Chapter Nine
Langton was already at the mortuary the next morning when Anna and Lewis arrived. He looked dreadful. Everything about him was crumpled; he was unshaven, his tie was loose and his coat was even covered in dog hairs.
All three went into the lab. Lewis gave a sidelong glance at his Gov.
'Not got home last night, then?'
Langton ignored him, banging through the double doors and heading directly towards the body, draped in its green cover. Bill Smart was waiting, clipboard in his hand. He bellowed for them all to put on masks and paper suits before he would begin.
'We're not likely to contaminate anything at this stage,' Langton mumbled, irritated. 'It's not as if we haven't been here before!'
'Maybe so, but it's house rules.'
Langton, in his paper overshoes, shuffled closer to the body. Bill Smart, satisfied they were all now appropriately dressed, drew back the green cover to reveal Louise Pennel's face and torso.
'Since my last report we've done a lot of tests, so today I can give you the full monty, so to speak. It's not very pleasant.'
Anna was still taken aback by the gaping slash to Louise's mouth. Even though she had seen the photographs many times, to see the reality of the appalling injury the killer had inflicted was shocking.
'Right. We have multiple lacerations to the forehead and the top of the head. There are also multiple tiny abrasions on the right side of her face and forehead. There are further lacerations, a quarter-inch deep, at the side of her nose. There is another laceration, a deep one, from the right corner of her mouth and the same on the left: these cuts opened the cheeks. There are numerous new caps to the front teeth, but at the back there is quite an advanced state of decay. Multiple fractures of the skull are visible. There is a depressed ridge on both sides and on the anterior portion of the neck. There is no evidence of trauma to the hyoid bone, thyroid or carotid cartilage, or tracheal rings. There is no obstruction in the laryngotracheal passage.'
Smart peered at Langton. 'You asked if she had been suffocated or strangled, so the answer is no. Her upper chest shows an irregular laceration with superficial loss of skin to her right breast. The tissue loss is more or less square and measures three and a half inches transversely. There are further superficial lacerations to the chest and an elliptical opening in the skin near to the left nipple.'
Anna stared at the body as the pathologist's voice droned on. Louise Pennel had been slashed and stabbed; part of her breast had been sliced off. But all Anna could see was that terrible gaping smile.
Next, the pathologist focused on the severing of the body. The trunk had been completely severed by an incision straight through the soft tissues of the abdomen, severing the intestine and the duodenum, passing through the intervertebral disc between the second and third lumbar vertebrae.
'There are multiple lacerations on both sides of the torso and, as you can see, multiple criss-cross lacerations in the suprapubic area which extend through the skin and soft tissue.'
'Jesus Christ, it looks like he was carving out a game of noughts and crosses,' Langton said darkly.
Smart covered up Louise's head and torso before drawing the green cloth back to reveal the lower half of her body.
'The labia maiora are intact; within the vagina, we found a large piece of skin, which was from the upper torso. The anal opening is dilated and with multiple abrasions. Her missing nipple had been forced into her anal passage.'
Langton shook his head in disgust. Anna kept ramrod straight; she noticed that Lewis had quietly moved away.
Langton looked at Anna. 'This must never be released.'
Smart continued. 'There was nothing to suggest what she might have ingested as a meal or when she last ate something, so I have run further tests. Not only did we discover faecal matter in her stomach, but it had been introduced into her mouth. She had ingested it before death.'
Langton drew down the corners of his mouth in distaste. 'Is it her own?' he asked.
'I couldn't tell you: your killer removed a number of organs, including the small intestine.'
'Was she alive when these wounds were inflicted?'
'I'm afraid so. This poor little creature must have gone through untold agony; the causes of death were haemorrhage and shock due to concussion of the brain from massive blows to the head.'
'These small abrasions?' Langton said, nodding towards the lower part of the corpse.
'Could be a penknife, a scalpeclass="underline" something sharp.'
'But there are so many.'
'This criss-cross cutting around her vagina must have been excruciating: the cuts are deep.'
'Okay, thank you.' Langton shuffled out of the lab in his paper overshoes.
Anna watched the two lab assistants prepare to wheel Louise Pennel's body back to the cold room.
'Have you ever seen anything like this before?' she asked Smart.
'No, thankfully I haven't. I think this is one of the worst cases I have ever had to deal with.'
'And you can't tell if she was raped?'
'The body was scrubbed clean and the internal organs were bleached, but I would say her killer subjected her to a vicious sexual attack: both her rectum and vagina have cuts and abrasions. Whether these were caused by a penis, I couldn't tell you. The parts of her breast were stuffed very high up inside her vagina, so it's likely that he would have used some kind of blunt instrument to force them there.'
'Thank you.'
Anna left the lab, discarding her paper suit in the bin provided. She reached the car park to find an irate Langton arguing with Lewis, whose face was red with anger as Langton jabbed him in the chest with his index finger.
'This is not to be released. We keep the lid on all this, including the fact that human shit had been forced into her mouth before she was killed.'
'All I am saying is, it's so disgusting that if someone was shielding the killer, this might just make them—'
'It will be between us and him: when we get him, and we will get him—'
Now it was Langton's turn to be interrupted.
'You so sure? Right now we have fucking bugger all and we need something to help us. Someone has to know this bastard!'
Anna stepped between them. 'Come on guys, this isn't the place!'
Langton turned angrily to Anna. 'I do not want this released to the press! Full stop!' He turned and walked off towards their waiting patrol car.
Lewis shrugged and sighed. 'All I said was—'
She touched his arm. 'I can guess, but if he doesn't want it to be released then he's the Gov, and we go along with what he says.'
They rode back to the station in silence.
Fifteen minutes after they had returned to the Incident Room, there was a call from the Commander. The naked body of a white female had been discovered dumped in a field off the A3, her beaten and brutalised body covered with a maroon wool coat.
Anna was in the same speeding patrol car as Langton and she noticed he used his hip flask during the drive. Lewis and Barolli were in the car behind. By the time they reached the murder site, it was well after midday. All four grouped together in a lay-by and then walked towards a group of uniformed officers, who as they approached parted to reveal the body. Langton nodded for them to remove the coat.