“What about the fingers cut off and the sliced off breast, was that ritualistic?”
“No. I don’t think so. The fingers were sliced off probably as a result of her putting her hands up in defense. The breast was sliced off in the frenzy.”
“What about the knife Doc? What sort am I looking for? Something as big as a carving knife?”
“No. I think a stronger knife than a carving knife, a thicker blade. Something that a butcher might use to cut a side of beef into joints.”
“Like a boning knife?”
“Yes, maybe. A blade probably 12 or 13 inches long. You have, of course, already recovered about two and a half inches of this murder weapon.”
“Yes, I know. I just haven’t got around to looking at everything, yet.”
“I think that the Thai Dragon got to her” said the Doctor in a hushed voice.
“What’s the Thai Dragon?”
“The Thai Dragon is the mythical, spiritual, oriental Asian beauty that gets under peoples’ skin. It is what makes them keep coming back or makes them stay. It can take them to a world of great pleasures of body and mind, even spiritual enlightenment. But for some, it can devour and destroy them. Some cannot live with the Dragon. They have to understand the power of the Dragon to be safe from its claws. Sarah was slain by the Thai Dragon, Detective. I don’t know if there is anything else I can tell you, Detective.”
“No, that’s grand. I’m delighted you took the time to talk to us. Is there anything else you want to say Ying?”
“No, thank you.”
Chapter 11 The British Embassy.
They took a taxi for the relatively short distance to the British Embassy at 14 Wireless Road. It was strangely reassuring to Danny to see soldiers of the British Army guarding the building. These were from the Scots Guards. They were expected and, after close examination of their ID’s, they were given pre-printed Embassy ID tags with their details already on and then escorted inside the main building by one of the guards. They were handed over to a rather pompous young man wearing a suit that was too big for him. He looked like a teenager, but surely must have been older.
“Sir Anthony is expecting you. If you would care to follow me?”
Danny leaned over and whispered to Ying, “Jesus! Your man’s as camp as Christmas.”
Ying just smiled, as she always did when she didn’t understand what Danny was talking about.
The huge oak panelled room they were taken to was magnificent. Sir Anthony Armstrong was sitting behind a desk that was equally impressive and befitting of such a room. There was a highly polished dining table and buttoned, red leather lounge seats. A painting of a rather younger looking Queen Elizabeth looked down upon the room, from her vantage point behind Sir Anthony, almost so she could see who was coming into the room.
Sir Anthony stood up as soon as they entered, to make the journey around his desk to meet them with an outstretched hand.
“Hello there. I’m Anthony Armstrong.”
He was a handsome man, well into his 60’s, but younger looking, with a full head of greying hair and a wide smile that showed off expensive dental work. He seemed to have the energy of a much younger man and he had the authority of a man who had enjoyed a lifetime of being rich and successful.
“How are yer doing? I’m Danny O’Brien. This is Detective Ying.”
Danny was impressed that the Ambassador could speak Thai quite fluently and he greeted Ying with a few words, which obviously charmed her. She was gushing the way women often do in the presence of powerful men.
“I’m very sorry about your loss” Danny offered in condolence.
“Thank you. Yes, it’s an awful business. I’m happy Scotland Yard has arrived.”
“Sarah was your niece, I believe?”
“Yes. My sister’s daughter, actually. Her father was Lord Stevens. Please, won‘t you sit down? Would you like refreshment?”
“I’d be delighted to share a whisky with you.”
“Oh, right. Of course. And Detective Ying?”
“Just an orange juice, please Sir” smiled Ying, as she again wai‘d to the Ambassador.
Sir Anthony ordered the drinks over the phone on his desk and, within a couple of minutes, they were brought in on a silver tray.
“And she was working here at the Embassy?” continued Danny.
“Yes, that’s right. We were notified by the Police in Phuket and I travelled down to identify the body.”
“Why was she living in Phuket?”
“Erm… I’m sorry, I don’t understand the question!”
“If she was working in the Embassy in Bangkok, why was she living in Phuket? Jesus! That’s a hell of a journey to make every day. I would have thought that all Embassy staff would live close to the Embassy?”
“Oh, I see. Well the work that Sarah did was very low grade. Administrative work really, nothing sensitive. Sarah just loved living in Phuket, so worked from home and actually seldom had to visit Bangkok.”
“Is the apartment her own or does it belong to the Embassy?”
“Well, actually, the apartment belongs to me.”
There was a moment’s silence, which the savvy and experienced Detective used to let any unmentioned accusations wash over Sir Anthony. If anyone is hiding any guilty secrets, silence can be as accusing as any words, and it doesn’t give away what the detective already knows or doesn’t know.
“Well, she was my niece.” Sir Anthony continued by way of explanation.
