"Why?"
"Because I suspect there is something beneath it." He smiled. "I can hardly ask the ladies, can I?"
He took hold of the left side of the wardrobe and waited until a reluctant Mr. Yin took hold of the right hand side. They both lifted and moved the wardrobe forward a couple of feet. Sergeant Lee gasped when she saw what had been hidden by the wardrobe. Flattened cardboard boxes. She bent down and picked them up. There were ten of them. "The boxes," she said.
"Yes," said Inspector Zhang. "The boxes."
"But how can that be?" asked Inspector Kwok.
Inspector Zhang let go of the wardrobe and looked over at Mr. Yin. "Why don't you explain, Mr. Yin?"
"I don't know what you mean."
"Yes you do, Mr. Yin. The drugs were never in the boxes. Not by the time you brought them up to the apartment. They might well have been in the boxes at the warehouse but at some point between there and here you and your assistant took the drugs out and it was empty boxes that you brought into the apartment."
"Nonsense," said Mr. Yin.
"There is no other explanation," said Inspector Zhang. "You and he were the only people to enter the apartment. It can only have been you."
"You cannot prove anything," said Mr. Yin.
"I think I can," said Inspector Zhang. He pointed at the collapsed boxes. "When you and your assistant entered the apartment neither of you were wearing gloves. Therefore if you did indeed conceal the boxes under the wardrobe, your fingerprints and DNA will be on the cardboard."
Mr. Yin glared at Inspector Zhang for several seconds, then his shoulders slumped. "I have been a fool," he said.
"I agree," said Inspector Zhang. "When you were approached by Inspector Kwok you realised that she was providing you with a golden opportunity to cover your crime. You were the one bringing the drugs into the country, but of course she didn't know that. You put the boxes in the van but on the way to the apartment you removed the heroin and resealed the boxes. The boxes on the trolleys were empty. And once inside the apartment out of sight of the surveillance camera you simply flattened the boxes and hid them under the wardrobe." He turned to Inspector Kwok. "You may arrest Mr. Yin now," he said. "The mystery is solved."
Inspector Kwok had been staring at Mr. Yin with her mouth wide open and she jumped when Inspector Zhang spoke. She took out her handcuffs, fastened then to Mr. Yin's wrists, and took him out.
Sergeant Lee was scribbling in her notebook.
"What are you writing, Sergeant Lee?" asked Inspector Zhang.
"Everything," she said. She looked up from the notebook. "You knew he was guilty before you even brought him here, didn't you? Before you even found the boxes."
Inspector Zhang smiled. "Yes, that's true. I did."
"How?" asked Sergeant Lee.
Inspector Zhang tapped the side of his head. "By using ze little grey cells," he said, in his best Hercule Poirot impersonation.
"Something he said at the warehouse?"
"Before then," said Inspector Zhang. "When I watched the surveillance video footage at New Phoenix Park, I knew he was our man."
"But all we saw was him delivering the boxes and leaving," said Sergeant Lee. "Nothing else happened."
"He unlocked the door," said Inspector Zhang.
Sergeant Lee's frown deepened.
"It was his first time at the apartment," said Inspector Zhang. "But he knew that the key had to be turned twice to open the door. He unlocked the door without any hesitation, but how could he have known that it was a security lock and required two turns of the key?"
"He couldn't," said Sergeant Lee. "Unless he had already been to the apartment."
"Exactly," said Inspector Zhang. "You saw the problems that Inspector Kwok had when she tried to unlock the door the first time. But Mr. Yin had no such problems. Because he had already been to the apartment."
"You solved the case, so why didn't you arrest Mr. Yin? Why did you let Inspector Kwok arrest him?"
"It is her case," said Inspector Zhang. "I was only brought in to assist."
"You have saved her career," said Sergeant Lee. "She will take the credit."
"I solved the mystery, that is all that matters to me," said Inspector Zhang.
"You are a wonderful detective, Inspector Zhang."
Inspector Zhang smiled but said nothing.
Later that night, Inspector Zhang's wife served him fish head bee hoon, a creamy vermicelli noodle soup with chunks of fried fish head, one of his favourite dishes. They were sitting at the dining table and the television was on, with the sound down low. Mrs. Zhang poured red wine into her husband's glass and he smiled his thanks. On the television, a beaming Senior Assistant Commissioner was standing next to Inspector Kwok who was being interviewed by a reporter from Channel News Asia. Behind them were the ten cardboard boxes that had been opened to reveal the drugs inside. Mr. Yin had obviously given the drugs to the police, probably hoping to escape the death penalty.
"Isn't that the case you were working on?" she asked.
"Yes," said Inspector Zhang, watching as Inspector Kwok flashed the reporter a beaming smile. "Yes it is."
"So why aren't they interviewing you?"
Inspector Zhang took a sip of his wine. "I suppose I'm not handsome enough for television," he said.
"You're much more handsome than the Senior Assistant Commissioner," said Mrs. Zhang.
"They eye of the beholder," said Inspector Zhang.
Mrs. Zhang watched as the reporter continued to interview Inspector Kwok. "She's very pretty," she said.
"Yes, she is."
"Is she a good detective?"
Inspector Zhang looked a little pained. "She will do very well in the Singapore Police Force," he said. "She is destined for great things."
"But she is not a good detective?"
"My own Sergeant Lee is better," said Inspector Zhang.
"But not as pretty."