Abacus

Tony. Look at me, who doesn’t want this.” She traced the outline of her hips with her free hand.
    Cheung sat back down on the lounge, still with the gun in her hand. She stared at the opposite wall, emotionless, as she waited for the last of the song to finish. Once it did, she downed the last of her wine, calmly placed the gun on the lounge next to her, walked over to the stereo and turned it off.
    Walking over to the victim with a smile of total satisfaction, she turned him over so he was now face up with his eyes wide open. She dragged his limp body by its feet over to the kitchen floor, leaving a wide smear of blood trailing behind. She walked back into the lounge room, reached under the same pillow and picked up a large hunting knife.
    Walking back to the kitchen, she drew the large knife from its leather sheath and dropped the sheath on the ground. With knife in hand, she walked over to the bleeding victim and knelt down beside him. She reached over to the oven door and took hold of a tea towel, which she neatly draped over his open eyes.
    Raising the knife with both hands high above her head, she plunged it deep into his neck, causing a stream of bright red blood to spray onto the adjacent wall and window.
    Randall stopped momentarily , as he thought about the similarities between his analysis of the scene and his mother’s death. Was he just rehashing her final moments? He was not entirely sure as he continued to visualise the murder of Briggs.
    With the blood spurting from the neck, it became obvious to her he was still alive. She panicked and plunged the knife in and out of his chest violently. Her panic caused the thrusts to become more and more frenzied. As she drove the knife into the rib cage, it twisted in her hand as the wide steel blade worked its way between the ribs. Some of these thrusts were done with such force, the knife went through the whole body and exited through the back, leaving deep marks in the vinyl flooring.
    Up until this point, everything appeared clear to Randall, just like he was a witness to it. His imagery ended as soon as it began. What had occurred from that point on was almost incomprehensible, and definitely couldn’t be done by a woman acting on her own. Beyond the slaying, he could not see Cheung disposing of the body by herself. She had to have had help. Help from someone whose love for her was so desperate, he would look beyond her heinous crime for her affection. It had to be Hoskings .
    * * *
    After a full day at the scene, Randall was beat as he flopped down at his desk, reached down for the bar fridge and pulled out a beer. He was satisfied with finding the crime scene, and tomorrow morning they were going to get Cheung’s current location from the surveillance team and pounce on her. As he sipped on his beer, he looked out into the general office; everyone had gone except Hobbs who was sitting at his desk working. He heard a beep on his black mobile phone and saw that he had received a text from Helen, which read: Detective, I’ve been a very bad girl and I need to be punished, what time do you finish today? Helen XXX.
    Randall replied, Five P.M.
    A return text came. See you soon.
    Randall thought th is was a little unusual as she had not been to his workplace before, but with Helen being quite adventurous, he never knew quite what to expect. This was what he liked most about her.
    Sipping on his beer, he watched as Hobbs got up and walked down the hall towards the front counter. Not long after he left, he looked up to see Helen entering the detectives’ office, being escorted by an obviously smitten uniformed constable. “There is the Detective Sergeant,” the constable said, holding the office door open for her.
    Helen was still dressed in her nurse ’s uniform, which instantly aroused him. “Hi, Bob, where are all the guys,” she said, looking around the general office. “I was hoping there would still be some around, you know, to make it a bit more exciting for us,” she said, licking her lips.
    “You must have been parked outside when you texted. You are a very bad, bad girl,” he said, waving his finger at her.
    “Yes , I wanted to surprise you.”
    “Well , to answer your question, we’re not alone, there’s one other detective here. You remember Hobbs? He just stepped out but he’ll be back in a minute.”
    Helen walked around the table, sat on Randall’s lap and wriggled her tight rear into his groin. She turned to face him and