Chapter 28

“Do you have a photograph of the victim’s face?” I said.

Solomon nodded, and flipped through the thick stack of files he had brought in.

“Here it is.” He handed it to me.

I studied the photograph. It was a copy, so I took out my pen and a ruler from my bag and, measuring carefully, scaling for the smaller size of the head, using the ruler next to the head that was part of the photo, made a scaled copy. Solomon watched me, and when I had finished, I slid the photograph over to him.

“See?”

He looked at it, then picked up the gas mask, and finally looked at me. He was puzzled.

“But, it’s—”

“Yes!” I cried. “That’s what fooled us, that and the bruising right around the mouth. He had the mask on upside down!”

Solomon grunted. Then he nodded slowly. “And what about the bruising around the mouth?”

“Horst tried mouth to mouth.”

“What?”

I related what Horst had told me.

“And you have a tape of him saying this?”