Robert Gulik - The Chinese Bell Murders

'Your Honour,' Wang answered in a faltering voice, 'to his great regret this candidate is in no position to obey your instruction. The sun had not yet risen. In the uncertain light that precedes dawn I only noticed a few piles of bricks that resembled a crumbled wall, surrounded by a thick growth of thorny bushes. These two features I remember distinctly. As I struggled to my feet, my head still heavy and my eyes blurred,

JUDGE DEE HEARS CANDIDATE WANG

I stumbled over the bricks. The thorns tore my robe and scratched my face and body. At that time my only thought was to leave the dismal place as quickly as possible. I vaguely remember walking at random through a number of small alleys. I kept my head down trying to clear my brain and worrying over Pure Jade who had been waiting for me in vain the night before ---'

Judge Dee gave a sign to the headman of the constables, who immediately hit Candidate Wang in the mouth.

'Stop your lies,' the judge barked, 'and be careful to confine yourself to answering my questions!' He addressed the constables:

'Show me the scratches on this man's body!'

The headman gripped Wang by the collar of his robe and pulled him to his feet. Two constables roughly tore his robe down. Wang screamed with pain for his back was still raw from the whipping he had received three days earlier. Judge Dee saw several deep scratches on his breast, arms and shoulders, in addition to some bruises. He nodded to the headman, The constables forced Wang to his knees again without bothering to put the robe back over his shoulders. Then Judge Dee resumed the interrogation.

'You stated before that no one but the victim, yourself and Tailor Loong knew about your secret visits. This evidently is a loose statement. How can you be sure that some passer-by did not observe one of your escapades without your knowledge?'

'Before leaving the tailor's door, Your Honour,' Candidate Wang answered, 'I always carefully looked up and down the street, listening for footsteps. Sometimes the nightwatch approached and I had to wait until they had passed. Then I swiftly crossed the street and slipped into the dark alley next to Butcher Hsiao's shop. Once there I was safe, for even if someone were to pass through Half Moon Street, I could crouch in the shadows and remain unobserved. The only dangerous moment was when I climbed up, but then Pure Jade would be standing in the window to give warning if she saw someone approaching.'

'A Candidate of Literature, sneaking about in the night like a common thief!' Judge Dee said with a sneer. 'What an edifying spectacle! However, cudgel your brain and try to remember whether anything ever happened that gave you occasion to doubt.'

Candidate Wang remained in thought for some time. At last he said slowly:

'I recall, Your Honour, that about two weeks ago I had rather a bad fright. While I was watching from the tailor's door before crossing the street, I saw the nightwatch pass by, their leader sounding his wooden clapper. T waited till they had walked all through Half Moon Street. I could see them distinctly as they rounded the corner at the far end where the lighted lantern marks Doctor Fang's consulting-room.

'Yet, just as I was slipping into the blind alley opposite, I suddenly heard the clapper of the nightwatch again, and quite near too. I pressed myself against the wall and stood there in the shadows in a great fright. The sound of the clapper ceased and I expected the nightwatch to raise alarm, thinking that I was a thief. Nothing happened however. Everything remained dead quiet. Finally I decided that my imagination or the echo had played a trick on me. I left my hideout and tugged at the strip of cloth hanging from Pure Jade's window to inform her that I was there.'

Judge Dee turned his head and whispered to Sergeant Hoong, who was standing by his side:

'This is a new fact. Make a note of it!' Then, scowling at Candidate Wang, he said sourly:

'You are wasting the Court's time! How could the night-watch have come back from that distance in so short a time?'

He turned to the senior scribe and ordered:

'Read out a summary of what the accused Wang has said at this session, so that he can verify it and affix his thumb-mark.'

The senior scribe read his notes aloud and Candidate

"Wang affirmed that they represented faithfully what he had said.

'Make him affix his thumb-mark!' Judge Dee ordered the constables.

The constables again pulled Wang to his feet roughly, pressed his thumb on the wet inkstone and told him to affix his mark on the paper that Judge Dee had pushed to the edge of the bench.

While Wang tremblingly obeyed, the judge noticed that he had the thin, cultivated hands of the scholar, along with the long nails affected by the literary class.

'Take the accused back to the jail!' Judge Dee shouted. Then he rose, and angrily shaking his long sleeves he left the dais. When he passed through the door leading to his private office, he heard the crowd of spectators start murmuring behind him.

'Clear the Court, clear the Court!' the headman of the constables shouted. 'This is no theatre where you can linger after the performance! Get a move on, do you expect the constables to serve you tea and cakes?'

When the last spectator had been pushed out of the hall, the headman moodily faced his subordinates.

'What a time we are heading for!' he exclaimed. 'A stupid judge who is also lazy-that is the kind of magistrate we devoutly pray for every day. But let August Heaven spare me service under a judge who is stupid and industrious at the same time! And a curmudgeon to boot. What a calamity!'

'Why did His Excellency not apply torture?' a young constable asked. 'That weak bookworm would have confessed at the first crack of the whip, to say nothing of crushing his hands and ankles in the screws. This case could have been over and done with!'

Another added:

'What is the use of these dilatory tactics? That fellow Wang is as poor as a rat in the gutter. There is no hope of getting a bribe out of him.'

'Sheer slowness of wit, that is what it is!' the headman said disgustedly. 'Wang's guilt is as clear as crystal and yet His Excellency wants to "verify points." Well, let us go to the kitchen and fill our rice bowls before those greedy guards eat everything.'

Meanwhile Judge Dee had changed into a simple brown robe, and had seated himself in the big arm-chair behind the desk in his private office. With a contented smile he sipped the tea that Chiao Tai had poured out for him.

Sergeant Hoong entered.

'Why are you looking so dejected, Sergeant?' the judge asked him…

Sergeant Hoong shook his head.

'I just mingled with the crowd outside the tribunal,' he said, 'and listened to their talk. If I may speak frankly, Your Honour, they are unfavourably impressed by this first hearing of the case. They can see no point in the interrogation. They opine that Your Honour failed to grasp the main issue, namely to make Wang confess his crime.'

'Sergeant,' Judge Dee said, 'if I did not know so well that your remarks are motivated only by your concern about my success as a magistrate, I would scold you severely. Our August Sovereign has appointed me to dispense justice, not to please the crowd!'

Judge Dee turned to Chiao Tai and said:

'Tell that Warden Gao to come here!'

When Chiao Tai had gone, Sergeant Hoong asked:

'Did Your Honour attach so much importance to Wang's tale about the nightwatch because you think that those men are connected with this crime?'

Judge Dee shook his head.

'No,' he said, 'not for that reason. Even without having learned of the incident which Candidate Wang related today, my colleague Judge Feng closely questioned the nightwatch, as a matter of routine investigation of everyone who had been near the scene of the crime. Their headman was able to prove that neither he nor his two companions had had anything to do with it.'