that fellow Koo, but since she had to marry someone sometime anyway, and since father insisted so much, why not Mr. Koo? That's how she was, sir, a bit casual, but always so gay! But when she came back here the other day, she was not looking happy, and she wouldn't talk with me at all about her new life. What could have happened to her, sir?'
'I am doing all I can to find her,' the judge said. Taking from his sleeve the handkerchief he had found in the hut on the farm, he asked, 'Does this belong to your sister?'
'I really don't know, sir,' the boy said with a smile. 'All that women's stuff looks alike to me.'
'Tell me,' Judge Dee said, 'did Fan Choong come here often?' 'He came only once to the house,' the youngster replied, 'when he had to see father about something. But sometimes I meet him in the field. I like him, he is very strong, and a good archer. The other day he showed me how to make a real crossbow! I like him much better than that other man from the tribunal, that old fellow Tang, who is often on Fan's farm. He looks at you in such a queer way!'
'Well,' the judge said, 'I'll inform your father as soon as there is news about your sister. Good-by.'
When he came back to the tribunal judge Dee ordered Sergeant Hoong to take the peasant girl to the guardhouse and look after her till the session would be opened.
Ma Joong and Chiao T'ai were waiting for him in his private office.
'We found in the barn that mat with the blood-stained clothes, and the sickle,' Ma Joong reported. 'The woman's clothes tally with Koo's description. I sent a constable to the White Cloud Temple; he'll tell them to send someone down here for identifying the dead baldpate we found. The coroner is now examining the bodies. That clodhopper Pei we put in our jail.'
Judge Dee nodded. 'Has Tang reported for duty?' he asked. 'We sent a clerk to tell him about Fan,' Chiao Tai replied. 'He'll presently turn up here, I think. Did you find out much from that fat doctor, magistrate?'
The judge was pleasantly surprised. This was the first time that one of these two remarkable fellows had asked a question. They seemed to be getting interested in the work.
'Not much,' he answered. 'Only that Dr. Tsao is a pompous fool, and a liar to boot. It's quite possible that his daughter knew Fan Choong before her marriage and her brother thinks she had not been happy with Koo. Still the whole affair doesn't make sense to me. Perhaps the hearing of Pei and his daughter will bring to light some new facts.
'I'll now draw up a circular letter to all civil and military authorities of this province, asking for the arrest of that fellow Woo.' 'They'll catch him when he tries to sell those two horses,' Ma Joong remarked. 'The horse dealers are very well organized; they keep in close contact with each other and with the authorities. They also have a system for branding horses with special marks. To sell a stolen horse is no easy job for one who is new to it. At least that's what I have always heard!' he added virtuously.
Judge Dee smiled. He took up his brush and quickly wrote out the circular letter. He called a clerk and ordered him to have it copied out and despatched at once.
Then the gong sounded and Ma Joong quickly helped the judge to don his official robe.
The news of the discovery of Fan's body had spread already; the court hall was packed with curious spectators.
The judge filled in a form for the warden of the jail, and Pei Chiu was led before the bench. Judge Dee made him repeat his statement, and the scribe read it out. When Pei had agreed that it was correct and had impressed his thumbmark on it, the judge spoke.
'Even if you told the truth, Pei Chiu, you are still guilty of failure to report and trying to conceal a murder. You shall be detained pending my final decision. I shall now hear the coroner's report. 1p
Pei Chiu was led away, and Dr. Shen came to kneel before the bench.
'This person,' he began, 'has carefully examined the body of a man identified as Fan Choong, chief clerk of this tribunal. I found he was killed by one blow of a sharp weapon that cut through his throat. I also examined the body of a monk, identified by Hui-pen, prior of the White Cloud Temple, as the monk Tzu-hai, almoner of the same institution. The body did show no wounds, bruises or other signs of violence, neither was there any indication that poison had been administered. I am inclined to ascribe his demise to sudden heart failure.'
Dr. Shen rose and placed his written report of the autopsy on the bench. The judge dismissed him, then announced that he would interrogate Miss Pei Soo-niang.
Sergeant Hoong led her before the bench. She had washed her face and combed her hair; now she was not devoid of a certain common beauty.
'Didn't I tell you out there that she was pretty?' Ma Joong whispered at Chiao Tai. 'Duck 'em in the river and they are as good as any city wench, I always say!'
The girl was very nervous, but by patient questioning judge Dee made her tell again about Fan and the woman. Then he asked, 'Had you ever met Mrs. Fan before?'
As the girl shook her head, he continued.
'How did you know then that the woman you served was indeed Mrs. Fan?'
'Well, they slept in the same bed, didn't they?' the girl replied. Sounds of laughter arose from the crowd, Judge Dee rapped his gavel on the bench. 'Silence!' he shouted angrily.
The girl had bent her head, greatly embarrassed. Judge Dee's eye fell on the comb she had stuck in her hair. He took the one he had found in the bedroom of the farmhouse from his sleeve. It was an exact replica of the one Soo-niang was wearing.
'Look at this comb, Soo-niang he said, holding it up. 'I found it near the farm. Is it yours?'
The girl's round face lit up in a broad smile.
'So he did really get one!' she said with satisfaction. Suddenly she looked frightened, and covered her mouth with her sleeve. 'Who got it for you?' the judge asked gently.
Tears came in tile girl's eyes. She cried, 'Father'll beat me!' 'Look, Soo-niang,' Judge Dee said, 'you are in the tribunal here, you must answer my questions. Your father is in trouble; if you answer my questions truthfully, it may help him.'
The girl firmly shook her head.
'This has got nothing to do with my father or with you,' she said stubbornly. 'I won't tell you.'
'Speak up, or you'll get it!' the headman hissed at her, raising his whip. The girl screamed in terror, then burst out in heartbreaking sobs.
'Stay your hand!' the judge barked at the headman. Then he looked round unhappily at his assistants. Ma Joong gave him a questioning look, tapping on his breast. Judge Dee looked doubtful for a moment, then he nodded.
Ma Joong quickly stepped down from the dais, walked over to the girl and started to talk to her in an undertone. Soon the girl stopped sobbing; she nodded her head vigorously. Ma Joong whispered some more to her, then patted her encouragingly on her back, gave the judge a broad wink and resumed his position on the platform.
Soo-niang wiped her face off with her sleeve. Then she looked up at the judge and began.
'It was about one month ago, when we were working together on the field. Ah Kwang said I had good eves, and when we went to the barn to eat our gruel, he said I had good hair. Father was away at the market, so I went with Ah Kwang up to the loft. Then-' She paused, then added defiantly, 'And then we were in the loft!'
'I see,' Judge Dee said. 'And who is that Ah Kwang?'
'Don't you know?' the girl asked, astonished. 'Everybody knows him! He is the day worker who hires himself out to the farmers if there's much work in the fields.'
