The Fourth Sacrifice by Peter May Page A

decedent,’ she asked Sophie.
    Sophie blanched at the prospect, and very gingerly lifted the cord between thumb and forefinger and passed it across the table. Margaret took it and looked at it very closely.
    Li said, ‘We have already established that the cord used to bind the first three victims was all cut from the same length. I am sure we will find the same with that one.’
    Margaret shrugged, clearly unconvinced. ‘Then why’, she asked, ‘when he was tying the wrists of Yuan Tao, did he use a different knot than the one used on the other three?’
    Li frowned and took the cord, looking at the knot closely, then examining the photographs. ‘They all look the same to me,’ he said.
    ‘They all look like reef knots,’ Margaret said. ‘But the first three were tied by a right-handed person. Right over left and under, left over right and under. The fourth is exactly the reverse. Tied by a left-hander.’ Li looked at her, trying to absorb the implications. ‘The point is,’ Margaret went on, ‘Yuan Tao was clearly killed by someone else. It’s a copycat murder.’

CHAPTER THREE
    I
    The warmth of the sunshine seemed somehow surprising after the chill of the autopsy room. Margaret fished in her purse for her sunglasses and put them on. Li followed her out on to the step and lit a cigarette. They had left Sophie in the office phoning her boss to arrange protocol clearance for the handing over of autopsy reports and photographic evidence. They stood for some minutes in silence. On the games court, beyond the fence, students were still playing volleyball, their catcalls and laughter echoing back off the walls of the Evidence Centre. Somehow the simple pleasure they took in their game made the contrast with the act of dissecting the dead all the more bleak.
    Finally Li said, ‘It cannot be a copycat murder.’
    She shrugged her indifference. ‘The evidence speaks for itself. You can think what you like.’
    ‘It is impossible,’ said Li. ‘This is not America. Accounts of crimes are not splashed all over the newspapers or on television. The details of these crimes can be known only by the killer himself, and by my investigating team.’
    ‘Then maybe you should have a look at your investigating team.’
    Her flippancy angered him, but she clearly was not in a mood to be reasoned with. He bit back a retort.
    After a moment she turned and looked at him levelly. ‘Are we finished?’ She paused and added, ‘Professionally speaking.’
    ‘I guess so.’
    ‘Good,’ she said, and hit him as hard as she could across the side of his face with her open palm.
    He was shocked. He had been taking a draw of his cigarette, and it was knocked from his mouth by the force of the blow. His face stung from the slap, and his eyes blurred as they filled involuntarily with tears. He blinked at her furiously. ‘What was that for?’
    ‘What do you think?’ And he wondered why he had even asked. ‘Why, Li Yan?’ she said. ‘Why?’ He couldn’t meet her eye. ‘Ten weeks. You never once tried to get in touch, never once tried to see me. You’ve avoided every attempt I’ve made to see you.’ She fought to hold back the tears and control her voice.
    At the sound of raised voices, the driver of her embassy car, parked no more than ten feet away, turned to look out the rear windscreen. Li turned his back to the car and kept his voice down. ‘They told me that under no circumstances was I to see you, or contact you.’
    She looked at him in disbelief. ‘So you’re happy to let them , whoever they are, tell you who you can and cannot see?’
    ‘I’m an employee of the state, Margaret. It is a privileged and trusted position that cannot be compromised by a relationship with a foreigner.’
    ‘Oh, I see. So your job’s more important than the woman you love, or the woman I thought you loved. Good thing I found out you didn’t. Otherwise I might have made a fool of myself by doing something stupid like falling in love