A Deadly Injustice (25 page)

But the possibility of destroying Lin Chu-Tsai's career, along with that of the damned barbarian, had proved too tempting. He had decided to use the petition as a trap to snare them both, knowing they would seek out the truth rather than confirm the original judgement. They couldn't help themselves as they were too honest for their own good. But if his suspicion that the girl was innocent proved wrong, and his enemies confirmed the judgement after all, Ko had a strategy for that possibility too. Now, it looked as though he would not need it. His enemies had walked straight into the trap he had set according to his tame spy, Tadeusz Pyka. He would destroy Lin and Zuliani, and then that man too, when he no longer had any need of him.

Ko eased out of his hard, upright chair, and called for his servant.

‘I need to make an appointment with the Great Khan.'

Tadeusz's faked report to Ko Su-Tsung, whilst it did what was required of it, was overtaken by events. Even before it was in his hands – in fact on the very day it was despatched – matters took a strange and unexpected turn. As Tadeusz was writing the message, Lin and I were on our way to obtain Wenbo's confession. It all now seemed easy, with only the muddy waters of Ko's possible entrapment to avoid. But I reckoned my corrupting of the prefect would prevent any complaints from the local administration about our overturning his verdict. Li would endorse our conclusions; he would even applaud our uncovering of the truth. A grave miscarriage of justice would be overturned. And Mongol justice – in the safe hands of Lin Chu-Tsai – would be seen to be upheld. Unfortunately, it was not as easy as I had imagined.

The first strange and perturbing thing was a summons from Taitemir, the Mongol governor of the region. It came in the form of a uniformed Mongol on our threshold. He was dressed as a light cavalryman with a quilted blue tunic called a
kalat
, underneath which he wore grey breeches and thick, laced-up leather boots. A short, but razor-sharp sword was belted at his waist. There was no objecting to his master's command – the messenger's stiff and uncompromising presence in the doorway of our house determined that. Lin and I would be seeing Taitemir. The Mongol cavalryman had arrived on horseback, and Lin and I hurried to make two horses ready. Gurbesu watched anxiously on as we left, but did not forget to offer us some advice.

‘Remember. He still may have been one of those guilty of the murder of Old Geng. Ask him about it.'

I knew by ‘him' she meant Taitemir, and was reminding me that she had said from the beginning that we should question him. It was easy for her to say, though. We might as well have put the Great Khan on the spot for the murder. Besides, hadn't we solved the case?

The journey took us out of the city towards the river. We knew that Taitemir's residence was south of Pianfu, somewhere on the banks of the river. What we did not know until we got there was that it was not a house but a Mongol encampment of
gers
– the black felt tents of his race – set in a compound of grazing horses, marching soldiers, and perpetual clouds of dust.

The largest tent stood right in the centre of the compound, like a big black spider in the heart of its web. Our Mongol envoy rode us right up to the entrance and we all dismounted. Three boys scurried over to take the horses and lead them away, while the envoy indicated we should wait. He went inside the tent to announce us. The tent flap – a brightly decorated carpet – fell closed behind him, and Lin and I stood and waited. And waited. The dust began to get in Lin's throat, and he coughed into his hand. I was less genteel, so I hawked and spat my phlegm on to the ground. Finally, the envoy emerged from the tent and waved us over. He stood stiffly to attention, holding the tent flap open, as we bent down and stepped into Taitemir's
ger
. I was experienced enough by now about Mongol ways not to step on to the threshold board. To do so was a great insult, and could result in a beating. At the very least. I stepped over it, and turned to the left. That side of the tent was the men's area, whereas the right was reserved for the women. In our early days in the Mongol empire, Friar Alberoni had persisted in demeaning himself in Tartar eyes by going to stand in the women's side of the tent. I could never teach him the proper protocol.

