All of a sudden, consequently, Chen was shelved, though nominally still a chief inspector. He was quite well known as a capable, honest cop in the city. It could possibly backfire if he was too quickly removed from the position, but it made a different story to start by barring him from any politically sensitive investigations.

At least no one outside the circle would have known anything about it. Party Secretary Li was too shrewd a Party boss.

Yu thought he could guess the reason behind the arrangement made by Li. For the present case, presumably a serial murder, Chen was a most qualified investigator, having done similar investigations before, but this being a case with potential political complications presented Chen as an unreliable choice in the eyes of Li. However, the lack of any progress in the investigation, bodies piling up, the speculations about it abuzz on the Internet, all put increasing pressure on Li, who had to turn to Chen for help.

Chen must have known about the bureau politics only too well, but the inspector appeared nonchalant in the meeting room, sipping at his tea against an erratic light streaming in through the blinds. He had text-messaged Yu to request his participation in the case discussion with Qin, who was waiting there with files spread out on the long desk.

Qin nodded with a slight frown upon Yu’s entrance, choosing not to say anything immediately.

After two or three minutes, Li also stepped in. Nodding at the chief inspector, the Party secretary took the seat beside him and turned to Qin opposite,

‘Please go over the basic facts for our chief inspector, and for all of us, Detective Qin.’

Qin started with an involuntary cough, an effort to clear more than his throat.

‘As you may have known, the first victim appeared about three weeks ago. She’s a night caregiver at the Number One People’s Hospital. Peng Nian, that’s her name. Her body was discovered east of Bund Bridge before six in the morning. Close enough, with quite a number of people and vehicles moving around in the early hours. It’s not a likely place for murder. Similar with the time – in the morning. As for the cause of death, a single blow from behind with something like a heavy brick. Her skull was fractured. Several minutes later, about five forty-five, a passerby noticed and reported her lying there unconscious, but when the ambulance arrived there was no sign of life in her.’

‘A night caregiver – you mean Peng took care of patients in the hospital, but not as a nurse?’ Li cut in with something not exactly like a question.

‘Yes, some patients need looking after twenty-four hours. It’s too much for the nurses there, and for the patients’ families too. A tough job, but Peng had no choice, what with her husband paralyzed in bed, and with her son being a twenty-three-year-old dependent addicted to computer games. That morning, after having finished the night shift at the hospital, Peng was walking back home—’