"In that case," Judge Dee remarked dryly, "you had better find the explanation of how your son could have left his room. Its only window is barred, and the door was locked on the inside."

The doctor clapped his hand against his forehead. He said, annoyed:

"To think that I didn't even realize that!"

"I'll give you an opportunity to ponder over that puzzle!" the judge said curtly. "Until further notice you shall not leave this house. I shall now go to the Buddhist Temple and have an autopsy conducted on Moon Fairy's body. I deem this step necessary in the interests of justice, so you can spare yourself the trouble of protesting!"

Dr. Djang looked furious. But he restrained himself. He turned round and left the hall without another word.

The headman herded about a dozen men and women into the hall. "That's all there was, Your Honor!" he announced.

Judge Dee quickly looked them over. No one showed any resemblance to the apparition he had seen outside the window. He questioned the maid Peony about her trying to rouse the newlywed couple, but her answers tallied exactly with the statement made by the professor.

When the judge had dismissed them, Ma Joong and Chiao Tai came in. The former wiped the sweat from his brow and said:

"We have searched the entire neighborhood, Your Honor, but without result. We found no one about but a lemonade vendor who sat snoring by the side of his cart. Because of the midday heat the streets were deserted. Next to the garden door we found two bundles of firewood, evidently left there by a pedlar, but the man himself was nowhere to be seen."

Judge Dee told them briefly about the weird man who had been watching him from outside the window. Then he ordered the headman to go to the houses of Liu Fei-po and Guildmaster Wang, and to summon them to the Buddhist Temple for the autopsy. Ma Joong was to go there too, to see that the constables had put everything in order. To Chiao Tai he said: "You'll stay here with two constables and see to it that Dr. Djang doesn't leave the house! And keep your eyes skinned for that queer fellow who watched me!"

The judge went to his palanquin, angrily swinging his sleeves. He ascended together with Sergeant Hoong, and they were carried to the temple.

As he climbed the broad steps of the gatehouse Judge Dee noticed that they were overgrown with weeds and that the red lacquer was peeling off the high pillars of the monumental gate. He remembered having heard that a few years before the monks had left and that the temple was now in charge of an old caretaker.

He walked with Hoong through a dilapidated corridor to the side hall of the temple. There he found Ma Joong waiting for him, together with the coroner and the constables. Ma Joong introduced three other men as the undertaker and his two assistants. On the right stood a high altar, completely bare. In front of it was the coffin, resting on two trestles. On the other side of the hall the constables had placed a large table for the temporary tribunal, flanked by a smaller table for the scribe. Before he went to sit behind the table, Judge Dee called the undertaker and his two men. As they were kneeling down he asked the undertaker:

"Do you remember whether the window of the bridal room where you washed the corpse was open or closed?"

The man looked, dumfounded, at his assistants. The younger one replied at once:

"It was closed, Your Honor! I wanted to open it because it was rather hot in the room, but the crossbar had become stuck, and I could not push it back."

The judge nodded. Then he asked again:

"Did you notice while you were washing the body any signs of violence? Wounds, bruises or discolored spots?"

The undertaker shook his head.

"I was rather astonished by all that blood, Your Honor, and therefore examined the body with special care. But there was no wound, not even a scratch! I may add that the girl was sturdily built. She must have been rather strong for a young lady of her class."

"Did you place the body immediately in the coffin after you had washed it and put it in the shroud?" Judge Dee asked.

"We did, Your Honor. Mr. Koong had ordered us to bring a temporary coffin, because the parents would have to decide later on when and where she would be buried. The coffin was made of thin boards, and it took little time to nail the lid on."

In the meantime the coroner had spread out a thick reed mat on the floor in front of the coffin. He now placed there a copper basin with hot water.

Then Liu Fei-po and Guildmaster Wang came in. After they had greeted Judge Dee, he went to sit in the armchair behind the table. He rapped three times with his knuckles and said:

"This special session of the tribunal has been convened to settle some doubts that have arisen concerning the manner in which Mrs. Djang Hoo-piao, nee Liu, met her death. The coffin shall be opened and the coroner of this tribunal shall conduct an autopsy. Since this is not an exhumation but merely a sequel to the routine preliminary examination, the parents' consent is not required. I have, however, requested Liu Fei-po, the father of the deceased, to be present as a witness, and the Guildmaster Wang, in the same capacity. Dr. Djang Wen-djang is unable to attend since he has been placed under house arrest."

On a sign of the judge a constable lighted two bundles of incense sticks. One he laid on the edge of Judge Dee's table, the other he put in a vase which he placed on the floor next to the coffin. When the thick gray smoke filled the hall with its acrid smell, Judge Dee ordered the undertaker to open the coffin.

He inserted his chisel under the lid. His assistants started to pry loose the nails.

As the two men were lifting the lid, the undertaker suddenly backed away with a gasp. His frightened assistants let the lid clatter to the floor.

The coroner quickly stepped up to the coffin and looked inside.

"A ghastly thing has happened!" he exclaimed.

Judge Dee rose at once and rushed over to his side. After one look he drew back involuntarily.

In the coffin lay the body of a fully dressed man. His head was a mass of clotted blood.

They stood silently round the coffin, staring with unbelieving eyes at the hideous corpse. The forehead had been cleft by a fearful blow. Covered with dried blood, the head presented a sickening sight.

"Where is my daughter?" Liu Fei-po suddenly screamed. "I want my daughter!" Guildmaster Wang put his arm round the shoulder of the stricken man and led him away. He was sobbing wildly.

Judge Dee turned round abruptly and went back to the bench. He rapped the table hard and said testily:

"Let everyone return to his appointed place! Ma Joong, go and search this temple! Undertaker, let your assistants take the body out of the coffin!"

Slowly the two men lifted the stiff corpse from the coffin and lowered it onto the reed mat. The coroner knelt by its side and carefully removed the bloodstained clothes. The jacket and trousers were of rough cotton, showing clumsy patches. He folded these articles and put them in a neat pile. Then he looked up expectantly at the judge.

Judge Dee took his vermilion writing brush and wrote at the head of an official form: "One male person of unknown identity." He gave the form to the scribe.

The coroner dipped a towel in the copper basin and removed the blood from the head, revealing the terrible, gaping wound. Thereafter he washed the entire body, examining it inch by inch. Finally he rose and reported:

"One body of a male person, musculature well developed, age approximately fifty years. Rough hands with broken nails, pronounced callosity on the right thumb. Thin, short beard and gray mustache, bald head. Cause of death: one wound in the middle of the forehead, one inch broad and two inches deep, presumably inflicted by a two-handed sword or a large ax."