"Where's the body?" Robin asked, stifling a giggle at the forensic suit I was wearing.
"The hospital sent it to the local mortuary for studying." The policemen replied. He had finally introduced himself as Inspector George Faron, of Gourock Police Department. He'd driven down when the incident was reported.
"I meant Gabriel's." Robin replied, sarcastically.
I scowled at her and continued preparing myself. "Do you have any photo's of him in the room?" I asked, smoothing the plastic suit down.
"No." Faron replied. "The staff thought he might still have chances of living, so they sent him to the hospital. From there he was sent to the mortuary at our request."
I nodded, pushing open the door, and stepped in. There was a collection of forensic cones on the floor, marking different points of interest. There were three bullet shells on the floor and they seemed to be 28 calibre. I made some mental calculations and popped my head of the door. "Who marked up the crime scene?"
"Some of my men." Faron replied.
"Fire them."
"Why?"
"The bullet shells aren't from the gun. Too small." I moved across the room to the blood splatter on the wall. I whipped out a magnifying glass and studied the wall. The heart of the blood splatter was on a bit of wall slightly peppered with something. I dropped to the floor and studied the gap between the floor boards and the wall, observing the things in-between. I whipped out a pen light and stared down. Round iron balls, smaller than my little fingers. I pulled out a pen and dipped the end into the gap. When I pulled it out, I observed a tiny layer of blood at the very bottom. I looked at the edge of the floor boards and saw a clean bit of wood. Too clean. I sniffed it, smelling some sort of industrial cleaner. Somebody had been scrubbing the floor. I climbed up and smiled. As I've said, I'm not good at deductions, but I felt like I'd made quite a good one just now. I came out of the room and pulled off the plastic suit. "Somebody has pretended he was killed with a 28 calibre gun, when in fact he was killed with a shot gun."
"How can you be sure?" Faron asked.
Robin explained, having observed what I was doing. "A twenty eight calibre gun would have penetrated him, but it wouldn't have then come out of his back, spraying the blood on the wall. Thus they're plants. I don't get the rest."
I smiled at her. "Well done. The rest is quite simple though. There is a gap between the wall and the floor boards in which several round metal balls are lying and there is some blood. In the centre of the blood spatter are marks made by these metal balls, which are shots from a shotgun. The edge of the floor board was scrubbed clean. Presumably there was blood on it, as there is blood near the shots in the gap. Why that is, I have no idea."
Faron nodded. "What do you want to do now?"
"Can we talk to the two other business people?" Robin asked, pulling out her notebook.
Faron nodded and led us upstairs, where the other two business people were waiting. There was women in a dress with black hair, going by the name of Mrs Ro, which coincidentally turned out to be the name of Chinese piggy bank I once owned. The other was an elderly man in a suit, going by the name of Mr Sol. They both seemed obliged to help us. We interviewed Mrs Ro first.
"Where were you at the time of Mr Lee's," the name of the dead man, "demise?" I asked.
"I was with Mr Sol, going over a possible alliance between our companies."
"Did you have any problems with Mr Lee?" Robin asked.
"We did argue a lot, but only as rival businesses. None of us would go so far as to murder."
I nodded. "Out of your group, who would you say was most opposed to Mr Lee?"
"Definitely Mr Sol. They deal in the same market, home electronics, so are always arguing."
"You say that you were planning on dealing with Mr Sol. If he worked in the same market as Mr Lee, why not work with him?" Robin asked.
Mrs Ro froze, unsure. That was a genius question. "Just preference, I guess. Mr Sol seemed more trustworthy."
I was about to question further when Faron burst in. "The other business man has been found."
"Take us to him. I want to question him." I replied.
"Can you talk to spirits?"
"What?"
"He's dead." Faron replied.
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