The Eight Curious Cases of Inspector Zhang (27 page)

“In the sitting room,” said Sergeant Wu.

“I think I should introduce myself first, then examine the crime scene,” said the inspector. He gestured at the front door. “Please lead the way.”

Sergeant Wu headed into the house and the two detectives followed.

The hallway was clad in expensive marble and above their heads was a huge gold and crystal chandelier. There were ornate golden dragons either side of a doorway that led into a sitting room that had a large window overlooking a waterway at the rear of the house.

Two middle-aged women were sitting on an overstuffed sofa. Behind them were a series of framed calligraphy paintings. Calligraphy was an occasional hobby of the inspector's and he recognised the quality of the work. One of the women was Chinese. She was small and had a bird-like face, with a sharp nose and pinched mouth and had her hands clasped together in her lap. She was holding a red-spotted handkerchief and fiddling with her wedding ring as she stared off into the middle distance. Her clothes were clearly expensive. Inspector Zhang was no expert on women's fashion but he recognised a Chanel suit when he saw one. And he had been around enough shoe shops with Mrs. Zhang to know that Mrs. Kwan's footwear was very expensive indeed.

The other woman was Malaysian, wearing a dark green suit. There was a black medical bag at her feet. Her shoes didn't seem as expensive as Mrs. Kwan's, so far as the inspector could tell.

“This is Mrs. Kwan,” said Sergeant Wu, gesturing at the woman in the Chanel suit. “And this is her friend, Dr. Mayang.”

The two women looked at Inspector Zhang with blank faces. Neither moved to get up. On the coffee table in front of them was a bottle of red wine and two glasses, and a stainless steel tray dotted with snacks.

“I am Inspector Zhang and this is my colleague, Sergeant Lee,” he said. He directed his gaze at Mrs. Kwan. “Can I first say how sorry I am for your loss?”

She gave him a small nod and continued to fiddle with her wedding ring.

“I understood that you discovered the deceased?”

Mrs. Kwan nodded. “We heard glass breaking. Then a scream. A terrible scream. We went to the study but the door was locked. We went around to the rear of the house and saw that a window had been broken and the door opened. And my husband had been stabbed.”

“Again, I am very sorry for your loss,” said the inspector. “But the door was locked, you said? From the inside?”

Mrs. Kwan nodded. “It was my husband's habit to lock the door while he listened to music on his headphones,“ she said. “He didn't want to be disturbed. It was his nightly habit for our maid to take him a cup of hot green tea and he would lock the door and listen to his music before retiring to bed.”

The inspector nodded sympathetically. “And did you see anyone? Anyone who might have done it?”

Mrs. Kwan shook her head and so did Dr. Mayang.

Inspector Zhang nodded at the bag at Dr. Mayang's feet. “I notice that you have your medical bag with you. Is your visit today personal or professional?”

The doctor smiled. “I always have my bag with me,” she said. “Sadly there was nothing I could do to help Dr. Kwan.”

“Why was that?”

“He had been stabbed through the heart. He bled to death very quickly.” She looked over at Mrs. Kwan. “I'm sorry, Elsie,” she said.

Inspector Zhang nodded at Sergeant Wu. “Perhaps you would be good enough to show us the room where it happened.”

Sergeant Wu took the detectives back into the hallway. She pointed at one of the doors. “This is the door to the study,” she said.

“It is still locked?”

“I thought it best to touch nothing until the forensic team arrived,” she said.

“Very wise,” said Inspector Zhang. He tried the door handle but the door was clearly locked.

Two forensic investigators appeared at the main entrance. They were wearing white hooded overalls and had paper covers on their shoes. They were both men in their mid-thirties. One of them recognised Inspector Zhang and smiled. “You were here quickly, Inspector,” he said.

“The traffic was light, Mr. Yuen,” said Inspector Zhang. He gestured at the door to the sitting room. “I notice that Mrs. Kwan, the wife of the victim, has what appears to be blood on her hands and on her suit. Could I suggest that samples are taken immediately.”

“Of course,” said the forensic investigator. He nodded at his colleague. “Can you do that, Ronnie. I'll go with the inspector.”

The second forensic investigator disappeared into the sitting room.

