The Thai Dragon

by Lilburne, Guy

  “I can speak English” she replied.

  “Oh! Good” said Danny “What’s your name?”

  “Kik.”

  “Hi Kik, I’m Danny. This is Ying. I’m sorry about the way we burst in here. Can I get you a drink of water or something?”

  “No, thank you. I’m fine.” She continued to feed her baby while they chatted.

  “You were screaming ‘Murderer’ at your husband when we came in?”

  “Yes.”

  “Do you want to tell us about it?”

  “Yes I do. I know he did it. Please sit down.”

  Ying sat down on the rush mat and Danny looked around for a chair.

  “Where is your furniture?” he asked.

  “Pardon?”

  “It doesn’t matter. I’ll sit on the floor. Holy Jesus Mother of God!” Danny grunted and groaned as he folded himself down onto the rush mat.

  “How do you know that he did it?” asked Danny.

  “He was having an affair with her. I did not know who she was at first, but I knew that he was having an affair.”

  “How did you know?”

  “A wife knows, Detective. He started dressing smartly and using cologne. It must have been going on for over six months. I knew alright, but I did not say anything. We had just had the baby.”

  “So how do you know that he murdered her?”

  “He went out as usual on the Tuesday night. I knew he saw her on Tuesdays. That’s when he got dressed up. He went out every night. He is a drug dealer, but I’m sure you know that. But Tuesday was the night that he visited his lover. It was Tuesday 8th April. I know the date because he kept the newspaper. I will give it to you when you leave.”

  “Okay. What happened that night?”

  “He went out at 8:00pm and I heard him come back in at 2:30am. He was different when he got home. He was in a panic. He took his clothes off and put them straight into the washing machine and switched it on. He got into bed with me and he was all over me. He wanted sex. We haven’t had sex since I first became pregnant. He always comes in at about that time and usually just grunts and goes to sleep, but that night he was different. He was sweating a lot and he would not leave me alone. I didn’t want sex with him. I was tired and unhappy with him, but he forced himself upon me. He had sex with me and then he went to sleep. He got up early in the morning. He dried his clothes straight out of the washing machine and put them back on again. He has never done that in his life before. I did not know what was going on. He was more quiet then usual that day. Then it came on the News that a body of a young white female had been found at a luxury apartment in Patong. I looked at him and he turned white himself. He looked so guilty. I asked him if he had done it and he swore to me that he did not know what I was talking about. He insisted on taking me and the baby out of the house. He took us on his scooter and we drove to Phuket town. When the newspaper came out the story was on the front page. We sat in McDonalds and he read the paper. He kept reading it, over and over again, until he was actually reading it word by word, following the words with his finger. I could see that he was in a state of shock and, again, I said to him that I knew he had done it. I knew that something had happened between him and this girl. I told him to give himself up to the Police, but he denied that he knew this girl, but I know that he did. He kept the paper and then he insisted on staying at my mother’s house in Chalong. He hates my mother and never wants to see her, but now he did not want to go home. We stayed at my mother’s for a week. I never told her what he had done. She just thought that we were having marriage problems. When we got home I asked him again to tell me the truth and he beat me. He said that if I ever asked him again he would kill me. I live in fear of him, I’m glad you have caught him. He is a murderer.”

  “Are there any knives missing from here?” asked Danny.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Sarah Appleby was chopped up, sliced up with a big sharp knife.”

  “He collects Samari swords. He keeps them on the wall in the outhouse and some more in a box, but I would not know if any are missing. He has many.”

  “Has he got any shoes with a wavy pattern on the sole?” asked Ying.

  “I don’t know. I think he might have.” Kik got up, handed the baby to Ying, tucked her breast away and went into the bedroom. She came back carrying a pair of shoes. She turned them over to show a wavy pattern.

  “Are these the ones?”

  “They could be. We have a wavy shoe pattern left in the blood at the scene. Were his clothes bloody when he got home that night?” asked Danny.

  “I don’t know. He put them straight into the washing machine, but I did not see any signs of blood around the machine. I don’t know.”

  “Have you still got his clothes, the ones he was wearing that night?”

  “Yes, I can give them to you.”

  “This is a number that was in Sarah Appleby’s mobile phone. Do you recognize this number?” Danny handed her a piece of paper with the number written on it. Kik looked at it.

  “Yes, that is Prawat’s old phone number. He got rid of the phone the day the murder was on the news.”

  “We’ll need to take the swords as well, Kik. And the newspaper he saved.”

  “Yes, I understand.”

  “Kik, will you make a written statement telling us everything that you have just told us? You will have to give evidence in court.”

  “I will make a statement. My husband is a monster.”

  Chapter 26 The Suspect.

  Danny and Ying had ‘Bagged and Tagged’ all the exhibits that they had seized at Kik’s house before they left the premises. When they arrived at Kathu Police Station and started to carry in the exhibits, a crowd of police officers came out to greet them and clapped them into the station.

