Judge Dee at Work
- Автор: ван Гулик Роберт Ханс
- Серия: Judge Dee #14
- Язык: английский
- Жанр: Другие детективы
Электронная книга - «Judge Dee at Work». Краткое содержание книги:
The eight short stories in Judge Dee at Work cover a decade during which the judge served in four different provinces of the T’ang Empire. From the suspected treason of a general in the Chinese army to the murder of a lonely poet in his garden pavilion, the cases here are among the most memorable in the Judge Dee series.
'Good! You can go. Don't spend the money on wine and gambling!' As the beggar scurried away the judge said to Ma Joong: 'Bring the prisoner!’
The pharmacist Yuan Kai started to protest loudly as soon as he was inside. 'A prominent citizen arrested like a common criminal! I demand to know ...'
And I demand to know,' Judge Dee interrupted him coldly, 'why you were lying in wait for that beggar, and why you questioned him.'
'Of course I am deeply interested in the progress of the investigation, Your Honour! I was eager to know whether ...'
'Whether I had found a clue leading to you which you had overlooked,' the judge completed the sentence for him. 'Yuan Kai, you murdered the poet Meng Lan, and also Shih Ming, whom you used to contact the ruffians that robbed the treasury messenger. Confess your crimes!'
Yuan Kai's face had turned pale. But he had his voice well under control when he asked sharply: 'I suppose Your Honour has good grounds for proffering such grave accusations?'
'I have. Mrs Meng stated that they never received visitors at night. She also stated that the frogs in the lotus pond never croak during the day. Yet you remarked on the noise they make — sometimes. That suggested that you had been there at night. Further, Meng had been drinking wine with his murderer, who left his own cup on the table, but took away Meng's special cup. That, together with Meng's calm face, told me that he had been drugged before he was killed, and that the murderer had taken his victim's cup away with him because he feared that it would still smell after the drug, even if he washed it there in the pond. Now the accomplice of the criminal who organized the attack on the treasury messenger was also drugged before he was killed. This suggested that both crimes were committed by one and the same person. It made me suspect you, because as a pharmacist you know all about drugs, and because you had the opportunity to kill Meng Lan after you had left the Willow Quarter. I also remembered that we hadn't done too well on our duck-hunt this morning — we caught nothing. Although an expert hunter like you led our party. You were in bad form, because you had quite a strenuous night behind you. But by teaching me the method of duck-hunting with a decoy, you suggested to me a simple means for verifying my suspicions. Tonight I used the beggars as a decoy, and I caught you.'
'And my motive?' Yuan Kai asked slowly.
'Some facts that are no concern of yours made me discover that Mrs Meng had been expecting her brother Shih Ming to visit her secretly at night, and that proved that she knew that he had committed some crime. When Shih Ming visited his sister and his brother-in-law last week, and when they refused to give him money, he became angry and boasted that you had enlisted his help in an affair that would bring in a lot of money. Meng and his wife knew that Shih Ming was no good, so when they heard about the attack on the treasury messenger, and when Shih Ming didn't show up, they concluded it must be the affair Shih Ming had alluded to. Meng Lan was an honest man, and he taxed you with the robbery — there was your motive. Mrs Meng wanted to shield her brother, but when presently she learns that it was you who murdered her husband, and also her brother, she'll speak, and her testimony will conclude the case against you, Yuan Kai.'
The pharmacist looked down; he was breathing heavily. Judge Dee went on, 'I shall apologize to Mrs Meng. The unfortunate profession she exercised hasn't affected her staunch character. She was genuinely fond of her husband, and although she knew that her brother was a good-for-nothing, she was prepared to be flogged in the tribunal for contempt of court, rather than give him away. Well, she'll soon be a rich woman, for half of your property shall be assigned to her, as blood-money for her husband's murder. And doubtless Wen Shou-fang will in due time ask her to marry him, for he is still deeply in love with her. As to you, Yuan Kai, you are a foul murderer, and your head will fall on the execution ground.'
Suddenly Yuan looked up. He said in a toneless voice, 'It was that accursed frog that did for me! I killed the creature, and kicked it into the pond. That set the other frogs going.' Then he added bitterly: 'And, fool that I was, I said frogs can't talk!’
'They can,' Judge Dee said soberly. 'And they did.'
THE TWO BEGGARS
This story explains why Judge. Dee was late for his family dinner on the Feast of Lanterns. This feast is the concluding phase of the protracted New Year's celebrations; in the evening an intimate family dinner is held, and the ladies of the household consult the oracle on what the New Year has in store for them. The scene of this story is laid in Poo-yang, well-known to readers of the novel The Chinese Bell Murders. Chapter IX of that book mentions Magistrate Lo, Judge Dee's volatile colleague in the neighbouring district of Chin-hwa, who now figures in this tale about the sad fate that befell two beggars.
When the last visitor had left, Judge Dee leaned back in his chair with a sigh of relief. With tired eyes he looked out over his back garden where in the gathering dusk his three small sons were playing among the shrubbery. They were suspending lighted lanterns on the branches, painted with the images of the Eight Genii.
It was the fifteenth day of the first month, the Feast of Lanterns. People were hanging gaily painted lanterns of all shapes and sizes in and outside their houses, transforming the entire city into a riot of garish colours. From the other side of the garden wall the judge heard the laughter of people strolling in the park.
All through the afternoon the notables of Poo-yang, the prosperous district where Judge Dee had now been serving one year as magistrate, had been coming to his residence at the back of the tribunal compound to offer him their congratulations on this auspicious day. He pushed his winged judge's cap back from his forehead and passed his hand over his face. He was not accustomed to drinking so much wine in the daytime; he felt slightly sick. Leaning forward, he took a large white rose from the bowl on the tea-table, for its scent is supposed to counteract the effects of alcohol. Inhaling deeply the flower's fresh fragrance, the judge reflected that his last visitor, Ling, the master of the goldsmiths' guild, had really overstayed his welcome, had seemed glued to his chair. And Judge Dee had to change and refresh himself before going to his women's quarters, where his three wives were now supervising the preparations for the festive family dinner.
Excited children's voices rang out from the garden. The judge looked round and saw that his two eldest boys were struggling to get hold of a large coloured lantern.
'Better come inside now and have your bath!' Judge Dee called out over to them.
'Ah-kuei wants that nice lantern made by Big Sister and me all for himself!’ his eldest son shouted indignantly.
The judge was going to repeat his command, but out of the corner of his eye he saw the door in the back of the hall open. Sergeant Hoong, his confidential adviser, came shuffling inside. Noticing how wan and tired the old man looked, Judge Dee said quickly, 'Take a seat and have a cup of tea, Hoong! I am sorry I had to leave all the routine business of the tribunal to you today. I had to go over to the chancery and do some work after my guests had left, but Master Ling was more talkative than ever. He took his leave only a few moments ago.'
'There was nothing of special importance, Your Honour,' Sergeant Hoong said, as he poured the judge and himself a cup of tea. 'My only difficulty was to keep the clerks with their noses to the grindstone. Today's festive spirit had got hold of them!’
Hoong sat down and sipped his tea, carefully holding up his ragged grey moustache with his left thumb.
'Well, the Feast of Lanterns is on,' the judge said, putting the white rose back on the table.' As long as no urgent cases are reported, we can afford to be a little less strict for once.'