Robert Gulik - The Chinese Maze Murders

"Examine those walls for a secret panel. Inspect the windows and those openings there!"

As Tao Gan took off his outer robe preparatory to climbing on the bookshelves, the judge ordered the coroner to inspect the body.

The coroner felt the shoulders and arms. Then he tried to lift the head. The body had grown stiff. He had to turn it over backwards in the armchair in order to expose the dead man's face.

The unseeing eyes of the old general stared at the ceiling. He had a lean, wrinkled face, frozen in an expression of surprise. From his scraggy throat there emerged an inch of a thin blade, not thicker than half a finger. It had a curious hilt made of plain wood, not much thicker than the blade and only half an inch long.

Judge Dee folded his arms and looked down on the body. After a while he said to the coroner:

"Pull that knife out!"

The coroner had difficulty in getting a hold on the diminutive hilt. When he had it between his thumb and forefinger, however, it came out easily. It had not penetrated deeper than about a quarter of an inch.

As the coroner carefully wrapped up the short weapon in a sheet of oil paper he observed:

"The blood has thickened and the body is entirely stiff. Death must have ensued late last night."

The judge nodded. He mused:

"When the victim had barred the door he took off his ceremonial robe and cap that are hanging there next to the door, and changed into his house dress. Then he sat down behind the desk, rubbed ink and moistened his brush. The murderer must have struck shortly after, for the general had written only two lines when he was interrupted.

The curious fact is that there cannot have been more than a few moments between his seeing the murderer and the dagger being stuck in his throat. He did not even lay down his brush."

"Your Honour", Tao Gan interrupted, "there is one fact which is still more curious. I cannot see how the murderer entered this room, let alone how he left it!"

Judge Dee raised his eyebrows.

"The only way by which a person can enter this room", Tao Gan continued, "is by that door. I have examined the walls, the small windows above the bookshelves and the grated openings. Finally I examined the door itself for a secret panel. But there are no hidden entrances of any description!"

Tugging at his moustache Judge Dee asked Candidate Ding:

"Could the murderer not have slipped in shortly before or after your father entered here?"

Candidate Ding who had been standing with a glazed stare by the door now took a hold of himself and replied:

"Impossible, Your Honour! When my father came here he unlocked the door. He stood for a moment in the entrance while I knelt. Our steward stood behind me. Then I rose and my father closed the door. No one could have entered then or before. My father keeps that door always locked and he has the only key."

Sergeant Hoong bent over to the judge and whispered in his ear:

"We shall have to hear that steward, Your Honour. Yet even if we assume that the murderer somehow or other slipped in here unobserved, I cannot see how he went out again. This door was found barred on the inside!"

Judge Dee nodded. To Candidate Ding he said:

"You assume that this murder was committed by Woo. Can you point out anything that proves that he was in this room?"

Ding slowly looked round. He sadly shook his head and said:

"That Woo is a clever man, Your Honour, he would not leave any traces. But I am convinced that a further investigation will bring to light clear proof of his guilt!"

"We shall have the body removed to the main hall", Judge Dee said. "You will now go there, Candidate Ding, and see that everything is ready for the autopsy!"

JUDGE DEE PONDERS ALONE IN A DEAD MAN'S ROOM;

THE AUTOPSY BRINGS TO LIGHT THE CAUSE OF DEATH

As soon as Candidate Ding had left Judge Dee ordered Sergeant Hoong:

"Search the victim's clothes!"

The sergeant felt through the sleeves of the robe. He took from the right sleeve a handkerchief and a small set consisting of toothpick and earcleaner in a brocade cover. He found in the left sleeve a large key of intricate design and a cardboard box. Then he felt in the dead man's girdle but found only another handkerchief.

Judge Dee opened the cardboard box. It contained nine crystallised plums, neatly arranged in three rows of three. These sweet plums are a delicacy for which Lan-fang is famous. The cover of the box bore a strip of red paper with an inscription: "With respectful congratulations".

The judge sighed and put the box down on the desk. The coroner removed the writing brush from the stiff fingers of the body. Two constables entered, and the dead General was carried away on a stretcher of bamboo poles. Judge Dee sat down in the victim's armchair. "You will all go to the main hall", he ordered. "I shall stay here for a while."

When the others had gone the judge leaned back in the chair and looked pensively at the bookshelves loaded with books and documents. The only empty wall space was on both sides of the door. It was flanked by scroll paintings, and above it there hung a horizontal board with the engraved inscription: "Studio of Self-examination". This evidently was the name that old General Ding had bestowed on his library.

JUDGE DEE IN GENERAL DING'S LIBRARY

Then Judge Dee looked at the set of writing materials neatly arranged on the desk. The stone slab for rubbing the ink was a beautiful specimen, and the bamboo brush holder by its side was «delicately carved. Next to the ink slab stood a red porcelain water container for moistening it. It was marked in blue letters "Studio of Self-examination"; evidently it had been made specially for General Ding. A cake of ink was lying on a dimunitive stand of carved jade.

On the left the judge saw two bronze paper weights. They too bore an engraved inscription: "The willow trees borrow their shape from the spring breeze; the rippling waves derive their grace from the autumn moon". This poetical couplet was signed: "The Recluse of the Bamboo Grove". Judge Dee assumed that this was the pen name of one of the General's friends who had had these paper weights made for him.

He took up the brush that the dead man had been using. It was a very elaborate one with a long tip of wolf's hair. The shaft was of carved red lacquer and bore the inscription: "Reward of the Evening of Life". Alongside there was engraved in very small, elegant characters: "With respectful congratulations on the completion of six cycles. The Abode of Tranquillity". Thus this brush was an anniversary gift from another friend.

The judge laid the brush down and had a closer look at the sheet of paper the dead man had been writing on. There were only two lines, written in a bold hand:

"Preface. Historical records go back till the distant past. Many are the illustrious men who have preserved the events of former dynasties for posterity."

Judge Dee reflected that this was a complete sentence. Thus the General had not been interrupted in the midst of his writing. Probably he had been pondering over the next sentence when the murderer struck.

The judge took up once more the red lacquer brush and idly looked at its 'intricate carved design of clouds and dragons. It struck him how quiet this secluded library was. Not a sound from outside penetrated here.

He suddenly felt a vague fear assail him. He was sitting in the dead man's chair, in exactly the same position as the General had been when he died.

The judge quickly looked up. He noticed with a shock that the scroll painting by the door was hanging askew. He felt a sudden panic. Was it from a secret panel behind that scroll that the murderer had stepped into the room and thrust his dagger into the General's throat? It flashed through his mind that if that were so he himself was now at the murderer's mercy. He stared fixedly at the scroll, expecting it to move aside and reveal the menacing shape.