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."
"Did he ask you to marry him?" the judge asked.
"Two times he did," Soo-niang replied proudly. "But I said no, never! `I want a man with a piece of land of his own,' I told him. I also told him last week he couldn't corne to see me secretly any more in the night. A girl must think of her future, and I'll be twenty this coming autumn. Ah Kwang said he didn't mind me marrying, but that he'd cut my throat if I ever took another lover. People may say he's a thief and a vagabond, but he was very fond of me, I tell you!"
"Now what about this comb?" Judge Dee asked.
"He did have a way with him," Soo-niang said with a reminiscent smile. "When I saw him last time, he told me he would like to give me something really nice, to remember him by. I told him I wanted a comb exactly like the one I was wearing. He said he would find one for me, even if he had to go all the way to the market in the city for it!"
Judge Dee nodded.
"'That's all, Soo-niang," he said. "Have you got a place to stay here in town?"
"Auntie lives near the wharf," the girl said.
As she was led away by the sergeant, judge Dee asked the headman, "What do you know about that fellow Ah Kwang?" "That's a violent ruffian, your honor," the headman replied immediately. "Half a year ago he was given fifty blows with the heavy whip in this tribunal for knocking down an old peasant and robbing him, and we suspect that it was he who killed that shopkeeper two months ago during a brawl in the gambling den near the west gate. He has no fixed home, he sleeps in the wood or in the barn of the farm where he happens to be working."
The judge leaned back in his chair. He played idly for a while with the comb. Then he sat up again and spoke.
"This court, having inspected the scene of the crime and having heard the evidence brought forward, opines that Fan Choong and a woman dressed in Mrs. Koo's clothes were murdered in the night of the fourteenth of this month by the vagabond Ah Kwang."
An astonished murmur rose from the audience. judge Dee rapped his gavel.
"It is the contention of this court," he continued, "that Fan Choong's servant Woo discovered the murder first. He stole Fan's cash box, appropriated the two horses and fled. The tribunal shall take the necessary steps for the arrest of the criminals Ah Kwang and Woo.
"This tribunal shall continue its efforts to identify the woman who was with Fan, and to locate her body. It shall also try to trace the connection of the monk Tzu-hai with this case."
He rapped his gavel and closed the session.
Back in his private office the judge said to Ma Joong, "Better see that Pei's daughter gets safely to the house of her aunt. One lost woman is enough for this tribunal."
When Ma Joong had left, Sergeant Hoong said with a puzzled frown, "I didn't quite follow your honor's conclusions, just now during the session."
"Neither did we" Chiao Tai added.
Judge Dee emptied his teacup. Then he said, "When I had heard Pei Chin's story, I at once ruled out Woo as the murderer. If Woo had really planned to murder and rob his master, he would have done so on the may to or from Pien-foo, when he would have had better opportunities and less risk of being discovered. Second, Woo is a man from the city; he would have used a knife, certainly not a sickle, which is an extremely unwieldy weapon for a man unfamiliar with it. Third, only someone who had actually worked on that farm would have known where to find that sickle in the dark.