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Shona shifted the angle of the torch and looked again. ‘No, they’re not bound. It’s just one hand, his right hand. It’s not tied. It’s bandaged.’
She lowered the torch and they both stepped back. Outside Ravi was peering at them through the twilight, the glow from his phone lighting up one side of his face. He lifted his hand and signalled ‘two’ with his fingers. It would be two hours before forensics would get here. Shona prepared to keep company with Jamie Buckland’s body until they did. After a moment she took out her phone and dialled Dan Ridley’s number. Tonight, she’d give him the news that they’d found his missing bail absconder. Tomorrow, Dan would be making the drive north, not to interview him, but to attend his post-mortem.
Chapter 28
Dan was waiting by the entrance to Dumfries Royal Infirmary when Shona arrived just after nine a.m. She felt as if she’d hardly left the place in the last few days, that somehow it had acquired a gravity that was pulling her into a closer and closer orbit. She nodded hello to Dan and they went upstairs.
‘You won’t have met Slasher Sue before,’ Shona said, and then explained the origin of the pathologist’s nickname.
Dan’s face fell. ‘I told my boss I’d be here all morning.’ He was clearly in no rush to get back.
‘Thirty minutes, tops. You’ll still have time for a full Scottish breakfast in the cafe afterwards, if you feel like it.’ Shona smiled.
Dan put his hand on his stomach and made a face.
‘Not a fainter, are you?’ The tall figure of Professor Sue Kitchen came out of a side door and looked him up and down like a lab specimen. ‘If you feel funny, kindly stand by the wall or sit down. Haven’t got time to whip out the smelling salts.’
Once they were dressed in green scrubs, they followed Professor Kitchen into the autopsy theatre.
Buckland’s corpse lay fully dressed in a grey hooded sweatshirt, jeans and trainers. Professor Kitchen adjusted the round examination light, clicked on a digital recorder and quickly assessed her subject.
‘Well-nourished, adult male, approximately five foot, five inches and in his early twenties. Rigor has passed, and there are early signs of decomposition suggesting death occurred two to three days ago. There are a number of injuries to the body including the right hand, which is bandaged, the face, and the right side of the head.’ She glanced up momentarily. ‘Now this will be of interest to you, Shona.’
Professor Kitchen pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose with one gloved knuckle then pointed to a purple discolouration along Buckland’s cheek.
Shona held her mask over her nose and mouth and leaned forward. ‘Is that bruising?’
‘There’s some lividity, the pooling of blood in the lowest parts of the body after the heart stops beating. However, this is secondary lividity, which means he was moved between approximately two and six hours after death. I’ll need to see the rest of him to tell you more. Right, kit off and let’s open him up.’ Professor Kitchen waved them back as her assistant began cutting and bagging up the victim’s clothes.
Shona turned to Dan. ‘You better get Carlisle to check Buckland didn’t go back to his home address. If the body was moved, that could be our primary crime scene.’ Dan pulled out his phone and took the opportunity to leave the room just as Professor Kitchen dug the scalpel into the skin below the subject’s breastbone.
Slasher Sue lived up to her name, and within twenty minutes Buckland’s internal organs had been removed and placed in containers for analysis. ‘You’re in luck.’ She directed Shona to a metal dish containing Buckland’s stomach contents. ‘Meal of noodles and vegetables. See these bright flecks?’ She teased out three small blue objects with the point of her scalpel and scrapped them into a clear plastic tube. ‘Partially digested pills.’
‘An overdose?’ Shona said studying the sample.
‘Hard to say. Toxicology will tell us more.’
When Dan returned Shona updated him on the partially digested pills already taken for testing.
Shona, Dan and Professor Kitchen stood looking down at the body. This close, a sour-sweet scent lingered beneath the masking disinfectant, and the marbled skin had a hard, smooth look.
‘So, what are you thinking, Sue?’ Shona said.
The pathologist tipped her head to one side, considering. ‘He was on his back when he died, then someone moved him into this foetal position.’ She curled her hands in front of her and turned to one side, demonstrating.
‘So, someone else was present at or near the time of death. Could he have been transported in the back of a car?’ Shona asked. ‘Curled up in the boot then left the same way at the final locus.’
‘That theory would not contradict my findings,’ Sue replied.
‘The pills,’ Dan said uncertainly. ‘Could it have been an overdose? Suicide?’
‘Someone moved the body after death,’ Shona reminded him.
‘His dealer panicked and dumped the body?’ Dan suggested.
‘Key questions would be, is he self-medicating fo
r depression or chronic pain?’ Professor Kitchen cut in. ‘He’s well nourished, if small. His teeth are okay, looks like he’s visited his dentist regularly. He’s physically well cared for. That’s not what I’d expect to find in a current user.’
