Though still a useful one.
The skull’s angular shape suggested white ancestry, as did the narrow, high-bridged nose and relatively small jaw. Although that was far from conclusive, it might help Ward when it came to searching for a possible match on the missing-persons database. I’d already seen the general condition of the young woman’s teeth during the post-mortem, enough to give me an idea of her age and lifestyle. More interesting now was the slight but distinct overbite, the upper front teeth overlapping the lower. It would have been noticeable in life, which was another feature that might help with identification.
Setting the skull in the fume cupboard to dry, I began taking the rest of the cleaned bones from the soup-like detergent bath and rinsing them off. I was keen to take a closer look at the ball-like head of the right humerus, the long bone of the upper arm, and the corresponding socket on the scapula, or shoulder blade, to see if the dislocation had caused any damage not shown on the X-rays.
It hadn’t. Both were in good condition. If the dislocation was the result of manhandling when the mummified body was moved, then it hadn’t caused damage to either the desiccated soft tissue or the joint itself. Although it wasn’t necessarily conclusive, it was another indication that the injury had occurred while the young woman was still alive.
Though not for long.
As I continued rinsing and putting the cleaned bones to dry, I found more evidence to support my earlier estimate of the victim’s age. The pubic symphysis — a part of the pubic bone that over time changes from ridged to flat — suggested an individual still in her twenties. So did the femurs. In childhood, the end of the thigh bone is capped by a thick pad of cartilage. Over adolescence this ossifies, transforming into bone and gradually fusing with the femur’s shaft. The process is known as epiphyseal union, and at first a line marks the junction of the two surfaces. Soon even this fades until, by the mid-twenties, it disappears altogether.
Faint lines were still visible here, but only just. And the sternal rib ends were smooth rather than displaying the more granular appearance that develops in later life. Taken together, it was another confirmation that the victim was no older than her mid-twenties at most. Probably younger, given that not all her wisdom teeth were fully erupted.
I was placing the last of the ribs in the fume cupboard when my phone started to vibrate. Damn. Pulling off my gloves, I left the examination room. The phone stopped before I could take it from my scrubs’ inside pocket. Even though I’d had a good idea who it would be, I felt a sinking feeling when I saw the name in the display.
Ward.
I found a secluded corner of the corridor and called her back. She picked up straight away.
‘I just missed a call—’ I began.
‘Hang on.’ The connection became muffled. I heard her speaking with someone else in the background, then she came back on. ‘What did you tell Adam Oduya last night?’
I’d not gone into details in the voicemail message I’d left earlier, only that I’d spoken to the activist after the public meeting. I hadn’t expected Ward to be pleased, but her tone was brusque and accusing.
‘I didn’t tell him anything. He came up to me outside as I left and introduced himself. It turns out I was a defence consultant on a case he worked on as a junior barrister.’
‘And you’re only just letting me know now?’
‘I didn’t know myself until he reminded me. It was years ago, I didn’t even recognize him.’
‘So did you tell him anything about the investigation?’
‘Of course I didn’t.’
‘Well, Oduya’s going on national TV and radio claiming someone confirmed the leaked information. Someone he knows and trusts, so are you asking me to believe he might have another old associate apart from you?’
‘I’m not asking you to believe anything,’ I shot back. ‘I’m just saying I didn’t tell him anything. He asked me to confirm it and I refused.’
‘But you didn’t deny it either.’
Here we go. I took a breath. ‘No.’
There was a pause. I could almost hear Ward trying to keep hold of her temper. ‘Tell me exactly what happened.’
I went through it all, missing nothing out. She said nothing until I’d finished.
‘OK.’ She gave a long exhalation. ‘I don’t suppose I can blame you for not denying the pregnancy angle, but it’s given Oduya more ammunition. The press are all over it, so I’m going to be making a statement at St Jude’s this lunchtime. I’d rather have waited until we knew more but I don’t have any choice now. So if he tries to speak to you again, for Christ’s sake do us both a favour and keep walking.’
I didn’t need to be told. Tension had started to stiffen the muscles in my neck. I kneaded them to try and ease it. ‘Have you found out where the leak came from?’
‘Not yet. It could be someone on the inquiry, but after Conrad’s accident there were too many people swarming round St Jude’s who might have overheard something. Could be any one of them.’
She sounded more weary than angry, but with the investigation lurching from one crisis to another that was understandable. I couldn’t imagine that Commander Ainsley would be giving her an easy time over it.
‘There’s another reason I called,’ she went on, in a calmer tone of voice. ‘How long before you’ve finished at the mortuary?’
I thought about what there was left to do. ‘I’ll have to come back to examine the foetus, but apart from that I should be done by the end of today.’
‘Good, because I want you out at St Jude’s tomorrow,’ Ward went on. ‘We need to make sure there aren’t any more surprises hidden away in there, so I’ve got a cadaver dog coming out to help with the search. I’d like you there as well.’
I’d expected that a cadaver dog would be brought in at some point. With a sense of smell hundreds of times more developed than ours, the animals were trained to sniff out decomposition too faint for the human nose to detect. They could pick up on traces of decay even through several feet of concrete, so a false wall shouldn’t pose much of a problem.
But as useful as they were, cadaver dogs weren’t able to distinguish between human and animal remains. That didn’t matter so much when an entire body was discovered, but partial remains and scattered bones weren’t always so easily identified. Which was why a forensic anthropologist was needed.
Still, I was surprised Ward was asking me. ‘What about Mears?’
‘He’s got his hands full already. Parekh’s scheduled to do the first of the post-mortems on the interred victims this morning, so he’s going to be busy with them for the next few days. And I’m not having anybody else brought in, not when I’ve already got the two of you.’
I thought I’d seen the last of the old hospital. I hadn’t been sorry to leave the place, but now I felt excitement stir at the thought of going back.
‘What time do you want me there?’ I asked.
I’d been intending to tell Ward what I’d heard from Lola’s neighbour, but at the last minute I decided against it. She’d got enough to contend with as it was, and I didn’t want to waste her time on what was probably just malicious gossip. For a former nurse rumoured to be implicated in a child’s death to be living near St Jude’s might raise eyebrows, but the more I thought about it, the less confident I felt that it was worth mentioning. Even if what the neighbour said was true, it was hard to see how it could have any bearing on the case. An old woman and her bedridden son were hardly credible suspects. They were a matter for social services, not the police.
Putting away my phone, I headed back to the examination room. Depending how long the reassembly of the young mother’s bones took, I thought I might drive over to St Jude’s at lunchtime to hear Ward’s statement. It was her first as SIO, and I was interested to witness how she handled it. Thinking about that, I almost walked into the changing-room door as it swung open. Someone came out wearing full scrubs, including a surgical cap. But I didn’t need to see the red hair to recognize the youthful face of Daniel Mears.