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“Not nice, I know, but there you have it.”
“Pretty fucking sick, actually,” Mary said with a steely look.
“Yep. Certainly is.”
“What’ve the police found out?” Darlene asked.
“Not a lot. Their forensics people have promised to get a complete set of crime scene samples over to you by mid-morning. Thorogood’s being very cooperative. I guess Greta is putting pressure on him to keep us fully involved.”
“So am I, Craig,” Justine remarked. “Brett’s subscribing to the idea that two heads are better than one. He knew Stacy too. He’s genuinely upset.”
“So what now?” It was Mary.
“Darlene, you work on the samples soon as they arrive,” I said.
She nodded.
“Justine, you and me should take a trip to the police morgue. Find out anything we can.”
“I’ve got a very nasty feeling the unfortunate Stacy Friel is only the first victim,” Johnny said suddenly.
“Why do you say that?” I asked, swiveling my chair.
“Because, and Justine will verify this,” Johnny began, glancing over to where she sat, “the murder was ritualistic.”
Justine nodded solemnly.
“So?” I persisted.
“One-off murders are a type – the most common sort,” Justine explained. “Someone dies in a violent crime – a bank raid, a gang killing – collateral damage. Or people are murdered in a moment of passion, or slaughtered clinically – revenge, jealousy. A woman who is tortured, killed, dumped in her car and has her vagina stuffed with banknotes is not the victim of a spontaneous act. It was planned and everything about it has meaning. I hope it’s not the case, but I think Johnny’s right – Stacy Friel is just the first.”
Chapter 18
“MARY?” I CALLED her over as the team filed out.
“What’s up?”
“The Ho murder. Darlene’s found some interesting stuff.”
“Yeah, I heard … Triads. You’re thinking drugs?”
“Possibly, but from what Ho Meng said, his kid was hardly the sort.
&n
bsp; Darlene found no evidence he was using.”
“May’ve been dealing.”
“Well, yeah. But anyway, it’s speculation. It might not be drugs, the Triads are involved in all sorts of shit.”
“Maybe it wasn’t the kid,” Mary replied. “What about the father, Meng? I’d be surprised, but we have to consider it.”
“It’d crossed my mind. I don’t think he gave us everything he had yesterday.”
“I agree.”
I looked at Mary. I’d known her for years and I knew she had a soft side, but I think only a handful of people in the world had ever seen it and two of those were her mom and dad.
