Red Ribbons (Chapter Two)

Posted on | Wednesday, July 13, 2011 | No Comments


Chapter Two

Venkath was done with the post-mortem by noon. There had been no bruises on the girl's body, no sign of any defense wounds on her hands, which meant she had known her assailant, or that she had had no time to react. Or both. There was nothing distinctive about the mud and grass on the bottom of her shoes; they could have come from any garden, field or park. The only thing of any use was the cat hairs, under the microscope they looked like they belonged to a grey tabby. The red fibres on her neck were nylon, possibly from a long strip of cloth or ribbon of some kind. Another dead end.

His cell rang after he'd examined the corpse a second time. It was Lawrence. “We know who she is, Venkath. Alicia Ling; her parents reported her missing yesterday morning. They're here to identify the body.”
Ling. Why was that name so familiar?
“She's Alan Ling's daughter. As in Alan Ling, the real estate tycoon,” Lawrence's voice sounded strained.
“Give me ten minutes to finish up here,” Venkath said, hanging up. There was a reason Lawrence was tense. The Ling family had founded Kuala Pilah from nothing when they'd emigrated from China in the 1900s. The case would have been moved to the top of Lawrence's list, almost definitely against his wishes.

Venkath gave the corpse a once over to ensure all the stitches were in place, then carefully covered her with a white cloth. He then placed a sheet of paper under her head and combed her hair carefully onto the paper, hoping he'd find some trace evidence. But her scalp and hair were clean.

Someone rapped on the door. “Come on in, I'm just about done,” Venkath said, without looking up.

“The parents are here to identify the body,” Lawrence said, popping his head in at the door. His face was grim, his lips set in a thin line.

“Come in for a sec. Close the door,” Venkath said, waving Lawrence over to the examining table. “We were right, the hairs were cat-hairs,” he said.

“Anything else?” Lawrence asked.

Venkath shook his head. “By the way, how did the parents find out so quickly?” 

Lawrence looked sheepish. “They filed a missing person's report on Sunday when Alicia here didn't return home from her Saturday night partying. Her friends said she had left the club with a man and hadn't heard from her since. The officer who filed the report assumed she'd run off with a boyfriend until this morning. Apparently she was wearing these clothes the night she disappeared.”

Venkath frowned. “But that doesn't make sense, today is Monday. Yet her hair was clean and her clothes and makeup were fresh. If she'd been kidnapped she would have struggled, but her dress had no rips, her shoes no scuff marks.”

“Unless of course, things went wrong with the boyfriend and he attacked her, caught her off guard. Then dumped her at the car park to buy himself some time,” Lawrence said.

Venkath looked thoughtful. “But it doesn’t explain the pyramid.”

“A copycat killer perhaps?” Lawrence said helpfully.

“Think about it, L. The trail went cold in Penang five years ago after ten murders. Only to surface again here after all this time. We’re not looking for a copycat.”

Officer Paul Ong stared glumly at the mountain of files on the floor. Once he was done printing out the photos and leaving them on Inspector Lawrence’s desk, he had been assigned to rearrange the latter’s filing cabinet. It wasn’t what he had planned; he had hoped that Inspector Lawrence would have recruited him to assist in the investigation. Although, truth be told, he had no idea what the case history was, except the hunch that they were looking for a killer who had been in Penang, where Dr. Venkath was originally from. Someone who left a RM1 note folded into a pyramid? Who would do that, he wondered? What did it even mean?

An idea struck him suddenly. Maybe, just maybe, the earlier case files were somewhere in this mess. Feeling quite the sleuth, he removed the remaining files from the cabinet and arranged them on a pile on the floor. Then he began sorting them into two piles: solved and unsolved. He glanced at the clock. It was 12.30pm. Inspector Lawrence wouldn’t be back for two hours at least, which gave him plenty of time to snoop.

By 1.30, he had isolated the unsolved case files. There were only ten of them, Kuala Pilah was, after all, a tiny town. Nothing escaped the town’s residents, hence criminals had nowhere to hide really. He began scanning the files, putting aside local cases. The tenth file however, was an out-of-town murder that had occurred four years ago in Kuala Lumpur.

Bingo! he cheered inwardly and began reading the Inspector’s notes: “Indian female...from Kuala Pilah...found strangled in alley behind a local nightclub at 2am...no identification...had an RM1 note folded into a pyramid tucked into her jeans pocket. No forensic evidence on victim or at the scene...possible suspects...waiter at the restaurant, college lecturer...dead ends.” Inspector Lawrence had been called in to assist with the investigations since the girl was from Kuala Pilah, however the case remained unsolved.

