Inspector Zhang And The Dead Thai Gangster Read Free

would be grateful if you would all stay in your seats until I have had a chance to examine the scene.”
    “You can’t keep us here against our will!” shouted a Chinese man in a suit sitting at the rear of the cabin. There were thirty seats in the Raffles cabin, but only eight were occupied.   The man who had spoken was sitting on the opposite side to where the body was, in a seat next to the window.
    “I’m afraid I can,” said the Inspector. “You are?”
    “Lung Chin-po,” said the man. “I have an important meeting to go to.” He looked at his watch. “Immigration in Bangkok can take up to an hour, and then there’s always heavy traffic. Really, I have to get off this plane now.”
    “I’m sorry for the inconvenience, but the doors will not be opened until the investigation has been concluded.”
    A heavyset man in a tweed jacket sitting in the middle of the cabin next to an equally large woman in a pale green trouser suit raised a hand. “I agree with that gentleman,” he said in a slow American drawl. “My wife and I are tourists and we’ve got a limo waiting for us outside.   What’s happened obviously can’t have anything to do with us. We don’t know anyone in this part of the world.”
    Inspector Zhang pushed his spectacles up onto his nose. “Again, I understand how you feel but the sooner I get on with my investigation the sooner we can open the doors and get on our way.”
    The American groaned and folded his arms as he glared at the Inspector.
    “Sergeant Lee, would you get the names, addresses and passport details of all the passengers, and do me a floor plan with seat numbers.”
    Inspector Zhang walked to the front of the cabin and headed along the bulkhead towards the blanket-covered body. A short man in a black leather jacket and impenetrable sunglasses moved his legs to allow the inspector to squeeze by. Inspector Zhang thanked him and the man nodded.
    The pilot followed Inspector Zhang over to the body. It was in seat 11K. Inspector Zhang slowly pulled the pale-blue blanket away.    The victim was a Thai man in his thirties, wearing a dark suit with a white shirt and a black tie. The front of the shirt was stained with blood that had pooled and congealed in the man’s lap.
    “This was how he was found?” asked the Inspector. “With the blood?”
    “Nothing has been touched,” said the captain.
    “And who discovered that he was dead?”
    “It was one of the flight attendants.”
    “Could you get her for me, please?” said Inspector Zhang. He leant down over the body, taking a pen and using it to slide the jacket open. There was a small hole in the shirt just below the breastbone and the shirt was peppered with tiny flecks of black. He leant closer and sniffed. Gunshot residue. The man had been shot.
    As he straightened up, the pilot returned with a young flight attendant.   “This is Sumin,” said the pilot. “She was the one who discovered that the passenger was dead.”
    Inspector Zhang smiled at the flight attendant. “What time did you realise that there was something wrong?” he asked.
    “I was checking that passengers had their seatbelts fastened so it was just as we were starting our approach. That would have been about fifteen minutes before we landed.”
    “And what made you realise that something was wrong?”
    “I thought he was asleep,” said the flight attendant. “I leaned over to fasten the belt and I moved his jacket. That’s when I saw the blood.” She shuddered. “There was so much blood.”
    “What did you do then?” asked the Inspector.
    “I went to get the chief purser and he checked for a pulse and when he didn’t find one we covered him with a blanket.”
    “Did you inform the pilot right away?”
    “No, Mr Yip said we should wait until we had landed.”
    “And did you hear anything at all unusual during the flight?”
    The flight attendant frowned. “Unusual?”
    “A gunshot? A loud bang?”
    The stewardess laughed