Thai Shorts

by Lilburne, Guy

  “Good morning ladies and gentlemen. I’m Detective Sgt. Yim Dek and as second in command I would also like to welcome you all onto the Murder Squad. It is always a privilege to be asked onto such a squad and many detectives can go through their whole police service and never have worked on one. You are here because you are the best and I know that you will do your best. I want to reiterate what the inspector has just said. If you have any problems of any nature, then please tell either the inspector or myself and we will be able to help. Your welfare and morale is important to us.” He paused and looked around the room. “Okay. Let’s get to work. At 7:05am this morning the body of a white Caucasian male was found under the fly-over near Bali Hai pier by one of the coach drivers who park there. The victim was smartly dressed in a white short sleeved shirt and cream coloured cargo pants, which were both heavily blood stained. The police pathologist has attended the scene and his initial thoughts from viewing the body at the crime scene are that the man was killed at around 11:30pm last night. He appears to have died from a single stab wound to the neck which was probably delivered by the assailant from behind the victim. The weapon appears to be a large bladed knife with a serrated edge. The pathologist thinks the weapon was similar to an army style knife, or what many of you may know as a ‘Rambo’ knife. There was no struggle and it appears that nothing of value was taken from the body. At this stage we would normally have to assume that the motive was something else other than robbery. However, the victim’s third finger of his left hand was cut off and taken. It may be that the finger was wearing a wedding ring, so we are keeping an open mind. I searched the body at the scene and I can tell you that I seized the following exhibits. In his left front trouser pocket he had a single piece of scrap paper with a hand written mobile phone number and a Samsung mobile phone. In his shirt breast pocket he had a business card for a speed boat company offering trips to Koh Lan. In his right front trouser pocket he had a bunch of keys; a front door key, a car key for a Toyota and a motorbike key for a Honda motorbike. In his rear right hand trouser pocket he had a brown leather wallet. This contained a bank card for HSBC in the name of Mr. Gregory Thomas, a Siam Commercial bank debit plus card and a Kasikorn bank privileged member card. There was also a full Thai driving license for a motorbike in the name of Gregory Thomas, a full Thai driving license for a motor car in the name of Gregory Thomas, a Makro member’s card in the name of Gregory Thomas. There was 12,468 baht in cash, a colour photograph of a Thai lady and a colour photograph of a white male with a Thai lady that was taken on Pattaya beach. The male in the photograph appears to be our victim. The photographs on the driving licenses also appear to be our victim. Subject to confirmation our victim is called Gregory Thomas. His Thai driving licenses tell us that he was 53 years old and they also give us an address, which is an apartment in Pattaya Tai.

  So ladies and gentlemen, it seems that out victim is called Gregory Thomas and he is a long term resident of Thailand and was living here in Pattaya. He was murdered last night by a single stab wound to the neck delivered from behind while he was under the fly-over near Bali Hai pier. The only thing we have to do now is find out who did it and why!”

  Ping got to her feet again to address the team of detectives.

  “Okay. Thank you, Sgt. Dek. If everyone would like to get something to drink, maybe get something to eat and register your contact details, etcetera, with the murder room admin. We will have actions ready to issue in about an hour. Thank you.”

  Ping and Yim summoned one of the civilian support staff to the operations desk to start dictating the actions or enquiries for the detectives to make. The very first action was; Action 1, TIE (Trace Identify & Eliminate) the owner of the mobile phone number written on a scrap of paper found in the victims pocket. Hundreds more actions were to follow. Everyone on the team was going to be busy. Ping had decided not to release to the press that the wedding ring finger of the victim had been cut off and taken. An action was raised to find out if he was wearing any ring on the missing finger. An hour later detectives were going into the admin room and being assigned actions and leaving the station to complete them. Actions to trace the owner of the phone number written on the scrap of paper, trace all the people listed on the victims mobile phone, interview neighbours, trace the victims motorbike and car, search the victims home address, trace the victims movements prior to death, check the victims banks and many more actions were all being undertaken. The murder enquiry was well and truly under way. The murder squad detectives were all told to meet back at the murder room at 8:00pm for another briefing. That would give everyone a chance to update each other with all the information they had brought to light. The actions completed resulted in more information coming into the murder squad room, which in turn would result in more actions. Ping and Yim would complete some of the actions themselves. With hard work and luck they would close in on the murderer. A ‘Time Line’ was written on one of the white boards on one of the walls. So far it was just a line along the middle of the board. A small notch had been put on it at 11:30pm and the words stated ’Estimated time of death’, another notch was made at 7:05am and the words simply read ‘Body found under fly-over near Bali Hai pier’. Other times and details would be added as information came in and in the end they would have a complete time line of events in the 24 hours prior to the discovery of the victim’s body.

