“No comment.”
“So, we know that you went to see Sarah Appleby as usual on the Tuesday. That would have been Tuesday 7th April. We know that you stopped in your usual shop and bought all the usual things for your party with Sarah.”
“No comment.”
“We can show the items that the lady identifies as selling to you, which were recovered in Sarah’s apartment. We can show forensically that your fingerprints are all over them, as well as on the drugs that were recovered.”
“No comment.”
“From the statement from the shop lady, I would say that you arrived at Sarah’s apartment at about 9:00pm?”
“No comment.”
“Are you surprised at how much I know Boots?”
“No comment.”
“Are you scared or worried?”
“No comment”
“You fecking should be son. You’re in the shite, right up to yer fecking neck.”
“No comment.”
“So you arrived at Sarah’s apartment. We know from the pathology and toxicology that the pair of you had a party, a big party; lots of drugs and booze. Was that the normal routine for Tuesday nights, then? A party and a fuck at Sarah’s?”
“No comment.”
“Now we get to the bit where I don’t know what went wrong. What happened Boots?”
“No comment.”
“Did you find out that she had another boyfriend?”
“No comment.”
“Did she tell you it was all over?”
“No comment.”
“Did she try and blackmail you with these photos?”
Danny spread some of the photos of Prawat and Sarah out on the table in front of him.
SILENCE.
“Was she going to tell your wife? What did she do or say to you that made you want to kill her and cut her up into pieces the way that you did?”
“No comment.” Prawat started to cry again.
“You fecking carved her up alright. Did you ever work in a butcher’s shop?”
“No comment” he sobbed.
“Or are you just good with knives?”
“No comment.”
“So Boots, we know that you were with Sarah on the night. We know that something terrible happened, but you won’t tell us why; how she pushed you, tortured you, threatened you, pushed all the wrong buttons, why you snapped. Why you carved her up like a piece of meat. Cutting her fingers off, slicing her breast off, cutting out her heart, what did it all mean?”
SILENCE.
“Did it excite you to kill her like that?”
“No comment.”
“The clock in her apartment was smashed at 02:08 am. Probably smashed in the struggle as she tried to fend you off. Then your wife will say that you arrived home at about 02:30am. We know it takes 15 minutes to travel from Sarah’s apartment to your house, I timed it.”
“No comment.”
“So you murdered her, had seven minutes to clean yourself up as best you could. Then you raced home?”
“No comment.”
“We have your shoes, taken from your address. The wavy pattern on the sole is the same pattern that you left with your footprints in the blood in Sarah’s apartment.”
“No comment.”
“Sarah’s blood. Footprints all over the apartment as she tried to run away from you and you chased after her. She was like a trapped animal and you wouldn’t show her any mercy. Was she crying, begging for you to let her live, pleading for life itself? Did you look into her eyes as her last breath left her body?”
SILENCE.
“Did it make you feel good?”
“No comment.”
“Did you feel the power?”
“No comment.”
“Your wife will say that, when you got home that night, you were in a panic. You took all your clothes off and washed them in the machine. You got into bed and then practically raped your own wife, after not having sex with her for over a year. She will say that you were not normal. That you were guilty of something. Even she could tell that you were a guilty man.”
“No comment.” Prawat was still crying.
“The next morning you dried the clothes and put them on again. You have never ever done that before in your life. Why did you do it then?”
“No comment.”
“Because you had to wash away the evidence?”
“No comment.”
“Then you took your wife out all day. You were waiting for the police to come and arrest you, weren’t you?”
SILENCE.
“And then you read it in the paper. You read it and reread it, over and over again. Running your finger along the words. Did it excite you, reading about your crime?”
SILENCE.
“Your wife knew, didn’t she? She knew that you had murdered this girl?”
SILENCE.
“She asked you about it and you threatened to kill her too, if she ever mentioned it again. How can you make your own wife live in fear like that? Have you got a taste now for murdering women?”
SILENCE.
Just the gentle sound of Prawat sobbing filled the emptiness after the questions.
“You stayed away from your house for a week to avoid the police. You kept the newspaper. You got rid of your mobile phone.”
“No comment.”
“And you got rid of the murder weapon. We have some of it. You got the tip of the blade stuck in her pubic bone, didn’t you? It snapped, but you carried on attacking her with it. Where did you get rid of the rest of it, Boots?”
SILENCE.
“You knew that the police would eventually track you down and, when we did, you tried to escape. Why try to run away? Only a guilty man would do that.”
“No comment.”
“And when we arrested you, you said, after caution, ‘It wasn’t me. It was the man in the suit.’ What does that mean?”
“No comment.”
“You couldn’t think of a better defense. So you just made something up on the spur of the moment?”
“No comment.”
