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‘Estelle,’ he replied. ‘Bit of a cold.’

‘Suit yourself,’ she said. ‘Good to see you again, DI Flynn. What has Cumbria’s answer to C. Auguste Dupin got you into this time?’

‘We were hoping you could tell us, Estelle,’ Flynn replied.

‘This mortuary’s a bit basic compared to mine and you haven’t given me much to go on.’

Poe and Flynn waited.

‘OK, here’s what I can tell you for certain: these are not medical samples as they haven’t been flushed. The blood types prove they are from three different victims and your initial assessment is correct: one finger from each pair was removed ante-mortem, the other post.’

So far Nightingale’s locum pathologist hadn’t messed up.

‘So we do have three murders,’ Flynn said.

‘The facts cannot be disputed,’ Doyle said. ‘It’s up to you to interpret them. I’ll know more when my LC-MS results are back.’

Doyle had used liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry in their last case. Poe didn’t understand the science behind it but he knew it separated and analysed biochemical, organic and inorganic compounds and was considered the Rolls-Royce of chemical analysis. If there were anything in the fingers that wasn’t supposed to be there, the LC-MS would find it.

‘I am also prepared to say that, in my professional opinion, different methods of amputation were used with each victim. One pair of fingers was removed neatly and quickly. The blades were different sizes and didn’t meet so shears were used. Possibly bone snips, possibly rib shears.’

Poe didn’t ask how she knew these things. If she said that’s what had happened, then that was what had happened.

‘The second pair were removed more crudely. There are tiny flecks of blue paint embedded in the wounds. I’ll have them analysed to confirm, but I suspect they are from a hacksaw. Probably a coping saw, as he’d have had to grip each finger with one hand and saw it off with the other. Under the microscope you can clearly see scars on the proximal phalanges, the bones between the knuckle and first finger joint. They were made by the blade’s teeth.’

Poe frowned. That was odd. Why use a saw when you had rib shears?

‘The third pair is the most interesting, though,’ she continued. ‘This is the male pair and he made a right mess of it. I’m almost certain your killer snapped the fingers then used a pair of scissors to cut through the skin and tendons. Blunt blades, judging by the incisions.’

‘And he was alive for the first amputation?’ Poe said.

‘Possibly not conscious, but definitely alive.’

‘No time of death?’

She shook her finger in admonishment. ‘Keep that up and I’ll have to spank you, Poe.’

Doyle never gave a time of death. She said that any pathologist who did was guessing. There were too many variables with liver temperature or lividity. Even insect activity was all smoke and mirrors. Yes, flies do behave in a certain way, but what the forensic entomologists never admit is that flies have to be present to begin with.

‘Anything else?’ he said before Flynn picked up on the being spanked remark.

Doyle walked over to an open laptop. They followed her.

She brought up an image of a finger and pointed towards some scarring.

‘It was underneath the wedding band,’ she explained. ‘At first I thought it was a long-term epidermal surface reaction to gold, but it was too inconsistent. I removed some layers and found this.’

She changed the picture.

Poe leaned in and frowned. ‘What’s that?’

‘She’s had a tattoo removed,’ Doyle said.

The markings were faint but visible. Three scars the size of a grain of rice were separated by two the size of a grain of sugar in a big/small/big/small/big sequence.

‘Care to hazard a guess?’ Doyle said.

‘It’s a date,’ Poe said. ‘And if it was under her wedding ring then it’s almost certainly her wedding date.’