negotiations.
When I got back to the house, Tadeusz was standing in the courtyard talking to Lin. He had returned, but I could see from Lin’s eyes that he had not yet plucked up the courage to tell Pyka that we knew of his betrayal. On the contrary, the little silversmith was gesticulating excitedly with both hands. He caught Lin’s glance over his shoulder and turned to look at who had just arrived. When he saw me, his face lit up, and he rushed across the dusty yard.
‘I have found him. The doctor. He was practising in the village in the hills just as I had been told. But when I eventually got there, he had been called to some remote farm. He is not due back for a couple of days, so I thought I would return. The village is less than a day away, and I reckon it would be better for you to be there when he returns, Nick. If he proved reluctant to talk, I could do nothing. And by the time I came back for you, he might have been scared off. This way, you can be in the village with me before he even returns.’
‘How do you know he is our man? Sun is a common name, I believe.’
Tadeusz laughed, and the flame-scorched side of his face turned even redder.
‘When I enquired about a doctor, the elders of the village suggested I might like to go and find one elsewhere. They hinted that he was not the best physician in the world, or why would he be hiding away in their poor village. He was all they could afford, but I surely could find better. No, it’s our man, I am sure.’
‘Good. Then we will set off first thing in the morning.’
I looked enquiringly over at Lin, who inclined his head slightly. It was time to confront Tadeusz.
‘But before we do, there is something else you need to tell us about.’
Tadeusz looked ingenuously from me to Lin.
‘What is that, Nick?’
Lin whisked the incriminating note from his sleeve, and Pyka’s face fell.
‘There is no point in asking where you got that, is there?’
Lin looked stern.
‘I know it was wrong of me to go through your possessions, Tadeusz. But you have to admit, we deserve an explanation.’
Pyka looked nervously across the courtyard. He didn’t want everyone to see his humiliation, least of all Gurbesu whom he worshipped from afar.
‘Can we go somewhere more private?’
Lin waved an elegant hand towards his own rooms. Tadeusz went ahead, and we followed, probably as heavy-hearted as he was. Betrayal is bitter, but especially so when it involves one of your closest and trusted friends. Once we were in Lin’s room, Po Ku was sent on an errand to get him out of the way. All three of us remained standing, as the tension was palpable. No one seemed ready to speak first, so I took a deep breath.
‘Why, Tadeusz?’
He looked a little defiant at first.
‘I suppose it’s no good denying it.’
In reply, Lin just waved the letter from Ko.
‘No, I suppose not.’
Suddenly, it was as if the inflated bladder I had seen Chinee officials kicking about for fun had burst, and Tadeusz’s shoulders slumped.
‘God, I am sorry, Chu-Tsai. I felt terrible enough reporting to Ko about your meeting with the young actor, but spreading those rumours made me feel worse. Believe me, I did not suggest anything improper took place between you and Tien-jan Hsiu. I was just under orders to report on anyone you and Nick met. When I got that — ’ he gestured at the letter still in Lin’s accusing hand — ‘I was disgusted, but there was nothing I could do but obey Ko.’
‘Why?’
It was Lin’s turn to ask, and Pyka looked crestfallen.
‘Because he has promised me information in return.’
I looked at Lin, who returned my puzzled gaze.
‘What information could make you betray your friends?’
The silversmith gulped, and a tear formed in the corner of his eye coursing down his unscarred cheek.
‘Information about my family.’
I felt a shock run through my spine. Tadeusz had been captured by the Mongols more than twenty-five years ago, when they devastated his home town of Breslau. He had always told us that his wife and children had died in the attack. Was he now suggesting that Ko Su-Tsung had news of them? It was impossible. Or was it? Ko, as master of the Censorate, a department that spied on all the officials who worked for Kubilai, had unprecedented access to records and files to do with the running of the empire. Could he have found something out? I put an arm on Tadeusz’s shoulder.
‘Do you really think he knows what happened to them?’
He sighed deeply.
‘I don’t think so, but I couldn’t just ignore it, could I? What if they were still alive?’
My heart went out to this man I had just recently almost written off as a traitor. As a man myself who had lost one he loved in Venice, I could understand his dilemma. I personally thought Ko was playing him, and had no real information to sell, but I would stand by him.
‘Tadeusz, you should have come to us as soon as Ko approached you. We are your friends and we would have helped.’
He stared me in the face for the first time since he had been accused.
‘I know that now. But I was fearful of losing everything all over again.’
Lin, who was usually embarrassed by shows of affection, touched Tadeusz briefly on the arm.
‘You won’t lose anything, least of all our friendship. I will help you find this information about your family, if it exists. And in the meantime, you will continue reporting to Ko.’
Tadeusz looked aghast.
‘You want me to continue spying on you?’
Lin smiled that little secret smile of his.
‘No, but you will send letters back to Ko, misleading him about our investigation to such an extent he will be humiliated on our triumphant return to Tatu.’
I clapped a relieved Tadeusz on the back, and roared with laughter at Lin’s clever stratagem.
‘Now, let’s have some supper together. I have a play script to show you all.’
The meal was a restrained affair, especially as Lin and I had agreed we would say nothing to anyone else about Tadeusz’s misdemeanour. Po Ku, who served us, was indifferent to the atmosphere anyway. But I think Gurbesu suspected something was wrong. Tadeusz was more subdued than normal, and only replied tersely to her when she asked for news about the errant doctor. She cast a glance at me, so I shook my head slightly and she got the hint. She stopped pressing him.
Once Po Ku had cleared the remains of our meal, I produced the linen-wrapped parcel. Handing it over to Lin, I invited him to read it.
‘This is what we have been looking for. The text of the play with Nu’s hints hidden in it.’
Eagerly, Lin unwrapped it, revealing a stained and well-thumbed set of sheets stitched together along the top edge. He began to leaf through the pages, muttering the lines to himself under his breath. Impatient to learn what secrets the play script held, I began to form a question. But before it could emerge from my lips, Lin held up his hand. I quelled my bubbling curiosity, and Tadeusz, Gurbesu and I sat in silence while Lin scanned the script. Only when he had turned the last page did he comment.
‘I now can guess what Nu saw, or thought he saw.’ He waved the script in the air. ‘This is a fair copy of the original text — or as close as any copy ever is — and in it are Nu’s amendments. See, he has scribbled one in on this page and scored the original out.’
I looked closely, and could see where a change had been made, though I did not understand the words.
‘What does it say?’
‘It should read, “Who could have guessed behind that smile a dagger lay; or that my eyes beheld my own lonely gravesite.” But he changed the end of the lines to read, “Or that my eyes beheld the person who sold the poison.”’
