Judge Dee at Work

'Good!' Ma Joong pulled up a chair and listened to Chiao Tai's story. Then he told him about his interview with Miss Bao. 'Com­bining our information,' he concluded, 'it appears that Miss Bao had a fling with Hoo, in between her meetings with the devoted Lau. Just to keep in good form, I suppose. Well, what are you looking so worried for?'

'I forgot to tell you just now,' Chiao Tai replied slowly, 'that Hoo Ta-ma didn't want to come nice and quiet like, I had to go through some fisticuffs with him. The fellow fought cleanly, not one dirty kick or blow. I can imagine Hoo breaking that boy's neck in a fit of rage when he caught him peeping while he was busy with his sister; but to play that mean trick of exchanging the swords ... No, brother, that isn't in character, I tell you!'

'Some people have all kinds of characters, all at the same time,' Ma Joong said with a shrug. 'Let's go and see how the bastard is getting along.'

They got up and walked to the jail behind the courtroom. Chiao Tai told the keeper to fetch the senior scribe, to act as witness and makes notes of the interrogation.

Hoo was sitting on the couch in his small dark cell, his hands and feet chained to the wall. When Chiao Tai lifted the candle, Hoo looked up at him and said sourly:

'I hate to admit it, dogshead, but that was a nifty throw!'

'Thank you for nothing! Tell me more about this robbery you bungled.'

'Don't see why I shouldn't! Assault and battery, that's all you have on me. Only knocked out one carter, didn't even touch the rice bales.'

'How had you planned to get rid of those two cartloads?' Ma Joong asked curiously. 'You can't sell so much rice without roping in the guild merchants.'

'Sell nothing!' Hoo said with a grin. 'I'd have heaved the bales into the river, the whole lot!’ Seeing their astonished expressions he added: 'That rice had gone bad, all of it, you see. Fellow who had sold it wanted it stolen, then the guild would have had to make good. Since I bungled the job, the rice was duly delivered, found bad, and the dealer had to pay back all the money he had received from the buyer. Bad luck all around. However, I still thought the fellow owed me a silver piece for my trouble. But when I spoke to him about it, he refused to cough up! '

'Who is he?' Chiao Tai asked.

'One of your local rice-dealers, fellow called Lau.'

Chiao Tai shot Ma Joong a perplexed look. The latter asked: 'How did you come to know Lau? You are from Woo-yee, aren't you?'

'Old friend of mine! I've known him for years; he regularly visits Woo-yee. He is a smooth customer, Lau is, always ready for a bit of swindling. Sanctimonious rascal had a love-nest in Woo-yee; the woman he kept there was a friend of a wench I used to go around with — that's how I was introduced to Lau. Some people have funny tastes, though. Mine was a strapping wench, but Lau's an elderly hag. Yet he had a boy by her, my girl told me. Perhaps the hag looked good eight years ago. Heaven knows!'

'Talking about wenches,' Ma Joong said, 'how did you get on to Miss Bao?'

'Simple! Happened to see her on the stage the first night they played here, and took a liking to her. Tried that night, and the next, to get better acquainted, but nothing doing! Yesterday night I tried again — had nothing better to do while waiting for Lau to come across with the silver. It was late at night, after the performance, she looked tired; her nerves were all on edge. But when I asked her anyway, she replied, "All right. But you'd better be good, for it's my last fling! " Well, we slipped into an empty street stall in a quiet corner of the yard there, but just after we got started, that boy popped up, looking for his sister. I told him to make himself scarce, which he did. Whether it was that interruption or lack of proper training I don't know, but anyway I was disappointed by what followed. That's how it goes, you know; sometimes it turns out much better than you expected, other times it's worse. But what I got I got gratis, so who am I to complain?'