“Do you realise how ridiculous that sounds? The man in the fecking suit?”
“No comment.”
“So, Prawat. Why did you murder Sarah Appleby?”
“No comment.”
“Have I missed anything?”
“No comment.”
“Is there anything you want to say to me?”
“No comment.”
“Is there anything you want to say to your wife, or Sarah, or the court, or the watching world, which will be at your trial? Maybe sorry, or something like that?”
“No comment.”
“Give me a reason why you have done this thing? Give me one little thing to make me like you.”
SILENCE.
“Just one more thing. There was no forced entry into the apartment and you two were the only ones in the apartment. I know that she let you in. I know that you liked each other. What happened that night? What went wrong? Talk to me Boots.”
“No comment.”
“Okay, Ying. I’ve got nothing else to say. Is there anything you want to say?”
“No, thank you.” Ying stated the time and date again and concluded the interview.
Prawat was taken back to his cell and Ying had the interview typed up.
Danny told her that he would wait in the bar for her further along from the police station.
“I’m fucked now. I need a drink.”
Chapter 28 A Guilty man Charged.
It was just over an hour before Ying Joined Danny in the bar. She ran over to him, hugged him and kissed him.
&n
bsp; “I’m so proud of you, my great detective from Scotland Yard. That was the best interview I’ve ever heard.”
“You haven’t done many interviews then.”
“Danny, you were brilliant. You had him.”
“I didn’t at all. He has said nothing.”
“He didn’t need to. The district Commander is very happy with you.”
“Is that the fella who gave me the medal?”
“Yes. Police Colonel Sarit Wattana.”
“Wattana! Is he related to Sgt. Wattana?”
“Yes Sgt. Wattana is his nephew.”
“I want to talk to Sgt. Wattana.”
“Oh Danny, I think it’s best not to make any trouble with him. You really don’t want to make enemies with anyone in the Royal Thai Police. Trust me. Anyway, the Commander wants you to be at the press conference this afternoon, so you‘d better not drink anymore.”
“What press conference?”
“The Commander is going to charge Prawat Ratchasima with the murder. He is going to read the charge to him himself and he will announce it to the press this afternoon that a guilty man has been charged with the murder of Sarah Appleby.”
“Holy Jesus, Mother of God! Yer fecking kidding me?”
“No. What do you mean?”
“Ying, we can’t charge him yet. We still need to prove this case. I still have questions to ask him. That was just round one.”
“No need. The Colonel is satisfied that you have caught the guilty man.” Ying paused. “Danny, you can’t fight the Colonel. Prawat Ratchasima will be charged today and he will be tried and sentenced within the month.”
“And what sentence will he get?”
“He will be sentenced to death, of course.”
“And when will the sentence be carried out?”
“Maybe within a week of the court. Danny, why are you not happy? You should be very happy. You have solved another murder case. You really are a great detective. In Thailand everyone will think that you are a hero.”
“Ying, I’m not happy because this case isn’t closed. Your Colonel can’t charge him today.”
“Yes, he can and he will. He has already called the press conference to announce it. You have to be there Danny.”
“Do I fuck! I’m going back to the apartment. Are you giving me a lift or shall I get a taxi?”
“Danny, the Colonel will lose face if you don’t go to the press conference. The press will want to talk to you. Please, you must do this.”
“I’ll get a taxi then.” Danny slugged back his brandy and pulled out the four slips of pink paper, which the bar girl had put in the little wooden cup each time he ordered a drink. Four times 120 baht. He stuffed a 500 baht note into the cup and walked out onto the street. He only walked a few yards before he flagged down a taxi. Within seconds of getting in the car the rains started again. It was already after 10:00pm when Ying got back to the apartment.
Danny was on the settee staring at his white board. She could see that he had written on the board in big letters ‘It wasn’t me. It was the man in the suit.’ There was an empty bottle of brandy on the floor, but Ying didn’t know how much was in it when Danny had started drinking it. She sat on his knee and ruffled his hair before kissing his forehead.
“I think you find Thailand very strange sometimes. Sometimes you act like a little boy stamping his foot, because the other kids won’t play with him. Or the grownups don’t understand what he is trying to tell them. You have done a good job today, Danny.”
“I’m not happy about this Ying. We are missing something.”
“No, tee rak. (darling) We are not missing anything.”
“There was no blood trail leaving the apartment. So that means that the killer’s clothes must have been taken off and bagged up inside the apartment, including the shoes. There would have been so much blood on them they would have been dripping. There was no blood left in the body. Seven minutes would not be long enough to clean up. And why did he say ‘It wasn’t me. It was the man in the suit’? Why would he say that? Why didn’t he just say ‘It wasn’t me’? Why say ‘a man in the suit’? Who the feck wears a suit in this country, in this weather?”