Several lamps burned inside the tent, and there was no difficulty in seeing the stocky and imposing figure of the governor, Taitemir. Just as we had seen him at the play in T'ai-Yuan-Fu weeks earlier, he was dressed in the long armoured coat of a heavy cavalryman. Short strips of boiled leather were laid in row upon row, covering the coat from the shoulder to the bottom hem at calf height. Leather boots poked out from under this armoured exterior. He stood at a small table surrounded by several
bahadurs
, that we in the West would call knights. As we approached the group, not knowing what our reception would be like, he turned to stare at us. That piercing gaze was all too familiar from the evening of the play. I wondered if we were to be taken to task for countermanding his ruling concerning Jianxu. Had we fallen into Ko's trap already, and would we find ourselves despatched back to Khan-balik in disgrace? Or treated even worse?

The moment it took for Taitemir to recognize us, and remember why we had been summoned, seemed an age. By now the knights were staring at us too, as though we were something to be pitied. Then Taitemir strode over, and with a grunt took each of us by the arm and led us outside his tent. Back in the light of day he squinted at the brightness and looked around at the bustle that was his camp. He sighed deeply, and when he spoke it was in quite sad tones.

‘I know the fashion of the court is now to adopt all things Chin. To live in big houses and have servants waiting upon you hand and foot. And I do have a governor's palace in T'ai-Yuan-Fu. But at heart I am old-fashioned, and I like being here.' He waved a hand at the encircling tented encampment. ‘Besides, we shall soon be on the move. You see me preparing for war.'

Lin understood what he meant.

‘The siege of Siang-Yang-Fu?'

He was referring to what everyone had been speculating about for months. Kubilai's attempts to conquer the southern Song had stalled around the city that Lin mentioned. It was on the banks of the Han river, and without it Kubilai's efforts would fail. It was said that a young general called Aju was planning to take charge of the siege. It looked like Taitemir was going to be involved too. He scanned the preparations for war again, as though reluctant to tear his mind away from war to discuss the matter he must have brought us here for. But after a long pause, which involved him sucking the ends of his straggly moustache, he got to the point.

‘I believe you have overruled Li Wen-Tao and released this Chin girl.'

Despite my reservations about mixing it with the Mongol, I was prepared to wade in and defend us. But Lin surreptitiously tapped my arm, and spoke instead.

‘My humble apologies for being so crude as to countermand one of your officials, but there did seem to be . . . inconsistencies in his case.'

Taitemir looked hard at Lin.

‘But his decision is effectively my decision. So you are not merely going against the prefect's ruling, but mine also. And now the Great Khan himself is interested, I understand.'

The atmosphere was getting tense, but I suddenly realized that Taitemir was trying to find a way out of a dirty business that had, like the gunpowder-filled bamboo explosives the Chinee loved, backfired on him. Lin saw it too.

‘What if you were to discover, by your own efforts, that Li Wen-Tao was a corrupt official? Then you could, with a clear conscience, change your ruling.'

‘Is he corrupt?'

Taitemir examined Lin's face closely, and I held my breath. Lin said nothing, but his face spoke a thousand words. Taitemir's face broke into a grim smile.

‘Yes, you are right Master . . . er . . . Lin, I
have
uncovered evidence of the prefect's corruption. So his judgement on the girl is clearly flawed. I have suspended the death penalty accordingly until fresh evidence is produced.'

Our relief must have been audible, and Taitemir nodded, also glad to be out of a possible bind himself. He had a couple of points to mention though.

‘You have found the probable murderer in this case, then? You need investigate no further?'

Lin eagerly nodded.

‘Yes, my lord.'

‘Oh, and you can furnish me with the written documentation concerning the corruption I discovered as soon as you like.'

I thought with admiration what a crafty manipulator he was. Our evidence against Li had become his. But it had served its purpose, and we had avoided Ko's trap, it seemed. With the business out of the way, Taitemir was more relaxed, and he seemed keen to show us the extent of his preparations. He led us over to a curious device of wood and rope. Set on wheels, it was a large frame on which pivoted a long pole. The pole was set off-centre with ropes attached to a T-bar on the short end. The longer end had a sling attached. I recognized it as a siege engine called a trebuchet in the West. Taitemir patted it proprietorially.

‘Of course it can hurl rocks great distances, but we also now use projectiles made of gunpowder packed in a bamboo tube along with broken porcelain. When it explodes the results are devastating.' He grinned evilly. ‘But even that is not enough. My Chin experts have created a device we call the excrement bomb.'