He scanned the remaining files, finding nothing except some recent home break-ins and muggings. The last file however, was of an unsolved case from Penang, exactly five years ago to the day. He retrieved the Kuala Lumpur case from the sorted pile and checked the date. The body had been discovered on January 21st, exactly one year before the Penang murder. His pulse picking up, he returned to the Penang case file. The murder victim was an Indian woman in her mid-fifties, also from Kuala Pilah.

Her body had been found in broad daylight, just after 10am in the neighbourhood park she went walking in every morning. She had left her house at 7am, a child cycling in the park had found the body three hours later. She had also been strangled, and no forensic evidence had been found on or around her, as in the Kuala Lumpur case. A RM1 note folded into a pyramid had been found inside her mouth. Who was the second victim and was Dr. Venkath related to her somehow, Paul wondered.

“If you’re done with that, you might want to clean my desk. It hasn’t been touched for weeks,” Venkath stood at the door to Lawrence’s office, his arms folded. His expression was unreadable.

“I was just finishing up,” Paul said casually, but he dared not look at Venkath any longer. Instead he tried to look busy by collecting the pile of case files from the floor and placing it in the cabinet. It gave him a few seconds to collect himself.

“Yes, I could see that,” Venkath said pointedly. “I’m here to collect my wallet, left it on Lawrence’s desk when I was in here earlier,” he added. Paul turned red as a beet and handed the wallet to Venkath without a word.

“A word of advice, Paul: lock the door the next time you plan on snooping around. Today you were a little sloppy,” Venkath said over his shoulder as he went out the door.

Paul looked at his retreating back speechlessly. Dr. Venkath was unlike any doctor he’d ever met. And something in the other man’s eyes had told him that poking into this case would land him into trouble. But if Paul lacked the street smarts of a more experienced officer, he more than made up for it with determination. So against his better judgement, he took out his little notepad and started taking notes from the case files.

“That Ong kid was going over the old case files, wasn’t he?” Inspector Lawrence said after he’d finished his meal.

Venkath raised his eyebrows. “You knew?”

“He’s a rookie, hungry for a chance to work on a big case. Got a keen eye for details that one, so I asked him to do the filing to see if he’d bite,” Lawrence grinned back at Venkath.

“What are you up to, cuz?” Venkath asked, taking a thoughtful swallow of his iced tea.

“Trying to give the kid a chance without making it to obvious to the higher-ups. Ong’s from a rich family, many people here feel that he needs to ‘earn his way up’ by doing grunt work, but the kid has potential. If he just ‘happens’ to notice a clue about this case, I’ll be able to bring him on board. And not that good-for-nothing Rahim my boss likes so much,” Lawrence explained.

“But why this rookie in particular?”

A distant look entered Lawrence’s eyes. “You’re too young to remember this, but when I was twelve, my stepfather wanted me to quit school and go work in a factory. My mother was at the time working as a housekeeper and babysitter in Ong’s uncle’s home. When his uncle heard what my stepfather was forcing me to do, he threatened to report him and paid for the rest of my schooling. In this town, Venkath, we take care of our own.”

“So you owe Ong’s family. But why on earth do you have the boy doing grunt work?” Venkath looked at his cousin in puzzlement.

Lawrence smiled wryly. “Paul went against his parents’ wishes and enrolled in the police academy after he returned from his studies abroad. They’re hoping that I can pressure him into leaving so he’ll go back and join the family business. So I do what they and the boss tells me, but I leave things lying around where he’ll find them. Smart and resourceful that one, it’s just a matter of time before he brings something to this case I can’t refuse,” Lawrence said.

“Ok. So what now?”

“We finish up here and pay a visit to the dead girl’s parents. Worst part of the job, but someone has to do it,” Lawrence said.

“I’ll come with you,” Venkath said, calling the waiter over.

“Only if you let me do the talking. I can’t have you bringing your issues into this case,” Lawrence’s expression was serious.

Venkath met his gaze unflinchingly. If there was one thing he wanted more than anything else, it was to catch this killer. “Whatever it takes,” he said, his expression grim.

Lydia Ling, the matriarch, who only a month ago had thrown a lavish dinner party in honour of her daughter's graduation from a prestigious business school in Britain, was pale and silent as her husband spoke to Lawrence. She sat in an antique armchair by the window, her body taut and rigid as she looked out the window. The only signs of life were the tears rolling softly down her cheeks. She didn't respond when they entered the room or when her husband brought her a glass of water. Venkath's heart squeezed in empathy for her.

“I know this is difficult, Mr. Ling, but can list all your daughter's friends names and ex-boyfriends. Every little detail helps,” Lawrence said.

