The Willow Pattern

Pressure of official business prevented me from communi­cating with you earlier. Today the rain has come, and that means the end of the Black Death, and of the emer­gency. I trust I shall be able to let all of you return to the city in the near future. There were some unexpected developments but, mainly through the untiring efforts of my three lieutenants, the situation remained well in hand. Greetings also to my Second and Third, and to the children.

He scrawled his signature, then leaned back in his chair. Thinking fondly of his wives and children, he felt he ought to add a postscript, a few lines of a more personal character. Listening to the patter of the rain, he groped for a suitable phrasing. Before he knew it he had dozed off.

He was awakened by the entrance of his three lieuten­ants, tired and wet. Tao Gan handed the judge a rolled-up document. Motioning them to be seated, Judge Dee glanced through the official report, written out in Tao Gan's small, neat hand. Hoo had been executed in the square of the communal pyre. When the executioner was baring his neck, Hoo had cast a long look at the pyre, spluttering in the drizzle. 'We are leaving together,' he had said. Those had been his last words.

Tao Gan took the sapphire ring from his sleeve. This trinket was taken off Hoo's body. It should be added to the assets of the Mei estate, I presume?'

'Yes. Make a large pot of strong tea, Tao Gan'

While Tao Gan busied himself about the tea table in the corner, Chiao Tai pushed his helmet back and said:

'When I was taking Hoo up to the scaffold, sir, I asked him why exactly he had killed Yee. He gave me that blank stare of his, and said: "Yee was a cruel devil. He got what he deserved." Shouldn't this admission of his guilt be entered into the record, sir? Just for the sake of completeness?'

The judge shook his head.

'No, it wasn't meant as an admission of guilt,' he said evenly. 'For Hoo did not kill him.' Seeing the astonished faces of his lieutenants, he went on: 'Hoo could not have known that Coral was with Yee that particular night. Didn't she state that the bamboo curtains were down? Even if we assume that Hoo had been watching the gallery from across the canal, he could not have seen that anything special was going on there. And we can't assume that he swam across and climbed onto the balcony just to spy on Yee, and happened to arrive there at exactly the moment that Yee was going to kill Coral. No, my friends, that would have been too much of a coincidence! Also, Hoo was a very strong man, but of squat build, while Yee was taller than average. And the wound had been inflicted from above, by a person as tall or taller than Yee.'

'But Coral said she had seen Hoo standing behind the bamboo curtain, sir!’ Tao Gan exclaimed.

'That is what she thought,' said Judge Dee. 'She had been thinking of Hoo, because Yee made her stand naked on the couch. But this time the devil did that only to gloat over her embarrassment, not to tease Hoo. For there was only one candle, and the bamboo curtains were down. In her excitement Coral did not take in those facts. She saw vaguely a large shadow, and naturally assumed it was Hoo.'

'Who killed Yee then?' Ma Joong burst out.

The judge gave him a keen look.

'After I had heard Coral's story,' he said, 'I worked out a theory. It would fit all the facts, but I had no means of verifying it. I hoped, or trusted rather, that tonight some development would occur that would prove my theory. Well, it did occur, exactly as I had expected. That caused me great pleasure. And not only because it confirmed my theory, mind you.' He took the cup Tao Gan offered him, but it was too hot and he set it down and looked out.

'It's getting to be a real downpour!' he exclaimed. He clapped his hands. When the orderly appeared, he told him: 'Send a man to the guards at the west city gate at once, and tell them to close the sluices.' Then he resumed:

'Let's have a second look at Coral's statement. She said that Yee had met her and her sister in the market, and that he took Coral aside. Now Bluewhite is a clever girl, she must have guessed that something was wrong. The story Coral tried to foist on her will not have been too clever, I imagine, for she is a simple, artless child. Anyway, Bluewhite became suspicious, and decided to keep an eye on her sister. When Coral left that night, Bluewhite secretly followed her. Right to Yee's mansion.

'She saw Yee admit her sister by the small door in the iron gate. She was at a loss what to do, for there is no other means of entering that huge old fortress. However, she is a resourceful girl. She went down to the bank near the bridge, and stripped in the shrubbery. She was going to swim along the bank to the balcony of the gallery, and try to gain access to the house from that side. Since she didn't want to go unarmed, she took one of the iron balls, and tied it into her hair knot. Then she wound her scarf tightly round her head. That would keep the ball in place, and her hair dry.'