Jake Needham - The Ambassador's wife

“Why don’t you just tell me about what you wanted me to see? You could even draw some diagrams if it would help, or you know…”

Tay trailed off into silence, feeling like an idiot.

Dr. Hoi nodded slowly. “All right. That’s fine, I guess.”

She reopened the file she had been working on when Tay came in, glanced at it briefly as if to refresh her memory, then leaned back in her chair and steepled her fingers, unconsciously tapping the points of her forefingers against her lips.

“The deceased is a healthy, well-nourished Caucasian woman in her early to mid-forties. My guess is that she’s probably an American. I can’t be certain, of course, but both her dental work and the polish on her finger and toenails are consistent with an American origin. On the other hand, perhaps she’s French but gets her dental work done in the US and wears American nail polish.”

“That sounds pretty unlikely to me.”

“As it does to me.”

Dr. Hoi glanced down at her file again.

“From the temperature of the deceased, and taking into account the setting of the air conditioning in the room where she was found, my best guess is that the time of death was between eighteen and twenty hours prior to the discovery of the body.”

“That means she was killed…” Tay paused to calculate, “between five and seven Monday evening.”

Dr. Hoi nodded in acknowledgment of Tay’s mathematical acumen.

“Fingernail scrapings produced no organic matter and the body was relatively unmarked, except of course for the destruction of the face. There were, however, marks on her wrists and ankles that in my view are consistent with restraints having been placed on her in some fashion. At first I thought that might suggest the deceased had engaged in sadomasochistic sexual activity.”

Dr. Hoi glanced at Tay and in embarrassment he flicked his eyes to the blank wall just over her shoulder.

“On the other hand there was no evidence of recent intercourse, certainly no semen in the vagina, the anus, or the mouth. Of course, that’s not conclusive. The vagina was badly mutilated by the flashlight and I can’t be absolutely certain no penetration occurred, but the anus was intact and I saw no signs of penetration there. And, of course, her attacker might have used a condom.”

Dr. Hoi glanced at Tay again, but he was studying the wall with intense concentration.

“There’s also something else to keep in mind,” she went on when Tay wouldn’t meet her eyes. “Sadomasochism frequently doesn’t entail intercourse, at least not in the usual sense, so we can’t rule out the possibility of sexual activity based purely on the lack of any evidence of intercourse. She had been restrained, that we can say for certain, but the killer may have snapped the handcuffs around both her wrists and ankles simply for the purpose of killing her, not because they were engaged in some form of sexual activity.”

“Handcuffs?”

“Yes, definitely handcuffs. My guess is they were the plastic disposal type.”

“You mean like police cuffs?”

This time Dr. Hoi’s response came after a short but perceptible pause.

“Yes,” she said. “Quite similar or even possibly identical to police cuffs.”

A silence fell as Tay processed what he was hearing. Somewhere in the distance some sort of machinery whirred to life emitting a low-pitched humming sound.

“I gather you’re aware of the cause of death?” Dr. Hoi asked after a few moments had passed in silence.

“I assume it must have been the beating.”

“Certainly not. The woman was shot.”

Tay’s mouth dropped open.

“She was shot with a.22 caliber hollow point,” Dr. Hoi continued, “fired from a revolver with its muzzle placed in contact with her right ear.”

She made a little gun with her thumb and forefinger and then reached up and placed her forefinger into her ear.

“One shot,” she said. “Like this. Straight into the ear. Bam!”

It took Tay a moment to regain the power of speech, but when he did the words spilled out involuntarily.

“You’re shittin’ me.”

Dr. Hoi couldn’t suppress a smile. “No, Inspector, I shit thee not. This was why I wanted you to come over and look at the deceased yourself. Very unusual thing to see here in Singapore. Are you sure you won’t change your mind?”

“I’m sure.” Tay’s mouth was dry and he tried unsuccessfully to swallow. “Thank you.”

“Pity. As I said, very unusual thing.”

Dr. Hoi pursed her lips as if she was trying hard to recall something, although what it might be wasn’t clear to Tay.

“In any event,” she continued after a moment, “the entry wound is very small and completely hidden inside the ear. That’s probably why you missed it when you examined the deceased at the scene.”

“Probably,” Tay mumbled.

“The stippling is apparent once you find the point of entry and it leaves no doubt at all that this was a contact wound. The bullet took a downward path, entering through the primary motor cortex. There was extensive subdural hemorrhaging that ripped linear fractures through the entirety of her skull, then extended down to her neck. The consequential shock wave brought about major tissue trauma, which brought her nervous system to an immediate halt causing her blood pressure to drop like a rock.”

Dr. Hoi abruptly stopped talking.

“I’m sorry, Inspector. From the look on your face, I’m not sure you’re staying with me here. Is something distracting you?”

“Is something distracting me?” Tay rolled his eyes. “Jesus Christ, does a cat have an ass?”

Dr. Hoi burst out laughing. “You do have a very colorful way of expressing yourself, Inspector.”

“My father was an American. He willed me his vocabulary.”

“That must come in handy in your line of work.”

“Particularly now. I’m bowled over.”

“Yes, firearms deaths in Singapore are unexpected, aren’t they?”

“I can’t think of one in years.”

“Well, you have one now.”

“There was no blood,” Tay said.

“What?” Dr. Hoi asked.

“There was no blood around her ear. None on the bed either.”

“Ah,” Dr. Hoi said. “I see what you mean.”

“Wouldn’t there have been bleeding? If she was shot?”

“Some perhaps. Not very much. As I said, the damage to the brain would have caused her blood pressure to drop very quickly and the entry wound was quite small. You didn’t see any blood at all?”

“No. The bed had been stripped.”

“Well, there you are. There wouldn’t have been enough blood to soak through the sheets to the mattress. It would have been easy to clean up the body as well. Although, offhand, I’m not sure why a killer would-”

“Did you recover the bullet?” Tay cut in.

Susan Hoi opened the center drawer of her desk, removed a clear plastic vial that looked like a pill bottle, and placed it on the desk in front of Tay. When he picked up the vial, it rattled loudly in the quiet office. Tay saw it contained nothing but some flecks of vaguely yellowish metal that looked more like pieces of glitter than a bullet.

“A hollow point,” Dr. Hoi said. “It exploded just like it was meant to. Then it pulverized her brain. I have nothing for you but these fragments.”

“A hollow point,” Tay repeated, still trying to process what he was hearing. “So you don’t think this could have been a crime of passion, the result of some kind of-”

“Inspector, this was an execution,” Dr. Hoi interrupted. “The killer chose a.22 revolver loaded with hollow points, a weapon that is useless for anything except an execution. Whoever this woman is, her killer came prepared to murder her and then coldly did so.”