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“You’d like to think so.”
“And everything else he’s told us all fits perfectly. He has an alibi for the night of the murder, with witnesses to say where he was and what he was doing, but he could have got there in time.”
“Trouble is, no matter how much you listen to his story something about it doesn’t ring true.” Gardener sighed and left the car.
Fitz was sitting behind a clinically clean desk in a spotless office, listening to an opera that Gardener could neither name nor understand. He glanced up, reached over, turned down the volume. “Coffee?”
Gardener nodded. It was the only coffee machine in the world that he would drink from, knowing it had cost Fitz at least a month’s wages nearly two years ago and he always had the most mouth-watering flavours on the go.
The pathologist poured three cups and took his position behind the desk again.
“What have we got this time?” Reilly asked.
Fitz took a sip. “Pecan Nut Pie flavour.”
“Where the hell did you find that?”
&nb
sp; “Over in Ulverston. Wife and I had a day out, visiting relatives, and The Laurel & Hardy museum. Bloody thing was closed but at least we managed to buy some excellent coffee.”
Gardener nodded. “You look tired, Fitz. Everything okay?”
“A bit understaffed. Richard, my assistant, is on holiday, and I had a bit of an emergency on Sunday morning when Ruth was taken into hospital.”
“Anything serious?”
“She’s been struggling for two weeks with vertigo. At least that’s what the doctors thought but it was taking longer to shift than it should have done. Anyway, they had her inside, ran tests and scans and we’re just waiting for the results.”
“I’ll keep my fingers crossed.”
“Do you think it’s serious, Fitz?” asked Reilly.
“It’s not my area of expertise.” The pathologist shifted uncomfortably, glanced at his desk, sifting through reports. He changed the subject. “Anyway, let’s move on to something that is. Jane Carter, I have some very interesting things to tell you about her.”
Gardener didn’t like the sound of that.
“There was nothing natural about the way Jane Carter died. But then we suspected that from what we found. There was a lot of internal damage and I’m recording the cause of death as shock and haemorrhage, owing to bleeding into the abdomen from the ruptured renal vein.”
“That doesn’t sound good,” said Reilly.
“It sounds painful,” added Gardener.
“From the bruising we saw developing on Friday night, it was obvious that her abdomen had come into contact with some serious external force.”
Fitz leaned forward and bridged his hands underneath his chin. That action alone worried Gardener because he knew they were in for a lecture.
“The abdomen lies under your diaphragm, which is approximately the bit beneath your rib cage. Inside your abdomen lies your liver, pancreas, gall bladder, stomach, small intestines and large intestines, bladder, and kidneys, and your sexual organs, if you’re a woman.”
Reilly glanced at Gardener. “Why does he do this?”
“Do what?”
“We visit him to talk about a case and he rattles on about anything but.”
“It’s his age,” said Gardener.
“If you two have quite finished I’m trying to educate you!”
