‘Going to jail isn’t punishment enough, it should be an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.’
She shook her head.
‘I don’t think I want to get into this, I’m sorry. I’ve not got a lot of time.’
Anna moved on from one body to the next, glancing through the reports. Kelly Mathews, Mary Suffolk and Alicia Jones’s identities had all been confirmed through their dental records. The assistant told her that Kelly and Alicia had broken hyoid bones, which were ante mortem, and so it looked like they had been strangled.
‘It’s the decomposition, makes it hard. Mary there and the other one at the end, well Prof Hall’s got to do more work on them yet.’
‘Her name’s Angela Thornton,’ Anna said, picking up the report.
‘No, there’s no Angela Thornton here. That one’s a UI.’
Anna picked up the report and, sure enough, clearly marked on the front in large red marker pen were the letters ‘UI’ for unidentified. She looked at the dental records in the report; there was a copy of Angela Thornton’s with ‘no match’ across them, again written in red marker pen.
‘The dental records don’t fit. We had her listed as possibly being…’
‘Angela Thornton,’ Anna said quietly.
‘Yes, but so far we don’t have a Scooby Doo who she is. Her body was caked in mud so we didn’t really see the hair wasn’t a match until we washed her down…’
Anna unzipped the bag and this time the smell that hit her from the rotting flesh made her gag, as it was much stronger than the other bodies. The corpse, she noticed, was also the least decomposed of all the recovered victims.
‘You’re right, Angela had thick blonde curly hair, but this is braided,’ Anna remarked as she touched one of the tightly woven braids that was laid out around the skull, which still had a few braids attached to it. It was impossible to tell what colour skin she had or what she originally looked like; her skull with its empty sockets gave no indication of the colour of her eyes, or the shape of her lips.
‘Where is the clothing that was removed from her?’
‘Wasn’t any, not even any fragments. She was the only one in her birthday suit, but with so much on we’ve not been able to do much more on her yet. Could be a West Indian with hair like that.’
‘Thank you.’
Anna went into the examination room where the pathologist was working on Mrs Douglas and gestured at him to see if he could spare her a moment. He was masked and gowned up and not happy with the intrusion.
‘Detective Travis, I am working as fast as I can, this has been bordering on the farcical. Detective Chief Superintendent Langton has been bombarding me not only with so many bodies that I’ve almost lost count, but he’s continually on the phone. I’ve got a forensic anthropologist coming later this afternoon to look at the remains of all the bodies from the quarry and help with how long they have been dead. There is no way I will complete the post mortem on Mrs Douglas today.’
Anna interrupted.
‘I’m sorry, Professor Hall, for disturbing you; I have no intention of putting any more pressure on you and your dedicated team.’
‘Well that is very civil of you, I am sure.’ He was a very old hand and near to retirement age, a tall hooked-nosed man who wore half-moon glasses. He loosened his face mask, revealing his rugged features.
‘What is it exactly you want from me?’
‘The unidentified remains – we sent you the dental records of a possible victim called Angela Thornton…’
‘I unfortunately can’t recall names, but I am aware the odontologist did not get a match from one of the bodies’ dental records.’
‘Yes, I know, and we have been very grateful for your immediate attention with regard to all the victims that were brought in. It’s just there is one big favour…’
‘I knew there had to be something, and you are fortunate that you happen to be a sweet-faced young woman. What is it?
Anna asked if he could give her an estimated time of death for the one unidentified victim.
He sighed and said that after he had finished with Mrs Douglas he would get her brought back in and examine the body with the anthropologist, but it wouldn’t be until later that afternoon.
‘Would it be possible for me to take a sample of her hair for a DNA test?’
‘Yes of course, but you don’t need me to be there for that – get my assistant to do it for you.’
He turned away, and Anna hesitated.
‘Professor, I just wondered, with regard to Mrs Douglas, how long you think she might have been dead.’
He sighed and glared at her over the top of his glasses and gestured to the examination table.
‘A rough estimate based on the skin coloration and the fact that there was no longer any rigor mortis in her body would be at least forty-eight hours. Also the hypostasis is somewhat strange.’
‘Sorry, what do you mean strange?’
‘About six hours after death the blood in the body will settle in direct response to gravity. After a period of time the staining becomes permanent. In Mrs Douglas’s case her blood had settled in her back and legs so she’d clearly been lying flat on a hard surface for some time.’
‘You mean she was already dead before she was left hanging from the pulley ring?’
‘Ten out of ten, DCI Travis.’
‘How did she die then?’
‘Can’t say until I’ve completed a full internal examination. I’m not happy with the marks on her neck either so I need to dissect the throat and tongue as well. Now I really do need to get on and, please, no more interruptions, especially from DCS Langton.’
Anna had obtained one of the braids from their unidentified victim and took it to Pete Jenkins’ office in the forensic science department. As she entered the room Pete gave her a warm welcoming smile.
‘Hi, Anna. Is there a dead body left in London that you haven’t unearthed?’
‘Don’t go there, Pete. How’s the forensic work going?’
‘I’ve got more fragments of clothes, but trying to ascertain what they were before they rotted to shreds is very difficult. I’m using the labels mostly, but I don’t honestly have much for you to go on and I won’t for some time.’
‘I need a DNA test on the hair taken from one of the bodies brought out of the woods near the quarry.’
Pete mock-slapped his head and then offered her a coffee as he’d just made a fresh pot.
‘I don’t have the time, Pete, and if you could do this a.s.a.p. for me, here’s the sample. I need to know ethnicity and have it checked for a match if possible.’
‘Well, you know hair samples take a lot longer and this one will be pretty degraded due to the decomposition. It’ll be at least twenty-four hours, but I’ll get it first in line. Anything else?’
She smiled and asked if she could have one more look at the evidence brought from Henry Oates’s basement. He raised his eyebrows and said that it had been bagged, tagged and moved into one of the secure rooms.
‘Truth was, we couldn’t wait to get the stuff out of the lab, it stunk the place out. I doubt most of it is of any use to your case and we’re waiting to get it cleared and off our hands – all the vitals have been sent over to the station. Is it anything particular?’
‘Yes, it’s the women’s clothing. I remember there were a number of items and there’s now a chance some of it may have belonged to one of his victims.’
Pete led Anna into the ante-room, where the bagged items were stacked in large plastic boxes on long wide shelves.
‘Help yourself. With all the work you’ve been bringing in I don’t have the time or inclination to dig around in here with you, but my offer of coffee still stands, so come back to my office if you want to join me.’
‘Thank you.’
He turned to go and paused. ‘How’s Paul Barolli?’
‘Recovering very well.’
‘That’s good.’
‘How’s Matilda?’
‘She is the light of my life, and I don’t get much light, been here for night after night, but I read you’ve got the guy under arrest.’