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
He buried his face in his hands. 'You knew the murderer, Pien!' Judge Dee said sternly. 'Your failure to denounce him makes you an accessory after the fact. The exact measure of your guilt shall be established later. Headman, let two of your men put the doctor in a palankeen and take him to jail.'
Sergeant Hoong picked up Dr Pien's stick from the floor and handed it to him. The doctor stumbled to the door, escorted by two constables.
All that time the tall curio-dealer had been standing there, still as a graven image, his broad face blank.
Now Judge Dee turned to him. Folding his arms in his sleeves he spoke:
'You abducted and raped Mrs Kou, Yang, and you shall be condemned to undergo the severest form of capital punishment, that of the lingering death. Make a full confession now, including how you had Tong Mai poisoned and the Amber Lady knifed, how you killed with your own hands Sia Kwang and Mrs Meng, and how you tried to kill your accomplice Dr Pien. If you tell the complete truth, I may propose to have the death sentence executed in a less terrible manner.'
Yang did not seem to have heard him. He was staring ahead with vacant eyes.
'You may also confess,' the judge resumed, 'that you have been robbing the temple of the White Goddess, stealing the hoard of gold the priests had stored there.'
'You'll find the golden vessels in my wall-safe,' he said in a toneless voice, 'all nine of them. Cast by one of the greatest masters of our glorious Han dynasty. I needed the money, but I couldn't bring myself to melt down those magnificent works of art. It's there, all of it. Also the ruby.' He paused. He looked hard at the judge and asked harshly: 'How did you find that out?'
'When I visited you this morning, you said that you had never been to the temple. Yet you described the altar as being separated from the pedestal. The book you showed me as source of your information states clearly that statue, pedestal and altar were carved out of one block of marble. I know, however, from a note written in the margin of my copy, that altar and pedestal were cemented together, and that the cement was removed by a later magistrate. I assumed, therefore, that you told me a lie when you said you had never visited the temple; and that, while describing the statue to me you inadvertently confused what you had read with what you had actually seen. It was only an assumption, of course; you might have read about the removal of the cement in another printed or handwritten source, unknown to me. But you confirmed it by falling into the trap I set here for you tonight.'
'So you had only vague suspicions, after all,' Yang said bitterly. 'Well, your sending the sergeant to borrow from me a white hand with a ruby ring was a clever move. It made me wonder whether you had perhaps proof of my stealing the temple hoard; or whether the hand had nothing to do with me, and was really meant only for some experiment or other. I felt that I had to know what would be discussed here tonight. I came prepared to silence you, or that coward Pien.' He pulled a long, thin knife from his bosom. The headman sprang to him, but Yang threw the knife on the table. 'Don't worry!' he sneered at the headman with a contemptuous look. Then he went on to the judge: 'I know when I am beaten. But I may as well tell you that I am an old hand in knife-throwing, and that I wouldn't have missed. But she was there . . . she was in the way.' He frowned. Suddenly he asked: 'How did you discover that it was I who nearly killed that rat Pien this afternoon?'
'I know enough about medical science,' Judge Dee replied, 'to realize that a blow on the head and a few kicks hardly justify a request not to be moved before internal injuries have been checked. One takes that precaution mainly if one has made a bad fall from a high place. Also, a footpad need not rip his victim's robe nearly in two in order to get at his money-belt. I surmised that you threw Dr Pien out of the window of your study, on the second floor. His robe caught on one of the iron spikes under the sill, and that prevented him from breaking his neck or . . .'
'I didn't throw him out of the window,' Yang interrupted gruffly. 'Pien came to see me, snivelling about the strangling of the old hag. When he said he couldn't keep silent any longer, I hit him a good blow in his face. Hadn't realized what a weak-kneed wretch he is. He crashed against the screen and tumbled out of the window before I could grab him. I rushed down and outside, and found that the spike catching his robe had broken his fall. He wasn't badly hurt, and conscious. I had to be quick, a passer-by might see us any moment. So I just told him that the little incident would have taught him a lesson, and shown him what would happen to him if ever he'd try to betray me. I said that he should pretend that he had been attacked by a robber. Then I dragged him over to the other side of the street, bleating for mercy! I could have finished him off then and there, of course. But he was owing me a lot of money, and I thought that the story of the unknown attacker would serve nicely to confuse the issue.' Judge Dee nodded.
'Tomorrow I shall hear your full confession in the tribunal. Now I only want to check the essential points. I take it that Dr Pien spoke the truth just now about his unwittingly poisoning Tong Mai?'
'Of course ! You don't think I would trust that nervous bungler with poisoning a man, do you? I told Pien only that I wanted Tong out of the way that night, because Sia had to keep Tong's appointment in the old villa. I added that I also wanted Pien's boat to lose, because I was planning to make a bit of money out of the betting. I gave Pien the powder saying "You put this sleeping-drug in Tong's wine-cup during the entertainment at Marble Bridge!" Pien is afraid of me, and he owes me money, as I said before, so he had to do as I told him. But it was no sleeping-drug, it was a good, strong poison! I had bad luck, though. If that confounded coroner of yours hadn't happened to be there when Tong's body was brought on land, Pien would have thought that the sleeping-drug had affected Tong's heart, Tong's death would have been ascribed to heart failure, and nobody would have been any the wiser!'
'You wanted Sia to keep Tong's rendezvous in order to get the gold and the pearl,' Judge Dee stated curtly.
'You are wrong! I knew nothing about gold, nothing about a pearl, I tell you! I only wanted Amber, that pretentious little whore ! Do you know that she refused me when she was still a small ugly slave-maid? I told old Mr Tong that she had tried to make up to me while I was visiting there, and I saw her get her whipping. But that wasn't enough punishment for that lewd slut! I am sure she bedded with Tong, even after that fool of a Kou had made her his second lady. Tong denied it when I taxed him with it, but he was nothing but a mean blackmailer, and she . . . I know her sort! I would teach her, make her beg for mercy, as did Gold Lotus there in the temple before . . . before I . . .'
He suddenly fell silent. A sombre glow came in his eyes as he went on softly:
'No, I should not mention that filthy little slave-maid together with Gold Lotus. I couldn't have killed Gold Lotus there on the altar. How could I ever have stained that perfect naked body with blood? I only wanted to cow her, in order to possess that exquisite beauty, keep it for ever, for me only. . . . One can't destroy such beauty, one can't commit such a black crime! I couldn't kill her either as she was standing here just now—four years later, yet unchanged. . . .'
He pressed his hands to his face.
There was a long pause. The only sound heard was that of the clattering rain. Kwang was surveying Yang with raised eyebrows. He wanted to say something, but the judge quickly silenced him with his raised hand. Then Yang looked up. He resumed in a detached voice:
'I had ordered Tong to repair the pavilion. The old hag's hovel wasn't safe any more. And she asked more money, and Tong asked more money — more money for those dirty, stupid women he got for me. They were dirty and stupid, but I needed them. Needed them to avenge the crime Gold Lotus had committed on me.