Mr Spraycan – case 3

Sergeant Grafton: “Hi, you must be Ms O’Monahan — Ms Robin O’Monahan. I left a message on your answering machine yesterday. I’m Sergeant Julie Grafton, City Police, Special Victims’ Liason Unit.

Ms O’Monahan: “O yeah, I got your message, but you must have made some mistake. I haven’t made a report to the police about anything.”

Sergeant Grafton: “Can I come inside, please, Ms O’Monahan? If this is really nothing to do with you it should only take a few minutes to straighten it out.”

Ms O’Monahan: “I don’t know . . . no, I don’t want you to come inside, sorry.”

Sergeant Grafton: “Not even to talk about a garage sale?”

Ms O’Monahan: “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Sergeant Grafton: “It means I’ve seen the pictures, Robin.”

Ms O’Monahan: “Oh . . . well, whatever you’ve seen, it’s got nothing to do with the cops.”

Sergeant Grafton: “Not even if you had a gas sprayed into your face which completely altered your thinking?”

Ms O’Monahan: “You know about that? I thought it couldn’t really have happened, not the way I remembered it.”

Sergeant Grafton: “Robin, you’re just part of a much bigger thing. What happened to you was only one in a series of attacks on girls. And afterwards, the slime who do these things have been boosting their egos by sending us pictures of what they’ve done. So now can I come in, please?”

Ms O’Monahan: “I’d rather walk around the corner and sit on a bench, if it’s all the same to you. If you want to come with me, you can do.”

Sergeant Grafton: “That’s fine. And please call me Julie.”

Ms O’Monahan: “OK, Julie.”

Sergeant Grafton: “So — what happened, Robin?”

Ms O’Monahan: “I left work at the same time that I usually do and I went to the carpark where I always park my car. As I was walking up the steps between floors a guy was coming down them. As I went to go past him he pulled a can out of a bag in his hands and squirted me in the face. It was sort of cold and it made me gasp and for a moment I was totally frightened. And then I suddenly felt very happy about everything.

Sergeant Grafton: “Happy?”

Ms O’Monahan: “I mean the way you might feel after you’ve had a really good day and you’re out on a date with a great looking guy and after the third or fourth drink everything seems to be so good you want to laugh and laugh. Only it seemed even better than that somehow, because they way I felt then, I couldn’t even remember what it was like not being happy. And it all happened so quickly that I was on a high even before my feet had stopped moving up the steps. I’ve been wanting to try and tell somebody about it, but who would have understood what I was talking about?”

Sergeant Grafton: “What did this man look like, the one who squirted you in the face?”

Ms O’Monahan: “He was white, about thirty, average body, wearing dark glasses, black hair, wearing a casual shirt. .”

Sergeant Grafton: “Was his hair done up in a bun at the back of his neck?”

Ms O’Monahan: “You know him?”

Sergeant Grafton: “We know of him, and another fellow offender who’s his partner. The one with the dark glasses we call the Geek. The other one we call Monkey Face. He usually takes first turn with the victims while the Geek takes photos of them.”

Ms O’Monahan: “That’s right, that’s what happened to me. But it was so strange, the guy who sprayed me told me to take him to my car and I did. I never said a word, not even when he said for me to give him the keys. Then he told me to get in the passenger seat, put on the seat belt and go to sleep. And I did it, I went to sleep like a baby with this stranger driving me away in my own car. Incredible, as if I was hypnotized.”

Sergeant Grafton: “I know, I know, I’ve heard so many strange things since the Geek started using this gas of his that I’m starting to wonder what the hell would happen if he sprayed it into the air conditioning system of a big office block. Hell, he might be able to take control of an entire bank or corporation. Even if it was only for a few hours it would be long enough to transfer billions of dollars to some offshore bank account. Anyway, Robin, when did you wait up again?”

Ms O’Monahan: “Well, I didn’t look at my watch when I did, partly because I was still groggy, but mainly because I was having my nipples tweaked up by a pair of man’s hands. I was lying on my back and my shirt was pulled up around my neck, and my boobs were right out in the open. And somebody was calling my name. I suppose they must have opened my handbag and checked my ID. Anyway, I heard my name.”

Sergeant Grafton: “So then you opened your eyes?”

Ms O’Monahan: “Yes, I opened them. The guy who was bending over me and touching me I’d never seen before. He was grinning and like you said, he did look a bit like a monkey. He said ‘Hello, Robin’ and I said hello back.”

Sergeant Grafton: “How did you feel right then? Were you frightened? Angry?”

Ms O’Monahan: “No, I still felt kind of sleepy, but apart from that I felt the way I had done when I first got sprayed. I felt as though everything in the world was perfect and this was all some kind of a wonderful adventure that I was going to enjoy like I’d never enjoyed anything before.”

Sergeant Grafton: “Every time I hear this I still can’t believe it. Yet I do keep hearing it, and from different people. Robin, I’ve got a picture here I’d like you to take a look at and see if you recognize him.”

Ms O’Monahan: “Yes, that’s him. Is that another of the girls who got sprayed?”

Sergeant Grafton: “Yes.”

Ms O’Monahan: “And she told you she felt the same sort of feelings that I had — that everything was great and there was nothing to worry about?”

Sergeant Grafton: “Yes. It was very much the same sort of story as you’re telling me.”

Ms O’Monahan: “Wicked. I don’t understand these two guys, if all they’re doing is grabbing a chick here or there. If they started selling whatever it is they’ve got in that spray can they could make more money than the Mafia does. The stuff is, wow, potent, you know?”

Sergeant Grafton: “Yes, that’s another worry. A couple of kids running around and scoring wherever they like is bad enough, but if organized crime got involved . . . so was the Geek there as well? I suppose he was the one using the camera?”