Robert Gulik - The Chinese Bell Murders

He shouted for help as loudly as he could. The man behind him turned him round, pinning his arms to his back in a vicelike grip, while the other pulled a knife. Tao Gan knew in a flash that this was probably the last job he would do for judge Dee.

He kicked backwards with all his might and tried to free his arms, but all in vain.

Just at that moment a third ruffian of huge build and with dishevelled hair came rushing into the alley.

Suddenly Tao Gan felt his arms free. The man behind him slid past the newcomer and ran towards the entrance of the alley. The third man aimed a ferocious blow at the head of the ruffian with the knife, but he ducked and the blow went wild. Then that fellow also ran, the newcomer on his heels.

Tao Gan heaved a deep sigh, wiped the perspiration from his forehead and straightened his robes. Then the tall man came back and said in a surly voice:

'So you have been at your old tricks again!'

'I always value your company, Ma Joong,' Tao Gan said, 'but I have seldom valued it as much as a few moments ago! Now what are you doing here in that queer attire?'

Ma Joong answered gruffly:

'I was on my way home from an interview with my friend Sheng Pa at the Taoist temple. I lost my way in this accursed maze of streets. Passing this alley I heard someone bleating for help. So I ran in here to offer the help that seemed so urgently required. If I had known that it was only you, I would certainly have waited a bit till you had had the thrashing you fully deserve for always trying to cheat people!'

'If you had waited a bit,' Tao Gan exclaimed indignantly, 'you would have waited just a bit too long!' Stooping, he picked up the knife that had been dropped by his second attacker and handed it to Ma Joong.

Ma Joong, letting the weapon weigh on his palm, scrutinised the long, evil-looking knife as it shone in the moonlight.

'Brother,' he said admiringly, 'this would have cut through your belly like a scythe through grass! I regret all the more that I could not catch those bastards. They must be quite familiar with this accursed neighbourhood. They slipped away in a dark side street and had disappeared completely before I knew what was happening. Why did you choose such a dismal place for picking a quarrel with people?'

'I was not picking a quarrel,' Tao Gan answered sourly. 'I was investigating the mansion of that Cantonese dogshead Lin Fan, on His Excellency's orders. As I was walking back, I was suddenly attacked by those two cut-throats.' Ma Joong looked at the knife in his hand again. 'My friend, henceforth you had better leave the investigation of dangerous people to me and Chiao Tai. Evidently you were discovered while you were spying on that mansion and Mr Lin conceived a dislike for you. Let me tell you that it was he who sent those two fellows after you, to get you out of the way. This happens to be a peculiar style of knife that is always carried by ruffians of Canton.'

'Now that you say that,' Tao Gan exclaimed, 'I remember that one of those dogsheads seemed familiar to me! They had covered up the lower part of their face with scarves, but the build and carriage of one of them reminded me of that surly steward in the Lin mansion.'

'That being so,' Ma Joong said, 'those people are engaged in some nefarious scheme, else they would not take it so badly when someone tried to find out what they were doing. Come along now, let us return home!'

They walked again through the maze of winding alleys and, having finally located the main street, they strolled back to the tribunal.

They found Sergeant Hoong sitting all by himself in the deserted office of the senior scribe, poring over a chess board.

The sergeant made them sit down for a cup of tea while Tao Gan told all about his expedition to the Lin mansion and Ma Joong's timely intervention.

'I still regret,' he concluded, 'that His Excellency has ordered discontinuation of the investigation of the Temple of Boundless Mercy. I had rather deal with those addle-pated baldheads than with these Cantonese ruffians. And at the temple I made at least a bit of money!'

Sergeant Hoong observed:

'If His Excellency wishes to initiate a case on the basis of Mrs Liang's accusation, it will have to be done with the utmost dispatch.'

'Why the hurry?' asked Tao Gan.

'If you were not so upset by tonight's adventures,' the sergeant answered, 'you would doubtless have realised this point yourself. You saw that Mr Lin's house, although it is a large, well-kept mansion, is practically deserted. This can only mean one thing, namely that he and his people are about to leave this town. The womenfolk and most of the servants must have been sent ahead already. The distribution of the lighted windows shows that aside from the gatekeeper, only Lin Fan himself and a couple of his trusted assistants remain. I would not be surprised if that junk you saw near Lin's farm is all ready to set sail for the south.'

Tao Gan crashed his fist on the table, exclaiming:

'Of course you are right, Sergeant! That explains everything! Well, His Excellency will have to take a decision in the very near future, so that we can serve notice on my friend Lin Fan that a case is pending against him and that he will have to stay where he is. And would not I like it to serve that notice on that bastard! I must confess, however, that I have not the faintest idea what his secretive behaviour has to do with old Mrs Liang.'

'His Excellency,' the sergeant explained, 'has taken the documents presented by Mrs Liang away with him on his journey. I have not yet seen them, but from chance remarks of the judge I understand that there is no direct proof of any kind against Mr Lin. Well, in the meantime His Excellency will certainly have evolved some clever plan.'

'Shall I go again to the Lin mansion tomorrow?' enquired Tao Gan.

'I think,' Sergeant Hoong replied, 'that for the time being you had better leave Lin Fan and his mansion alone. Wait till His Excellency has heard your report!'

Tao Gan agreed and asked Ma Joong what had happened at the Temple of Transcendental Wisdom.

'Tonight,' Ma Joong said, 'I received good news. The worthy Sheng Pa asked me whether I would eventually be interested in a nice golden hairpin. At first I pretended to be none too eager, and said that hairpins went in pairs and that I would prefer a golden bracelet or some such thing which I could wear under my sleeve. Sheng Pa insisted that a hairpin could easily be made into an armband and finally I let myself be persuaded. Tomorrow night Sheng Pa shall arrange my meeting the party concerned.

'Now where one of the hairpins is we shall certainly find the other, and if tomorrow night I shall not be able to meet the murderer himself, then it will at least be someone who knows who he is and where I can find him.'

Sergeant Hoong looked pleased.

'You did not do badly, Ma Joong! What happened further?'

'I did not leave there right away,' Ma Joong answered, 'but stayed on for a friendly round of gambling and let them win about fifty cash. I observed that Sheng Pa and his friends practise a few tricks, familiar to me through the kind lessons of our friend Tap Gan here! Since I wanted to create a cordial atmosphere I pretended not to notice anything.

'Thereafter we engaged in a desultory conversation and they told me all kinds of horrifying tales about that Temple of Transcendental Wisdom. You must know that I happened to ask Sheng Pa why he and his men lived in those miserable shacks in front, while by secretly forcing a side door of the temple they could find a comfortable shelter against wind and rain within, using the cells vacated by the monks.'