The Body in the River (2 page)

*

Brookes drove towards his small flat in Limehouse; he was an East Ender by birth and was comfortable there. Whilst he was good at his job, he hadn
’
t had much success with relationships: married once to the mother of his two children, then in a series of relationships, all of which had ended after brief periods of happiness. His most recent, with a university lecturer, Lisa Rushmore, had lasted six months then fizzled out, thanks mainly to his dedication to the job.

He was hungry, having only pecked at the lunch he
’
d had with his two teenaged children; their mood had taken away his appetite. But he knew there was nothing to eat in his fridge and his favourite restaurant was closed. He stopped at a kebab house on his way and ordered a takeaway donner kebab and chips.

Arriving home, he switched on the TV to watch the evening news whilst he ate. Middlemiss had been busy; there was a story about the floater and a description of her. He knew that the phones would already be buzzing at Leman Street; hopefully by the morning they would have her identity. He sat watching the TV for an hour with a glass of whisky by his side, from which he took the occasional sip. But he had difficulty concentrating, his mind still busy with thoughts of the murdered girl.

Finally, he got up and went into his bedroom. Setting his alarm for six-thirty, he undressed and flopped onto the bed. Without a woman in his life, he didn
’
t even bother to clean his teeth; that could wait till the morning.

*

'We must know,

We will know.
’

David Hilbert 1862-1943

Poplar Hospital was a huge Victorian edifice, built in the mid-nineteenth century, but it had seen better days. Its crumbling brickwork bore the grime of a hundred and fifty years of neglect. It stood opposite the old East India Dock and, surprisingly, had withstood the bombing of two world wars.

It was to here that Brookes and his DS went to observe the post mortem examination of the body of the woman recovered from the Thames.

The mortuary was located in the basement; its white tiled walls and sloping concrete floor with a drain in the centre were much as they had been when the place was first built. Only the equipment had been updated; the corpse lay on a shiny stainless steel table.

Knowing of Bryce-Phillips
’
obsession with punctuality, Brookes had made sure they arrived ten minutes early. But the pathologist was already standing beside the body, waiting to start his examination.

He greeted them huffily and began his grisly task.

Each of the detectives had donned a medical examiner
’
s robe and face mask. Despite the masks and the efforts of extraction fans, the smell of death and formaldehyde was almost overpowering. They stood off to one side to watch and listen.

Having gone through the usual formalities of formally identifying the corpse as that seen at Wapping the previous day and thereby establishing the chain of evidence, he started his examination.

Despite the sharpness of some of their exchanges, he and Brookes respected each other
’
s fields of expertise. The pathologist gave a running commentary as he worked, using layman
’
s terms so that his audience could understand his comments. He was highly competent and knew his role was to help them solve crime and not baffle them with science. He was anyway confident enough in his own field not to feel the need to impress others with his knowledge.

‘
The body is that of a female, probably in her late twenties. She is five feet five inches tall and of slim build. She is a natural blonde. There is a ragged four inch long gash to her left cheek, just below the cheekbone. There is no blood around the wound, indicating it occurred post mortem. There are what appear to be tiny fragments of rust in the wound; no doubt from the piece of metal that caused it.

‘
Her hair is shoulder length. There is evidence of some having been torn from the scalp. This would be consistent with the hair having been entangled with some obstacle in the water, as this too appears to be post mortem. There are also several gashes in the scalp, probably from contact with the same object, therefore also post mortem.

‘
There are several burst capillaries in the corneas of both eyes. The tongue is swollen and protruding from the mouth. Both are consistent with asphyxiation.
’
He looked up and pulled the overhead lamp on a moving bracket down, before opening the mouth.
‘
Hmm; she has a perfect set of teeth with some expensive dental work. There appear to be no foreign objects in the mouth or throat.
’

Moving to her neck, he said to the assistant beside him,
‘
Have you taken all the photographs you need?
’

The man nodded.
‘
Yes, Doctor, all done.
’

‘
Good, pass me a scalpel.
’
With it, he carefully cut through the hose tied around her neck. As it fell away, he held it aloft.

‘
I
’
ve no doubt you
’
ve examined the knot, Superintendent?
’

‘
Yes, I have indeed. An old-fashioned granny knot tied at the front, which suggests he was facing her when he tied it?
’

‘
It does indeed; provided always that it was a he and not a she.
’

Brookes gave him a look.
‘
Well, I
’
m pleased you at least dismiss the possibility of an
‘
it
’
, so that narrows the field a little.
’

Bryce-Phillips smiled without comment and lowered the tights into a clear plastic evidence bag held out by his assistant.

‘
Don
’
t forget to label it, George, will you?
’
he said.

The assistant murmured a no.

