‘Right, gentlemen… I moved the meeting this morning from my office to this room. We’re going to call it our Ongoing Investigation Room, same as we used at Scotland Yard.
‘A snappy title,’ whispered Meaker behind his hand.
Chief Inspector Rock was standing in front of a chalkboard. On either side, four wooden easels with large sheets of paper pinned to them were headed Sally Chen, Lieutenant Deschamps, Rossana Gurdieva and Unknown Man. The sheets of paper were blank. On the left of the blackboard, a large map of Shanghai was pinned to the wall, and another sheet of paper, with the words ‘TO DO’ in prominent capitals, posted next to it.
‘This is the latest technique from Scotland Yard. In a major investigation, all relevant information is written down and posted here.’ He pointed to the easels and blackboard. ‘It’s much better to see information visually than leave it lost in one man’s mind.’ Here, he looked pointedly at Danilov. ‘I’ve had to set it up myself as Miss Cavendish hasn’t shown up for work this morning.’
‘Not like her,’ said Danilov.
‘Maybe she was in the Black Cat Club last night, had a few too many and can’t face the office this morning,’ laughed Meaker.
‘She is not you, Inspector,’ replied Danilov.
‘Gentlemen, gentlemen, let’s move on, shall we? I’m sure Miss Cavendish will turn up soon.’ He turned to the map. ‘As you can see, I’ve marked where the bodies were found on this standard plan of the city.’ He pressed one black cross on to the location of the Shanghai Country Club and two black crosses on the War Memorial. ‘I’ve also marked where Sally Chen was first seen.’ Another black cross was next to Soochow Creek near the junction with Wenchow Road.
Strachan put his hand up. ‘Actually, she was first seen near the Sinza Water Tower, sir. She ran down the side of the creek towards Garden Bridge.’
‘No need to raise your hand, Strachan; we’re not at school now.’
‘Feels like it, though,’ whispered Meaker through his lush moustache.
‘What’s that, Inspector Meaker?’
‘Nothing, sir. A tickle in my throat.’
Rock turned back to the map. ‘We have to ask ourselves, what ties these locations together?’
He waited for an answer.
No response.
Danilov looked at his watch. This was wasting time; they had so much to do and follow up.
He wrote LOCATION in capitals on the blackboard and underlined it, stepping back to admire the work. ‘Come on, gentlemen.’
‘They’re not concentrated in just one of the concessions.’
‘Good.’ He wrote ‘In both concessions’ on the blackboard. ‘Anything else?’
Cartwright put his hand up. ‘The locations are less than a mile apart.’
‘Good, Inspector Cartwright.’ He wrote ‘less than one mile apart’ on the blackboard. ‘Anything else?’
Danilov was becoming tired of this. ‘Both areas are open. The murderer wanted us to find them. He knew both areas intimately, having access to both a private and a public place. He could leave the bodies without being seen, indicating…’
‘Slow down, Inspector, I can’t write that quickly.’ Chief Inspector Rock scribbled as quickly as he could on the blackboard. ‘Anything else, Inspector?’
‘A van was heard in the vicinity of the War Memorial before the bodies were found.’
‘I don’t understand. What do you mean, Inspector?’
‘I interviewed a blind beggar whose patch is opposite the War Memorial. He told me he heard a loud engine noise around 6.30 in the morning. An engine noise louder than a car but not as strong as a lorry.’
Cartwright snorted. ‘So we’re to listen to a blind beggar and his imagined noises now, are we, Danilov? You’ll be telling us a couple of flying elephants reported the murders next.’
He was nudged by Meaker. ‘Good one, George.’
‘Actually, the murder was reported at 6.45 by a street sweeper. A French constable on his beat passed the area at 6.15 and saw nothing, which gives us a window for disposing of the bodies of thirty minutes. During that time, the beggar heard the van stop and three men get out and place the bodies at the base of the War Memorial.’
‘So a blind beggar can see three men, can he? Smells funny to me, Danilov.’
‘No, Inspector Cartwright, he cannot, but he can hear them, and I trust the man’s hearing over your nose.’
Rock held his hands up once more. ‘Gentlemen, gentlemen. We are a team. This case will only be solved with teamwork. Inspectors Cartwright and Meaker, what did you find out?’
Cartwright rubbed his nose. ‘The body at the Shanghai Country Club was found at approximately 12.30 by one of the boys sweeping the path. It wasn’t there earlier that day when the gardener walked past the area so the murder must have been committed between those times and the body placed there.’
Danilov looked across at him. ‘Did you not check behind the tree?’
‘What tree? There are lots of trees in a garden, Danilov,’ said Meaker.
‘The tree behind the bench. We found the ground had been pressed down in the shape of a body,’ said Strachan.
‘So, what’s it to do with us, Detective Sergeant?’
‘The body had been placed there earlier in the day and moved into position just after noon. You did ask about the snake at 12.10, didn’t you?’
Cartwright looked at Meaker. ‘What snake?’
‘Chief Inspector, there was a hue and cry in the far corner of the compound at ten minutes past twelve. I think this was started by the killer to move everybody away from the scene so he could place the body.’
‘Sounds calculated, Danilov.’
‘It was. Planned to the minute. The body had been lying in the undergrowth since the morning, waiting to be placed in position.’
‘But… but that’s monstrous,’ said the Chief Inspector.
‘And the victim wasn’t killed at the Country Club but moved there and displayed for us to find. The killer wanted us to discover it. There’s one other thing. I found two pieces of stone at the scene, one on the path and the other lodged in a tree.’
Rock flicked through the pages of Strachan’s report. ‘There’s nothing in here about any stones?’
‘I’m sorry, sir, the lab only gave me their report this morning. I’ve only just passed it to Inspector Danilov,’ said Strachan.
Danilov coughed. ‘I wanted to check both of the finds, sir.’ He opened the brown folder and scanned down the single page inside. ‘Apparently, both stones are fairly common examples of marble used for gravestones, funerary displays and suchlike.’ He placed his finger on one line in the text. ‘What’s interesting is both the pieces contained traces of embalming fluid on their surface.’
‘Embalming fluid?’
‘As used by a taxidermist or an undertaker, sir. Apparently, the formulation is twenty-two per cent formaldehyde, forty-three per cent methanol and eight per cent glutaraldehyde. Not so common.’
Rock stood in silence for a moment. He handed the chalk to Danilov and the pen to Strachan. ‘Inspector, we will save a lot of time if you tell us what else you have found so far.’