The Thai Dragon

by Lilburne, Guy

  “Jesus Christ Mother of God! It’s a fecking circus, so it is” tutted Danny.

  “At least we can get to interview him under caution tonight. He might not be so sure of himself now” said Ying.

  “No. We’ll interview him in the morning. I’m not in the mood now. All this is a fecking nonsense.”

  Ying told the Colonel, as he was leading No Nose towards the police car, that they would interview the prisoner in the morning. When Colonel Wattana asked her why they did not want to interview tonight, she just said that Danny had some more enquiries to make first. The Colonel glanced a look towards the bar, where Danny was already knocking back a brandy.

  “First thing in the morning Ying. I want him charged tomorrow.”

  “Yes Sir.” She wai’d to her commanding officer.

  The convoy of police and press vehicles moved off, their lights still flashing and dramatic, reflecting off the wet road. Ying joined Danny at the bar.

  “Do you want an orange juice?” he asked her.

  “No, thank you.”

  “Why not? It’s free. I’m having another brandy.” Danny slid his glass towards the bar girl who nodded and beamed a huge smile at him.

  “Make it a double” he smiled back at her.

  “What are we going to do now, Danny?”

  “We’re going to have a look at the knives in the kitchen again.”

  “You want the knife with the green handle?”

  “No. I want to examine the rest of the blue handle knives. The one with the green handle was bought to replace one of the original knives, the murder weapon. We know that because we have the tip of the blade, but the original knives must have been bought as a set. We need to know from where and have a look at the knife that is missing from the set. I’m guessing that it is the Boning knife that was used on Sarah Appleby. You need to work your charm on one of the chefs and see where the original knife set was purchased from. If it’s somewhere local, we’ll go and see them tonight.”

  Danny stayed at the bar while Ying went to talk to the kitchen staff. Ten minutes later she returned and Danny could see by the smile on her face that she had a ‘result’. It flashed across Danny’s mind, once again, how beautiful Ying looked.

  “Nobody will make a statement, but they all told me that the knives were bought as a set from the Tesco Lotus on the road from Patong to Phuket town. We can drive there in 10 minutes. It’s not far.”

  “Ying, you’re a top detective now.”

  Ying smiled, but his compliment made her shy.

  The Tesco Lotus was a huge supermarket and was still busy with customers, nearly all local people. Ying had asked for the manager and explained to him the reason for their visit. They were shown the kitchen items and the knife set that they were looking for was there. It was a top quality, professional kitchen knife set, which came complete with the magnetic steel band to fix to a wall. The knife missing from the set in the kitchen at the Golden Orient was nothing like the green handled knife that had replaced it. It was the Boning knife that Danny knew it would be. They seized a set of knives and returned to their apartment to compare it with the tip of the knife that was found in Sarah Appleby’s pubic bone. It was a perfect fit. The knife that was used to butcher Sarah was identical to the one that Danny was now holding in his hand.

  “After we go to interview yer man in the morning, we’ll get this photographed and let your forensic team have a look at it.”

  “I am happy now Danny. Now I know that we have caught the real killer” smiled Ying. “You know a lot of things that nobody else knows. You really are the great Detective from Scotland Yard.”

  “We still have to prove the case against him yet, Ying.”

  Chapter 35 A Prepared Statement.

  The sky had been clear and blue since 6:30am. It was still humid of course, but somehow it felt that the air was fresher today. The sun was shining hot and bright as Danny and Ying walked into the front of Kathu Police HQ. It was only 8:30am now, but already No Nose and his solicitor were in one of the interview rooms, waiting to be seen by the detectives.

  When they walked into the room the solicitor stood up and announced,

  “I am the solicitor representing Mr. Sakda Thammawat. My client is somewhat surprised to be arrested concerning this matter when, quite clearly, you have already arrested and charged the offender with the murder of Sarah Appleby. In view of this, my client has prepared a statement and he will not be prepared to answer any other questions in respect of this matter. After my client is released he will be considering what action to take against the police for this wrongful arrest and especially in respect of what legal action to take against you personally, Detective Sergeant O’Brien.”

  “Yer full of shite. Sit the feck down, will yer!”

  “I insist on reading out this prepared statement.” The solicitor was pompous and was clearly not prepared for Danny’s raw aggression. The air conditioned room could not stop a bead of nervous sweat trickling down his forehead. He pulled a hankie from his pocket and wiped it.

  “SIT DOWN” Danny snapped. “Yer fecking gobshite. This is my interview. After we have put the tapes in the machine, you can introduce yourself and read your fecking statement. Then I’ll ask the questions. If yer man doesn’t want to answer, then that’s up to him. But for the rest of the interview you’ll shut the feck up. I’m here to talk to yer man, not you. I fecking hate solicitors. Do we understand each other?”

