The Emperor's Pearl
- Автор: ван Гулик Роберт Ханс
- Серия: Judge Dee #9
- Язык: английский
- Жанр: Другие детективы
Электронная книга - «The Emperor's Pearl». Краткое содержание книги:
In The Emperor’s Pearl, the judge discovers that these two deaths are connected by an ancient tragedy involving a near-legendary treasure stolen from the Imperial Harem one hundred years earlier. The terrifying figure of the White Lady, a river goddess enshrined on a bloodstained altar, looms in the background of the investigation. Clues are few and elusive, but under the expert hand of Robert van Gulik, this mythic jigsaw puzzle assembles itself into a taut mystery.
“If you have not yet discovered Judge Dee and his faithful Sgt. Hoong, I envy you that initial pleasure which comes from the discovery of a great detective story. For the magistrate of Poo-yang belongs in that select group of fictional detectives headed by the renowned Sherlock Holmes.”—Robert Kirsch, Los AngelesTimes
“The title of this book and the book itself have much in common. Each is a jewel, a rare and precious find.”—AtlantaTimes
Judge Dee half rose. Dr Pien sprang up, his chair crashed to the floor. His distorted face was livid. His eyes glued to the moving hand, he shrieked : 'I didn't kill her!'
He turned round and stumbled into Hoong's arms. 'Help me!' he shouted. 'I didn't kill her. Only Tong. By mistake! I had been told that . . .' He broke out in convulsive sobs.
The judge had not heard him. Having half risen from his chair, he had turned his head while raising his right arm to ward off whatever danger was threatening him from behind. But he had suddenly frozen in that attitude. He was staring up in nameless terror at the other white hand that had appeared from the shadows behind him, close to his head.
XVII
For one terrible moment Judge Dee thought he had wantonly evoked the dead. Then the white hand rose. He saw with immense relief a black sleeve. The hand pointed at the door that now was standing ajar, letting in the light from the lamp in the corridor outside. It revealed a large man, who stood there leaning against the doorpost.
A soft but firm voice spoke up close by the judge:
'You can't hide from me. Come nearer!'
The voice startled Kou and Kwang from their horrified contemplation of the hand on the table. Dr Pien let go of Hoong and turned round. All three looked in speechless astonishment at the tall woman, clad in a long-sleeved black robe, who had appeared in the light circle and now was standing next to Judge Dee. While they were staring at her pale, strangely beautiful face, the judge leaned forward, quickly took the wooden hand on the table, and put it away in his sleeve. Then he rose, seized the candelabra and raised it high above his head.
They saw the huge man, who was cowering, close to the wall now, in the corner by the cabinet. His thick shoulders were hunched forward, his arms half raised, his fists clenched, as if trying to defend himself against some unseen force. His eyes were fixed on the woman's face.
Her white hand beckoned him. He righted himself and came towards her, step by step, with the jerky movements of an automaton.
The door was pushed wide open. The headman appeared, a number of constables crowded the corridor. The headman made to step inside, but the judge halted him with a peremptory gesture.
The large man kept on moving towards the woman, gazing at her face with his sunk, dull eyes as if in a trance.
'I didn't do it!' Pien shouted again. He was about to sink to the floor. Sergeant Hoong quickly supported him by his arms.
Kou and Kwang had risen too. Kou addressed the woman in black in a faltering voice:
'You must . . . How did you . . .?'
She did not heed him. Her eyes, aglow with a strange fire, were riveted on the giant, who was now standing stock-still in front of her, his long arms pressed to his sides. Then she spoke in an even voice:
'You had plotted your scheme very well, tonight. You were waiting for me in the next street, with two horses, as we had agreed. We left the city by the south gate. You had promised to take me by a short cut to the Mandrake Grove. There I myself must gather the magic herb that would cure my sterility, and give me and my husband the long-desired son.'