Bryce-Phillips moved on to the torso. Something caught his attention and he lowered the light, focussing it on a point below her breasts. Glancing at Brookes, he said,

‘
Have a look at this.
’

Following his pointing finger, Brookes saw a discolouring under the skin.

‘
What is it, some kind of a bruise?
’

‘
It is indeed. Hmm, I
’
d say he knelt on her chest whilst he applied the ligature. I couldn
’
t swear to it, but it looks like it was made by a knee. Wouldn
’
t you say so?
’

Brookes gave him an ironic smile.
‘
You
’
re the expert; I
’
ll take your word for it. What about defence wounds; are there any?
’

Bryce-Phillips picked up the hands one at a time and examined them carefully under the lamp.
‘
No. Not a thing. Her nails are well-manicured and there appears to be nothing under them. I
’
ll take some scrapings later just to be sure. But there is no sign of a struggle, nothing at all.
’

‘
Wouldn
’
t you say that
’
s unusual if she was conscious during the attack?
’

‘
Yes I would, but please don
’
t interrupt.
’

Brooks smiled and said nothing more.

Bryce-Phillips moved further down the torso, poking and prodding at the bare flesh. Pulling the lamp closer, he examined her pubic region.

‘
Hmm, no sign of bruising. I
’
ll comb the pubic hair later to see if there are any foreign ones mixed in. But there
’
s nothing to suggest a sexual assault. We may be able to ascertain if she had sex in the hours before her death once I
’
m inside. But if she did, it looks very much as if she either consented or submitted to it.
’

He continued his examination until he came to her feet. Examining the soles, he said,

‘
Look here, Superintendent.
’

Brookes did so.
‘
I can
’
t see anything; what am I looking for?
’

‘
That
’
s the point; there is no debris of any kind on her feet. If she had been walking outside on a pavement or stone, I
’
d expect to find some debris; wouldn
’
t you?
’

Brookes nodded thoughtfully.
‘
Yes I would, unless of course her footwear came off after she was in the water.
’

Turning to his assistant, Bryce-Phillips said,
‘
Take her feet, George; let
’
s turn her over.
’

He took a further ten minutes examining the back of the corpse before looking up again.

‘
Interesting,
’
he said.
‘
I would suggest she was put in the water soon after death as there is no sign of lividity in any one place on her body.
’
Looking at Brookes, he added,
‘
You know of course that when the heart stops pumping the blood around the body the blood sinks to the lowest point. Had she lain on her back, for example, we would see bruising under the skin and there is none.
’

Brookes frowned.
‘
What happens to the lividity if she
’
s in the water then?
’

‘
A good question. If the water is cold then the blood coagulates quickly. Then of course if the current spins her body around, it remains evenly distributed, which is no doubt why we can see no obvious bruising.
’

Brookes nodded, somewhat dubiously.

Bryce-Phillips took a pace back.
‘
Right, let
’
s open her up.
’
He signalled to his assistant, who pushed the trolley containing his tools closer.

What followed was not for the squeamish, but Brookes and his DS stood stoically, watching until it was done.

*

An hour later, Bryce-Phillips finally snapped off his medical gloves.

Pulling down his mask, he said,
‘
Well that
’
s it, Superintendent, I can
’
t find any trace of internal injury beyond that caused by the pantyhose. All her organs are in good nick; no sign of disease anywhere. She did have a meal a short time before her death: looks like some kind of red meat and green veg. Oh, and a glass or two of red wine. We
’
ll do the usual tests of the stomach contents etcetera; the results should be with us in a few days.

‘
As far as I can make out, she was a perfectly normal healthy young woman. Sexually active but there
’
s no sign of recent activity. The cause of death was strangulation caused by the hose tied around her neck. You have a murder on your hands.
’

Brookes frowned.
‘
You say she had a meal; how long before her death?
’

‘
Well, the digestion process was not well-advanced; no more than an hour, two at most.
’

Brookes nodded thoughtfully.
‘
So if we put it all together, what do we have? From the way she was dressed
–
formal blouse and skirt and an old cardigan
–
it appears she may have got home from work, put on the cardigan, and cooked a meal. Then some evil so-and-so kneels on her chest, strangles her with her tights, and throws her in the Thames.
’

Bryce-Phillips nodded.
‘
That
’
s a possible scenario, yes. Maybe she had her boyfriend round for dinner and he didn
’
t like her cooking.
’
He chuckled at his own bad joke.

Middlemiss spoke for the first time,
‘
What I can
’
t get my head round, boss, is that she lay there and let him do it. Don
’
t make sense to me.
’
He spoke in the broad dialect of his native Bermondsey.

Bryce-Phillips added,
‘
Who knows, perhaps they were into S and M; it
’
s not that uncommon these days, is it? But wait and see what the lab tests tell us; it is possible that she was drugged.
’