Kiss & Die - Lee Weeks [59]
‘My guess is it’s a customized street weapon but it is an unusual one,’ said Mann.
‘Each band of metal is at least an inch wide.’
‘So it’s the same person?’ said Sheng.
‘No, not necessarily. The weapon is the same, that’s all,’ answered Mann.
Daniel continued, ‘Added to that, his chest was opened by several frenzied cuts and slashes with what looks like a small-bladed knife, there is scraped off flesh, and the bottom four ribs were removed, two of them by breaking. Victim was alive until this point.’
Daniel was filling the central board with the images of Max Kosmos’s mutilated body. Mann didn’t need to look closely at the photos, he still held a snapshot of the scene in his head. Later on, years from now, he knew it would feature somewhere in his dreams. The incident room was hushed, even though it was full of officers, and only the sound of a DC tapping on a keyboard came from the far end.
‘Trace elements left behind at the scene, Daniel?’
‘We found three types of hair in the room, apart from the victim’s.’ Daniel continued. ‘Pubic hair on the victim’s body that’s not his. We also found a long human hair, it’s been analysed. It is hair that’s been treated, dyed, bleached before that. The chemicals in it are linked to ions used for human hair that’s made into wigs, or hair pieces.’
‘Lots of women wear wigs or clip-on hair pieces made from real hair,’ said Mia. ‘We’ll see where the hair came from. We might get lucky with a particular manufacturer.’
‘Perp used a wire to wrap around his testicles, the type electricians use,’ said Daniel. ‘They used bondage tape to tie his legs. I think it’s a common enough one; it’s one that sticks to itself. We are still analysing it to see if we have anything of the perp on there, but the perp doesn’t seem to care what we find: we have DNA and prints.’ Daniel finished pinning up the last of the photos. ‘This print,’ he pointed to the knee print on the sheet by Max Kosmos’s body, ‘is a woman’s knee: slightly different shape to a man’s, narrower, trapezoid. Men’s are rectangular, more prominent bone at the top.’
‘We have a woman killer, alone or with an accomplice, but definitely a woman. What can we tell about her from the scene? Risk taker. Not interested in money. She’s in it for the thrill, retribution, revenge. She doesn’t care if she gets caught. She likes to take it to the edge – she gets off on it,’ said Mann.
‘She must have worked up to this,’ said Sheng. ‘Max Kosmos could easily have come round. Perp knows their stuff but they must have had practice along the way. Find out if any other businessmen are missing here in Hong Kong. Find out if there were any un-followed complaints, anything at all that would fit this. Can’t have been the first time she harmed someone.’
Shrimp stepped up to the board and pinned up the photo of Ishmael. ‘One of the Africans in the Mansions told us that his brother had a secret girlfriend in the Mansions and that he has now disappeared. He is pretty sure the Outcasts had something to do with it or that they know something.’
‘How long ago was that?’
‘A year. Should we alert the business community about the killer?’ Shrimp asked.
Mia Chou shook her head. ‘No, definitely not. We risk hitting the Hong Kong economy where it will do the most damage. Hong Kong only exists for business. We can’t risk putting the businessmen off coming.’
Sheng looked around the packed room. ‘Okay, let’s be clear about who’s handling what. Daniel Lu will handle all forensics for both murders so that we can see what’s reoccurring. Michelle Mendoza stays in custody. I will handle all interviews from now on. My team will do all the background on Max Kosmos. We