  Ping and Yim went to Gregory Thomas’s address. They knew before they got there that it was an address which meant the victim had money. They had taken the door key from the bunch of keys found on the body and, just as they expected, it opened the front door to Greg’s apartment. Their first impression was that it was clean and tidy with well-furnished good sized rooms. The windows gave good views over the manicured gardens and lakes below. Ping guessed that he must employ a cleaner to keep the place so tidy and she made a note in her note book to raise an action to trace her. There were a few framed photographs of the victim with a few other men. They all seemed to be friends and it looked like the photographs were taken in Thailand. In one they were on a boat out at sea and the victim was holding up a big fish. The smile on his face told you that he had just caught it. In another photo there were a group of them on a golf course and, in another photo taken on the same day, the men were holding up a trophy. Ping made notes; to trace the men in the photos and check golf clubs. They meticulously searched the two bedroomed apartment and seized the photographs, a passport that wasn’t kept up to date, but did have some names, phone numbers and locations scribbled on various pages. They also seized an English driving license in the name of Gregory Thomas, a Thai medical certificate in the same name, his Thai bank account savings book, which had a balance that was a lot healthier than its owner. From the notice board in the kitchen they seized a hand written list of some Thai names with phone numbers and some names of well-known food delivery services with phone numbers. They also seized a business card from a bar called Jules Sportarama Bar. From the built-in wardrobe they seized a cardboard box that was full of personal papers, mostly from England - a birth certificate, some divorce papers, bank papers, a couple of old letters, some old photographs and a Lionel Ritchie CD that was still wrapped in cellophane. They also seized a laptop computer from the glass top coffee table in the lounge and a box of Viagra tablets. Once they were happy that they hadn’t missed anything they left the apartment. On the way out they saw a couple of detectives making door to door enquiries and the officers all nodded to each other.

  At around 7:30pm the detectives who were still out on enquiries drifted back into the murder room in readiness for the 8:00pm briefing. They logged in any exhibits with the over worked Exhibits Officer and updated and filed any Action Forms that had been completed. Gregory Thomas’s mobile phone and computer had already been examined by some expert ‘Techno’ people who had also been assigned to the enquiry.

  At the 8:00pm briefing everyone had a turn to report their findings and each person made n
otes of what other people were saying. They heard that the victim was indeed Gregory Thomas, a long term ex-pat from England. They heard about his financial status and some of his friends and associates who had already been traced. It seemed that there was no wife or girlfriend on the scene at the current time. They heard about a lot of actions which had so far not been completed for various good reasons. The Honda motorbike had been found at the car park in the apartment complex, but the Toyota car was still outstanding. The scribbled mobile phone number belonged to a bar girl called Nung, who worked in the Lucky Bar. Gregory Thomas had been with her short time on the night of his death between 9:00pm and 10:00pm and used one of the short time hotels behind Walking Street. She was a relevant witness. She helped to trace some of the victim’s movements and fill in some of the Time Line, but she had nothing to say that could help any more than that. She thought that Mr. Thomas was a nice man. He was funny and charming and he gave her a good tip. He had written her phone number and promised to ring her again in the future. Nung said that he seemed ‘very happy and normal’ when he was with her and that he didn’t seem worried about anything. She was sad that she wouldn’t be seeing him again, but the detective thought that was because of financial reasons rather than anything else.

  The briefing went on for over an hour. There was still no clear motive for the murder. There was nothing on the mobile phone that raised concerns, although a lot of the people on the phone still had to be traced and there was nothing much on the laptop. It had an email account of course and a lot of work still had to be done, but there was nothing very interesting in any of the files. It seemed that he used it mostly to watch porn and play computer games. It seemed like Gregory Thomas was a happy settled ex-pat who was enjoying retirement. The associates who they had already managed to contact could say that he was a retired business man, but nobody seemed to know what his business had been.

  A few of the detectives stayed on to complete enquiries, but most had finished for the day. Ping had called for a 6:00am start the next morning. She had decided to call into Jules Sportarama Bar on the way home, but that was going to be it for the day. Ping liked working murders because she thought that they were always the ultimate case that any detective could ever work on, but she hated how they impacted on her own time. She didn’t really have a social life. She was a natural loner, but she had a very busy private life. On Monday, Wednesday and Saturday evenings she trained at the local Muay Thai gym. She was a good boxer and every two months on a Saturday she had a fight. Her fight record was 52 wins and 18 losses. If she hadn’t thrown the fights she would have only had two losses. But the fact was she got paid 1000 baht to fight and 10,000 baht to take a dive. She didn’t need the money and she hated taking a dive, but if she didn’t keep the promoters happy then she wouldn’t get any more fights. It was as simple as that and she liked fighting. On Tuesday evenings she usually went out to see a movie and do some clothes shopping and on Thursday’s and Friday’s she went out on the town to cruise the bars to find a nice looking farang to have sex with. A murder enquiry usually ruined her weeks!

  Jules Sportarama Bar was off the Thuppraya Road between Pattaya and Jomtien on the ground level of an apartment block called View Talay I. Ping parked in the large car park and approached the open fronted bar. She could see that it wasn’t a ‘girlie bar’, but it was full of ex-pats eating home cooked farang food and drinking cheap beers. The music being played was from a bygone age and you would have to be over sixty years old to remember any of it ever being in the charts. The regulars in the bar had all noticed the smartly dressed and beautiful Thai lady get out of the car and walk towards the bar. They all hoped that she was going to come into the bar and they were excited when she did. She didn’t look like a bar girl, but maybe she was a freelancer. She would be worth a few thousand baht of anyone’s money. She was greeted warmly with smiles and wais and ‘Sawadee khraps’ by nearly all the men in the bar. They were a friendly bunch! There didn’t seem to be anyone standing behind the bar.

