The stench was overpowering: a noxious odour that clung to your nostrils and clawed at the back of your throat until you retched. It was the unmistakable reek of putrefying flesh, of a body that had been left to rot in a small, unventilated storeroom in Hong Kong's heat and humidity.
Trussed up in a rug, each end covered by plastic bin bags and tightly bound with tape, the fetid corpse festered for days before it was found. Police officers who were called to uncover it will never forget that smell.
It came from the decomposing body of millionaire banker Robert Kissel, who had been battered to death by his glamorous wife, Nancy, after she'd spiked his drink with a cocktail of drugs. The so-called 'milkshake murder' of 2003 is among Hong Kong's most notorious crimes and the case continues to make headlines as Nancy Kissel's lawyers seek a retrial.
Her husband's body had been moved to a storeroom but, according to forensic reports, the murder took place in the main bedroom of the couple's home, in one of Hong Kong's most prestigious housing developments.
Parkview, a cluster of imposing tower blocks favoured by affluent expatriates, is situated amid the lush, rolling hills of Tai Tam Country Park, close to Stanley and, beyond that, Repulse Bay, with its exclusive stores and restaurants. Parkview is the kind of property estate agents term 'sought after'.
The complex offers all the facilities a well-to-do family would expect, including swimming pools, tennis courts, a clubhouse and manicured gardens. Few who can afford it would turn down the chance to live here and Tower 17, where the Kissels lived, is especially desirable. Residents in the lower-numbered blocks can spend years gazing uphill, for, as affluent Hongkongers appreciate, the higher up you go physically, the greater your status. It's literally social climbing.
When the apartment on the 21st floor became available, following the Kissels' unscheduled departure, it was leased for a knock-down rent because 'haunted' homes are difficult to let.