The Eight Curious Cases of Inspector Zhang Read Online Free PDF Page B

would be blood there. The only place where there is blood is the bed. Therefore you stabbed him on the bed.”
    â€œWe were struggling. I pushed him back.”
    â€œAnd then you stabbed him?”
    â€œMy pen was in my top pocket. He grabbed it during the struggle and tried to force it into my eye. I pushed it away and it …” He fell silent, unable or unwilling to finish the sentence.
    â€œYou stabbed him in the throat?”
    Mercier nodded.
    â€œAnd then rather than leaving the room, you hid in the closet again?”
    â€œI didn’t know what else to do. I knew that he had ordered room service so I couldn’t risk being seen in the corridor.”
    â€œSo you waited until the room service waiter discovered the body and while he was phoning the front desk you slipped out of the closet?”
    Mercier nodded. “I went through to the next room but there was someone in the corridor so I couldn’t leave and I had to pretend that I’d just arrived. It was an accident, Inspector Zhang. I swear.”
    â€œThat’s for a judge to consider,” said Inspector Zhang. “There is one more piece of evidence that I require from you, Mr. Mercier. Your handkerchief.”
    â€œMy handkerchief?”
    â€œI notice that unlike your colleagues you do not have a handkerchief in your pocket,” said the inspector. “I therefore assume that you used it to wipe the blood from your hands after you killed Mr. Wilkinson.”
    Mercier reached into his trouser pocket and pulled out a blood-stained handkerchief. Sergeant Lee held out a plastic evidence bag and Mercier dropped the handkerchief into it.
    Inspector Zhang nodded at the two uniformed policemen. “Take him away, please.”
    The officers handcuffed Mercier and led him out of the room. Inspector Zhang nodded at the two evidence bags that Sergeant Lee was holding, containing the pen and the handkerchief. “You can send them to your friends in Forensics,” he said.
    â€œI will,” she said.
    â€œI suppose it does prove one thing,” said Inspector Zhang. He smiled slyly.
    â€œWhat is that, Inspector?” asked the Sergeant.
    â€œWhy, that the pen is indeed mightier than the sword.” He grinned. “There is no need to write that down, Sergeant Lee.”

INSPECTOR ZHANG AND THE FALLING WOMAN
    Mrs. Zhang slipped her hand inside her husband’s as they walked together away from the seafood restaurant. “That was a lovely evening,” she said. “Thank you so much.”
    Inspector Zhang smiled and gently squeezed her delicate hand. “It isn’t over yet,” he said. “It isn’t every day that I get to celebrate thirty years of marriage to the most wonderful girl in Singapore.”
    Mrs. Zhang giggled. “I’ve not been a girl for a long time,” she said.
    â€œYou will always be my girl,” said Inspector Zhang.
    Mrs. Zhang stopped walking and turned to face him. She put her arms around his neck and stood on tiptoe to kiss him on the lips. “I will love you until my last breath, and beyond,” she said.
    â€œThat’s probably the lobster and the champagne talking,” said Inspector Zhang.
    Mrs. Zhang laughed. “It was very good lobster,” she admitted. She released her grip on his neck and slid her hand into his again.
    The restaurant that Inspector Zhang had taken his wife to was on a quay overlooking the Singapore River, with cute little tables and candles in old wine bottles and a chef who cooked the best lobster in the city. The chef was known to have a predilection for the ladyboys of Orchard Towers but his culinary skills were such that everyone turned a blind eye to his weakness.
    As they walked slowly towards where he had left his car, they saw a group of three Indian men looking up at a twelve-storey apartment block. One of them was pointing up at the top of the building. Inspector Zhang craned his neck to see what