She took a deep breath, then went on in the same, nearly impersonal voice:
'When we had come to the grove, you said that the herb grew inside, near the temple of the White Goddess. I was afraid crossing that dark forest, and still more afraid when you had stuck the torch between the bricks of the crumbling wall, and I saw that large marble statue. But it was you I ought to have been afraid of, Yang! Not her!'
The curio-dealer's lips moved, but she went on inexorably:
'First you brazenly spoke about your love, you said I was the most beautiful woman that ever was, you said we would go away together, nothing else mattered, only our love. When I told you aghast what I thought of you and your evil scheme, you fell on your knees, imploring me to reconsider. You wanted to kiss my feet, but I quickly stepped back, told you what you were, a treacherous lecher. Then you suddenly changed into a horrible monster.'
His towering shape seemed to shrink; he made to turn away, but he could not detach his gaze from those burning eyes. Leaning forward she said harshly:
'I accuse you here, before my dear husband, of having raped me there. You tied me naked to the marble altar, you said you would kill me slowly, cutting my veins one by one, and sprinkling my blood over the statue of the goddess. You said I would be given up as lost, no one would ever know what had happened to me. "Pray! Pray to the goddess!" you sneered. Then you left to gather more twigs for the dying torch.
'Lying there helpless on my back at the feet of the goddess, I saw above me the red ruby on her hand, glittering in the flickering light. Its red rays seemed to warm my naked body, strapped to the cold marble slab. I prayed to her, a woman herself, to help a violated woman, about to be tortured to death. I thought I felt the rope round my right wrist slacken. I tore at it in a desperate effort, and the knot slipped. I could free my hand, and I untied the other ropes. Righting myself I looked up at her in humble gratitude. In the uncertain light of the smoking torch I thought I saw her lips curve in a reassuring smile.
'Then I sprang down, wrapped my undergarment around me and slipped outside through a gap in the wall, behind the statue. I plunged into the thick undergrowth. As I struggled ahead I heard you shout for me. I went on in a blind terror, not heeding the thorns that tore my hands. Then . . .'
Suddenly she broke off. Turning half round, she gave her husband a bewildered look. In a barely audible voice she added:
'No, I don't know what happened thereafter. But I have come back now, here to my own house. I . . .'
THE WHITE GODDESS
She swayed on her feet. Mr Kou hurriedly came round the table and took her arm. Looking at the judge, he stammered:
'I don't understand this at all! She didn't go out tonight, how could she have . . .'
'Your wife was speaking about what happened four years ago, Mr Kou,' Judge Dee said gravely.
XVIII
Mr Kou led her away, solicitously supporting her. The judge beckoned his men to enter. While the four constables stood themselves close by Yang, Judge Dee snapped at the headman:
'Light the wall candles!'
There was another thunderclap. Then a torrential rain came clattering down on the roof. A strong gust of wind tore at the shutters. The tempest had broken loose at last.
Dr Pien pointed at Yang.
'He ... he gave me the powder!' he said in a tremulous voice. 'He said it was a sleeping-drug, how could I have known that it . . .'
'You stole my domino, Pien! ' Judge Dee interrupted coldly.
'I can explain, explain everything, Your Honour! Yang said that he wanted Sia to go to the deserted house in Tong's place, later that night. In connection with a very important matter. Sia was to go there after the races. In the afternoon I asked Sia whether he had taken out a marker when leaving by the south gate. Sia said no. Therefore, when my eye fell on that double-blank domino, I took it and later handed it to Sia.' Giving the judge an entreating look, he wailed: 'Yang forced me to help him, sir, I swear it! I had borrowed money from him, too much money. ... I had had such bad luck with my investments, my creditors were pressing me, my wife was harassing me, from morning till night. Yang could break my career, ruin me. ... He gave me a small folder, told me it was a sleeping-drug, quite harmless. It looked exactly like it, I tell you! Later, when I realized I had poisoned Tong, I didn't know what to do, I . . .'