The Chinese Maze Murders

'That is beyond me, Your Honour!', Tao Gan interrupted. 'That box of poisoned plums pointed straight to Woo!'

'Too much so', the judge replied. 'It was badly overdone and moreover based on a wholly mistaken evaluation of Woo's character. Woo is an over-clever and excitable young man of a type that, I must confess, is not very sympathetic to me. But he undoubtedly is a great artist. Such persons are usually rather vague and casual about the routine of daily life, but they show a tremendous capacity for concentration as soon as it regards things they are really interested in. If Woo chose to poison some one he would certainly never use gamboge, and never overlook such a blatant clue as his seal on the paper inside the box.'

Tao Gan nodded.

'The final proof of Woo's innocence', he said, 'was his willingness to eat the new plums I had put inside that box.'

'Exactly!', Judge Dee said. 'However, let us keep to the chronological order of developments. When Ding had reported the murder, I immediately went to see Woo. I wanted to compare the personalities of accuser and defendant. I forthwith decided that Woo was hardly the type to commit a premeditated murder, let alone because of such a far-fetched motive as suggested by Ding.

I assumed that the actual killing had been done by a third person. I could well imagine that a man who had committed such a black crime as General Ding would have many enemies, and I took it that Ding utilized this fact for discrediting Woo. As to Ding's reason for persecuting Woo I assumed that they were rivals in love. The recurring portrait of a girl in Woo's paintings and Ding's love letters convinced me that both young men were in love with the same girl.

Our discovery of the box with poisoned plums strengthened me in my conviction that Ding was scheming against Woo. I assumed as a matter of course that Ding had taken due precautions that the poison would be discovered before his father ate the plums. I reasoned that a man would never risk his father's life in order to get rid of a rival in love.'

'Yes', Sergeant Hoong interrupted, 'I now understand why Your Honour ruled out Woo as the culprit.'

'Indeed', Judge Dee replied, 'I considered Ding as a treacherous and mean character. This prepared me for the next development, namely when I discovered that Woo and Ding were not in love with the same girl. This fact reduced the connection between Woo and Ding to the latter's false accusation. But why then had Ding accused Woo at all? The only possible answer was that Ding himself had killed his father and planned to use Woo as scapegoat.

Then I formed the theory that Ding had prepared two murder weapons. One had been actually used, but I had yet to discover it. The other was the box of poisoned plums, a second weapon that Ding held in reserve in case the first would fail to work. This being so, it was of the utmost importance to find Ding's motive for this hideous parricide. Could it have something to do with the girl Ding was so passionately in love with? I sent Dark Orchid back to the Ding mansion to collect more data.'

Here Judge Dee paused and slowly drank a cup of tea. Deep silence reigned in the room. Then the judge continued:

'At the same time, however, I was worrying about a curious inconsistency. Since Ding had made such elaborate preparations to ensure that his second weapon, the box of plums, would be traced to Woo, it was evident that he would have taken good care that also his first weapon pointed straight at Woo. I cudgeled my brain but failed to find in the actual murder the slightest clue pointing to Woo.

Therefore I decided to return to my first theory, namely that the real killing had been done by an unknown third person, whose deed happened to coincide with Ding's despicable poison plot. As a rule I do not like coincidences, but I had to admit that this case pointed forcibly to the fact that a coincidence had occurred.'

'It was a coincidence', Chiao Tai remarked, 'brought about by the fact which Your Honour mentioned a few moments ago, namely that General Ding had many enemies. And after all it was indeed because of the General's betrayal of his own men, that the old Governor killed him!' Judge Dee nodded and went on:

'This conclusion did not bring me any nearer to the solution of the actual murder, but it helped me in so far that I could now rule out both Ding and Woo as suspects. When I had discovered Ding's motive for wishing to kill his father, that part of the case was solved.'

Sergeant Hoong interrupted:

'So that was that Your Honour meant by referring to half of the murder being clear! Your Honour had then connected Dark Orchid's report about the General's fourth wife having an unsightly mole on her breast, with the reference in Ding's poem!'

'Exactly', Judge Dee said. 'As to the other half of this case, the real killing of the General, I confess that I would probably never have solved that riddle if the old Governor had not signed his name to his deed.

The only conclusion I had arrived at was that the General must have been killed by some mechanical device, for it was absolutely impossible for the killer to have entered or left that sealed room. But I would never have discovered the secret of the writing brush. I am no match for the old Governor's brilliant mind! You will have noticed that after the knife had left the shaft, the coils straightened out along the inside; I would not have seen them even if I had peered inside the shaft.

When during my visit to old Master Crane Robe I learned that 'The Abode of Tranquillity' was the pen name of the old Governor, I remembered having seen that name engraved on the shaft of the brush General Ding had been writing with when he was killed. I thought of Tao Gan's suggestion about the blow-pipe and realized that the hollow shaft of a writing brush could serve the same purpose. The displaced candle taught me that there was some mechanical device inside the brush that was released as soon as the brush was heated. The rest was easy.'

'What shall we do if Candidate Ding does not kill himself?', asked Chiao Tai.

'I shall accuse him and his paramour in this tribunal of adultery and torture them until they confess!', Judge Dee answered calmly.

Slowly smoothing his long beard the judge looked at his lieutenants. When no one asked more questions he continued:

'Now I come to our second case, the old Governor's testament.'

His lieutenants turned round and looked at the picture on the wall.

'The written testament concealed in the lining', the judge said, 'was a false clue deliberately planted there by the old Governor to delude Yoo Kee. The Governor's scheme was successful, for when Yoo Kee had found that document, he did not destroy the scroll but handed it back to Mrs. Yoo. The landscape picture itself contains the real clue, which is much more subtle!'

Judge Dee rose and walked over to the picture. His lieutenants hastily left their seats and stood by his side.

'I vaguely suspected', the judge began, 'that there existed some connection between this landscape and the Governor's country estate. That was the main reason why I went out there myself.'

'Why should there be any connection?', Tao Gan asked eagerly.

'For the simple reason', Judge Dee replied, 'that those were the only two things which the old Governor wished to be preserved at all costs. He took clever precautions to ensure that this scroll picture should not be destroyed after his death, and he gave strict instructions to Yoo Kee that nothing was to be changed on his country estate;

At first I thought that this landscape picture was a disguised map of the country house, indicating the location of a secret wall safe where we would find the Governor's real testament. But during my visit out there I failed to discover the slightest resemblance. Only last night I found the connecting link!'

Judge Dee looked with a smile at his lieutenants. They hung on his lips.

'If you study this landscape carefully', he said, 'you will notice some queer points in its composition. There are a number of houses, scattered among the cliffs. Every one of them can be reached by the mountain path, except the largest and most elaborate building here on top right! It lies on the river, but there is no road at all! I concluded that that building must have a special significance.

Now look at the trees! Is there nothing about them that strikes you as peculiar?'

Tao Gan and Sergeant Hoong scrutinized the picture closely. Ma Joong and Chiao Tai had given up. They looked at the judge with fond admiration.

When the sergeant and Tao Gan shook their heads the judge continued: