Page 72 of The Guilty Girl

‘Hi, Jane,’ she said, fixing her face mask.

‘Lottie.’

Jane Dore, the state pathologist, was probably one of the few people, apart from Boyd, that Lottie could count on. The woman was tiny in physical stature but a powerhouse in her field.

She adjusted her spectacles on her prim nose, precise and professional. ‘I carried out a precursory examination of Lucy McAllister’s body before you arrived. If I was to step into psychology mode, which I rarely do, I’d say intense anger was behind the final wound.’

‘Why would that be?’

‘I don’t like to speculate. The victim tried to protect herself. She sustained defensive wounds to her hands and both arms. The cut to her neck was the last act of the assault.’

‘You mentioned anger; could it be jealousy?’

‘Maybe. I’ve seen the scene. Lucy was initially attacked downstairs and further assaulted as she hid behind the bed upstairs. The assailant chased her to complete the job.’

‘Could it be a female assailant?’

‘Possibly. Why?’

‘My person of interest is a teenage girl.’

‘Mmm. If I was a jealous female on the rampage, I’d have gone for the face.’

‘Okay,’ Lottie said, pondering whether Hannah was even strong enough for the ruthless attack. She was athletic, so anything was possible. ‘Any clue as to what the weapon might have been?’

‘I don’t know for sure. I’ll take measurements, but from what I can see with the naked eye, I’d say a knife with a five-inch serrated blade.’

‘A steak knife?’

‘Did you find it at the scene?’

‘Nothing recovered so far, but Gráinne thought the same as you, and the kitchen knife block has a steak knife missing. Anything else that could help me?’ Lottie moved closer to the table.

‘I should be able to gather DNA if she made contact with her killer as she tried to defend herself.’

‘Good.’

‘And I’ll carry out the usual screening for drugs and alcohol.’

‘My guess is that you’ll find evidence of those in her bloodstream. She’d thrown a party for her friends that evening. Any sign of sexual assault?’

‘I haven’t commenced the full post-mortem yet, and her clothing is at the lab for analysis.’

‘Can you tell me anything at this stage?’

‘I’m doing my best, Lottie. I got out of that court case to be here.’ Jane walked around the body. ‘Okay. Let’s see what I have from the prelim. Visible vaginal bruising, so it’s probable she had penetrative sexual intercourse shortly before she died. I will swab for semen, but if a condom was used, I may not find sufficient evidence.’ She paused. ‘Whether it was consensual or not I can’t say until I do further examination, and even then it won’t be conclusive.’

‘If she’s so badly bruised that it’s visible, it would point in the direction of the sexual intercourse not being consensual, wouldn’t it?’

‘Could be rough sex. I’ll take the swabs. We might get lucky with a DNA sample to match to a suspect, though that in itself won’t tell you if the person she had sex with actually killed her.’

‘I know, but at the very least it’d give me another witness. Any clue on time of death?’

‘Pending further tests, I’d say she’d been dead between three and four hours when she was found.’

‘The cleaner made the call at seven ten a.m. So that would put the death before four a.m.’

‘Say between three and four. I’ll know better later,’ Jane said.