by Hania Allen
Von switched on the recording machine. ‘Interview commencing at 12.36pm on Sunday, 1st October, 2000. Present are Detective Chief Inspector Yvonne Valenti, and Dr Danielle Mittelberg.’
Chrissie sat tight-lipped, playing with her nails.
‘I’d like you to clarify some things for us, Miss Horowitz,’ Von said. ‘When in 1985 did you meet Max Quincey?’
‘I can’t remember.’
‘Okay, let’s try walking through a different door.’ She slid a copy of the 1985 programme across the table. ‘Did you know Max before you acted in Jack in the Box?’
Chrissie glanced at the programme, and her expression changed. ‘You finally found it.’
‘You’d have saved us a lot of time if you’d come clean.’
She glanced at her brief, a serious woman in her late thirties. The woman nodded. ‘I auditioned for the part of the postman,’ Chrissie said, ‘and it was Maxie who interviewed me. That was the first time I met him.’
‘Date?’
‘Earlier that year, 1985. That’s all I can remember.’
‘Did you become good friends?’
‘I became involved in the drug ring, working out of the Iron Duke. It was through Maxie that I found out about it. You already know this. So, yes, we became good friends.’
‘How did you get involved in the drug ring?’
She ran a hand over her brow. ‘I told Maxie I was short of money, and asked him for an advance on my salary. He was sympathetic. When I did the same again a month later, he suggested I might want to join him in a venture.’
‘Is that what he called it?’ Von said, mockingly.
Her eyes sparkled. ‘You didn’t know Maxie. He never called a spade a spade if he could avoid it. Anyway, he told me the money would be good, and it would be regular, and I said yes.’
‘So when did you meet Gilly McIlvanny?’
‘Gilly McIlvanny?’ She lifted her chin confidently. ‘I’ve never heard of him.’
‘He was one of Max’s boys, sometimes known as Gilly McIlly. You passed drugs to him to sell to his clients.’ She studied the woman’s face. ‘But perhaps you knew him under another name.’ She opened a folder. ‘The suspect is being shown a photograph. I admit it’s not a good likeness of Gilly. It was taken after he’d been blinded. And he was strangled. That’s string round his neck.’
Chrissie was devouring the photo with her eyes. ‘I’ve never seen—’
‘Never seen what? A boy who’s been blinded?’ She pushed the other photographs across. ‘Then take a look at Charlo Heggarty and Liam Mahoney.’
A sob burst from Chrissie’s throat. She drew the photos towards her and traced a finger across Liam’s face, tears shimmering in her eyes.
‘Did you know the boys well?’ Von said, after a pause.
‘Yes,’ she whispered.
‘There’s also Manny Newman.’ Von passed his photo over. ‘But he survived. Did you know that?’
Chrissie lifted her head slowly and looked at Von. ‘Yes, I knew.’
‘He was the lucky one. Lucky to be alive, that is, although some people might not think so. He lives alone, with help from social services, in a not very nice part of London. He’s changed his name because he’s terrified that whoever attacked him might come back to finish the job.’ She brought her face close to Chrissie’s. ‘His attack was so brutal that his eyes had to be removed. I don’t think you’d recognise him now.’
Chrissie’s breathing grew more laboured until it was the only sound in the room. ‘It wasn’t me,’ she said, her voice so choked that Von almost misheard her. ‘It was Jonathan Moudry.’
‘Jonathan Moudry killed those boys?’ Von said sharply.
She nodded, remorse in her eyes. ‘It wasn’t me.’
‘Tell me how it happened.’
When Chrissie eventually spoke, it was as though a stranger had entered the room. The voice was a man’s, the accent northern. She leant forward, her head lowered like a bull’s, and planted her elbows on the table.
‘The Duke was the best place for picking up boys,’ she said, in her deep man’s voice. ‘At least, the type of boys I needed.’
The solicitor stared at her client with a look of horror. Von, startled, glanced at Danni, but Danni’s steady eyes were on Chrissie.
‘What type of boy did you need?’ Danni said, breaking the stunned silence.
Chrissie motioned to the photos. ‘Ones like Gilly.’ She smiled. ‘Gilly was very popular with everyone at the Duke. Always singing his Irish songs. When they had karaoke night, you couldn’t move for people, you had to get all your drinks in at once as you’d never make it back to the bar. He had more clients than any of the other boys, he was so popular.’