“Besides you, nobody” smiled Ying.
“Exactly. So why say that? We are missing something here.”
“But his shoes. The wavy pattern on the sole is a match.”
“Ying, on the way here I stopped off at two shoe shops. Nearly every sole pattern here is wavy. Maybe it’s a fashion thing in Patong. We can’t prove the shoes.”
“You think he is innocent now. Have you changed your mind?”
“No, not at all. I don’t think he is innocent, but we haven’t proved the case against him yet. He should not have been charged today.”
“Oh! By the way, Colonel Wattana is very happy with you.”
“I don’t give a feck.”
“I told him that you couldn’t make the press conference, because you had to go to Bangkok to meet your own boss, to brief him on the case.”
“Did you now?”
“I’m going to go and have a shower and go to bed. What about you. Are you just going to stay here and stare at the board, or what?”
“Yes. I’m going to stay here and stare at the board. We are missing something Ying, and my only suspect is going to be executed in five or six weeks, according to you.”
“You told me once ‘Only guilty men go no comment’.”
“I was wrong. Only guilty men and dead men go ‘No comment’.”
“Goodnight, tee rak.”
“Goodnight.”
Danny went out onto the balcony and lit up a cigarette. There was a young Thai couple in the pool down below. They were splashing and laughing. He could even hear the odd word as the sound of their voices drifted up. The pool looked beautiful at night. It was lit up and the two palm trees were illuminated with red and green lights. Danny thought about retiring here after he finished the case. Now, thanks to his lifelong friend Bob Malone, he would receive his pension and, without meaning to, Danny had fallen in love with Thailand. Ying was right. He did find it a strange place sometimes. But sometimes he found it to be the most beautiful, exotic and exciting place that he had ever been. London seemed a world away. Danny suddenly realised that he was happy now, for the first time in ten years. He was happy right now, and it was just in that moment that he realised it. He blew out another stream of smoke and smiled.
“Holy Jesus! Would yer fecking believe that?” he said to himself.
Chapter 29 We start again.
Ying awoke to the sound of Danny singing. She had never heard him sing before and it made her smile. She checked the digital clock at the side of the bed. It was 6:30am. The sun had just come up and it was shining bright already. She sat up in bed and leaned forward slightly to hear better. She could hear the shower running and she could hear Danny’s voice, but she didn’t recognize the song that he was singing. She pulled the duvet to her face and giggled. She had never heard him sound happy before and he was really singing. She still didn’t know the song, but then she realised that he wasn’t just singing the words, he was singing the musical instruments too.
She jumped out of bed and put her silk Kimono on and stood outside the bathroom. She listened at the door, biting on her hand to stop herself making any noise.
“I met my love… diddley dee diddley da, by the gas work wall….. diddley dee diddley da, dreamed a feckin dream by the old canal, diddley fecking dee……”
Ying had her hand over her mouth and was holding her side with her other hand. She was laughing, but not at his singing. She thought he was a good singer. She just felt happy because Danny sounded so happy, and it was funny for her to hear him sing an instrument. She went into the bathroom still giggling. Danny didn’t stop
just because she was laughing.
“Danny, you are so happy today. I love this song ‘Diddley dee diddley da.”
She pointed her two index fingers in the air in a mock dance and wiggled her hips.
“You want breakfast now, Danny?”
“Sure I do. Ohhhhhh! I’ve been a wild rover for many a year and spent all me money on whisky and beer……………………”
Ying went to make some breakfast and found herself singing her own song as she did. This felt like a good day, which reminded her. She prayed to the Buddha and the spirit house, lit candles and incense then put a can of coke and some fresh fruit out to the spirit house as an offering. The Spirits had been at work. She could feel it in the air, and she gave thanks.
Over breakfast out on the balcony Danny was making her laugh, with funny police stories from the old days. She couldn’t help but study his face. He looked different today, younger somehow. His blue eyes were very clear and sparkling and he was smiling a lot.
“I think you have good idea about the case last night?”
“Oh, Jesus! No I did not. I sat out here and looked into the night sky for most of the night.”
“Then why are you so happy today?”
“I don’t know. I started to feel it last night. I do feel happy. You‘re right.”
Ying turned to the Spirit House and wai’d to it again in thanks. Danny laughed, but then wai’d to it too.
“So, have you thought about what we are missing, Danny?”
“Yes. I have thought about it a lot. We are missing something, but I don’t know what it is yet.”
“So what do we do?”
“We do what we always do in a murder case, when we still need to solve it.”
“And what is that?”
“We start again from the beginning.”
“From the beginning?”
“Yes, from the very start. We review, re-check, re-interview with clear minds; every document, every statement, every witness. We do it all again, Ying. We have missed something, but we will find it. I promise.”
The Thai Dragon Page 14