  The solicitor didn’t reply. The tapes were dropped into the recording machine by Ying, who then introduced herself and Danny and cautioned No Nose. The solicitor then stood up again and introduced himself and repeated his warning of legal action against the Thai Police and Danny before he read out the statement.

  ‘This is the statement of Sakda Thammawat in the concern of the murder of Sarah Appleby on 8th April of this year. I have previously been interviewed at my place of business, The Golden Orient, by Detective Sergeant Danny O’Brien in respect of this matter and I provided an account of my movements at the relevant times and names of witnesses in support of my account. I was not aware that Miss Appleby lived in the same apartment block as my estranged wife. I did not know Miss Appleby. I have never met her, seen her or spoken to her. I do not intend to answer any further questions in respect of this matter, or any further questions regarding my own private circumstances or personal history. I am not guilty of the murder of Sarah Appleby.’

  The solicitor sat down and picked up his gold plated pen and a writing pad to make notes. Danny eyed No Nose and he held Danny’s gaze. The silence was long and uncomfortable.

  “I got you all wrong” said Danny. Sakda did not answer.

  “I didn’t think that you were the sort of man to hide behind a solicitor. I thought that you were bigger and stronger than that. I thought that you were an intelligent man. A man who likes to stand up for himself; a leader. I’m surprised that you hide behind a solicitor, like a child hiding behind his mother’s skirt after he has been caught stealing the cookies.”

  The two men looked at each other again and Sakda smirked at the detective’s attempt to provoke a reaction.

  “Well, I’m going to ask the questions anyway. If you feel that you want to clarify anything, just jump in there, will yer?”

  Silence.

  “What do you want me to call you? Sakda? Mr. Thammawat? I know that you all have nick names in Thailand. Is it okay to use your nick name? ‘Mai Jamuuk’. That’s a great name. It has a ring to it.”

  Sakda was grinding his teeth. The anger was swelling up inside him. Danny watched the rage building up inside him.

  “What does ‘Mai Jamuuk’ mean in English? It’s a great name. I like the sound of that name. What does it mean?”

  Sakda didn’t answer.

  “What does it mean, Ying?”

 
; “It means ‘No Nose’.”

  “Fecking Jesus! You’re kidding me! ‘No Nose’. Why do they call you that then?”

  Sakda banged his fists down onto the table, making Ying and the solicitor jump in their seats.

  “Nobody calls me ‘No Nose’.”

  “They fecking do. They all do. You have a bit of a temper thing going on there Mai Jamuuk.”

  Silence.

  Danny reached inside his jacket and pulled out the blue handled boning knife. He stabbed it into the wooden table top, sinking it an inch into the wood.

  “That’s the knife, No Nose. Well, it’s not the actual knife. We both know you threw what was left of that away somewhere. But this is the identical knife. I got it from Tesco Lotus, the same place where you bought the original set. This is the identical knife to the one you used to carve up Sarah Appleby. Do you want to tell me why you did it?”

  “No comment.”

  “Was it because she didn’t fancy you? Jesus! You should be used to repulsing women by now, so why take it out on Sarah Appleby?”

  “No comment.”

  “I thought about you, No Nose. I thought that now you are a successful businessman, why not pay the money and have your face sorted out. But then I realised that you are not just an ugly face, you’re an ugly person, even inside. So it doesn’t matte, even if you get a new face you can’t change the ugliness that’s inside you, and you know that too, don’t you? When that dog bit off your nose, and you watched the little fecker eating it, snarling at you as you screamed for your mummy, that dog ate more than just your nose. It ate your very soul. You screamed for your mummy, but she didn’t come. Did she? She didn’t save you and then nobody else ever could. You hate women. You blame them for everything that you turned out to be. Your business means nothing. Your money means nothing. You’re ugly. Actually you’re fecking gruesome, but that’s not just because you’ve got no nose. It’s a reflection of what is inside.”

  “Detective, this is not questioning my client. This is just a verbal attack to try to provoke a response. If you have no actual questions to ask my client, then I suggest that we conclude this interview.”

  “If you interrupt my fecking interview again I will put you out through the fecking door. That’s your last warning.” Danny faced No Nose again.

  “You lied to me. Let me list the lies that I can prove. You told me that you were at a function at the Holiday Inn Hotel and that it was a casual dress Function.”

  “No comment.”

  “You were there alright, I’ve got the photos. But it wasn’t casual. It was a suit and tie job.”

  “No comment.”

  “You gave me an alibi, namely two twin sisters. You said that you were with them at the time having a threesome. That’s not what they say.”

  “They are whores. Who is going to believe them over me?”

  “I believe them. Why did you say that it was casual dress?”

  “Because I thought it was. I can’t really remember. What’s the difference?”

  “You said that you had never met Sarah and that you didn’t even know that she lived in your wife’s apartment block.”

  “That is the truth.”

  “Sakda, you don’t have to answer any of these questions” whispered his Solicitor.

  “I am not afraid to answer. Detective O’Brien has nothing. He thinks I am guilty of the murder of Sarah Appleby, but he has no evidence to offer, just his suspicions. Even here in Thailand, Detective, that is not enough to convict a man. Not a wealthy man, anyway.”

  “I have a witness. He saw you there. He will identify you.”

  Sakda laughed out loud.

  “You mean the accused man? The man already charged with the murder. Is anybody going to be surprised now that he is shouting ‘it wasn’t me, it was him’? He is telling you lies. Is that all you have Detective O’Brien? Two drunken whores, who have mixed up their times, and a drug dealing killer who doesn’t want to be executed. Is that all you have? No forensics to prove the case? You are not the great detective that the press would have everyone believe. You might have the time on your hands to waste, but I haven’t Detective, I have a business to run.”

  Danny stopped and looked at Sakda.

  “Time on your hands” he whispered.

  Danny called in the two uniformed officers and told them to put Sakda back in his cell. He told Ying that he needed her to go with him.

  “Is there going to be a further interview?” asked the solicitor.

  “There certainly is” smiled Danny.

  Chapter 36 Just a Hunch.

  Danny and Ying walked up two flights of stairs into the main body of the police station. Danny asked who was in charge of the forensic examination.

  “Lt. Col. Narongchai” replied Ying.

  “I want to meet him.”

  “It’s not a him. It’s a her. She did the murder scene.”

  “Is she any good?”

  “Yes. She is the best. I can take you to meet her now if you like? Her office is on the next floor.”

  “Yes. I need to ask her something.”

  They walked into Lt. Col. Narongchai’s office and she greeted the detectives warmly with a smile and a wai for Danny. She didn’t speak any English, so Ying had to translate.

  “Ask her if she will examine something for me.”

  “She said yes, of course. What do you want her to look at?”

  “It’s just a hunch really. But do you remember when we talked to No Nose at the Golden Orient?”

  “Yes, I remember.”

  “He said something about running the business to pay for his ex-wife, a fancy car and a Rolex watch?”

  “Yes, I remember. You said that you thought that it was a copy.”

  “I was just saying that to piss him off.”

  “Yes, I know.”

  “But he said that he had paid loads of money for it, five years ago.”

  “So?”

  “It’s a Rolex. It means something special to him.”

  “Danny, I don’t know what you are talking about!”

  “Ying, he’s not going to throw it away. What if he was wearing it on the night that he murdered Sarah Appleby? We know that he must have been covered in her blood. He will have destroyed all the evidence; got rid of his clothes, his shoes, everything. But, what if he was wearing the watch. I want to have it examined now. Ask her what are the chances of finding anything.”

  Ying spoke quickly and excitedly in Thai. Danny could see that the forensic officer was considering her answers and, before long, she was nodding in agreement with Ying.

  “Danny, she wants to know how you thought about this.”

  “Because the bastard told me to think about it. He said that he didn’t have time on his hands to waste and I got a flash back to him showing off his gold Rolex. I knew that he wouldn’t throw that away.”

  Lt. Col. Narongchai picked up her portable testing kit and they all went back down to the custody desk where the Lt. Colonel asked for the prisoner’s property. She noted down the seal number on the plastic bag on one of her forms. She filled in the gaps on the rest of the form and gave a written description of the gold Rolex with the elasticized gold link strap and serial number. She put on some glasses and plastic search gloves and she opened the property bag and removed the watch. She had laid out three A4 size pieces of paper and examined the watch over the middle piece, pulling the links of the bracelet open. She spoke to Ying.

  “Danny there is a lot of dirt between the links. She can test now to see if it is blood, but if it is then she will have to send the sample off to the lab for DNA comparison with Sarah Appleby.”

  “Tell her to do it Ying.” Danny already knew that he had got him.

  She
used a wooden cocktail stick and scratched out the dirt from between the links onto the paper and bagged some of it into two bags, which she sealed and labeled. Finally she put some of the dirt onto a sample blotter and added some drops from a little bottle. It turned purple. She spoke to Ying who threw her arms around Danny and kissed him on the cheek.

  “It’s human blood Danny. She can rush the sample through and we will have a DNA result in a few hours.”

  Danny wai’d to Lt. Col. Narongchai.

  “Come on, Ying. Let’s interview yer man again.”

  Chapter 37 All the Time in the World.

  Danny and Ying were already seated in the interview room when the guards brought in Sakda and his solicitor. They both sat down opposite the detectives across the small wooden table. Ying dropped two new tapes into the recording machine and, once again, went through the introductions.

  “Detective O’Brien, I hope you have a more constructive interview to engage my client this time. We are not prepared to suffer any more verbal abuse or provocation” announced the solicitor.

  “Shut the feck up. Jesus! Where did you find this arsehole Sakda?”

  Sakda couldn’t stop a smile from flashing across his mis-shaped mouth.