Lee Weeks - Kiss and Die

The balcony doors slid open. The young dancer stood there naked, trailing a blanket behind her. ‘Come here, Lilly.’ Victoria beckoned her closer to the railing. The wind began to subside. They looked out as the first signs of dawn began to change the light and bring a mauve tint to the stormy sky. ‘You are a good girl, Lilly, beautiful and clever.’Victoria stroked her hair. ‘I have a present for you.’

Lilly shivered. Victoria unclasped a gold bracelet from her wrist and clipped it on Lilly’s.

‘We have achieved much but there is still some left to do. We have to seal the deal. Then you will have so much jewellery, so many fine things and you will be by my side always.’

She wrapped the blanket around Lilly’s shoulders.

‘There’s just one more thing I want you to do for me.’

The autopsy was due to start at 7 a.m. Mann had driven straight there after writing up his report on the murder at the hotel. He had dozed for an hour in the car whilst he waited for the autopsy to begin. He sat in the car park outside and watched the coroner, Mr Saheed, arrive. Mr Saheed was a tall man of Indian descent, with a dry sense of humour and a bad memory for recalling other people’s lives. Mann gave him ten minutes then he rang the bell. Kin Tak answered. He glanced over Mann’s shoulder as if he saw someone else standing there and then quickly turned away.

‘Stop coming here!’ he shouted out as he turned to lead Mann into the autopsy room.

Mann turned to look behind him. He saw no one there. ‘Who’s there?’ he asked Kin Tak.

Kin Tak shook his head, small nervous jerks like a twitch. ‘No one. No one.’ He went off muttering under his breath, a running commentary to no one in particular and too low for anyone to hear or understand.

Mann was used to Kin Tak’s outbursts. He knew he was harmless. His strangeness was part and parcel of his job. Mann slipped on a white overall.

‘Good morning, Inspector. We were about to start without you. Kin Tak already has some observations that he is bursting to share with you.’

Max Kosmos’s body was lying on the steel autopsy table, tilted to allow the fluids to flow into the holes at the bottom and into the drain beneath the table. His abdomen had a greenish hue. It was beginning to swell with the build-up of gases.

Saheed switched the Dictaphone on. He turned to see what was holding Kin Tak up. He was staring at Mann.

‘Get a move on, Kin Tak. I am waiting. It’s not often we get to practise our skills on a tourist, is it, Inspector?’ He looked up at Mann over his bifocals. Saheed didn’t remember that particular autopsy or what it had meant to Mann. He only remembered that Mann been present the last time they had to perform an autopsy on a foreigner.

Saheed started the autopsy. ‘We have a white male of Mediterranean origin, five foot eight inches tall, two hundred and ten pounds. His head would weigh a further fifteen to twenty pounds, if we had it, which we don’t. Someone went to a great deal of trouble to make this man suffer before he died. It doesn’t look like it was an easy job or a quick one.’

Kin Tak shook his head. ‘Very messy, bad job indeed, not the right tools at all.’

Mann approached the table.

Saheed continued, ‘He died from the wound to his heart. It was made by a blade not more than half an inch wide, thin, long. By the marks on the edges of the rib bone…’ Saheed ran his finger inside the chest cavity, ‘…it took several attempts to saw through the last four ribs on the victim’s right side. Looking at the scraping on the bone I would say a small, fine-bladed saw was used. I concur with the initial estimate that death occurred sometime in the early hours of yesterday morning. I would expect cause of death to be a sudden trauma to the heart. He did not bleed to death, although he would have done undoubtedly, given time. I can say he was tortured over a period of four or five hours. What can you tell me about the circumstances leading to this man’s death, Inspector Mann?’

‘I entered the hotel room and found him, his legs tied to the bed. You’ve seen the photos?’

‘Yes. Daniel Lu e-mailed them to us. It was quite a bloodbath. What was the motivation, in your opinion?’

‘Not your average robbery, if it was one. She took his wallet but that was to barter in exchange for drugs, we know she bought a good deal of sedative.’

‘I will have the results from toxicology for you in a few days.’

‘It can’t have been just sexual, although there was an element attached to it. He was seen leaving the bar with a woman the night he died. He was a known user of sex workers, men and women. We might find it’s a spurned lover, an angry mistress.’

‘Perhaps we can help you with some part of the theory. We found something in his chest cavity.’ Kin Tak picked up a specimen tray from the table behind him and tilted it for Mann to see.

‘Penis.’

‘Yes, it’s his penis.’ Saheed looked over his glasses at Mann. ‘But, that’s not all…Kin Tak has discovered something very important that links this murder with another. Haven’t you, Kin Tak?’

Kin Tak was too excited to spit the words out so Saheed did it for him.

‘What did you notice about the blood splatter patterns, Inspector?’

‘Arcs of flesh and blood across the ceiling, sprayed around the room.’

Mann looked at Kin Tak.

‘Yes, yes. And were there distinct arcs but following exactly the same line?’ Kin Tak almost shrieked.

Mann thought back. The memory was implanted in his mind. There were three pronged arcs of flesh and blood crusted onto the hotel ceiling. ‘Yes. That’s what it was.’

‘It is the same weapon that took off the Indian girl’s hands.’

Mann drove back to the office. It was eight thirty and the place was buzzing with the anticipation of a major murder investigation. Mia was waiting for Mann when he got back.

‘We’ve had a confirmation, it’s Max Kosmos. The gold ring on his finger is a matching wedding ring to his wife’s. The wife seemed bitter, angry.’

‘Is she on her way to Hong Kong?’

‘No. She says she’s staying with the children. You attended the autopsy?’

‘Yep and it’s thrown up something. The weapon used to torture Max Kosmos is the same one used to mutilate Rajini.’

‘Tom Sheng’s not going to like that. He’d love to tell us to fuck off. Well, professionally anyway. He’s not the best at sharing cases. I’d rather you interview Michelle. You know her. Sheng’s heavy handed.’

Mann nodded.

‘You better go and do it now. He’s busy getting the incident room set up so now’s your chance. You have half an hour.’

Michelle was sat at the table when Mann punched in the door code and entered the interview room. Ng followed. Michelle looked up and kept her eyes on Mann’s as he walked in. Ng went to stand at the far wall. The room was only twelve foot square. The centre was taken up by the Formica-topped table shaped as a right-angled triangle. It was chained to the floor, as were the four red plastic chairs around it: two on the long side, one each on the others.

Mann sat opposite her and pushed the photo of Max Kosmos across the table.

‘How long have you known him?’

‘About nine months.’ Michelle hadn’t had a chance to change and was still in her blue stage outfit. She had bags beneath her bloodshot eyes, blue eye shadow, smudged mascara. There was no natural light in the interview room although it was well lit for the two cameras that tracked events. The light bounced off the white polystyrene tiles on walls and ceiling. On the floor were grey carpet tiles.

‘Please, Inspector, let me go, my babies are at home. Rizal will be expecting me by now. There are things to get ready for the stall. What am I doing here?’ A couple of fat tears squeezed their way out. She wiped them hastily away. Her hands were shaking as she lit a cigarette that Mann passed over the table top. ‘Plus, I need a fix. Just a small amount, please.’