The Willow Pattern by Robert Van Gulik

Author:Robert Van Gulik [Gulik, Robert Van]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Literature & Fiction, Mystery; Thriller & Suspense, History & Criticism, Judge Dee
Publisher: Scribner
Published: 1965-01-02T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14

A large military sedan chair carried Judge Dee and his three lieutenants to the Yee mansion. The coroner and his assistant followed in a second chair. The fog had lifted to make place for a thin haze laden with humidity; the empty streets seemed to quiver in the hot air.

It was Doctor Lew who opened the small door in the iron gate. He stared in consternation at the judge.

‘I … I had expected an officer of the municipality, my lord. I …’

‘I decided to take the case myself,’ Judge Dee told him curtly. ‘Lead the way.’

Doctor Lew made a very low bow. They passed the same courtyards as on their previous visit. Arrived at the walled-in garden, however, the doctor did not take them to the gold-panelled door but to a side room which apparently had served as Mrs Yee’s boudoir. After a quick glance at the elegant furniture of rosewood, the judge went straight to the couch where the still body was lying, covered by a white piece of cloth. Judge Dee folded back the top. One look at the distorted face with the protruding, swollen tongue sufficed. He motioned the coroner and his assistant to set to work. Having bestowed a pensive look on the maid, who was crouching on the floor in the corner, sobbing convulsively, he decided to question her later. He turned round and went outside, followed by Doctor Lew. His three lieutenants were standing about by the small lotus pond. The judge sat down on the rustic stone seat there and asked Lew:

‘When did you find her?’

‘Only half an hour ago, my lord. I had come to inquire after Madame Yee’s health. Her husband’s murder had been a severe shock, of course, and I feared—’

‘Never mind that. Come to the point!’

The doctor gave him a pained look. He resumed in a resigned voice:

‘The maid Cassia took me straight to the boudoir. She said she was glad I had called, for her mistress had not answered when she knocked on the door to bring her morning tea, and the door had been locked on the inside. Madame Yee’s locking herself in always meant that she had had a bad night and was in a depressed mood. I said I would give her a palliative, knocked on the door, and called out that it was I who had come to see her. When I had repeated this several times without eliciting any response, I feared that she had become unwell during the night and would need immediate attention. I asked the maid to call her son, and he broke the lock with a hatchet.’

The doctor fingered his thin goatee and shook his head.

‘She was hanging from the central rafter, my lord. We cut the cord at once, but her body was already stiff and cold. It appears that she had pushed the toilet table to the centre of the room, and, since an overturned chair was lying on the floor, she must have put that on top of the table, climbed on it, put the noose round her neck and kicked the chair away.

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