Sergeant Wu took them through a large kitchen and out of a back door that led to the garden. “This is the way that Mrs. Kwan and Dr. Mayang went after they heard the sounds of the break-in,” she said.

There was a large terrace overlooking the waterway, a hot-tub and a swimming pool. Floodlights on the roof illuminated the terrace and there was a line of fluorescent lights along the waterway making it as light as day.

“This is a spectacular house,” said Inspector Zhang. “How much do you think a house like this would cost?”

“At least twenty million dollars,” said Sergeant Wu. She pointed towards a large yacht that was moored on a private jetty on the edge of the property. “The yacht also belongs to Dr. Kwan.”

“So Dr. Kwan was clearly a very wealthy man.”

“He had a chain of plastic surgery clinics, here in Singapore but in the Middle East, too. He had an unusual specialty.”

“Did he? Perhaps you would care to enlighten me.”

The officer moved so that she was standing with her back to Sergeant Lee and lowered her voice. “He makes women virgins again.”

Inspector Zhang frowned. “He does what?”

The officer moved her head closer to the inspector. “Women who have had sex, he can make it seem as if they are still virgins. He does a lot of work in the Middle East. Muslims want their wives to be virgins, you see.”

The inspector nodded. “Well it must pay well,” he said. “I could not afford a house like this if I worked for a hundred years.” He looked over at the bridge that linked the housing development to Sentosa Island. “How quickly did your men get here?”

“We sealed off the island within ten minutes of getting the call but it seems the intruder had already left,” said Sergeant Wu. “That suggests he was in a car or on a motorbike.”

“He could have left in a boat,” said Inspector Zhang. “When you say island, do you mean this small island or the main Sentosa Island?”

“The housing compound,” said Sergeant Wu. “Obviously we couldn't seal off the entire island. There is just too much traffic.”

Inspector Zhang turned back to look at the house. “Do you know if the doctor had any enemies, anyone who might wish him ill?”

“Not that we know of,” said Sergeant Wu. “Though he was in the process of being divorced by Mrs. Kwan.”

Inspector Zhang raised his eyebrows. “Really? She didn't mention that.”

“It's been quite ugly, by all accounts. He had hired a top legal firm and was making it very difficult for his wife. That was why she was still in the house. She had nowhere else to go.”

“They have been married for a long time?”

“More than twenty years,” said Sergeant Wu. “She used to be his nurse. Mrs. Kwan discovered that Dr. Kwan had been having an affair and had started divorce proceedings.”

Inspector Zhang smiled thinly. “I shall obviously have to have another word with Mrs. Kwan,” he said.

Sergeant Wu took him along to the terrace to a set of French windows. Sergeant Lee and the forensics investigator followed. The doors opened outwards. One was still closed, but the other, with a broken pane, had been opened.

“So Mrs. Kwan and Dr. Mayang came along here and discovered the broken window?”

“Yes. And the maid was with them. Mrs. Kwan went inside.”

“She was presumably distraught?”

“Yes, of course. She rushed over to her husband and held him.”

“That would explain the blood on her hands,” said the inspector.

“Inspector Zhang, would you put these on please?” said the forensics investigator. He was holding out a pair of paper shoe covers.

“Of course,” said Inspector Zhang. He slipped on the shoe covers. The two sergeants did the same.

Inspector Zhang leaned into the study and examined the broken glass on the floor of the study. There were raindrops, too, from the evening's earlier rain. He knelt down and peered at the broken glass, then gently prodded a small piece with his finger. It stuck to his flesh and he had to shake it free. He nudged another tiny shard of glass and it too stuck to his finger.

“Inspector, I'm sorry but I must insist that if you are going to touch evidence you should wear gloves.” Inspector Zhang looked up to see Mr. Yuen looking down at him and offering a pair of blue latex gloves.