  “I’m looking for the boss,” said Ping, to everyone in general.

  A man stood up from one of the tables. His shirt was big and loud and outrageously colourful, just like the man who was wearing it! He took two steps towards her.

  “I’m sorry sweetheart. I don’t have girls working from my bar,” he whispered, with some discretion.

  Ping pulled out her police ID from her handbag and held it up towards the big man who was standing in front of her.

  “I’m a detective inspector in the Royal Thai Police.”

  The man took the ID from her and examined it closely and after a few moments he said;

  “Sorry. But you still can’t work in my bar.”

  There was a moments silence and Ping looked at the man. Then she noticed the glint in his eye and a smile crept across his face. Ping smiled too. He had a sense of humour and the ice was well and truly broken.

  “I’m Jules Lee. This is my bar. Do you want to talk in private, Inspector?”

  Ping nodded and Jules Lee led her to a quiet area at the back of the bar and out of ear shot of the rest of the customers, who had all gone very quiet as they attempted to listen into the conversation. Ping sat down and crossed her very elegant legs at the knee.

  “Can I get you a drink?” asked Jules.

  “Water. Thank you.”

  Jules called his wife Bee and asked her for water for the inspector and another beer for himself. Bee brought the drinks and gave the inspector a very respectful wai, which Ping returned.

  “So what can I do for you?” asked Jules, as he lit up another L&M red cigarette, tilted his head back and blew the smoke up towards the ceiling.

  “I’m investigating the murder of a farang. His body was found near to Bali Hai pier this morning.”

  “Yes, I saw it on the news. But how can I help you?”

  “The victim had your business card in his apartment and I was wondering if you knew him. His name was Gregory Thomas.”

  “Oh my God! The victim was Greg Thomas. Yes, I do know him. Did know him. Who would want to kill Greg?”

  “I was hoping that you might be able to tell me.”

  “I have no idea. He was one of the good guys. I wouldn’t know of anyone who would do something like this to Greg.”

  “What can you tell me Mr. Lee?”

  “Please call me Jules.” It was obvious to Ping that Jules Lee was not a man without charm and she got the impression that he was flirting with her.

  “Jules,” she smiled.

  “Well, Greg was a customer, but I wouldn’t say one of the regulars. This isn’t just a bar, it’s a shop too and Greg used to buy sausage, gammon and pies from me. He used to come in mostly after golf, if he was drinking, and that was usually once a week. You’d be better talking to the golf captain. I think he would be able to tell you more about Greg than I can.”

  “And where will I find the golf captain?”

  “Sitting at the front of my bar. He’s here now. His name is Burnie Sinclair. I’ll go and get him for you.” Jules stood up and then whispered as an afterthought, “He’s Australian.” As if that might be an offence here in the Kingdom. But then he smiled again and Ping saw the cheeky glint in his eye once more.

  She watched Jules walk back to the front of his bar, checking that all his customers were okay for drinks as he went and signaling his wife Bee for service. She watched him bend down and whisper to one of the men sat at the front of the bar. It was a long whisper and Ping knew that Jules was saying a lot more than ‘The police want to speak to you’. The man sitting down nodded several times and didn’t turn to look at Ping before he finally got up and accompanied Jules back towards her. She recognised the man from one of the photographs taken from Greg Thomas’s apartment. This was the man who was holding up the golf trophy. Burnie Sinclair smiled warmly at Ping as he stuck out a hand
to shake, before sitting down with Ping and Jules. Jules recapped what Ping had already told him and Burnie Sinclair pretended that Jules hadn’t already whispered all this to him. He feigned surprise and then shock. He wouldn’t win any prizes for his acting abilities, but he had a nice smile and an intelligent face. Ping guessed that he was somewhere between 60 and 70 years old, but couldn’t work out at which end of that age range he was. He was smart, even debonair. His waist line had expanded over the years and Ping guessed that it was with fine dining and fine wine. Burnie Sinclair didn’t look like a ‘Bangers and Mash’ and ten pints of beer sort of man. He nodded as he listened to Jules and waited until it was his turn to speak.

  “I have known Greg for a few years now. He is a good man, but I don’t know why anyone would want to kill him.”

  “Was he married?”

  “No. I think he was divorced a long time ago from his English wife and he was never short of female company over here, but nobody special. He never really talked about his private life. He was good company and a good golfer, but he didn’t take golf all that seriously. He would have been an even better player if he spent more time on the course and didn’t spend so much time playing ‘Black Ops’.

  “Black Ops?”

  “It’s a war game on the computer. If he ever talked about anything it was usually about his prowess as an elite soldier on a bloody video game. Amazing! And now he is dead.”

  “Did he have any other interests?”

  “Well yes, of course. Fishing and sport and ladies, I guess. He was just a normal bloke.”

  “Have you any idea where he would park his car? We still haven’t recovered it and we would like to take a look inside.”