“So, have you got a key to the apartment then?”
“Yes, I should have somewhere, of course.”
“Are there any other staff who work for the Embassy from home?”
“No. Sarah was the only one whose work allowed her that privilege.”
“Who did she report to?”
“Well, me actually. Sometimes she would just need to liaise with my personal secretary.”
“And how often did you see her?”
“Not as often as I would have liked, but we had regular contact on the phone and by email, of course.”
“When was the last time you saw her?”
“I really can’t remember Detective. I have to say I feel as if I’m rather being grilled here. You do know it was I who insisted on Scotland Yard coming over to investigate, because the Thai Police didn’t seem to be getting very far with it?”
“Oh Jesus! Yes, I’m sorry about that. I get a train of thought and I just fire out the questions. But every little bit of information is vital to me.”
“Yes, of course. I understand. If there is anything else I can help you with Detective, you know where to contact me.”
“There is something else, actually, Sir Anthony. When you went to identify Sarah’s body you took away two of my exhibits; a laptop computer and a mobile phone. I need to have them back off you.”
“Well, I’m afraid they are classified Detective. They are sensitive government property and they would need to be sanitized. Even I would need to get authority to hand them over to you. I took them from the police because we simply couldn‘t afford for these things to fall into the wrong hands. You do understand?”
“No, actually, I don’t, but I’m just a stupid Irish detective. You must realise that they could hold vital clues as to the identity of her murderer, or the reason for her murder, and I don’t want anyone sanitizing anything without me seeing it first. So get the authority to make that happen, Sir Anthony, and I’d be delighted.”
“I’ll see what I can do. Certainly. You might find what you need by other ways in the meantime of course.”
“I’d still like to examine these things. You’ll ring me and let me know, will yer?”
“Yes, of course.”
“Thanks for the drink.”
“You are a pretty tough detective, Detective.”
“So I am.”
“I saw that you received a medal for bravery from Her Majesty some years ago, for saving your friend’s life whilst on duty.”
“Some say I got it for killing the other fella.”
Danny and Ying walked along Wireless Road and took the Sky train on the Sukhumvit line for two stations along and got off at Asok station, near to Soi Cowboy, in a part of the notorious red light district of the city. They decided to get something to eat. Danny insisted on having a steak and chips, while Ying settled on pork and noodle soup with sticky rice, of course. Ying really had been quite charmed by Sir Anthony.
“I have never met anyone famous before” she said.
“He’s not that famous. I have never heard of him.”
“Danny, I think you don’t like Sir Anthony?”
“I don’t like anyone who tells me lies.”
“He lied to you?” Ying held a ball of sticky rice in her hand and stopped in midair between the bowl and her mouth. She didn’t think that Sir Anthony had lied.
“About what did he lie?”
“The whole computer and phone thing. At first he told us that she worked from home and it was all so low grade stuff that she could do that, but he didn’t tell us what she actually did; what her job is. And then, when I want to see the laptop and her mobile, then suddenly they are a feckin high security risk. Fecking classified, for fecks sake. Something isn’t right, or he knows something that he doesn’t want us to know.”
“Wow! I didn’t see the same as you see.” Once again she felt a swell of pride in her heart for Danny, who was fast becoming her hero.
They decided that it was getting too late to fly back to Phuket tonight and the Sheraton Grande Hotel, Sukhumvit, was only over the road. So they went to book a couple of rooms. They popped into a Seven Eleven shop. Danny picked up a bottle of local Sangsom, a local Thai brandy, and some more cigarettes, while Ying got them both some tooth brushes and paste, some orange juice and some snacks to eat later. It seems in Thailand everyone is always hungry and has to eat eight times a day.
The receptionist explained to Ying that they only had the one room left, but it did have two double beds in it, because it was a ‘Deluxe luxury room’. Ying told Danny and said that she was happy to share, as they were already now officially flat mates and the receptionist already thought that she was a whore anyway.
The room was splendid. It was spacious and had the feel of a luxury room at a five star hotel in the middle of one of the most exciting cities in the world. But it was non-smoking, which meant that Danny had to sit out on the balcony to smoke. He watched the dancing lights of the city below him as he smoked, relaxing in the warmth of good Thai brandy and the warm tropical night air.
Ying went to have a shower. There were ‘His and Her’ towels and bathrobes in the bathroom and the cool power shower was invigorating. Danny finished his cigarette and went to lie on his bed. In the reflection of the long mirror above the plasma TV he could see that
Ying had left the bathroom door open. She was naked and drying off her wet body with the hotels white embossed towel. She had her back to him but he could glimpse the swell of her breasts as she moved.
“Holy Jesus!” he whispered.