‘How did you come to have sex with him, Jonathan?’ said Danni.
‘He could sense what I was. He gave me the come-on, he could tell I was gagging for it. I tried hard not to give in but it became too much. So I made a date with him.’
‘And what happened then, Jonathan?’ Von said, taking her cue from Danni.
‘I left the theatre as soon as my part was finished, and took the tube to Tottenham Court Road. I met him at the Duke and we went to the place he took his clients. We had to be careful, there was broken glass everywhere.’ Her breathing became shallow. ‘At first, I didn’t want to do it. I was uncomfortable. But he was so sweet.’
‘Why was there a mirror?’ Danni said suddenly.
‘I had to watch. I couldn’t come otherwise.’
‘Did you watch yourself? Or did you look at Gilly?’
‘I looked at Gilly. And he looked at me.’
Von glanced at Danni, wondering where this line of questioning was going.
‘He’d seen me,’ Chrissie whispered. ‘He’d seen me shame myself. I was disgusted by what we’d done.’
‘And because he’d seen you, you had to blind him,’ Danni said quietly.
She was weeping openly now. She nodded slowly, her hand over her mouth.
‘For the tape, the suspect nodded. Why did you strangle him first?’ said Von.
‘I couldn’t bear the thought of blinding him while he was still alive,’ she said in a choked voice.
‘Yet you knew you’d be strangling him even before you met him at the Duke. That’s why you brought the string.’
‘Yes, I wore gloves, and used a condom. I’d even shaved myself so as not to leave any hair behind.’
‘Why did you bring the doll?’ Danni said.
‘I didn’t. It was Gilly who had the doll.’
Of course. It would contain either smack or notes, so Gilly would want to keep it with him.
‘He knocked it over by accident,’ Chrissie said, sniffing. ‘While we were doing it.’
‘And it watched you, too,’ said Danni.
The voice became more of a growl. ‘I couldn’t stand that grinning face, and those eyes, knowing they’d seen everything. So I scratched them out.’
Danni sat back, a look of satisfaction on her face.
‘And then you went back to the theatre, and took a bow along with the other actors,’ said Von.
Chrissie gazed at her, saying nothing.
‘And Charlo, a few days later?’
‘It was much the same. I left the Garrimont as soon as I was off the stage, and went to the place by the river, under the old Hungerford footbridge. Charlo had agreed to meet me there, it wasn’t far from his flat. I pulled his belt out as he slid his pants down. I strangled him with it afterwards. Then I took a knife from the kitchen and blinded him.’
‘Did you bring a doll?’ said Danni softly.
‘There was one there. Charlo was one of Max’s boys.’
‘And did the doll watch?’ said Von.
‘Even inside the box, it would have been watching,’ Chrissie said viciously.
‘I popped it and scratched its eyes.’
‘And Liam?’ Von said, after a pause.
‘I waited till the play had ended. I met Liam outside Totte
nham Court Road tube. He knew of these gents nearby that were quiet in the early hours.’ She dropped her voice to a whisper. ‘I left the door open so I could see myself in the mirror. I strangled him and used his penknife to blind him. Then I scratched his doll.’
Von stared in stupefaction. Nothing in her twenty years at the Met had prepared her for this.
Chrissie picked at the edge of the folder. ‘After Liam, I began sleeping with Max.’
‘Why Max?’ said Danni. ‘He was much older than the boys.’
‘I thought that, if I could have a proper relationship with a man, I could stop the killing. I tried it the other way round, roles reversed, the way a woman would. But I didn’t like it, I didn’t like being penetrated. So I ended it with Max.’
‘And went back to finding boys.’
She looked up slowly. ‘Just one.’
‘Manny wasn’t a dealer,’ said Von, ‘so why was there a doll at his place?’
‘The doll was mine. I’d just swapped it.’
‘And Manny was the last?’
‘The play ended and I left London. But, yes, he was the last.’
‘Weren’t you afraid Manny would identify you? You must have read he was still alive.’
