employs Tong Mai to get him curios, and at the same time to procure him the victims for his base lust. Tong takes those women after dark and by a circuitous route to the place of the old woman Meng, and Kou himself goes there too, wearing a mask or ensuring by other means that he is not recognized. He pays his victims generously; therefore the risk of their making trouble is small. The only weak spot in Kou's method is that he must employ an assistant. And that assistant, Tong Mai, is a clever and enterprising fellow. Tong wants more and more money, probably threatens to blackmail Kou. On top of that Kou discovers that Tong has a secret liaison with the Amber Lady and that Tong is the father of her unborn child. Kou decides to kill both Tong and Amber. But he is a patient man, he waits for a suitable opportunity. As a first step, he dismisses Tong, doubtless with an ample bonus, and employs Sia instead. Miss Violet Liang told me that Sia is not as clever and enterprising as Tong, and therefore less liable to make trouble.

'Kou knows that the time for taking vengeance has come when Amber tells him the rigmarole about the Emperor's pearl. Since Kou is a learned antiquarian, he realizes at once that it is a hoax, a scheme by which Tong and Amber hope to get funds for eloping together. This is his chance.

'Kou summons Sia Kwang. He tells him not to go ahead with the scheme for kidnapping the prostitute Lee. Maltreat­ing her would only have been a routine amusement, now his mind is on bigger things. Sia promises he'll warn the three ruffians that the deal is off. We know now that luckily for us, Sia didn't get round to that, but that's neither here nor there. Kou gives Sia a map of the deserted house and the pavilion, and tells him that Tong and Amber will meet there after the races, Amber bringing with her gold stolen from him, and that they plan to elope together. Kou proposes that Sia go there in Tong's place, kill the adulterous Amber, and bring back the stolen gold. Kou promises Sia a generous reward. Kou can afford that, for his plan includes the ulti­mate removal of Sia.'

Judge Dee took up his fan. Leaning back in his chair, he went on, slowly fanning himself:

'What happens last night? Kou poisons Tong Mai when he and Dr Pien entertain the crews of the dragonboats at Marble Bridge. Thereby Kou achieves a threefold aim. One, he takes revenge on his wife's lover. Two, he eliminates a troublesome assistant. Three, he nets a tidy profit from cornering the racing-bets. Sia Kwang keeps the appointment in the deserted house, kills Amber, and brings the gold back to Kou. Then Kou tells Sia that the gold was not exactly stolen, but that it was to be the payment for the Emperor's pearl, hidden by Tong somewhere in the pavilion, and that Tong and Amber had planned to flee with the gold and the pearl. Kou adds that he purposely hadn't told Sia about the pearl before, because he hadn't wanted Sia to tarry in the pavilion for a search, after the murder of Amber. Kou points out that, it had been a wise precaution, for Amber had for some mysterious reason been followed to the deserted house by officers of the tribunal, who nearly caught Sia. Kou adds that they'll still get the pearl. The next morning they'll go out there together and search the pavilion.'

'This morning, at dawn, as soon as the city gates are open, Kou and Sia go to the deserted house separately: Kou on a morning ride allegedly to take him out of himself a bit, Sia disguised as a carpenter going out on an early job outside the city. Kou lets Sia search the pavilion, because that will give him a chance of killing Sia when he is off-guard, and also because the fact that the pavilion has been searched will bear out the rigmarole Kou told me about the pearl. At a suitable moment Kou smashes Sia's skull with a brick, throws the body into the ditch, and rides back to the city.'

'Later this morning Kou attends the session of the tribunal. After he has left, he sees in the street Miss Liang leading her procession here. He doesn't know her or the three ruffians, but he does recognize Miss Lee. He realizes that something has gone wrong, and that now we'll learn from the kidnappers about Kou's secret haunt, the house of old Mrs Meng behind the Taoist temple. And Mrs Meng knows him. So Kou hurries out there and strangles her. Now everything has been nicely attended to. He has avenged himself on his unfaithful wife and her paramour, he has got his ten gold bars back, and, in addition, the win­nings of the boat race. Tong, Sia and Mrs Meng, the only persons who could ever testify against him, are dead. Finish.'