Death In Shanghai Read Online Free PDF Page A

noticed. Such a beautiful colour. He forced himself to look closely at the marks on the victim’s neck.
    ‘You will notice bruising on the neck. I would say with certainty this victim died from strangulation.’
    ‘The bruising seems to go all the way round.’
    The doctor nodded.
    ‘So it wasn’t manual strangulation?’ Inspector Danilov demonstrated by holding his hands out in front of him, grasping an imaginary neck.
    ‘I would say not. More likely to be mechanical or ligature strangulation, but using something soft, not hard or abrasive. There is incomplete occlusion of the carotid arteries and the skin is not broken.’
    ‘A garrotte then.’
    ‘I couldn’t say, Inspector. All I can say with certainty is the victim wasn’t strangled with the hands. There are no finger or thumb impressions or bruising.’
    ‘Thank you, Doctor. The facts are just what we need.’
    Dr Fang sniffed again. ‘There are four other facts that may interest you, Inspector.’
    ‘Please continue, my ears are on the top of my head, as we say in Russia.’
    ‘That would be interesting anatomically, Inspector, but a little painful when it rains.’
    Strachan laughed and received a warning glance from Danilov.
    ‘As I was saying, four facts. Firstly, here, on the inside of the wrist, the faint mark of a tattoo. Somebody has tried to remove this, but the words are still clear.’
    Danilov leaned forward once more and inspected the inside of the wrist. He reached into his pocket and produced a pair of wire-framed glasses. ‘Suffer the little children to come unto me,’ he said out loud.
    ‘Luke, chapter 18 verse 16,’ said Strachan, looking pleased with himself.
    ‘I’m sorry, Stra-chan?’
    ‘Luke, chapter 18 verse 16. “But Jesus called them unto him, and said, suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.” Sunday school years ago, sir. Comes in handy once in a while, all those years on my knees, learning the bible. But I think everybody knows these particular verses.’
    ‘I suppose they do, Detective. But why would our victim have a tattoo like that? Not so common is it?’
    ‘Not common at all, sir. Usually, it’s a tiger. Or a heart with Mother written in the middle.’ Strachan seemed to think a little more. ‘Or even a naked lady. One time…’
    ‘Yes, yes, Detective, we don’t have time to hear about your experiences with naked ladies. I have two more bodies I have to examine before supper.’
    ‘Please continue, Dr Fang, we wouldn’t want to keep you from your bodies. Or your supper. It seems you have three more pieces of information to give us?’
    ‘Thank you, Inspector. The second is that the victim’s hair was dyed.’ He pointed to the long locks of blonde hair, now dry, that flowed from the head of the body. ‘Recently dyed, I would say. No traces of new growth coming through at all. The third is the characters carved into the chest with a knife or similar instrument. The characters are those for “justice”. Neatly cut, almost like a stencil. I will try to ascertain what type of knife made the strokes of the characters when I have time.’
    ‘And the final piece of information?’
    Now a smug smile passed across the lips of Dr Fang. ‘This is probably the most interesting thing I discovered in my examination of the body. Most interesting indeed.’
    ‘And what is that, Doctor?’
    ‘Well…’ Dr Fang dragged out the revelation, playing the moment for all it was worth, ‘our victim was a man, not a woman.’
    ‘But the hair? The breasts? The make-up?’ said Strachan.
    ‘Yes, detective, all there. But this is, without doubt, a man.’
    ‘How can you be sure?’
    Dr Fang sniffed as if the imparting of secrets of his profession was beneath him. ‘There are noticeable physical differences between the male and female bodies. The most obvious, the genitalia, are how most laymen distinguish between the sexes.’ Here, he stared at Strachan.