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might be wasn’t clear to Tay.
    “In any event,” she continued after a moment, “the entry wound is very small and completely hidden inside the ear. That’s probably why you missed it when you examined the deceased at the scene.”
    “Probably,” Tay mumbled.
    “The stippling is apparent once you find the point of entry and it leaves no doubt at all that this was a contact wound. The bullet took a downward path, entering through the primary motor cortex. There was extensive subdural hemorrhaging that ripped linear fractures through the entirety of her skull, then extended down to her neck. The consequential shock wave brought about major tissue trauma, which brought her nervous system to an immediate halt causing her blood pressure to drop like a rock.”
    Dr. Hoi abruptly stopped talking.
    “I’m sorry, Inspector. From the look on your face, I’m not sure you’re staying with me here. Is something distracting you?”
    “Is something distracting me?” Tay rolled his eyes. “Jesus Christ, does a cat have an ass?”
    Dr. Hoi burst out laughing. “You do have a very colorful way of expressing yourself, Inspector.”
    “My father was an American. He willed me his vocabulary.”
    “That must come in handy in your line of work.”
    “Particularly now. I’m bowled over.”
    “Yes, firearms deaths in Singapore are unexpected, aren’t they?”
    “I can’t think of one in years.”
    “Well, you have one now.”
    “There was no blood,” Tay said.
    “What?” Dr. Hoi asked.
    “There was no blood around her ear. None on the bed either.”
    “Ah,” Dr. Hoi said. “I see what you mean.”
    “Wouldn’t there have been bleeding? If she was shot?”
    “Some perhaps. Not very much. As I said, the damage to the brain would have caused her blood pressure to drop very quickly and the entry wound was quite small. You didn’t see any blood at all?”
    “No. The bed had been stripped.”
    “Well, there you are. There wouldn’t have been enough blood to soak through the sheets to the mattress. It would have been easy to clean up the body as well. Although, offhand, I’m not sure why a killer would—”
    “Did you recover the bullet?” Tay cut in.
    Susan Hoi opened the center drawer of her desk, removed a clear plastic vial that looked like a pill bottle, and placed it on the desk in front of Tay. When he picked up the vial, it rattled loudly in the quiet office. Tay saw it contained nothing but some flecks of vaguely yellowish metal that looked more like pieces of glitter than a bullet.
    “A hollow point,” Dr. Hoi said. “It exploded just like it was meant to. Then it pulverized her brain. I have nothing for you but these fragments.”
    “A hollow point,” Tay repeated, still trying to process what he was hearing. “So you don’t think this could have been a crime of passion, the result of some kind of—”
    “Inspector, this was an execution,” Dr. Hoi interrupted. “The killer chose a .22 revolver loaded with hollow points, a weapon that is useless for anything except an execution. Whoever this woman is, her killer came prepared to murder her and then coldly did so.”
    “Then why did he beat her so badly first?”
    “He didn’t.”
    `”What are you talking about?” Tay asked. “Her face looked like hamburger.”
    “The beating occurred postmortem,” Dr. Hoi said. “As you have already pointed out, there was relatively little bleeding. If the decedent had been alive at the time she was beaten, she would have bled a great deal.”
    Dr. Hoi paused for Tay to frame another question, but when he didn’t she continued.
    “Your killer handcuffed this woman’s wrists and ankles, put an assassin’s handgun against her right ear, fired one shot, and then used some sort of club to crush her face. The facial marks are consistent with the butt of a gun so I’d guess her killer shot her in the head and then used the same revolver to beat her face in.”
    “Why would the killer beat her after