The Altered Case by Peter Turnbull Read Free Book Online Page B

reached Carmen Pharoah, Dr D’Acre and Eric Filey, with a clearly well-rehearsed manoeuvre, rotated the skeleton through 180 degrees and carefully laid it face down upon the polished metal table. Dr D’Acre took the tape measure from her pocket and extended it, laying it the length of the skeleton from skull to heel. ‘There are,’ she said, smiling at Carmen Pharoah, ‘certain rules which we can observe if we are dealing with bits of a human body to estimate height. The spine, length of, is the same length as hip to ankle, approximately speaking, and if the person was of normal proportion. The femur is one third of the height, also approximately, but here we have the whole skeleton, so no need to estimate.’
    ‘Yes, ma’am.’ Carmen Pharoah stood back against the wall of the laboratory.
    ‘So . . . so . . . not a tall man . . . quite short in fact.’ Dr D’Acre read the measurement of the tape. ‘We have a measurement of five feet two inches, or one hundred and fifty-seven centimetres tall, when he reached adulthood. He was not the sort of bloke to attract admiring glances from females as he walked along the pavement.’
    ‘Not a tall old geezer then, ma’am,’ Carmen Pharoah offered.
    ‘Nope.’ Louise D’Acre grinned. ‘You know I like the word “geezer”. We don’t ever seem to hear it up North. It is a London expression, I believe?’
    ‘Yes, ma’am.’ Carmen Pharoah returned the grin. ‘I believe it is.’
    ‘Where are you from? In London, I mean, Miss Pharoah.’
    ‘Leytonstone, ma’am,’ Carmen Pharoah replied in answer to Dr D’Acre’s unexpected question, ‘in the East End.’
    ‘Ah . . . can’t say I know it. Can’t say I know London at all well, in fact. Anyway, to continue.’ Dr D’Acre returned her attention to the skeleton. ‘So, a small but all in proportion old geezer . . . How old when he died is the next step. I will extract a tooth, cut it in half, and that will provide us with evidence of his age at time of death plus or minus one year. It is really a very accurate recording we achieve using that method. I will do so for all five skeletons.’ She paused. ‘But once again I repeat that I am not going to be of much help when it comes to determining the cause of death, unless we find diatoms in the marrow of the long bones. However, even finding diatoms will not be absolute proof of drowning
per se
, it will only prove the inhalation of water was peri-mortem, but not certain to be the cause of death.’ She paused again. ‘Sorry, I ramble.’ Dr D’Acre drummed her fingertips on the rim of the table. ‘You know what puzzles me . . . what foxes me, is the complete absence of anything which is not biodegradable; apart from the gold filling, there are no zip fasteners, no bra hooks, no belt buckles, no wooden toggles or plastic buttons, et cetera, and with a burial of just thirty years earlier you would expect such items to be found with the skeleton as any clothing decayed around the bones . . . shoes also . . . There should be a trace of remnants of their footwear. So there is only one inescapable conclusion . . .’
    ‘They were naked when they were buried, ma’am?’ Carmen Pharoah suggested.
    ‘Yes,’ Dr D’Acre replied. ‘Unless a sifting of the soil removed from atop the skeletons reveals such items as I have mentioned, then that is the inescapable conclusion, so yes, naked when buried, all five victims. You know I have the distinct impression that a very unpleasant tale is beginning to unfold here, a very unpleasant story indeed.’
    ‘Seems so, ma’am,’ Carmen Pharoah replied as she too surveyed the five skeletons. ‘It does certainly seem so.’
    ‘Well, let’s crack on, let’s look at the other skeletons.’ Dr D’Acre spoke with forced good humour as she added, ‘We have our daily crust to earn.’
    In the event, the other remaining four skeletons did not reveal anything new. None of them exhibited any sign of trauma; all had dentistry which