And then there was that bitch doctor at St Nicholas who had been pleasant to her, but she had allowed them to attach electrodes to her scalp. She remembered the trembling in her hands and feet; the restraints that held her down. She was meant to be sedated, but sometimes they made a mistake, and the pain of the electricity passing through her body had been unpleasant.
Her parents had visited her, but they never took her back home, other than for short periods. They did not want her, she could see that clearly now, and as for the medication, to hell with it. She knew what it did, how it quietened her down, but she no longer needed it. She had a purpose in life, a purpose to rid the world of all those who had caused her pain and anguish, and this foolish man who thought he could dance. He believed that he was God’s gift to women, but he would not be the first or the last. He would be another marker that she was here and she was determined.
‘There’s a toilet out the back,’ she said. ‘Take me there.’
The idea excited him, although a toilet did not. He imagined a bed with silken sheets, rose petals on the pillow, a bottle of champagne with two glasses.
The club was modern and clean, but the toilet out past the kitchen belonged to another era when the club premises had been part of an industrial complex; it had not been cleaned for some time and smelt. Liam imagined rats and cockroaches, and he did not like them, but the woman was hot and whispering in his ear, then sticking her tongue in his mouth. He wanted to be somewhere else with her, and his place was only five minutes away. The woman came closer, put his hand on one of her breasts. The desire to make love to the woman was overpowering.
She pushed him down on the toilet seat, pulling his trousers down to his ankles. He was erect and ready. She straddled him with no foreplay.
‘Just stay there for me,’ she said.
He sat still while he maintained his erection.
‘Are you ready?’ she asked.
‘Yes, yes,’ he said gasping for breath. The woman was beautiful, even if the surroundings were not. He was aflame and unable to hold out for much longer.
‘Are you ready for your surprise?’
‘Yes,’ he said.
The woman put one hand inside the small bag she carried. She waited for him to be at his peak, and then she thrust the thin stiletto knife into his chest. Liam, at the moment of death, clutched the knife with one hand in an attempt to remove it.
The woman removed herself from the man and put one of her fingers on the blood oozing from his body.
The toilet was concealed from general view. On leaving it she found a tap outside. She removed the clothes she was wearing, washed herself down, put on fresh clothes that had been in the small bag, and walked out of the building by way of a back gate.
She smiled as she walked away, only to break into song after a couple of minutes. Liam thought he was a stud until I stuck a knife in his heart.
Chapter 12
‘George Street, Richmond!’ Sara Stanforth said over the phone to Sean O’Riordan. She had already phoned Keith Greenstreet and given him the same directive. Crime Scene Examiner Stan Crosley had also been notified.
‘What is it?’ Sean asked. It was one in the morning, and he was still studying. There was an important exam the next week, and he knew he was not ready.
‘Joey’s.’
‘I know it,’ Sean said. He had been there with his friends some years before.
‘There’s been another murder.’
‘Charlotte Hamilton?’
‘It looks that way. We’ll have a clearer idea out at the scene. The local police are securing the crime scene and rounding up the patrons. They are none too happy from what I’ve been told, but if it’s her, she’s been out in public and very visible.’
‘Someone must have seen her,’ Sean said. He was dressing as he spoke. His girlfriend woke to ask what was going on. ‘The usual,’ his reply. She had become used to the hours that he worked, and rolled over and went back to sleep. He thought she looked delightful lying curled up in his bed, but now was not the time for romance.
It was only three days since Keith had returned from Newcastle. Three days when the team had mostly stayed in the office analysing, debating, and trying to come up with a plan on how to find this woman.
There were extra police out on the street, and random door knocks had been conducted, but nothing. The woman baffled them with her ability to appear and disappear at will.
Keith was first at the murder scene as he only lived two miles away. Sara arrived shortly after. Sean was two minutes later. Bob Marshall came as well in Sara’s car.
‘What do we have?’ Bob asked.
It was Keith who replied. ‘Male in his thirties.’
‘Fatal?’
‘That’s why we’re here,’ Keith replied.
‘Then we’d better take a look,’ Sara said. She went round to the back of her car and took out gloves and foot protectors. The local police had waylaid the patrons, or at least those that had not sneaked around the cordon and down a side alley.
‘It will take some time to interview all of them,’ Sean said.
‘We have to whether they like it or not,’ Sara reminded him.
Two uniforms were outside the main door, another at the back of the building.
‘Who found the body?’ Sara asked.
‘One of the cooks. It appears he went out back for a cigarette. That’s
