The Murderer and the Monorail (On Hold till after HSC)

Chapter 4: Stations, Work and Kinokunya

Charlie and King had made it to Paddy’s Market monorail station and got off.

“The guy said his name was Joshua, he described himself as tall with greying hair tied in a ponytail…” Charlie trailed off. It wasn’t hard to find who Josh was. He was leaning against the box area that sat the guards as people walked in and out.

“Josh?” King asked. He turned around and saw the two officers approach him.

“This is Detective Sergeant Summers and I’m Detective Inspector King. We were informed that you knew the young lady.”

“Well, not in an intimate sense but yeah I knew her.”

“Care to elaborate?” Charlie asked.

“She came in of a morning around nine and left for work for about five days a week. Came back around six in the evening. Pleasant enough, good looking, I think she worked somewhere but lived around here. Sometimes I would say hi to her and she would always smile back. I got the impression that she was bilingual.”

“What gave you that idea?” asked King.

“She used to talk on her phone in different languages, sometimes English and sometimes Chinese.”

“Cantonese…” corrected Charlie.

“Yeah, something like that. Shame though, pretty face like her going to waste.”

“Where do you think she worked?” asked King

“Not sure, again we didn’t really talk.”

Charlie wrote what Joshua had said in her little notebook.

“Thank you sir, we’ll be in touch if we need any more information.” Joshua took that as a sign to leave and he did.

“So, where do you think she worked?” King asked. Not even attempting to hide the smugness in his voice. He thought Charlie wouldn’t know where to start.

“Not sure, but at least I know where to start. Come on we’ve got to get onto the next monorail.” The doors opened as Charlie pushed King in.

“And where exactly are we going?” he asked her.

“Galleries Victoria.” She said, her tone mocking her superior. King looked surprised but didn’t say a word.

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When they arrived Charlie walked up to the guard box.

“Is there a man named Raaj here?” she asked peering into the small box. There were three people inside as the man closest to her stepped forward. It was obvious that he was of Indian descent.

“That’s me. Are you the detective?” he asked. Charlie nodded.

“I’d just like to have a quick word, if you don’t mind.” Raaj exited the guard box and followed Charlie to the corner.

“How well did you know the deceased?”

“We were on first name basis she always got her tickets from here. She told me to call her Maddy.”

“I see, anything else?”

“She seemed rather upset the past few days. She wouldn’t tell me what was wrong.”

“I see, could you tell me where she worked?” Charlie asked

“Kinokunya, it’s a bookshop.”

“Thank you Raaj, here’s my number stay call me if you remember anything else.” Raaj nodded as he left. Charlie stood there as King made his way over.