stood up. ‘The ACC wants to see me.’ He almost sounded pleased.
‘I thought you were going to the PM?’ Sian asked.
‘You go on ahead. Take Connolly with you,’ he said over his shoulder as he bounded out of the room.
‘Dickhead,’ Sian said quietly under her breath.
Sian Mills and DS Aaron Connolly arrived ten minutes late for the post-mortem, something which Adele Kean chastised them for. She was a punctual person and found it the height of bad manners for others to be late, especially when it came to attending a PM. The dead deserved respect. Adele was also none too happy about Acting DCI Hales’s absence either. Hales didn’t have a professional obligation to be there, but he had stated he would be.
The body of the dead man lay naked on the stainless-steel table. His face was swollen with bruises, as were his chest and stomach. Adele’s Anatomical Pathology Technologist was photographing the body from different angles and Adele was indicating particular points of interest where she wanted close-up pictures taken.
The hands of the dead man were wrapped in paper bags to avoid the loss of any fibres or skin samples from underneath his fingernails.
‘How’s the investigation going?’ Adele asked.
‘Slowly,’ Aaron was not good with post-mortems. He had attended many in his time but it didn’t get any easier. He found it an unnatural act to desecrate another human being in such a way. He understood the purpose of it and the usefulness in making his job easier but he could not bring himself to look down on a cold dead person and watch them being cut open. He always kept his eyeline a few inches from where he was supposed to be looking.
‘Have you identified him yet?’
‘Not yet. He had no wallet on him. Let’s hope his fingerprints are in the database when you give us a set.’
‘I don’t think identification should be too much of an issue,’ Adele said.
Sian and Aaron exchanged curious glances. ‘What makes you say that?’ Sian asked.
‘He’s missing two toes from his left foot.’
She stood back from the body and revealed her find. The two smallest toes on his left foot were missing.
‘Bloody hell. How did that happen?’ Aaron asked.
‘Well it’s not recent. It’s also a very neat cut. I’m guessing it’s from surgery from when he was younger. There’ll be a record of it somewhere.’
‘Why do people have toes removed?’
‘Any number of reasons; he could have been involved in an accident and they were beyond repair, maybe they were infected, or he could have lost them due to hypothermia.’
‘I’m all done here, Adele, if you want to get started,’ the young technologist said stepping away from the table.
‘Right then, are we all ready to take a look inside and see what killed this poor young man?’
‘Hang on.’
All eyes turned to Aaron whose skin had gone so pale he was almost an X-ray of himself. ‘I think I’m going to have to sit down for a bit.’
Chapter 14
The temperature seemed to keep dropping on an hourly basis. During the demolition this morning it was cold, but nothing a brisk walk couldn’t chase away. By the time Jonathan arrived at Waterstones in Orchard Square he was shaking with cold. He was wrapped in a thick winter coat, hat, leather gloves, and a knitted scarf long enough to go around his neck twice, yet he was still shivering.
The day before he had told his boss Stephen Egan that he would only be an hour late for work at the most; as he looked at his watch he saw that it was almost lunchtime.
Stephen was busy serving a customer so Jonathan just mouthed ‘sorry’ then went upstairs to the staffroom to store his bag and coat before returning to the shop floor. He was warming himself up on the radiator when Stephen entered.
‘How did it go? Are you all right?’
‘It went…well, it went as well as could be expected, I suppose.’
‘Are you all right?’
‘Yes, I’m fine.’
‘Come here.’ Stephen stepped closer to
‘I thought you were going to the PM?’ Sian asked.
‘You go on ahead. Take Connolly with you,’ he said over his shoulder as he bounded out of the room.
‘Dickhead,’ Sian said quietly under her breath.
Sian Mills and DS Aaron Connolly arrived ten minutes late for the post-mortem, something which Adele Kean chastised them for. She was a punctual person and found it the height of bad manners for others to be late, especially when it came to attending a PM. The dead deserved respect. Adele was also none too happy about Acting DCI Hales’s absence either. Hales didn’t have a professional obligation to be there, but he had stated he would be.
The body of the dead man lay naked on the stainless-steel table. His face was swollen with bruises, as were his chest and stomach. Adele’s Anatomical Pathology Technologist was photographing the body from different angles and Adele was indicating particular points of interest where she wanted close-up pictures taken.
The hands of the dead man were wrapped in paper bags to avoid the loss of any fibres or skin samples from underneath his fingernails.
‘How’s the investigation going?’ Adele asked.
‘Slowly,’ Aaron was not good with post-mortems. He had attended many in his time but it didn’t get any easier. He found it an unnatural act to desecrate another human being in such a way. He understood the purpose of it and the usefulness in making his job easier but he could not bring himself to look down on a cold dead person and watch them being cut open. He always kept his eyeline a few inches from where he was supposed to be looking.
‘Have you identified him yet?’
‘Not yet. He had no wallet on him. Let’s hope his fingerprints are in the database when you give us a set.’
‘I don’t think identification should be too much of an issue,’ Adele said.
Sian and Aaron exchanged curious glances. ‘What makes you say that?’ Sian asked.
‘He’s missing two toes from his left foot.’
She stood back from the body and revealed her find. The two smallest toes on his left foot were missing.
‘Bloody hell. How did that happen?’ Aaron asked.
‘Well it’s not recent. It’s also a very neat cut. I’m guessing it’s from surgery from when he was younger. There’ll be a record of it somewhere.’
‘Why do people have toes removed?’
‘Any number of reasons; he could have been involved in an accident and they were beyond repair, maybe they were infected, or he could have lost them due to hypothermia.’
‘I’m all done here, Adele, if you want to get started,’ the young technologist said stepping away from the table.
‘Right then, are we all ready to take a look inside and see what killed this poor young man?’
‘Hang on.’
All eyes turned to Aaron whose skin had gone so pale he was almost an X-ray of himself. ‘I think I’m going to have to sit down for a bit.’
Chapter 14
The temperature seemed to keep dropping on an hourly basis. During the demolition this morning it was cold, but nothing a brisk walk couldn’t chase away. By the time Jonathan arrived at Waterstones in Orchard Square he was shaking with cold. He was wrapped in a thick winter coat, hat, leather gloves, and a knitted scarf long enough to go around his neck twice, yet he was still shivering.
The day before he had told his boss Stephen Egan that he would only be an hour late for work at the most; as he looked at his watch he saw that it was almost lunchtime.
Stephen was busy serving a customer so Jonathan just mouthed ‘sorry’ then went upstairs to the staffroom to store his bag and coat before returning to the shop floor. He was warming himself up on the radiator when Stephen entered.
‘How did it go? Are you all right?’
‘It went…well, it went as well as could be expected, I suppose.’
‘Are you all right?’
‘Yes, I’m fine.’
‘Come here.’ Stephen stepped closer to
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