The Eight Curious Cases of Inspector Zhang Read Free

Lee.
    Inspector Zhang peered at her through his thick-lensed spectacles as he tried to work out if she was mocking him, but she was smiling without guile and so he nodded slowly. “Yes, perhaps,” he said. “But without the masks and capes. You know that Batman made his first appearance in Detective Comics way back in 1939?”
    â€œI didn’t know that,” said the Sergeant, scribbling in her notebook.
    â€œAnd that he is sometimes referred to as the World’s Greatest Detective, which I always considered to be hyperbole.”
    Sergeant Lee continued to scribble in her notebook. “What are you writing, Sergeant Lee?” he asked.
    She blushed. “Nothing,” she said, and put her notebook away.
    Inspector Zhang nodded slowly and walked slowly around the room. “I assume you are not familiar with the work of John Dickson Carr?” he said.
    Sergeant Lee shook her head.
    â€œHe was a great American writer who wrote dozens of detective stories and most of them were locked room mysteries. He created a hero called Dr. Gideon Fell, and it was Dr. Fell who solved the crimes.”
    Sergeant Lee tapped the side of her head. “By using ze little grey cells,” she said, in a halfway passable French accent.
    Inspector Zhang smiled. “Exactly,” he said. “Now, in his book The Hollow Man, itself a locked room mystery, John Dickson Carr used Dr. Fell to expound his seven explanations that lead to a locked room murder.” He nodded at his Sergeant. “You might want to make a note of them, Sergeant Lee,” he said. “Now come with me.” They went back into the sitting room. Miss Berghuis was sitting on the sofa next to Mercier. The waiter was standing close to the door as if he was keen to get out of the suite as quickly as possible. The two assistant managers stood by the desk in the corner of the room, looking at each other nervously.
    Inspector Zhang walked to the window and stood with his back to it. “So, I have now examined the CCTV footage covering the corridor outside this room, and I have examined the crime scene.” Sergeant Lee fumbled for her notebook as Inspector Zhang continued. “The CCTV footage shows that Mr. Wilkinson arrived at his room with a guest at eight-thirty and that his guest, a young woman who is known to the police, left exactly one hour later. What I need to know is when Mr. Wilkinson ordered from room service.”
    â€œThat will be on the bill, Inspector,” said Miss Berghuis. She went over to the trolley and picked up a small leather folder and took out a slip of paper. She studied it, and nodded. “The order was placed at nine thirty-six,” she said.
    â€œExcellent,” said the inspector. “So from that we can assume that Mr. Wilkinson was killed sometime between the placing of the order at nine thirty-six and the arrival of the order at nine fifty-five.” He frowned. “That does seem remarkably quick, Miss Berghuis.”
    The manager smiled. “Inspector, we are a five-star hotel. And Mr. Wilkinson ordered only a club sandwich and a pot of coffee. Hardly a challenge for our chefs.”
    â€œVery good,” said the inspector, as Miss Berghuis went back to sit on the sofa. “We can therefore rule out Mr. Wilkinson’s guest as the killer, as we know for sure that he was still alive at nine thirty-six.”
    Miss Xue nervously raised her hand. “Actually, Inspector, we know that he was alive after that because he spoke to his wife at about a quarter to ten,” she said.
    â€œHow so?” asked Inspector Zhang.
    â€œShe phoned at nine forty-five,” said Miss Xue. “I was on the desk and I was there when the call came through from America. Mrs. Wilkinson was on the phone to her husband for almost five minutes.”
    â€œAre you sure?” asked the inspector.
    â€œI am sure that it was his wife, and they spoke for several minutes,” she