  Danny wanted to get an early interview in with the suspect, so he and Ying dumped the exhibits in the store room from where he had retrieved the other exhibits. They went down into one of the interview rooms and had one of the uniformed officers bring the prisoner into them. They sat in the room and waited for him. Prawat was brought in by two officers, each one holding an arm. Danny stood up.

  “Holy Jesus! Who the feck did this?”

  Prawat was dressed only in his boxer shorts. His face and body was bruised and swollen. He had suffered a beating. The police officers did not reply because they did not understand what Danny had said.

  “Ying, you’d better get these eejits to get an officer in charge down here, and I want a photographer here.” Danny was hissing his words. He could hardly contain his fury.

  “Danny, it might be best not to make a problem” said Ying.

  “Ying, tell them to leave the prisoner here and go and get someone in charge and a photographer, and do it now.”

  Ying spoke softly to the officers in Thai and they sat Prawat down on one of the wooden chairs and left. A few minutes later Police Inspector Lt. Col. Kittipongding walked into the room. He had been the first senior officer who took control at the murder scene after Sarah had been found murdered.

  He was an ex-murder squad detective himself and an experienced and dedicated police officer. Danny held his hand out toward Prawat.

  “Look what your officers have done.”

  Ying translated.

  “This man was handcuffed and when he was taken away there was not a mark on him. Nobody beats up my prisoners. These fecking eejits are going to ruin my case. I want you to take charge of this man. I want him photographed right now and his injuries noted. I want him taken to the hospital and checked out by a Doctor, and I don’t want to see another mark on him. I want this man then brought back here and fed. He is to be left to have a proper sleep and I will come back and interview him tomorrow morning and he had better be in good condition. I want the name of the
officer or officers who did this. I want to talk to these feckers. Have I made myself clear?” Danny’s words had turned into a rant as his anger took over.

  Ying had translated some of what he said, but decided that some things were best left unsaid. Insp. Lt. Col. Kittipongding had guessed that Ying had left bits out. He could feel Danny’s rage and he understood he was angry about someone beating up his prisoner.

  “What is he so angry about? You had better tell him to calm down. I will get him photographed, and I will make sure that he receives no further beatings. I’m not going to take him to Hospital. I will have the Police Doctor examine him here. I understand that your friend is a great Detective from Scotland Yard, but nobody comes into my police station shouting at me or my officers. Tell him this Ying.”

  “Yes Sir, I will. Can you also get the Doctor to take blood samples for DNA comparison?”

  “Yes, of course. I will do that for you.”

  “Danny, the Inspector says that he will do as you request and he is also shocked at the state of the prisoner. He says that it is unforgivable and that he will find out who has done this. He is very sorry.”

  “Okay. That’s fine then. Yer a good man yourself” he said calmly and nodded an acknowledgement towards the Inspector. The Inspector returned his nod and a begrudging mutual respect grew out of the clash between the two policemen.

  “Come on, Ying. I need a drink.”

  They walked out of the station into the late afternoon sunshine. It was still baking hot and, so far, it had not rained yet today. They drove back into Patong and stopped at one of the beach side wooden shacks for something to eat. Danny had a bottle of Singha beer and a Jack Daniels and coke.

  They sat at a rickety wooden table to eat chicken, prawns and rice. The beach was white and the blue sea lapped at its edges so gently.

  “Danny, why did you get so angry at the police station?”

  “The question is Ying, why didn’t you?”

  “This is normal. This man is a murderer and he would have deserved a beating. Maybe he said a bad thing to the police or resisted arrest. These things happen.”

  “Not to my prisoners, they don’t. Don’t you realise the whole case could be thrown out, because he was beaten up by police while he was handcuffed?”

  “No it could not. Not in Thailand. This is normal. It was in self-defense. This won’t be questioned.”

  “Then maybe we should not talk about it anymore. We will never agree on this.”

  “I just don’t understand why you protect this murderer.”

  “He isn’t a murderer until he is convicted.”

  “You don’t think he will be convicted?”

  “Yes, I think he will, if your people stop beating the fuck out of him. I’d like him to make it to court alive.”

  Chapter 27 The Interview.

  Danny and Ying were at the police station just before 8:00am ready to interview Prawat Ratchasima. They settled themselves into the same interview room that they had gone into yesterday and waited for nearly five minutes before Prawat was escorted into them. Prawat immediately wai’d to Danny and Danny acknowledged the wai with a nod of the head. The prisoner was looking more refreshed today. He was dressed properly and his swelling had gone down although the bruises were still very evident.

  “Please sit down. Do you want a drink or something?” asked Danny.

  “No thank you.” Prawat wai’d again to Danny.

  “You don’t have to keep doing that.”

  Ying dropped a couple of tapes into the recording machine fixed on the bare wall and pressed record. She stated the time and date and the fact that she and Detective Sergeant Danny O’Brien were going to interview Prawat Ratchasima for the murder of Sarah Appleby.

  “Holy Jesus!” said Danny. “That sounds fecking formal, doesn’t it Prawat?”

