The Sun Is God by Adrian McKinty Read Free Book Online

jack to me.”
    â€œI took the liberty of performing an autopsy,” Doctor Bremmer said and bowed again to Hauptman Kessler. It did not take a genius to deduce that Bremmer had done the autopsy at Kessler’s express order.
    â€œOh?” Will said, looking suspiciously at Kessler, whose face had become a mask.
    â€œYes,” Doctor Bremmer said and lifted the blanket to reveal a long autopsy scar running from Lutzow’s neck to his abdomen. He had been sewn up with neat and careful cross stitching, which impressed Will to no end. Bremmer was no hack.
    â€œWhat did you find after this autopsy of yours?”
    Bremmer shook his head. “We need to examine the damaged tissue and without a microscope nothing can be said definitively.”
    â€œNevertheless. Tell him what you have found,” Kessler insisted.
    â€œHis lungs contained seawater,” Bremmer said.
    â€œWell, he was brought here by boat, wasn’t he?” Will said.
    â€œIn a boat, not towed by a boat,” Bremmer said.
    â€œHe was drowned?”
    â€œI believe that he was.”
    Kessler looked at Will expectantly.
    â€œSo they lied about the malaria. Did Clark notice anything untoward when he picked up the body?”
    â€œNothing that he communicated to the navy personnel.”
    â€œFunny that he wasn’t afraid to touch a fever-ridden corpse?”
    â€œClark has had malaria, yellow jack, dengue fever, black fly fever, and the sleeping sickness—it did not trouble him to touch the body,” Kessler said.
    Will lifted one of the dead man’s eyelids and stared into the lifeless jelly of his iris. “He’s a big fellow, isn’t he? You would have thought he would have put up a bit of a fight if someone was trying to drown him.”
    â€œPerhaps he was outnumbered?”
    â€œNo sign of a struggle at all though. No bruises on his arms, no rope burn around the neck or wrists,” Will said, and let the eyelid fall. “What was Clark doing on Kabakon?”
    â€œHe was bringing the post,” Kessler said. “He found the settlement in the midst of a commotion. Apparently, Lutzow’s body had recently been discovered and it was suggested to Clark that he convey it to Herbertshöhe for a Christian burial.”
    â€œWho suggested it?”
    â€œI do not know.”
    â€œHmmm, chances are that if Clark hadn’t been there on Kabakon that particular day, they would have just buried him with the others,” Will said.
    â€œWe certainly would not have been able to examine the body then,” Doctor Bremmer said.
    â€œNo,” Will agreed. He picked up Lutzow’s hand and examined under the fingernails. “Have you washed the corpse?” he asked Bremmer.
    â€œI have not.”
    â€œAnd you found no signs of a struggle?” Will asked.
    â€œNothing,” Bremmer said and coughed. “Of course I am not an expert in this kind of doctoring,” he added, looking at the slowly melting ice draining into a cut in the floor.
    â€œCan you help me to turn him over?” Will said to the others. Neither man moved. “Come on lads, he’s not going to bite us.”
    â€œWe are dressed for dinner,” Kessler protested.
    Will raised his eyebrows and Kessler and Bremmer reluctantly helped Will turn Lutzow, who was, naturally, completely rigid.
    Will examined Lutzow’s back and shoulders and sighed.
    â€œYes?” Kessler asked.
    â€œAre you sure you haven’t let the undertaker see him at all?” Will asked Bremmer.
    The young doctor shook his head. “No. No one has been in this room except for His Excellency Governor Hahl, Hauptman Kessler, and myself.”
    Will nodded and stroked his mustache.
    â€œWhat do you make of that?” Will asked, pointing a pair of semi-circular bruises on Lutzow’s shoulders.
    â€œMosquito bites?”
    â€œCould be,” Will said, shaking his head.
    â€œOr?” Kessler