went himself with Tao Gan to the house of Liu Fei-po. The four constables followed them at a discreet distance, with a closed palanquin.
Hoong knocked on the high, red-lacquered gate. When the barred peephole was opened he showed his pass and said:
'His Excellency the Magistrate has ordered us to have an interview with Mr. Liu.'
The doorman opened the gate, and led the two men to the small waiting room in the gatehouse. Soon an elderly man appeared who introduced himself as Liu Fei-po's steward.
'I trust,' he said, 'that I'll be able to be of service. My master is just taking his siesta in the garden; he can't be disturbed.'
'We have strict orders to speak to Mr. Liu in person,' the sergeant said. 'You'd better go and wake him up!'
'Impossible!' the steward exclaimed, horrified. 'It would cost me my job!'
'Just take us to him,' Tao Gan said dryly. 'Then we'll wake him up ourselves! Get going, my friends; don't hinder us in the execution of our official duties!'
The steward turned round, his gray goatee quivering with rage. He crossed a spacious courtyard paved with colored tiles, Hoong and Tao Gan following on his heels. They walked through four winding corridors to a large walled-in garden. Porcelain pots with rare flowers lined a broad marble terrace; beyond there was an elaborate landscaped garden with a lotus lake in the center. Rounding the lake, the steward brought them to an artificial rockery in the back of the garden, consisting of large pieces of rock of interesting shape and color, luted together with cement. Next to it was an arbor, a bamboo framework overgrown with thick ivy. Pointing at the arbor the steward said testily:
'You'll find my master inside there. I'll wait here.'
Sergeant Hoong parted the green leaves. In the cool interior he saw only a rattan reclining chair and a small tea table. There was nobody.
The two men quickly rejoined the steward. Hoong rasped at him:
'Don't try to fool us! Liu isn't there!'
The steward gave him a frightened look. He thought for a while, then said:
'He'll have gone to his library.'
'Then we'll follow his example!' Tao Gan said. 'Lead the way!'
The steward again took them through a long corridor. He halted in front of a black ebony door, decorated with metalwork showing an intricate flower pattern. He knocked several times but there was no answer. Then he pushed, but the door was locked.
'Stand clear!' Tao Gan growled impatiently. He took a small package with iron instruments from his capacious sleeve, and started to work on the lock. Soon there was a click, and he pushed the door open. They saw a spacious, luxuriously furnished library. The heavy chairs and tables and the high bookcases were all made of ebony, elaborately carved. But no one was there.
Tao Gan went straight to the writing desk. All its drawers had been pulled out; the thick blue carpet was strewn with folders and letters.
'There's been a burglar here!' the steward cried out.
'Burglar nothing!' Tao Gan snapped. 'Those drawers weren't forced; they have been opened with a key. Where is his safe?'
The steward pointed with a trembling hand at an antique scroll picture hanging in between two bookcases. Tao Gan went up there and pulled the painting aside. The square iron door in the wall behind it wasn't locked. But the safe was completely empty.
'This lock hasn't been forced either,' Tao Gan remarked to the sergeant. 'We'll search the house, but I fear that the bird is flown!'
After Hoong had called in the four constables, they went over the entire mansion, including even the women's quarters. But Liu Fei-po was nowhere, and no one had seen him after the noon meal.
The two men went back to the tribunal in a morose mood. In the courtyard they met the headman, who told them that Wan I-fan had been arrested without difficulty. He was now locked up in the jail.
They found Judge Dee in his private office, still absorbed in his study of the chess problem.
'Wan I-fan has been placed under lock and key, Your Honor,' Sergeant Hoong reported, 'but Liu Fei-po has disappeared without a trace!'
'Disappeared?' the judge asked, astonished.
'And taken along all his money and important papers!' Tao Gan added. 'He must have slipped out through the garden gate, without telling anybody.'
Judge Dee hit his fist on the table.
'I have been too late!' he exclaimed ruefully. He jumped up and started striding round the room. After a while he stood still and said angrily:
'It's all the fault of that silly bungler, Candidate Djang! If I had known sooner that the professor was innocent-' He pulled angrily at his beard. Then he said suddenly: 'Tao Gan, go and bring Councilor Liang's secretary here, at once! There's still time to question him before the session begins!'
After Tao Gan had hurried outside, he continued to Sergeant Hoong:
'Liu's flight is a bad setback, Hoong! A murder is important, but there are things which are more important still!'
Hoong wanted to ask for some further explanation of that remark, but seeing Judge Dee's tight-lipped face he thought better of it. The judge resumed his pacing; then he stood himself in front of the window, his hands on his back.
In a surprisingly short time Tao Gan came back with Liang Fen. The young man seemed even more nervous than when the judge had seen him last. Judge Dee leaned against his desk; he didn't ask Liang Fen to sit down. Folding his arms across his chest and looking with great deliberation at the young man, he spoke.
'This time I'll speak in plain terms, Mr. Liang! I tell you that I suspect you of being concerned in a despicable crime. It's because I want to spare the old Councilor's feelings that I question you here instead of presently during the session of the court.'
Liang's face turned ashen. He wanted to speak but the judge raised his hand.
'In the first place,' he continued, 'your touching story about the Councilor's reckless spending can also be explained as an attempt to cover up the fact that you are taking advantage of his condition for appropriating his money. Second, I have found in the room of the dead dancer, Almond Blossom, love letters written in your hand. The most recent letters proved that you wanted to break off the relationship, presumably because you had fallen in love with Willow Down, the daughter of Han Yung-han.'
'How did you find that out?' Liang Fen burst out. 'We had-' But again Judge Dee cut him short, saying:
'You can't have murdered the dancer because you were not on board the flower boat. But you did have a liaison with her, and had secret meetings with her in your room. You could easily let her in by the back door of your small garden. No, I haven't finished! I can assure you that I haven't the slightest interest in your private life; as far as I am concerned you may entertain all the damsels of the Willow Quarter. But you shall tell me all about your affair with the dead dancer. One foolish young man has already obstructed my investigation, and I will not have another repeating that stunt! Speak up, and tell the truth!'
'It isn't true, I swear it, Your Honor!' the young man wailed, wringing his hands in despair. 'I don't know that courtesan, and I have never appropriated one copper of my master's money! I admit, however, and do so gladly, that I am in love with Willow Down, and I have reason to assume that my feelings are reciprocated. I have never spoken to her but I see her often in the temple garden, and- But since Your Honor knows this, my deepest secret, you must also know that all the rest is not true!'
Judge Dee handed him one of the dead dancer's letters and asked:
'Did you write this or not?'
Liang Fen carefully examined it. Giving it back to the judge, he said calmly:
'The handwriting resembles mine; it even reproduces some personal peculiarities. Yet I didn't write it. The person who forged it must have had many examples of my handwriting at his disposal. That is all I can say!'
The judge gave him a baleful look. He said curtly:
'Wan I-fan has been arrested; I shall presently question him. You shall attend the session. You can go to the
