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 addict. She will try and leave out more than she says.’

‘Everyone’s capable of murder if they have to.’

Chapter 48

Rizal took the back stairs up to the apartment. The flat was on the fourteenth floor, a landing where several families lived long term. Rizal texted Lilly on the way. He knew she couldn’t be far away. She would come if he worded it right. Rizal smelt the familiar aroma of pork curry along the landing. Nina had done a good job but she had left Rizal feeling frustrated; his mind was still on her body. He turned his key in the lock and stepped inside. The babysitter, a young woman who lived nearby, was watching TV, the twins were in bed. He dismissed her and she scurried off. She’d had trouble with him before. He opened a beer and sat on the sofa and waited.

‘I got your text. You said she needed me?’ Lilly stood in the doorway, leaning on the doorframe, a defiant look on her face. She was out of uniform she had on a micro mini and a tight top. She eyed the collection of empty beer bottles around Rizal’s chair and her expression changed to one of disgust. ‘What do you want? I thought my mother was back. I smelt the curry. Where is she?’

‘Still at the station.’ Rizal swigged from the beer bottle. ‘I want to talk to you. I don’t want to worry your mother. I thought we could sort it out between the two of us. You’re in trouble with the law?’

Lilly shrugged, with a cocky smile. ‘They got nothing on me.’

‘I knew you’d get in trouble hanging about with those Indian kids. You think you’re smart running with those mangy kids, the Outcasts? You think it makes you into someone big?’ Rizal swigged his beer. ‘Is he your boyfriend? That Mahmud?’

‘No. It’s nothing to do with the Outcasts.’

Rizal wasn’t listening. His mind had moved on to other thoughts. His eyes slipped down her body as he swigged his beer.

‘I’ll be out of here soon. I have plans. I am going to make it big: live in my own penthouse, drink the best wines from France. I won’t have to live in this pit and smell your sweat and listen to you fart all night.’

Rizal stood, swayed on his feet a little. ‘You can’t do it alone. I can help you. You’re a little princess. I know what you like. You like it here. I’ve seen you watching us at night. I’ve seen your eyes open. I’ve seen you looking at me when I’m giving it to your mother. You listen to her moan. She loves it.’

‘She makes money whilst you sit on your drunken arse.’ Lilly made a dash for the bedroom.

Rizal knocked over the table in his speed as he lurched out of the chair and made it the couple of metres to the bedroom door and pinned Lilly to the wall.

She shrieked. ‘Don’t do it, Rizal. Dad, don’t hurt me. Please.’

He held her pressed against the wall and slammed the door shut as her siblings started to cry; his beer breath was in her face. ‘Don’t call me Dad. My name is Rizal. Your father was some Chinese john that your mother dropped her knickers for. Just another john and she was just another whore, still is. She’ll never change. She has no ambition, not like you, my little princess.’ He released his grip a little and stroked her face. ‘You’re prettier than your mother. You’re a pretty girl and smart. You know what it takes for a girl to survive around here. She has to have something to give. You got money to give me, Lilly? You’re living here in my house. You got money, huh?’