Page 55 of Stolen Ones

‘Thanks, Doctor A,’ Kim said, turning to the pathologist.

‘No pressure for something good from you after that, eh Keats?’

‘I’m not a seal that performs on demand, Inspector. Although I should mention that the cause of death…’

‘Yes?’ Kim asked hopefully.

‘Is likely to remain a mystery indefinitely.’

‘Keats,’ Kim moaned.

He shrugged. ‘In the absence of any soft tissue, it is impossible to deduce. I can say that there is no obvious trauma to the remains that we have.’

‘Damn.’

Keats moved away and recorded something on his clipboard. Kim got Keats’s problem. If the victim had been stabbed but no bone had been nicked in the process, there would be no evidence as the flesh and organs were long gone.

‘How long ago are we talking, folks?’ Kim asked, unsure who was best to ask. If their answers differed, she would choose the one she liked the best.

‘Twenty to twenty-five years,’ they said together.

Keats held up his hand, uncharacteristically, to receive a high five. Doctor A looked at him as though he’d lost his mind and moved away.

Keats lowered his hand.

‘That may be the first time I’ve see you two agree on anything but, really, can you not narrow it down any more than that?’

‘Oh, Keatings, we forgot to mention the newspaper,’ Doctor A said, holding up her hand to Keats.

‘No, Doctor A, you do it after something.’

She shook her head. ‘I will never understand you crazy Brits.’

‘What newspaper?’ Kim asked, ignoring this weird new dynamic between the two of them.

‘The one that was lying on the body giving the exact date and time.’

‘Oh funny.’

Doctor A turned to Keats. ‘Now?’

‘Yes now,’ he said, finally getting the high five he’d been waiting for.

‘I think I prefer you guys hating each other.’

‘Yeah, it’s a bit weird,’ Bryant agreed.

‘So there’s nothing more?’ Kim asked of them both.

It was negative responses all round.

Kim headed out of the morgue at speed.

‘Slow down, guv – I ain’t no Usain Bolt here. What’s up?’

‘We have nothing definitive, Bryant. We’ve arrested Harte for the murder of Melody Jones. Right now, we can’t prove it was murder or that it was Melody Jones.’

‘We can narrow it down ourselves,’ Bryant said, now matching her stride.