He left the Y incision to Dtui and even before she was down to the navel all three of them stepped back in horror. The liver looked like someone was smuggling an over ripe durian inside him. His spleen was bloated and fatty deposits sat here and there like clouds on a break. Thick bands of fibrous tissue tried, to no avail, to hold everything together. But, most importantly, there was congealed blood. Lots of it.

“This happened too fast,” said Siri.

“What do you mean, Doc?” Dtui asked.

“If he’d been bleeding like this he wouldn’t have been able to function for months. He certainly wouldn’t have been sipping Hundred Pipers last week and annoying everyone and acting out scenes from our film. A week ago, Civilai was himself, albeit dying slowly from cirrhosis. Then, almost overnight we have the glasses to hide his jaundiced eyes and the loss of appetite and the bruises and the trips to the bathroom to throw up. It was as if he went from ignoring his condition to freefall and death.”

“You think it was accelerated to fit into the killer’s timetable?” Dtui asked.

“I think we need to see what’s in his gut,” said Siri.

At that point the temperamental air-conditioner let out a rare puff of cold air, and the hand towel on Civilai’s face lifted and wafted away like a magic carpet. Siri found himself staring into those jaundiced eyes and returning that cheesy grin.

“You bastard,” he said.

Siri sat at his desk and again left the analysis to Dtui and Geung. In his heart, he knew what they’d find. Someone had given Civilai anti-coagulants. If they tested the jar in Siri’s shoulder bag they’d find Aspirin or Warfarin or some such. And again he’d return to the same three questions: How did the killer learn of Civilai’s condition, why would Dr. Porn prescribe him something potentially lethal, and why did she lie when she said she hadn’t been treating him at all? Was she doing him a kindness? Did he go to her office and ask for something to end the pain? She was surely too professional to agree to that and there was still a lot of pain to be had in bleeding to death. Siri had no choice now but to tell Phosy of his findings and have the lady doctor brought in for questioning.

“Are those tears, boss?” said Dtui from the office doorway.

“My face leaks from time to time,” said Siri. “It’s the old pipes.”

“Time to switch over to PVC,” she said.

“What have you got for me?” he asked.

“It’s conclusive. What’s your guess?”

“Aspirin?”

“Ibuprofen.”