The Fourth Sacrifice by Peter May Read Free Book Online Page B

hours.’
    ‘And I need a favour, Margaret.’ He crossed the room and indicated that she should take a seat. She did so, reluctantly. The Ambassador remained standing. He paused for a moment. Then, ‘A member of the embassy staff, a Chinese-American called Yuan Tao, was murdered last night,’ he said. ‘Someone decapitated him.’
    ‘Jesus,’ Margaret said.
    ‘And it gets worse,’ Stan said, raising what looked suspiciously like a plucked eyebrow.
    ‘Really?’ said Margaret. ‘I can’t think of anything much worse than decapitation.’
    ‘For us, not for him,’ Dakers said, crossing the room to stand beside the Ambassador. The RSO was a solid, square man, an ex-cop, bald and aggressive, with a close-cropped silver-grey beard. ‘He was murdered in an apartment he’d been renting in the Chaoyang District.’ He paused, as if this should mean something to Margaret.
    ‘So?’ she asked.
    Stan said, ‘Embassy staff are allocated apartments in special embassy compounds. In Yuan Tao’s case, a two-room affair in a block just behind the Friendship Store.’
    ‘Technically,’ Jon Dakers said, ‘he was breaking the law.’
    ‘Yeah, I know,’ Margaret said. She had bitter experience. ‘You got to register where you’re staying with Public Security, and they get pretty pissed if you spend even one night somewhere else.’
    ‘And the Chinese are, indeed, pretty pissed,’ said the Ambassador.
    ‘They’re embarrassed,’ Dakers corrected him. ‘An American citizen’s been murdered on their patch. They’re looking for any way to pass the buck.’
    A sudden worm of suspicion worked its way into Margaret’s mind. ‘Wait a minute. When you say this guy was “a member of the embassy staff”, is this some kind of euphemism?’
    The Ambassador chuckled grimly. ‘He wasn’t a spy, if that’s what you mean.’
    ‘And, of course, you’d tell me if he was.’
    ‘No,’ the Ambassador said, ‘but I’m telling you he wasn’t. He was a low-level official. Only been out here about six months, working on the visa line.’
    ‘Which probably gives a few thousand people a motive for doing him in,’ Stan said.
    ‘We’re waiting on the State Department sending his file,’ Dakers said.
    There was a pause, then, that no one seemed anxious to fill. Margaret glanced around the faces looking expectantly at her.
    ‘So what’s any of this got to do with me?’ she asked.
    The Ambassador rounded the sofa and sat down. ‘The Chinese police believe they have a serial killer on their hands. They think Yuan Tao is victim number four. The other three were Chinese nationals. But this guy’s an American citizen. And we’d like you to carry out the autopsy.’
    ‘What?’ Margaret was stunned.
    ‘You’ve worked with them before,’ Dakers said.
    ‘Look,’ Margaret said, ‘I came here last spring to lecture for six weeks at the University of Public Security. I did one autopsy as a favour – and spent the next three months regretting it. I do not want to get involved again.’
    ‘Margaret, I understand perfectly.’ The Ambassador leaned forward earnestly. He was drawing on all his powers of diplomacy. ‘But there’s no way we can get anyone else out here fast enough. Besides which, the Chinese trust you.’
    ‘Do they?’ Margaret was amazed.
    ‘Well, they’ve agreed to let you do the autopsy – or, at least to assist.’
    ‘And if I refuse?’
    ‘We all have certain obligations to our country, Margaret.’ The Ambassador sat back, playing his trump card – the appeal to her patriotism.
    Margaret had always wondered what all that swearing allegiance to the flag and singing the national anthem at school was about. Now she knew. She sighed. ‘I’ll have to rearrange my flight.’
    ‘Already taken care of,’ Stan said smugly.
    ‘Oh, is it?’ Margaret threw him a hostile glance and stood up.
    ‘Oh, and one other thing,’ Stan said, and she saw a strange look of anticipation brighten his eyes. ‘The