The Eight Curious Cases of Inspector Zhang Read Free Page B

giving him the wrong answer.
    â€œI agree,” said Inspector Zhang. “It is a hotel room, like any other.” The sergeant smiled with relief.
    â€œIt is a suite, one of our best,” said the manager.
    Inspector Zhang nodded, acknowledging the point. “But nothing in the room has been changed, am I correct? Everything is as it should be?”
    â€œOther than the body on the bed, yes.”
    â€œThen we shall move on to the fourth explanation. Suicide.”
    â€œSuicide?” repeated the Sergeant. “But if he stabbed himself, where is the weapon?”
    â€œThe point of the suicide is to make it look like a murder,” said Inspector Zhang. “Either to throw suspicion on someone or to defraud an insurance company. I assume that a wealthy person such as Mr. Wilkinson would have a lot of insurance. Perhaps he has an incurable condition. Cancer, perhaps. So he kills himself in such a way that his wife can still claim the insurance.”
    â€œPerhaps that’s it,” said Mercier. “Surely you check to see if he had any policies.”
    â€œBut where is the weapon he used?” asked the Sergeant. “If Mr. Wilkinson took his own life, where is the knife?”
    â€œBut that is the point exactly,” said Inspector Zhang. “To make it appear to be a murder and not a suicide, the weapon must disappear. Mr. Carr suggested a knife made of ice. The ice would then melt leaving only water behind. Or a gun could be attached to a length of elastic which would then whip the gun up a chimney or out of a window.”
    â€œThere are no chimneys and as Mr. Mercier has already pointed out, the windows in our rooms are all sealed,” said the manager.
    â€œAnd I think ice is unlikely as he would have had to carry it in from outside and the Singapore climate does not lend itself to carrying ice around,” said Inspector Zhang. “And if Mr. Wilkinson wanted us to make it look like he had been murdered, I don’t think he would have positioned himself on the bed. The floor would be a more likely place. Plus, there is the matter of room service. He spent time with the fragrant Miss Lulu, then ordered a meal. Hardly the actions of a man who was about to take his own life.” He folded his arms. “So, that leads me to the fifth type of scenario discussed by Mr. Carr. A murder that derives from illusion or impersonation, where the victim is already dead but the murderer makes it appear that he is still alive.”
    â€œHow would that work in this case, Inspector?” asked Miss Berghuis, frowning.
    â€œIf, for instance, it was the prostitute who killed Mr. Wilkinson and she then arranged for someone else to make the call to room service,” said Inspector Zhang. “That would give her an alibi when in fact Mr. Wilkinson was already dead when she left the room.”
    â€œDo you think that’s what happened?” asked Sergeant Lee.
    â€œThat’s simply not possible,” said Miss Berghuis. “When a call is made to our room service section, the number flashes up on the phone. An order would not be accepted if it came from outside the hotel.”
    Inspector Zhang nodded thoughtfully. “And of course he spoke to his wife after he had ordered from room service so I do not think that Ms. Lulu was the killer. We can assume that it was indeed Mr. Wilkinson that she spoke to,” he said. “I cannot believe that a wife could be fooled by an imposter. So, that then brings us to number six on Mr. Carr’s list. One of the more complicated of his explanations for a locked room murder, and one of the most successful in works of fiction. In such a situation we have a murder that although committed by somebody outside the room nevertheless appears to have been committed by someone inside the room.”
    Mercier scratched his bald head. “That doesn’t make sense,” he said.
    â€œOh, Mr. Mercier, it makes perfect