and most of the night it was ill, so Colin rang their GP at ten o’clock for advice and again at half past twelve, when he called him out; they couldn’t get its temperature down. George Townsend, the senior chap, was on duty, of course. He did door duty at the Pump Room until ten to eleven, then he went over to the Assembly Rooms to lock up and relieve Andy, who was there on his own after Matthew Sawyer left the Assembly Rooms to check out the event at the Pump Room. Andy’s new, he’s not an authorised key-holder yet. George relieved him just after eleven. Andy lives with his mother and she had a friend round. He got home at quarter past eleven and drove the friend home at half past. He came straight back home and locked up at ten to twelve, made a cup of tea for his mother as usual and brought it to her in bed. Then he went to his own room. George locked up the Assembly Rooms at about ten past eleven and was home at about twenty to midnight. He went straight up to bed. His wife was there already.’
Suddenly he seemed to remember himself. ‘I shouldn’t have told you all that. Forget I did.’
‘You’re welcome to tell me things if it helps.’
Andrew gave her a meltingly grateful smile, but said nothing.
She went on, ‘Well, since it’s clearly out of the question to expect you to think seriously about Fauré today, do you know exactly when Matthew Sawyer died?’
‘That’s another problem. The time of death is never easy to establish exactly, as you probably know. We do know he didn’t drown. There was no water in the lungs. He had stopped breathing before he fell in the water.’
‘What about rigor mortis? Can’t you tell by that?’
‘Not with any precision.’ He paused. ‘What
is
it about this view?’
‘Oh, it’s just old-fashioned,’ Sara said. ‘There’s no big road, no pylons. The fields are all different shapes, and they’ve left the trees. I keep expecting to see a young John Betjeman in grey flannel shorts swinging on a gate, catapulting pigeons, don’t you?’
Andrew didn’t answer. ‘Rigor mortis,’ he went on, ‘is really a chemical reaction in the body after death. The temperature surrounding the body can affect how quickly it happens. There isn’t, I’m afraid, a great deal of precedent which helps us establish the onset and progress of rigor in a body left in hot running water, but it could have speeded it up. In any event, it doesn’t wear off completely for several hours after that, sometimes even a couple of days.’
He turned to look at her. ‘What do you mean, John Betjeman? Certainly not John Betjeman. William and the Outlaws, maybe.’
‘Okay, William and the Outlaws, pursued by Violet-Elizabeth Bott. So what have you decided about the time of death?’
‘Well, rigor had almost completely set in when the body was examined, which was shortly before ten o’clock. Which was, as you’d be aware,’ he said ruefully, ‘about forty minutes after you first discovered him. Sawyer was seen alive at eleven forty-five the night before, when the last of the catering staff left. Two lads, who left together and were both home within half an hour. Given that, the pathologist says death could have occurred any time from about midnight to five in the morning. Rather a wide margin. He reckons that the body lying in the water the way it did
could
have accelerated the onset of rigor by several hours, but it’s a guess as to how much. Supposing the water did speed up rigor, but only minimally, he could have been killed within minutes of the last people seeing him alive. If on the other hand the hot water accelerated it significantly, which is possible, he could have been killed as late as five o’clock in the morning. The stomach contents don’t help either: in this instance, they were well digested. Metabolic rates are too variable for us to conclude anything. The water doesn’t exactly wash away the evidence, but it obscures it. It’s a real curse.’
Andrew went
Suddenly he seemed to remember himself. ‘I shouldn’t have told you all that. Forget I did.’
‘You’re welcome to tell me things if it helps.’
Andrew gave her a meltingly grateful smile, but said nothing.
She went on, ‘Well, since it’s clearly out of the question to expect you to think seriously about Fauré today, do you know exactly when Matthew Sawyer died?’
‘That’s another problem. The time of death is never easy to establish exactly, as you probably know. We do know he didn’t drown. There was no water in the lungs. He had stopped breathing before he fell in the water.’
‘What about rigor mortis? Can’t you tell by that?’
‘Not with any precision.’ He paused. ‘What
is
it about this view?’
‘Oh, it’s just old-fashioned,’ Sara said. ‘There’s no big road, no pylons. The fields are all different shapes, and they’ve left the trees. I keep expecting to see a young John Betjeman in grey flannel shorts swinging on a gate, catapulting pigeons, don’t you?’
Andrew didn’t answer. ‘Rigor mortis,’ he went on, ‘is really a chemical reaction in the body after death. The temperature surrounding the body can affect how quickly it happens. There isn’t, I’m afraid, a great deal of precedent which helps us establish the onset and progress of rigor in a body left in hot running water, but it could have speeded it up. In any event, it doesn’t wear off completely for several hours after that, sometimes even a couple of days.’
He turned to look at her. ‘What do you mean, John Betjeman? Certainly not John Betjeman. William and the Outlaws, maybe.’
‘Okay, William and the Outlaws, pursued by Violet-Elizabeth Bott. So what have you decided about the time of death?’
‘Well, rigor had almost completely set in when the body was examined, which was shortly before ten o’clock. Which was, as you’d be aware,’ he said ruefully, ‘about forty minutes after you first discovered him. Sawyer was seen alive at eleven forty-five the night before, when the last of the catering staff left. Two lads, who left together and were both home within half an hour. Given that, the pathologist says death could have occurred any time from about midnight to five in the morning. Rather a wide margin. He reckons that the body lying in the water the way it did
could
have accelerated the onset of rigor by several hours, but it’s a guess as to how much. Supposing the water did speed up rigor, but only minimally, he could have been killed within minutes of the last people seeing him alive. If on the other hand the hot water accelerated it significantly, which is possible, he could have been killed as late as five o’clock in the morning. The stomach contents don’t help either: in this instance, they were well digested. Metabolic rates are too variable for us to conclude anything. The water doesn’t exactly wash away the evidence, but it obscures it. It’s a real curse.’
Andrew went
Similar Books