The creases on the older man's forehead deepened. “My daughter has...had...many friends, they were in and out of the house all the time. After returning from her studies, she spent most of her time in Kuala Lumpur. Sometimes she would stay over with her friends, but she always called to let us know where she was.”

“Did she tell you where she was the night she dissappeared?” Venkath interjected, earning a mildly annoyed look from Lawrence.

Terrence Ling nodded. “She said she was going to a club with two of her friends, Boon Yee and Alice. She said she was staying over at Alice's house. Alice lives with her parents and we know them well so we weren't worried,” he added sadly.

“But your daughter didn't spend the night there?” Lawrence asked.

“No, she didn't. My wife called Alice's home the next morning to ask our daughter if she was coming home for lunch and Alice's mother informed her that our daughter hadn't stayed the night there. Alice wasn't even in town, she was in Hong Kong for a week for work. We tried calling our daughter's mobile, but kept getting voice mail. When we hadn't heard from her by the following afternoon, we filed a missing person's report with the police,” Terrence explained.

“I see. What about your daughter's other friend, this Boon Yee?” Venkath asked.

“She said that they were at the club until 1.00am. Then Alicia told Boon Yee she was tired and was going home. She told Boon Yee she was spending the night at Alice's place. Boon Yee said she didn't question her because that's what my daughter usually did.”

“Was your daughter close to Boon Yee and Alice?”

“Yes, they went to school and later to university together. We know their parents too, they come from good families. You are wasting time, my daughter was not the kind of girl to hide things from her parents,” Terrence said impatiently.

“I understand how you feel Mr. Ling, I have a sixteen-year old daughter myself. But it's important that we get as much information as possible about your daughter and her friends so we can catch whoever hurt her,” Lawrence said gently.

The older man's expression softened. “So you know what a parent must feel like. It is just very hard for us, especially for my wife. She hasn't moved from that chair since the police called about Alicia.”

“We're very sorry for your loss, Mr. Ling. I understand this is a difficult time for you and your wife, but if you can think of anything that may help our investigation, please give me a call anytime,” Lawrence said, handing Terrence his card.

“I will have my secretary send you the numbers you wanted. Please catch this man, Inspector. Only then will I be able to sleep,” Terrence Ling said.

“You'll be the first to know, I promise,” Lawrence said.

“One more question Mr. Ling, did your daughter have a cat?” Venkath asked.

Terrence Ling's eyebrows shot up in suprise. “Yes, she has a Siamese called Persia, why do you ask?” he said.

“A Siamese cat. Is it here?” Lawrence asked.

“Yes, it's anout the house somewhere. Why is this important?” Terrence Ling looked bewildered.

“There were grey cat hairs on your daughter's dress. What colour is your cat?” Lawrence asked.

“Why, brown of course, just like regular Siamese cats. So you think my daughter's murderer owns a grey cat?”

“We're just investigating all possibilites. Do any of Alicia's friends have grey cats?”

“Not Boon Yee or Alice, but I don't know about her other friends. Do you think one of her friends did this to her?”

“Is there anyone you suspect may have wanted to harm her?” Lawrence asked.

“Nicholas Lim.” It was Theresa Ling who had spoken. Unnoticed by the three men, she had been quietly listening to their conversation. “Alicia broke up with him last month, but he has been pressuring her to get back together ever since. He would call her all day, follow her wherever she went. It's he who did this, I'm sure of it,” she said, her voice weary and whisper-soft. She sank back against the cushion on her chair, as if speaking had sapped all of her energy.

“How long had this been going on with the ex-boyfriend?” Lawrence asked.

“About three weeks. The final straw for us was last Wednesday night, when he showed up at our doorstep drunk and threw a bottle at our front door, insisting that Alicia see him. She got a restraining order against him the next morning,” Terrence Ling explained.

“Did he try to contact your daughter subsequently?” Lawrence asked.

“No, he's smarter than that. But that doesn't mean he is innocent,” Terrence said, his brow furrowing in distaste.

“Unfortunately, the law rules that everyone is innocent until proven guilty, Mr. Ling. If he's guilty, you can be sure he'll go to the gallows. Is there anything else you can tell us about him, Mr. Ling?”

“He is training to be a veterinary doctor, I believe he's an intern with the government-run veterinary clinic in town. He is originally from Ipoh, I think,” the older man said.

“Thank you, Mr. Ling, we'll take it from here,” Lawrence said, flipping his notebook shut. He glanced over to the sofa, where Mrs. Ling now lay fast asleep. There was something strange about the woman, even for one who had just lost her only child, he thought. But he couldn't put his finger on precisely what he found so unnerving about her.


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