‘Almost as scientific as the polygraph,’ Margaret said.
‘Well, if it’s science that impresses you,’ Lyang said, ‘it’s a pity you won’t be at the MERMER demonstration this afternoon.’
Margaret looked at Li. ‘And why am I not invited?’
Li said, ‘Because it’s a demonstration for top Ministry of Public Security people, Margaret. The deputy minister himself is going to be there.’
‘We’re trying to secure funding for further research,’ Hart explained.
‘Don’t worry, I’m not invited either,’ Lyang said. ‘Husbands don’t like their wives seeing them caught in a lie.’
Hart held his hands up. ‘I am taking no part in this demonstration. I just set it up for Lynn.’
‘Who’s Lynn?’ Li asked.
‘Professor Lynn Pan. She’s an American Chinese. She was a pupil of the system’s inventor, Dr. Lawrence Farwell, back in the States. She came to live and work in China last year, sponsored by the Chinese Academy to develop a Chinese version of MERMER.’
‘What exactly is Mermer?’ Margaret asked, intrigued.
‘It’s an acronym,’ Lyang said. ‘It stands for Memory and Encoding Related Multifaceted Electroencephalographic Responses.’
‘Sorry I asked,’ Margaret said. ‘What does it mean?’
Hart said, ‘Electroencephalography is a noninvasive means of measuring electrical brain activity.’
Lyang waved her hand dismissively. She turned to Margaret. ‘He’s a scientist, he doesn’t know anything about language. In layman’s terms, they put sensors on your scalp and use a computer to measure your brain’s electrical responses to certain stimuli. Might be something as simple as a photograph of your child. You recognise it, so your brain makes an entirely involuntary electrical response. Proof that you know this child. They show you a picture of someone else’s child, you have no response. You don’t know the kid.’
Hart said, ‘It can be used to discover guilty knowledge in the brain of a criminal. They’ve done extensive testing in the States, using FBI and CIA personnel.’ He smiled. ‘Since you’re so interested in percentages, Margaret, you’ll be pleased to know it has proved 100 percent successful in all tests to date.’
‘Sounds like it could put you guys out of business.’
‘Oh, I doubt it,’ Hart said. ‘MERMER has very specific and narrow applications. It requires a lot of expensive equipment and meticulous preparation.’ He glanced at his watch. ‘Speaking of which, we don’t want to be late.’ He signalled the waitress for the check and a gaggle of girls rushed to get their jackets from the stand.
As they rose from the table, Lyang said, ‘Are you busy this afternoon, Margaret?’
Margaret laughed. ‘Lyang, these days I’m never busy.’
Lyang said, ‘I’m going for a foot massage later. Why don’t you join me?’
‘A foot massage?’ Margaret was incredulous. She had seen the signs for foot massage springing up all over the city. It was the latest fashion. But it seemed a little decadent.
‘It’s the most wonderful way of relaxing I know,’ Lyang said.
‘It’s not so easy to relax with an eleven-month-old baby demanding your attention twenty-four hours a day.’
‘That’s what’s so good about the place I use,’ Lyang said. ‘They have a crèche. You can forget baby for an hour and a half.’ She smiled. ‘Go on, treat yourself.’
‘On you go,’ Li said. ‘And when you learn how it’s done you can practise on me.’
Margaret gave him a look.
As a waitress handed Li his coat, Qian’s book slipped from the pocket and fell to the floor.
Lyang stooped to pick it up and raised an eyebrow as she read the title. ‘The Murders of Jack the Ripper.’
Hart laughed. ‘What’s this? Becoming a student of unsolved murders, Li?’
Li smiled reluctantly. ‘I hope not,’ he said.
But Margaret was looking at him curiously. ‘Jack the Ripper?’
Li sighed. There was no avoiding an explanation. ‘I take it you know who he is?’
‘Of course. The Ripper murders were probably the first documented case of serial killings anywhere in the world.’ She shrugged. ‘I’m no expert on the subject, but there can’t be many people who haven’t heard the name Jack the Ripper. He’s kind of like the bogey man.’
Li nodded solemnly and turned to Hart. ‘There’s been a spate of particularly gruesome murders in the city during the last few weeks.’ He glanced at Margaret. ‘We think the killer’s copycatting the Ripper murders.’
Margaret found her interest engaged. ‘Who in Beijing would know enough of that kind of detail to be able to replicate them?’
Li held up the book. ‘Someone who’s read this.’
Margaret took the book and looked at the Chinese characters with frustration. She said, ‘I wish I’d taken the trouble to learn to read Chinese.’
‘It’s only a translation,’ Li said. ‘You could probably get the English original on the Internet.’
‘Professional interest aroused?’ Hart asked.
‘Of course,’ Margaret said. ‘Wouldn’t you have liked to wire up some of the suspects and bamboozle them with your parlour tricks?’
He grinned. ‘Well, if you’d done the autopsies, Margaret, I’m sure you’d have provided me with ample ammunition to extract a confession.’ He turned to Li. ‘Maybe you should get Margaret working on this one, Li Yan.’
‘I’ve retired,’ Margaret said simply, and she lifted Li Jon from his chair and turned out of their private room into the gloom of the inner restaurant.
Chapter Three
I
The Chinese Academy of Sciences was in a six-storey grey-tiled building off Sanlihi Lu, facing west toward Yuyuantan Park, and flanked by the Ministry of Finance and the Chinese Institute of Seismology. Hart drew his car up on to the sidewalk and parked facing steps leading up to glass doors. A hanging white banner announced in bold characters that this was the Presidium of Chinese Scholars. A Chinese flag whipped and snapped in the wind and cast its shadow on the green-tiled roof above the main entrance.
On the fifth floor, five of the most senior officers in the Ministry of Public Security sat around a large reception room, drinking green tea and smoking. Vertical blinds shielded the room from the sun as it swung westward. One wall was taken up by a mural depicting a tranquil scene from an ancient Chinese garden. Everyone, with the exception of Li, was in uniform and he realised immediately that he was in breach of etiquette.
‘I’ll leave you to it. Good luck,’ Hart said, and he ducked out the door. What had been an animated conversation fell away into silence as the occupants of the room regarded the newcomer. Procurator General Meng Yongli sat stiffly, with his hat on the chair beside him. ‘Punctual as always, Li,’ he said, his tone rigid with disapproval.
‘You might have taken the time to change into your uniform, Section Chief.’ This from the deputy minister of Public Security, Wei Peng. He was a small, squat man with the demeanour of a frog, and he enjoyed exercising his power. ‘We are here representing the Ministry today.’
‘Give the man a break.’ Beijing’s deputy commissioner of Police, Cao Xu, was so relaxed he was almost liquid. His hat had been tossed on the low table in front of him, and he was slouched in his seat, with one leg up over the arm of it. He was a man who, at one time, had been destined for the top. A predecessor of Li’s in the hotseat at Section One, he had looked set for the commissioner’s job when a past indiscretion had caught up with him and he was promoted sideways to deputy. His progress on the career ladder was at an end, and so he had no need to toady to his superiors. It made him something of a loose cannon. He took a long pull at his cigarette. ‘After all, the Section Chief is up to his eyes in murder; isn’t that right, Chief?’