Death of a Red Heroine

deep, penetrating eyes, holding a large manila folder in his hand.
    “You must have worked quite late last night.” Chen offered a cup of tea to his assistant. “A well-done job. I’ve just read your report.”
    “Thank you.”
    “Any new information about the case this morning?”
    “No. Everything’s in the report.”
    “What about the missing person’s list?”
    “No one on the list looks like her,” Yu said, handing over the folder. “Some pictures have just been developed. She could not have been too long in the water. No more than twenty hours is my guess.”
    Chen started thumbing through photographs. Pictures of the dead woman lying on the bank, naked, or partially covered up, then several close-ups, the last one focusing on her face, her body concealed by a white covering, in the mortuary.
    “What do you think?” Yu breathed slowly into his hot tea.
    “A couple of possible scenarios. Nothing definite until Forensic finishes.”
    “Yes, the autopsy report will probably be here late this afternoon.”
    “You don’t think she could be someone from the neighboring villages?”
    “No, I don’t. I have called the local county committee. There’s no one reported missing there.”
    “But what about the murderer?”
    “No, not likely, either. As the old saying goes, a rabbit does not browse near its lair. But he could be familiar with the canal.”
    “Two possibilities, then,” Chen began.
    Yu listened to Chen’s analysis without interrupting. “As for the first scenario, I don’t think it is so likely,” he said.
    “But it would be impossible for the murderer to get her body to the canal without some sort of transportation at his disposal,” Chen said.
    “He might be a taxi driver. We’ve had similar cases. Pan Wanren’s case, remember? Raped and murdered. A lot of resemblance. Except the body was dumped in a rice paddy. The murderer confessed that he did not intend to kill her, but he panicked at the thought of the victim’s being able to identify his car.”
    “Yes, I do remember. But if the murderer raped this one in a car, why should he have bothered to hide the body in the plastic bag afterward?”
    “He had to drive all the way to canal.”
    “The trunk would have served his purpose.”
    “Maybe he just happened to have the bag in the car.”
    “Maybe you’re right.”
    “Well, when a rape precedes homicide,” Yu said, crossing his legs, “the motive comes down to concealing the rapist’s identity. She could have identified him, or the car. So a taxi-driver hypothesis fits.”
    “But the murderer could also be the victim’s acquaintance,” Chen said, studying a picture in his hand. “With her body dumped in the canal, her disappearance would not be easily traced to him. That may account for the plastic bag, too. To conceal moving the body into the car.”
    “Well, not too many people have their own cars—except high cadres, and they would not have their chauffeurs drive them around on such an errand.”
    “It’s true. There’re not too many private cars in Shanghai, but the number is increasing rapidly. We cannot rule it out.”
    “If the murderer was the deceased’s acquaintance, the first question we have to ask is why? A secret affair with a married man, we’ve had cases like that, but then the woman in such a case, almost without exception, is pregnant. I called Dr. Xia early this morning, and it was ruled out,” Yu said, lighting a cigarette just for himself. “It’s still possible, of course, I mean your theory.
    If so, there’s probably nothing we can do until we find out her identity.”
    “So do you think we should start checking with the taxi bureau—in accordance with your theory?”
    “We could, but it would not be easy. There weren’t many taxis in Shanghai ten years ago—you could have waited on the street for hours without getting one. Now Heaven alone knows how many there are, running everywhere like locusts. Over ten thousand, I bet, not including the self-employed cab drivers. Maybe another three thousand.”
    “Yes, that’s a lot.”
    “Another thing, we’re not even sure that she was from Shanghai. What if she came from another province? If so, a long time will pass before we get information about her identity.”
    The air in the small office became thick with cigarette smoke.
    “So what do you think we should do?” Chen asked, pushing open the window.
    Detective Yu let a few seconds go by, and then asked a question of