‘He didn’t know my name. And he’d never be able to pick me out of a line-up, not blind.’ A vacant look came into her eyes. ‘I did think of going after him and finishing the job, but the hospital was too well guarded.’
‘So where did you go when you left London?’
‘Straight to Rio, to have my sex-change operation. Several operations, actually. Paid for by the money I’d made with the drugs.’
‘And you stopped killing boys,’ Danni said, ‘because you no longer needed them.’ It was a statement.
She nodded. ‘I came back to England, attended a theatre management course, and became manager of the Garrimont.’
The voice changed suddenly back to a woman’s. The accent was gone, the register higher and lighter. She leant back, smoothing the corners of her lips. ‘I’d always loved the Garrimont. When a job came up, I jumped at the chance.’
‘And did you see Max Quincey again?’ Danni said, seemingly unfazed by the reverse transformation.
‘Not till a month ago. I had a call from him, asking if he could bring the play back to the theatre.’
‘He didn’t know who you were?’ said Von.
She inclined her head, smiling prettily. ‘It’s taken you, a trained detective, this long to discover that I was once Jo Moudry. Do you really think Maxie guessed?’ She crossed her legs. ‘The play had made the theatre so much money fifteen years ago, that I thought we could repeat the success. God knows the Garrimont needed a boost. Anyway, the day he arrived he rang again and suggested we go for a drink and run through the timetable.’ She smiled dreamily. ‘We hit it off from the word go. He was fun personified. I’ve never met anyone, before or since, with such a deliciously crude sense of humour.’
‘Where did you meet?’ said Danni.
‘He took me to a really posh restaurant.’
‘And afterwards?’
‘We went back to my place.’
‘Was he the perfect gentleman?’
‘He was. But I wasn’t the perfect lady.’ She fiddled with the buttons of her jacket. ‘It wasn’t difficult to seduce him.’
Seduce him? Where the hell had this come from? ‘But Max was gay,’ said Von.
‘He wasn’t gay. He was bisexual.’ She spluttered with laughter, as though she couldn’t keep the joke to herself. ‘If you could only see your faces. Surely you must have guessed. He was married at one time.’ She dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief, grimacing as she saw the mascara.
I’m not convinced of my brother’s homosexuality, Yvonne. He liked women. The Chief Super’s words. He might have been in denial about Max and the rent boys but, on the subject of Max and women, he was spot on.
‘So did you spend the night together?’ Danni was saying.
‘Absolutely not. It’s one of my rules.’ She smiled thinly. ‘There’s nothing worse than the cold light of day after a night of sex. You see all your partner’s imperfections.’
‘And he sees yours,’ Danni said, her voice level.
‘Did you meet regularly after that?’ said Von.
‘As often as we could. That’s what all the phone calls were about.’
Von let out a long breath. The pieces were falling into place. ‘Where did you meet?’
‘Always at mine. We never used hotels.’
‘Why not at Max’s?’
‘Have you seen the black hole he lived in?’ She turned her head away, as though trying to escape an unpleasant smell. ‘I remembered it from before.’
She’s lying. They did meet there. And more than once. ‘And that guff about the ledger entries?’ she said.
‘Maxie really was hopeless with figures. I did help him with the Quincey Players’ books. That part was true.’
Von rubbed her cheeks hard. ‘You said Jo Moudry paid for his operation using the proceeds from drug peddling. Was it all spent?’
‘There was quite a bit left. I put the drug money through my mother’s account.’
‘And she didn’t know?’
‘She never uses her account. Gets her pension in cash, and probably stuffs what she doesn’t spend into her mattress. I’ve been using her account for years, and forging her signature on cheques.’ She seemed to think about what she’d just said. ‘Not something I’m proud of, but there you are.’
Von felt like laughing. All those hours spent scrutinising Chrissie’s financial affairs, and yet the solution was so simple. ‘Let’s talk now about Tuesday, September 12th, Miss Horowitz. You called Max from your office, just after six in the evening. You told me it was because you’d found another discrepancy in the figures. But that’s a load of old fanny, isn’t it? You were ringing him to set up another date.’
‘You can’t blame me for lying. I mean, you had me in your cross-hairs.’ She regarded Von from under her lashes. ‘No, you’re right. Maxie didn’t come to my office.’
‘Where did you meet? It wasn’t your place this time, was it?’
