Peter May - The Firemaker

Her disappointment manifested itself as anger. ‘Actually, I’m not interested. I’m no longer involved in your investigation, and I couldn’t care less if Chao tested positive or not.’

Li responded in kind, hurt by her tone. ‘And I couldn’t tell you, even if I wanted to… since you never requested the test.’

‘What?’ She glared at him, full of indignation.

‘According to Professor Xie.’

‘Well, that’s ridiculous. I spoke to him last night, on the way back here to change.’

‘And asked him to test a sample of Chao’s blood for AIDS?’

‘Of course.’

‘He says you didn’t.’

‘Then he’s a damn liar!’

‘You want to tell him that?’

‘Try stopping me.’ She kicked down her bike stand, slipped the lock through the back wheel and rounded the Jeep to the passenger side. As she slipped into the seat she slammed the door shut and glared at Li. ‘And you believe him, do you?’

‘No,’ he said simply.

She stared at him for some moments. ‘What’s going on, Li Yan?’

‘Someone doesn’t want us testing Chao Heng for AIDS.’

‘Professor Xie?’ Margaret was incredulous.

‘Only on instruction from someone else.’

‘Who?’

‘I’ve no idea.’

But… why?’

‘I don’t know that either.’

She shook her head. ‘This is absurd. You’re the police. How can anyone stop you having a simple blood test done?’

‘By destroying the body and all the blood and tissue samples.’

‘You’re kidding!’

‘This morning. They incinerated everything.’

Margaret simply couldn’t believe it. ‘That’s not possible. I mean, in most US states all toxicology specimens are held frozen for one year. Five in homicide cases.’

‘It’s not common practice to destroy evidence in China either,’ Li said. ‘In this case, it seems, authorisation to destroy the remains came as the result of an “administrative error”.’ It had taken him all morning to track that one down. They had even shown him the form. A clerk had typed in the wrong name, they said.

She shook her head. ‘And you believe that?’

‘No.’ He closed his eyes and breathed deeply, keeping his anger in check. ‘Someone’s gone to a lot of trouble to cover their tracks. But there is one loose end.’ He paused. ‘You.’

‘Me?’

‘You requested the AIDS test from Professor Xie last night — long before he received instructions to destroy the body and the samples.’

‘But if he’s denying that…’

‘That’s why I’d like a sworn statement from you before you leave. I know it’s only your word against his…’

‘But it’s not,’ Margaret said. ‘There was a witness.’

Li frowned. ‘Who?’

‘Lily Peng. She insisted on coming in with me when I went to talk to Professor Xie.’

Li processed his thoughts rapidly. ‘Well, there’s no way he can get around that one, is there?’ He ran it through again in his mind. ‘And that means I can use you and Lily to frighten him. Sometimes when rats are scared they squeal. Do you still want to go and see him?’

Margaret hesitated. It would be too easy to say yes, to get involved again, let all that emotion back in when she’d just spent the last three hours building resolute defences against it. ‘I don’t think the university would approve,’ she said feebly.

‘This has nothing to do with the university. You’re a material witness.’

‘So… I don’t have any choice. Is that what you’re telling me?’

‘That’s what I’m telling you.’

‘Then I don’t have any choice, do I?’ There was just the hint of a smile about her eyes.

He grinned. ‘No,’ he said. ‘You don’t.’

It took less than fifteen minutes to drive to the Centre of Material Evidence Determination. For the first five neither of them spoke.

Margaret was having immediate regrets. She knew perfectly well that she could have refused to get involved, and Li would not have forced her. She had been foolish. What could possibly come of this but trouble and heartache? Nothing had changed. She was still leaving on the nine thirty flight in the morning. She would never see Li again. She would never return to China. What did she care about the murder of Chao Heng and some drug dealer and an unemployed labourer from Shanghai? What did it matter to her that someone was trying to block Li’s investigation? Who cared?

Li said, ‘We’ve identified the killer from that thumbprint.’

And she knew that she cared. She couldn’t have said why, only that she did. ‘Who is he?’

‘A Triad hit-man, like my uncle suggested right at the outset. DNA on the blood inside the glove matches the DNA in the saliva on the cigarette ends. So there’s no doubt. He’s called Johnny Ren. And he walked into the headquarters of Section One this morning and stole my fob watch from my desk drawer.’

Margaret looked at him in astonishment. ‘How…? Why?’

‘I don’t know why.’ Li was clearly agitated by it. ‘He’s been following us — you and me. Following our progress. He nearly killed me last night. And today he delivered a message. That he can do what he damn well likes and we can’t do anything about it.’

‘You think that’s why he took your watch? To make a statement?’

Li shrugged. ‘Maybe. I don’t know. Maybe he’s just a mad bastard. But if he thinks we won’t get him, he’s wrong. By tomorrow morning his face will be as famous in China as Mao Zedong’s.’

They sat in silence for a moment, Margaret thinking quickly. ‘But he couldn’t have been responsible for blocking the AIDS test. Could he?’

Li shook his head. ‘No. That must either have been his employer or another employee.’

‘Someone with a lot of clout, anyway,’ Margaret said. ‘To subvert a pathologist and contrive to have the medical evidence destroyed.’

Li nodded solemnly, then turned to look at her. They had stopped at traffic lights. ‘I am beginning to have a bad feeling about it,’ he said. ‘It is starting to look like your idea that Chao was burned to try to hide something might be closer to the truth after all. They just misjudged how much damage would be done by the fire.’

When they arrived at the Centre Professor Xie was in mid-autopsy. He looked up as the doors swung open, and Margaret saw colour rise on his face behind the mask. There was something close to panic in his eyes. But he remained outwardly cool, slipping off the mask and turning to his assistants, asking them to leave for a few minutes. Li waited until the door had closed behind them. ‘Do you still maintain, Professor, that Dr Campbell did not ask you last night to arrange for a sample of Chao Heng’s blood to be AIDS-tested?’

The professor smiled nervously and glanced at Margaret. ‘No, of course not,’ he said. ‘I’m sure Dr Campbell did ask. But, you know, my English is not, perhaps, what it might be…’

‘We never had any trouble with your English through three autopsies, Professor,’ Margaret said. ‘And I didn’t have the impression last night that you in any way misunderstood my request. I’m sure Constable Lily Peng will bear me out.’

The colour drained from the professor’s face. Li said, ‘You are in deep trouble, Professor Xie. Attempting to destroy or cover up evidence would make you an accessory to murder.’

The professor held himself very stiffly, and he spoke softly, rapidly, in Chinese. ‘I am not involved in this, Deputy Section Chief Li. I do what I am told. No more, no less. I have no idea what is going on. But if you try to implicate me, then I can assure you, you are the one who will be in trouble.’ Margaret watched his scalpel hand tremble as he spoke.