  Prawat nodded. His movements were quick and nervous, like a bird. He was a skinny man and looked like he should be a computer nerd, not a drug dealer and murderer.

  “Prawat, before we start the interview, I have to establish a few things. The first one is, are you happy to be interviewed in English, or do you want to be interviewed in Thai? It’s no problem for us. Between us we speak both languages.” The humour went over the heads of both Ying and Prawat.

  “I can speak English” he replied.

  “Okay, yer a good man yerself. That’s easier for me anyway. Can you confirm your name for me?”

  “I am Prawat Ratchasima.”

  “Right so. And did you rest okay after I saw you in here yesterday. Were you treated okay?”

  “Yes, thank you. After you spoke to the officers I was treated well. The officer who beat me was called Sgt. Wattana. He wanted me to confess to the murder in the car on the way here, after I was arrested.”

  “Okay. I’ll address that matter at a later date. I want to talk to you about Sarah Appleby. We know that you knew Sarah and that’s what I want to talk to you about this morning.”

  “I have nothing to say. No further comment to make.”

  “Okay, that’s your choice. But I will still ask you the questions that I need to ask and, each time I ask a question, I will give you the opportunity to answer it. It is important that you have opportunity to answer or to give an explanation, because, when it comes to going to court, they will want to know that you had the chance to give your side of the story, to give reasons or excuses, mitigation or alibi. Now is the time for you to tell me all about it. Do you understand that?”

  “I understand, but I have no comment. You already think I’m guilty.”

  “Yes I do, actually. But what I think doesn’t matter. It’s what the court decides upon the evidence they hear and, if you are not guilty, then now is the time to tell me why you are not guilty. Okay, let’s make a start. How long have you known Sarah Appleby?”

  “No comment.”

  “Do you want to deny that you knew her?”

  “No comment.”

  Danny realised that the rest of the interview was going to be a ‘No Comment’ interview. They were always the most exhausting interviews to conduct, because there is nothing to feed off. A lot of police officers will just go over the basic outline of the circumstances and say ‘I put it to you that you committed the crime’, before ending the interview. But Danny was a real detective. He stood up and took his jacket off and put if over the back of the wooden chair. He loosened his tie and turned to Ying.

  “I think we are going to need more tapes.”

  “We have plenty here” she smiled.

  “Okay, Prawat. Or can I call you ‘Prat’ for short?”

  SILENCE.

  “Okay, Prawat. Sarah Appleby was a young English girl aged 21 years. She was living in Patong and she was murdered in the early hours of Wednesday 8th April this year. During this interview I’m going to show you photographs, some of which show you and Sarah together having sex. I’ll outline the evidence that we have against you and I’ll ask you questions in respect of that evidence. Okay?”

  “No comment.”

  “You have no criminal convictions. Is that correct?”

  “No comment.”

  “But, I have evidence that you are in fact a drug dealer. Dealing cocaine, Yaa-Baa or methamphetamine as it is known everywhere else in the world, and cannabis or ‘Ganja’ as you still call it over here. I have statements from your wife and others who will state that you have been a drug dealer for a long time.”

  “No comment.”

  “I can also show forensically, through fingerprints and DNA on the drugs found at the murder scene, that you had handled these drugs and no doubt supplied them to Sarah Appleby.”

  “No comment.”

  “Your wife will say in court that she knew that you were having an affair with Sarah App
leby, for the last six months at least. How did you meet Sarah?”

  “No comment.”

  “Would you rather that I call you ‘Boots’? I know that was the nick name that Sarah used to call you. She kept your number in her mobile under that name. Did you like her having a nickname for you?”

  “No comment.” Up until now Prawat had been unmoved, almost detached from the interview, but now he had tears in his eyes, which then rolled down his cheeks as images and memories of Sarah flooded his mind.

  “Why are you crying?”

  “No comment.”

  “I like the name Boots. It sort of suits you. Did Sarah ever tell you why she called you Boots?”

  “No, she didn’t.”

  “It’s short for ‘Boots the Chemist’. It’s British humour. You know, getting your prescription from Boots. She had you in her phone as Boots because that’s how she first met you, as a drug supplier. Didn’t she?”

  “No comment.”

  “That’s how you first met. But how did you become lovers?”

  “No comment.”

  “Did she seduce you, or was it the other way around. Did you have to force her? Rape her? Maybe just drug her? Tell me.”

  “No comment.”

  “Was it love or lust?”

  “No comment.” He stopped sobbing and wiped his eyes on his shirt sleeve.

  “So we know that you had a relationship with Sarah Appleby, for at least the last six months, as her drug dealer and lover. I have a witness statement from a lady in a shop in Patong, which will say that you went into her shop every single Tuesday night to buy the same things. Even she knew that you were having an affair. She will also say that the items found at the murder scene, the vodka, coke cans, crisp packets, pot noodles, sweets and chocolate wrappers were all items that she sold to you the night Sarah was murdered. And that was the last time she saw you.”