Lin grimaced in distaste at such an uncouth weapon. But I was interested.

‘What goes into it?'

‘The main ingredient is powdered human shit, croton oil – that blisters the skin on contact – white arsenic, and a sort of beetle that causes blistering. Oh, and aconite. We have heaps of aconite root here.'

TWENTY-FOUR

An ant may well destroy a whole dam
.

A
s Lin and I rode along the grey, stony track that led to the low building that was Pianfu's prison, we discussed the interview with Taitemir. It had left me with an uneasy feeling.

‘Did you get the impression the governor was relieved we had found a culprit for the murder of Geng?'

Lin tried to be noncommittal, but he knew what I was intimating.

‘You think we should still consider him a possible suspect because of his reaction to our identifying Wenbo as the killer? Are you backing away from that position?'

‘No, no. Wenbo did kill his father. But think what Taitemir said about that dirty bomb. It is to be loaded with aconite. He has mountains of the very poison that killed Geng lying around outside his tent. The agent of the killing could still be Wenbo. The prime mover might have been Taitemir.'

‘Because he owed Geng money? He didn't care about being indebted to him, Nick. It is a normal state for a Mongol governor to use his position to obtain goods for free.'

I groaned in frustration.

‘You are right. But you know how Kubilai is cracking down on corruption and building up his bureaucracy. Even the governor in a remote region such as Taitemir might feel he has to clean out his stables before more government officials arrive. Especially with Kubilai's war-machine shedding light on the governor's activities. The quiet disposal of a nuisance might have been a better option than the summary one of a slit throat.'

Lin remained unconvinced, but I was prepared to store my misgivings away for another day. Besides, as we approached the prison, I could see signs of unusual behaviour. It was still early morning, but the bulky figure of the prefect, dressed in his blue silk robe, was in evidence already. He was stomping around the compound in front of the cell block, waving an elegant bamboo cane at the cowering gaoler. The door to Wenbo's cell stood half open, the interior dark and ominous. I murmured to the already shaken Lin Chu-Tsai.

‘I will go ahead and see what has happened. If they have let Wenbo slip through their hands, either deliberately or accidentally, then heads will roll.'

The mood I was in, I meant what I said quite literally. The executioner's blade had been denied Jianxu – it could be slaked on Li's blood for all I cared. I spurred my horse up the track towards the two men, who were still squabbling and had not seen my approach. I dismounted and called out.

‘What is going on here?'

Both Li and the gaoler turned to face me, startled by my sudden appearance. The gaoler cowered before the demon, and even Li looked crushed. He could not look me in the eye, and poked at the ground with his silver-topped cane.

‘There is a problem, Master Investigator.'

I was angry, and prodded the prefect in his soft breasts.

‘I hope Wenbo has not escaped, or worse still been deliberately released by you. I have to see him today.'

Li's face was ashen.

‘Geng Wenbo is still in his cell, and you can see him. But it is going to be impossible to get a confession out of him.'

By this time, Lin, at his horse's more sedate pace, had caught me up.

‘And why is that, Master Li? Are you denying us access to our suspect? The Great Khan himself will hear of this.'

Li blustered as Lin got off his mount.

‘No, you don't understand me.' He sighed, his whole fat face collapsing over the stiff collar of his gown. He waved his cane at the gaoler.

‘Show them what you found this morning.'

We followed the bandy-legged gaoler into Wenbo's cell, and at first I thought it was empty. I could see no sign of the boy. I called out to Li.

‘Is this some sort of trick?'

In a quavering voice, he replied.

‘Look behind the door.'

Both Lin and I peered into the darkness immediately behind the half-open cell door. We gasped simultaneously. Wenbo was pinioned halfway up the door his legs folded under him. His head stuck out at an awkward angle and his face was red and bloated. My immediate reaction was that somehow Geng Wenbo had hanged himself from the bars of the cell door grille. Looking more closely, my suspicion was confirmed. I could see a thin cord embedded in his neck, which must have originally been used as a belt around his waist. From his neck, a loop of it went around one of the bars in the grille. Lin spoke in wonderment, and with not a little suspicion.