She had a huge tattoo of a dragon on her back. It was climbing. Its front claw was on her shoulder and one of its rear claws perched on the swell of her left buttock. Its head was turned to look at Danny. Its tail looped down to her right buttock before curling up again and flicking round over her hip and Danny imagined towards her groin. This was more than a tattoo; it was a masterpiece. Danny had never seen so many shades of colour in a tattoo; the greens and yellows, dashes of blue and a flash of fiery red madness in its eyes. It must have cost a small fortune and taken weeks or even months to do, and surely it must mean something. Danny thought that big dragon tattoos like this were a Chinese gangster thing. He knew he shouldn’t be staring, but the whole scene was so sexy and compelling, and that tattoo was the most beautiful he had ever seen. The delicate shades of colour gave it an almost 3D effect. It looked like it was about to leap, but was it going to protect her or devour her? He would never have thought that Ying was the sort of girl to have such a tattoo, or any tattoo. It didn’t seem to match her quiet sensitive nature. Maybe this girl was full of surprises and how come she left the bathroom door open anyway? He didn’t want Ying to turn around and find him watching her through the mirror, so he went back out onto the balcony and looked over the city sky line. But the only vision he had in his mind was Ying’s wet delicate body dominated by the fearsome looking dragon that stared back at him. Danny had another drink before he went for his shower. They went to bed earlier than the previous nights, but it had been a long day. Danny turned to say goodnight to Ying and saw that she was sitting on her bed facing the pillow and that she was in prayer. Danny thought that it looked so cute, almost childlike in its innocence. Did people, especially grown up, still pray like this? She leaned forward three times, still in the prayer position, to tap her fingers on the pillow. With each lean her bathrobe gaped open and there was a flash of nipple.
“Goodnight Ying.” Danny turned back away from the praying Ying.
“Goodnight Danny.”
Chapter 12 Back to Phuket.
They were back in Phuket by mid-morning. Ying spent the next couple of hours packing her things and moving them to Danny’s flat. Her cousin, Nit, had just got a job at one of the bigger hotels and jumped at the chance of taking over Ying’s share of the apartment for the next six months.
Danny spent the two hours reading the Forensic Report of Inspector Lt. Col. Narongchai of the Crime Scene Investigators. It was a very thorough report and Danny could tell that she was very professional in her investigation. He also updated his white board with the name of Sir Anthony Armstrong…. Twice. Under the sections of ASSOCIATES and WITNESSES.
Danny always kept a separate writing pad that was marked KIV, which was short for ‘Keep in view.’ He used this to write notes of things that he didn’t want to lose sight of, things which needed some explanation, or sometimes just things that he needed to do at some stage in the future. To Danny his KIV book was as important as his white board. He made notes today in the KIV book.
1. She had sex with three men in 24 hrs before she died.
2. No forced entry into flat.
3. Frenzied attack, but no trace or forensics of killer’s exit, no blood on stairs or in lift.
4. Killer was wearing shoes with a wavy pattern on the soul.
5. Killer used something similar to a butcher’s boning knife.
6. Did she know the killer?
7. Sir Anthony has a spare key to apartment.
8. She likes drugs, likes booze, likes to party.
9. What’s on the laptop and mobile phone?
10. A tripod in bedroom, but no Camera?
11. Is it a Video or still Camera that was on it?
Ying had known from the first moment that she saw Danny that he was a tortured soul and now she knew that he was also being haunted by ghosts from his past. There was no doubt in her mind that the spirit of Sarah Appleby was also going to want a part of him. She decided that he needed some positive energy and even some love in his life and she knew just the place where he could get a big dose of both.
Danny found Ying’s upbeat mood infectious. She dragged him out of the apartment and away from the paperwork. She reminded him that she had to buy the apartment a present and that he was going to have to go with her. It was a taxi ride back to Phuket airport and another hour’s flight to Songkhla, in the south of Thailand. Ying explained on route that once every month or two, when she can afford it, she visits the Songkhla Babies Home, which is an orphanage for children from babies up to the age of 17 years. Once a child is in a
n orphanage it is usually there until it is an adult. Some of the lucky ones may be able to stay on and become staff. The rest usually find a life amongst the bars in either prostitution or drugs. Most of the kids at this orphanage are there because of the Tsunami, or aids. Some are there because of deaths in the family or just plain old fashioned poverty. Ying went on to explain that the orphanage is raising money to improve the school facilities and each month she collects from other police officers and takes the money to the orphanage. She usually stops on the way to buy fruit and food for them too. She finally explained that the kids make and sell ‘Spirit Houses’ and she knows a very wise old monk at the orphanage, who will bless it for them and that’s the present she wants to buy for the apartment.
The Thai Dragon Page 6
