3

It wasn't difficult to find a sports shop that sold Northern Aspect equipment, and once I was in there, it wasn't difficult to find the bag I was after. It was the most oversized, hard-wearing kitbag they had; the Northern Aspect Headquarters model had plenty of colours to choose from; I purchased a red one.

I smiled with self-satisfaction as I made my way back to Woodside Park.

When I returned home, instead of DCI Burton being there to heap praise on my ability to find the right bag, I found a note, which read:

Quintus,

I have gone to Cheltenham and will not be back until tonight.

Sandra xxx

Three kisses? Didn't that mean something?

Somewhat disappointed she wasn't there but pleased and proud that she had taken such a bold step so soon, I sat down and began to examine the bag.

The walls were of a textile I had never seen before: strong but somewhat supple and certainly watertight. It felt like a very hard-wearing fabric -- lattice, perhaps? -- doubly layered with copious vinyl. A D-shaped zipper ran across the top, which was covered by a D-shaped flap. Certainly, a bag that could be out in the rain.

It had handles at the sides, and on both ends, so the bag could be carried by one person or two -- and it was easily hefty enough to hold more paraphernalia than one person could contentedly have.

Heavy interlaced nylon density straps ran around the bag in several ways, making it easy to intensify the load inside the bag so the fillings would not move around.

The zipper itself fascinated me; the teeth were more protuberant than any I had ever seen and made from plastic-coated steel. It certainly wasn't going to fall apart or rust anytime soon.

I considered the numerous ways in which somebody could lock the bag; this seemed particularly crucial in light of claims that Tina Davis had somehow climbed into the bag and locked herself in without any help. She lost her nerve because she couldn't get the lock open, then asphyxiated or died of a heart attack, reliant on which account you happened to believe if you believed any of them.

At each end of the fastener was a steel device through which a fabric pull is threaded. I could bring the zipper almost closed, thread a padlock through the pulls, then force the tags far enough apart to squeeze the lock into the bag. But then, it would have been conceivable for someone more diminutive than me to climb into the bag, bring the zipper almost closed, grab the pulls and bring them into the bag, then thread a lock through them. Why anyone would do that was and still is entirely beyond me.

I am aware of the practice known as autoerotic suffocation, starving your body of oxygen to augment sexual pleasure. I haven't tried it, nor have I ever been desirous, but there's no repudiating that people do it. I have heard of many diverse ways people have done it, some of which have cost them their lives. Yet, accidentally, it is always claimed.

A tiny corner of my brain understands what drives people to experiment with various methods of augmenting their desire. But no part of me understands why anyone would intentionally choose a technique as dangerous as this.

I wondered what sort of person would look at this bag and think that would make for an incredible orgasm.

Then I wondered what sort of person would look at it and think, That would make an outstanding assassination weapon, and I felt the backbone chills once again.

I tried to imagine what it would take to restrain a woman inside a bag like this. Once trapped in such a bag, she wouldn't be able to do anything except breathe and not for very long.

If somebody, somehow, got Tina Davis into the bag, padlocked it shut and left in the bathtub, Tina wouldn't have had a chance, even if they didn't tighten the density straps.

The police, or sources allegedly within the police department, had been leaking the theory that an unknown person had locked Tina in the bag for sexual kicks, planning to return later and release her.

But how anyone could believe a person trapped in such a bag could be left alone for any length of time and would still be alive later? How could anyone do such a thing for kicks? So why would anyone lock the bag unless there were hidden intentions?

How could a female numerical prodigy, who grew up to do respected undercover work for the government, be so stupid as to say, Please lock me up in this heavy plastic bag and leave me in the bath? And could those have conceivably been her final words?

The more I thought about it, the more I thought, either Tina Davis was extremely irrational or assassinated.

I couldn't wait for Sandra to return. I liked having the DCI here, and I found myself with nothing to do but turn the bag over habitually in my hands and my thoughts intermittently over in my mind.