Page 56 of No Safe Place

Friday | Afternoon

Field

Wilson had been disappointed not to come to David’s post-mortem, but if Field was going to spend hours trying to concentrate while feeling sweaty and nauseated, she wanted an old faithful – not someone she needed to put a brave face on for.

She’d got into a good rhythm with DI Bellamy over the last five years. He hated being at the station, and the staffers at Lewisham called him the phantom, because he was barely ever there. He ran scenes, co-ordinated SOCOs and pathologists and forensics, and Field left him to it.

A mortuary assistant held the door open for them, and Field and Bellamy stepped inside the pathologist’s basement office.

Inoffensive modern art hung on two walls, with a bookshelf of physiological textbooks and medical journals covering a third. The lighting was low – the near-silent air-con kept the room comfortable. It could have been 5 p.m. on a winter’s evening, for all they would know down here.

Young smiled and gestured to the man behind the desk. ‘This is Professor Robinson, senior forensic pathologist. He was one of my lecturers.’

‘Many, many years ago,’ the professor said with a grimace. ‘Call me Prof – everyone does.’

Professor Robinson stood to shake Field’s hand. He had neatly parted white hair, and was probably in his seventies. Young and Field took seats on the other side of the desk, and Bellamy stood, arms folded.

‘I’ll start the post-mortems shortly,’ Prof said, sitting back down. ‘But I did an external examination of both bodies yesterday and I can provisionally say there are similarities.’

‘Provisionally?’ Field prompted.

He extricated a sheet with the outline of an adult male. There was one line drawn across the neck, a few on the left arm, one on the right-hand side of the abdomen, and four on the left.

‘Well, there are a comparable number of stab wounds, and the pattern is similar,’ Prof said. ‘Especially if you factor in Young’s theory about the attacker falling on top of Samantha.’

Prof extracted two photographs of David’s chest. The first was taken in the street and the second was under the full glare of mortuary lights. The violence and depth of the wounds was obvious.

Field rubbed the heel of her hand into her forehead. ‘So, almost exactly twenty-four hours after David is attacked, Samantha Hughes is stabbed a few streets away, but they fall over. What does that mean?’

‘Samantha Hughes’ attack feels less controlled,’ Prof said. ‘Maybe David’s murder was thrilling but left him scared of being caught. Made him nervous.’

‘The wounds to the neck and stomach,’ Field said, pointing to the charts. ‘Both on the right-hand side?’

‘Correct,’ Prof said. ‘Suggesting a left-handed assailant.’

They sat in silence for a moment, staring at the sheets on the desk.

‘I’d like to know if there are any signs of sexual activity, or sexual assault, when you examine her,’ Field said.

‘Of course,’ he said. ‘Let Young and I get scrubbed in, and we’ll get started. I’ll be conducting both post-mortems, but with Young’s assistance we should be able to get them done in good time. How are you with PMs, DCI Field? Do I need to have a bucket on standby?’

Field got to her feet. ‘I should be all right.’

‘They all say that,’ Prof said with a sigh.

‘Let’s just hope these are the only ones I have to watch,’ she said, thinking of Callum Mulligan, and his discharge on Sunday.