Abacus

bag into the car and smiled to himself. Helen certainly made life interesting for him and was a welcome distraction in his life.

CHAPTER 19 - CHEWING THE FAT

    It was early morning the next day and Randall and Jesse were outside the modest Enmore house shared by the suspects.
    “Looks like she is home and probably alone. Surveillance was spot on,” Jesse said, undoing his seatbelt and looking up the driveway at the poorly maintained small Mitsubishi Colt.
    “Today will not be her day,” Randall said, energetically bounding from the car, feeling fresh after a good night’s sleep. He glanced across the street at the old church building. No one in the street would ever have picked the small, nondescript building would be used by police to spy. Randall had often used churches as locations for listening posts. A handsome donation to most places of worship, more often than not sealed the deal.
    Jesse pushed on the old wrought iron gate, which opened to the path that led to the front door. The gate let out a loud a high-pitched squeal. “Jesus, Jess,” Randall said, shaking his head. “Well she knows we’re here now, I’d say.” Randall led the way along the short path before stepping onto the verandah, and quietly tiptoed over the timber floorboards. Pressing his ear to the solid door, he listened. Jesse looked at him for feedback. “Can’t hear anything,” he said softly.
    “Might as well just knoc k, eh, boss?” Jesse suggested, while straining to see through the sheer curtains of the front window. Randall gave three loud raps, causing both detectives to instinctively part to either side of the door. If she was armed, they didn’t want to give her a clean shot. Jesse pulled his jacket to the side, revealing his sidearm, which was clipped to his belt.
    “Karen, it’s Detective Randall and Ja mes, we need to speak with you.” There was no answer as they waited patiently for a few minutes.
    “D o you want me to go around the…”
    Randall , with ear pushed against the door, said, “No, mate, I can hear someone coming now.”
    T he door swung open, and before them stood Cheung, neatly dressed in a short floral dress that rode just above her knees, showing off her shapely legs. She looked so innocent. It was impossible to imagine she had murdered and butchered a fellow human.
    Looking lovingly at Randall, she said, “Why, Detective, I’ve been expecting you. How have you been keeping?”
    Randall was puzzled . What is it with this sheila? And why is she being so friendly towards me? A little lost for words, he finally managed to speak. “Karen, can we come inside? We need to speak, and I don’t think it is something you want your neighbours listening in on.”
    “Sure , come in,” she said, as if she didn’t have a care in the world. Both detectives followed her down the hall. The light shining through the glass door at the end of the hall showed off the silhouette of her feminine figure through the thin material of her dress.
    At the end of the hall, they turned left and entered the lounge room. Randall looked around the room but could see no sign of the pesky cat that had harassed them at the listening post. “Please take a seat,” she offered, gesturing to the three seater lounge under a double hopper window.
    Both detectives looked at each other; there was no way they were going to sit, they had both heard what happened on that lounge. “No thanks, we’re right,” Randall replied. “But you might want to take a seat as we have some pretty bad news as far as you are concerned. We’ve been to your old unit.”
    Cheung sighed and slumped in the armchair. She appeared resigned to the fact that she had been found out.
    “Anyway , at your unit we saw where you chopped him up. We saw the cuts in the flooring. We found a lot of blood under the kitchen cupboards and in other places. We’re here to take you in,” Randall said without sentiment.
    Cheung sat silent for a moment, then her demeanour went immediately from helpful to disrespectful. “Took you guys long enough, didn’t it, eh?” she teased. There was a long silence while she thought about what to say next. “I did everything for him, and he dumped me.” With that, she ran her hand down her thigh and slightly lifted the hem of her dress. “He dumped this. He gave this up, can you believe it?”
    Jesse raised his eyebrows while Randall looked coyly around the room, at anything but her.
    Jesse walked towards her. “Anyway, Ms