She stared at her hands.
‘Did you go to Max’s room at Mrs Deacon’s? I’d advise you to think carefully before you deny it. We have the forensic evidence now.’
‘We went to Maxie’s digs,’ she said, not looking up.
‘At what time?’
‘Must have been about seven.’
‘When did you leave?’
‘About eight. Maybe later.’
‘You’re sure?’
‘I didn’t check my watch, if that’s what you’re asking,’ she said acidly.
‘Did you have sex?’
‘No, genius, I read his electricity meter. Of course we had sex. Do you want me to describe it?’
‘Yes.’
She rolled her eyes. ‘We took our clothes off and got under the sheets. But you want to know whether after a sex change you can still have an orgasm, don’t you? Well you can, and I did. More than one. I insist on it.’ She leant back, and parted her legs, stretching them under the table. ‘I didn’t have to teach Maxie anything. He had a gigantic sexual appetite. And the things he did. Jo Moudry never had a climax with him, but when I had sex as a woman with a vagina, wow, with Maxie it was explosive. The best of it was that he knew how to take his time.’ She looked straight at the young constable behind Von. ‘The advantages of sex with an older man. Michael Gillanders and I did it a couple of times in my office, but I ended it pretty quickly. He had certain – how shall I put it – shortcomings.’
So Chrissie had had sex with Max on the day he died. Forensics had concluded that the foreign DNA found in his sweat had been deposited by a man. But a gender reassignment operation, whatever it did to a person’s appearance, couldn’t alter the composition of DNA. There was just one more piece of the puzzle left.
‘Let’s get back to Max,’ said Von. ‘This went on for
an hour?’
‘We usually did it three times, front, back and sideways. We began with vanilla sex, woman underneath, man on top. Maxie liked to take control. But we soon moved on.’ She ran the tip of her tongue across her lips. ‘Maxie had imagination.’
‘Did he get dressed afterwards?’ Danni said quickly.
‘He lay on the bed while I put my clothes on,’ she said, her eyes lazy. ‘He liked to watch, and I always did it slowly. Even though he was totally spent, he sat up while I dressed.’
Von hesitated. She was so close. She decided on a gamble. ‘Why did you kill him, Chrissie?’
‘It was the most unfortunate thing. He saw my birthmark.’ She pulled her skirt up and peeled back the top of her stocking. Von felt a movement behind her as the constable leant forward.
Halfway up Chrissie’s thigh was a butterfly-shaped birthmark, the birthmark Von remembered glimpsing that first day in her office.
‘Maxie liked me to keep my stockings on in bed, so it was always hidden, but this time for some reason we took everything off. He saw it when I was dressing and commented on the shape. He didn’t immediately twig that he’d last seen it on Jo Moudry’s thigh, but I knew he’d remember eventually. I panicked. I thought he’d shop me to the police, and I’d be back in the frame for the boys’ murders.’ She stared at the table. ‘I don’t need to tell you the rest.’
‘You do,’ Von said quietly. ‘We need your testimony.’
She looked at Von, an appeal in her eyes. ‘He was lying on the bed, staring at the birthmark. I couldn’t think. I snatched up the lamp and hit him. He fell back, moaning. I was going to hit him again when I saw the doll.’ Her voice became a wail. ‘My mind was still on those boys and I remembered the police had been looking for a man. I thought that, if I made it look like the Jack in the Box murders, they’d suspect a man had killed Maxie, possibly even the same man who’d killed the boys. Everyone knew that case had gone quiet.’
Von stared at the ceiling, seeing the scene unfold.
‘I tied him to the bedframe. He was strong, you see. I couldn’t take the risk he’d regain consciousness so I used the knot Zack had shown us, the type that can’t be shaken loose. I wrapped his tie round his neck and twisted it.’ The colour left her face. ‘He came round while I was doing it. I could tell from the expression in his eyes he had no idea why it was happening. I couldn’t look at him. He struggled and after a while he went limp. I held the tie while I counted to one hundred. Then I took my nail scissors and jabbed them into his eyes. That was the worst part, I had to make myself do it. I popped the doll and scratched its eyes too, to make it look like the old killings.’ She slumped onto the table and covered her face with her hands.