she went to put a pan in the sink. She jumped back.
He laughed. She stepped to the side and placed the pan in the sink.
‘It’s a joy to watch you work. You have really quick hands. You love to keep busy, don’t you? I see your whole body moving when you’re working like that. You have a nice figure. I hope you have someone to show it to, do you, Nina?’
Nina ignored him and began to tidy away the things she had used. She had finished. She could leave it now. He stepped forwards and pulled her to him from behind. His hands around her waist…
‘Please…no…’ She pushed down on his hands, she struggled to get away. He held her tighter. His rough hands slid up under her top. Nina screamed, struggled.
‘You’re strong.’
Nina was strong. She lifted her grandmother in and out of bed every day. She carried heavy groceries all day long. She pushed him off and lurched forward out of his grip, knocking the spoon out of the pot, showering Rizal in scalding curry.
He screamed in pain. ‘All right. All right.’ He lifted both his palms in the air as if he hadn’t meant to touch her and it was all a mistake.
There was a knock at the door. After much cursing Rizal answered it, still wiping the curry from his face. It was Shrimp and two other detectives..
‘Please…’ Nina stepped past Rizal. She kept her eyes locked on Shrimp’s, willing him to help her.
‘Are you all right, miss?’
She nodded and hurried past, disappearing down the stairs.
A dirty-faced, naked child came to cling to Rizal’s leg and there was the sound of another one crying somewhere in the flat.
‘What?’ He looked nervously at Shrimp. ‘What do you want?’ He shook the child away from his leg, irritably.
‘We just want a word. Can we come in?’
Rizal muttered under his beery breath as he turned and walked back into the flat and Shrimp and the detectives followed. Shrimp could see that it hadn’t taken long for the place to fall apart without Michelle.
‘When is she coming home? I can’t cook. My business is going down the pan. I’m lucky Nina helps.’ Rizal handed the crying child a piece of bread and pushed it protesting into another room. He threw off the papers from the couch and half fell, half lurched as he sat heavily down. He broke the top off a beer and drank it. He offered one to Shrimp. Shrimp declined.
‘Michelle’s still helping us with our enquiries. These gentlemen have come to tidy your flat for you and collect the samples that you forgot to give us downstairs. Is Lilly about?’
Rizal wiped his mouth with a disgusted growl. ‘She doesn’t come near here unless she wants money. She should be here to help me with all this.’ He swept a drunken arm around as the noise of the crying child in the next room began to rise again. ‘She should be cooking for the food stall. She should be doing something to help her family, right?’
‘Where do you think I would find her right now?’
Rizal leant the rim of his beer bottle against his cheek as he thought. ‘Right now? How the fuck should I know? Out with her boyfriend probably. The girl’s got no morals. If you know what I mean. She gives it away to a lot of boys.’ He looked at Shrimp questioningly. He got a blank face back. ‘Not just boys. She likes her men does Lilly. Way older than she looks. Likes to hang around the bars at night-time, if you know what I mean. All dressed up. Skirt up to here.’ Rizal ran a hand across his lap. Then he wiped his hand on his filthy trousers before finishing his beer and slamming the bottle down on the table.
‘I will leave these officers here to do their job. Do what they ask; otherwise you’ll be taken down the station.’
Rizal sat back on the sofa and put his feet on the table. He lit a cigarette. ‘Tell Michelle I miss her. Tell her her loving boyfriend is thinking of her and misses her,’ he said to Shrimp’s back as he left.
Shrimp looked around for Nina, she was gone. He took the stairs down to the Delhi Grill. He went to find her.
Chapter 47
It was 4 p.m. when Mann got back for the meeting. Forensics had come back with some answers.
‘Have you heard from Tammy?’ Mia asked. She looked straight ahead as she walked purposefully. Mia had a spring in her stride. She walked like a dancer, shoulders back, chin up.
‘Not since I told her to lay low. I’ve been caught up in the murder.’ Mann took out his phone and sent her a text telling her to phone him.
The incident room was full. Mann walked in with Mia. Ng and Daniel Lu were already there. Sheng joined them as Daniel picked up an e-mail he’d just printed off.
‘Saheed sent over some results. They identified a drug called Haloperidol in Max Kosmos’s body. It’s an antipsychotic drug and a major tranquillizer. It blocks a number of receptors in the brain. It’s given to elderly patients to keep them calm. It’s given to schizophrenics to stop delusions. It was given to prisoners in Russian prisons to break them, as a sedative. It numbs the brain.’
‘Why would our perp use that?’ asked Mia.
‘My guess is because it would allow them to torture more effectively. It sedates the victim but it doesn’t affect the short-term memory. The victim will feel the pain but not be able to react to it.’
‘The perp is one sadistic son of a bitch.’ Sheng swigged at a bottle of water.
‘Yes. But crucially also a sexually active and a female one,’ Daniel continued. ‘His penis was found in his chest cavity and it has traces of glycogen-containing epithelial cells on it – that’s vaginal fluid. It had injection marks around its base. There are traces of a drug called Papaverine used by paraplegics.’
‘Did Michelle mention it, Mann?’
‘No.’
‘It makes the penis hard,’ continued Daniel. ‘A thirty milligram dose injected into the base of the penis should keep it hard for six hours. The more you inject the longer it lasts – days if given enough.’
‘What a way to go,’ someone muttered from the back of the room.
‘Not if she bites the head off after she mates. No sex, no matter how good, is worth that,’ answered Mann. ‘This isn’t about sex. Just like rape isn’t about sex, it’s about humiliation, dominance. Was he anally raped, Daniel?’
‘No.’
‘Can they tell us if he had sex with another man?’
‘No, they can’t.’
‘So, we still don’t know whether she works alone or in a team. Could be two women. Or it could be just one very determined one.’
‘She must have sedated him well. He would have been in an immense amount of pain,’ said Mia.
Daniel continued, ‘We have identified Michelle’s and another set found in several sites. We have blood that is not the victim’s. It’s a tiny amount in the bathroom. It was found on the mirror. We will be able to extract DNA from it and we have a saliva swab that matches it from the champagne bottle. There is no shortage of the perp’s DNA.’
‘And Michelle’s DNA?’
‘No. We have just prints so far.’
‘If it’s a double act then maybe Michelle’s the torturing side and not the sex side,’ said Ng.
‘But then, if Michelle was there, why didn’t she steal his watch, his laptop?’ asked Mia. ‘That doesn’t fit her profile. We know she steals from guests. Why would she leave things in the room?’
‘Perhaps she was told to, maybe? To throw us off? But she didn’t mention the Papaverine either did she?’ said Sheng.
‘We can’t be sure she supplies that,’ answered Mann. ‘Plus, I don’t think she’s a murderer. Michelle’s an