Inspector Zhang flicked the shard of glass from his finger and straightened up. “Quite right,” he said. He took the gloves and put them on, then pointed at the glass and raindrops. “Be careful to step over this,” he said to Sergeant Lee. He stepped into the room. At first he didn't see the body of Dr. Kwan, but as he walked across the parquet flooring he saw a winged leather armchair with its back to the window. Dr. Kwan was sprawled in the chair. He was wearing a white silk shirt and baggy black linen trousers, with ornate Chinese silk slippers on his feet. He had a pair of Bose noise-cancelling headphones over his ears. The plug had been pulled out of its socket on the stereo. Close to his right hand, on a small teak table, was a red and gold beaker on a matching saucer and next to it a CD case. He picked up the beaker and sniffed it cautiously. It was almost empty and had contained green tea.

As Inspector Zhang walked carefully around the chair he saw a black-handled knife had been thrust into the man's chest. Blood had gushed around the blade and soaked into the shirt.

“One stab wound,” he mused. He peered carefully at Dr. Kwan's hands. “And no defensive wounds.”

“It looks as if Dr. Kwan had his back to the French windows so he did not see the attacker break in,” said Sergeant Wu. “And with the headphones on, he would not have heard the glass breaking.”

Inspector Zhang nodded. “Was anything taken?”

“Mrs. Kwan says no,” said Sergeant Wu. “Dr. Kwan had an extensive collection of coins and banknotes that he keeps in the display cases over there.” She pointed at the wall by the door. There were two large mahogany and glass cases filled with coins and framed banknotes. “As you can see, they have not been interfered with. The burglar probably panicked, killed Dr. Kwan and then ran off.”

Inspector Zhang frowned. “Have you been involved in any other robberies in Sentosa?” he asked.

“Several,” she said.

“Does this appear similar in any way?”

“Often with houses like this, access is gained through the French windows. But break-ins usually take place at night. Our advice is that householders have alarm systems fitted. There is an alarm system here, but of course it was not switched on because the Kwans were moving around downstairs.”

Inspector Zhang looked around the room, then walked back to the French windows, taking care not to tread on any of the broken glass. “When the intruder broke in, they would not have seen that Dr. Kwan was sitting in the chair. That is certainly true. And wearing the headphones meant he would not have heard the glass break.” He walked slowly towards the chair and then stopped. “From here I can see that Dr. Kwan is in the chair. But Dr. Kwan would not be able to see me. At this point, surely, I would just turn and walk away.” He looked across at the forensic investigator. “What can you tell me about the knife, Mr. Yuen?” he asked.

The investigator walked around the chair and peered at the handle. “It appears to be a kitchen knife,” he said. “I think it best to leave it in position until the autopsy. But yes, from the handle I would say that it looks like a kitchen knife. The blade would be perhaps six inches long, more than long enough to pierce the heart.”

Inspector Zhang nodded. “That is what I thought. But what sort of burglar brings a kitchen knife with him?”

“For protection, perhaps?” said Sergeant Wu. “In case he was disturbed?”

“In my experience, most burglars who are caught in the act simply run away. They don't attack.”

Sergeant Wu nodded. “That is true,” she said.

“So we have to ask ourselves why the burglar brought a kitchen knife with him,” continued Inspector Zhang. “And why he stabbed Dr. Kwan when there was clearly no need to do so. Having broken in without being seen or heard, he could have simply left once he had seen that the room was occupied.”

“Panic?” said Sergeant Lee.

“Possibly,” said Inspector Zhang.

“Also, he would have heard Mrs. Kwan shouting from the hallway,” said Sergeant Lee. “Perhaps he thought the house was unoccupied and once he realised it wasn't, he ran.”

“But surely he would have seen the three cars parked outside? That alone should have told him the house was occupied. What sort of burglar doesn't take a careful look at the house he is about to burglarise?”

Sergeant Lee scratched her head but didn't say anything.

Inspector Zhang walked over to the door and examined it. There was a brass bolt at the top of the door and he slid it back. “I think it is time to talk to Mrs. Kwan and Dr. Mayang again,” he said. He pulled open the door and stepped into the hallway. The two sergeants followed him while the forensic investor got to work in the study.

The two women looked up as Inspector Zhang walked into the sitting room. A male uniformed officer was standing just inside the door, his hands clasped behind his back.

“Once again I am very sorry for your loss, Mrs. Kwan,” he said.

Mrs. Kwan nodded and forced a smile. “Thank you.”

“You did not tell me that you and Dr. Kwan were in the process of divorcing.”