Page 62 of The Scene of the Crime (Jessica Russell #1)
Jessica followed the undertaker’s van to the East London Forensic Centre in the Borough of Waltham Forest. The new state-of-the-art facility, fitted with the latest technology, provided comprehensive invasive and non-invasive postmortem examinations, vital for several faith communities.
Mike Chapman was waiting by the entrance and waved when he saw Jessica. ‘Anderson won’t be attending. He’s got a lot to be getting on with at the office.’
‘Is that a polite way of saying he’s squeamish or he’s run out of Vicks?’ she smiled.
‘Definitely squeamish. He phoned his wife on the way back to the office. He said he might be home late. I could hear her shouting at him and saying she’d throw his dinner in the bin if he wasn’t home by seven.’
‘What did he say?’
‘That he now had a murder to deal with connected to the De Klerk case and wasn’t going to let the team down. She wasn’t happy and accused him of letting her down. He told her there was a first time for everything and ended the call. She tried ringing him back, but he put the phone on silent.’
‘Good for him.’
‘She might be waiting for him with a rolling pin, though. The next murder we end up investigating might be Anderson’s,’ Chapman laughed. As they were about to enter the mortuary, Chapman’s phone rang. He told Jessica he would catch up with her. He waited until she had gone inside to answer.
‘Where the fuck are you, Julian?’ Chapman demanded.
‘On my way back to the nick. Where the fuck are you?’ Wood retorted.
‘I’m not in the mood for silly games. Anderson asked where you are, and I’ve had to cover your back. You know that bloke Wheeler I asked you to check out?’
‘Yeah, you found him?’
‘Yes, no thanks to you, but he didn’t say much.’
‘With his record, I didn’t expect him to.’
‘He’s fucking dead, Julian! Someone tortured and murdered him.’
‘Jesus Christ. You serious?’
‘No, I’m making it all up because I’ve nothing better to do. I want to know where you are and what the hell you’ve been doing.’
‘All right, calm down, Mike. I’ve been out grafting and I got some interesting information from Stubbings and a woman called Chandice Bramston. I’m calling so we can meet somewhere private and chat about it before telling Anderson.’
‘I’m just about to go into Wheeler’s postmortem. I’ll call you when I’m done.’
Jessica and Chapman put on protective clothing and entered the mortuary examination room, where Doctor Giorgini was already gowned and putting on some rubber gloves.
Wheeler’s body was still clothed, and Jessica took some frontal photographs before helping Nicki and a mortician turn the body over for more photography.
Once this was done, they removed the clothing, and Jessica put them in exhibit bags.
Nicki then put measuring scales by the various injuries to Wheeler’s torso, and Jessica photographed them.
Nicki made a Y incision on the torso, cut into the skin and muscle with a scalpel, and then folded back the flesh.
She put a measuring scale on his ribs and asked Jessica to take some photographs.
‘A few of his ribs are broken. It looks like one of them has ruptured his spleen, resulting in a slow internal bleed into his abdomen over at least two or three days. I’ll need to remove and examine his internal organs to be sure.’
‘Is that what killed him?’ Chapman asked as Nicki cut through Wheeler’s ribs.
‘Two secs and I’ll be able to tell you.’ She lifted out his internal organs and placed them in a large bowl. She put his spleen on a chopping board, and Jessica took some photographs of it before Nicki examined it. ‘Yup, his spleen has been punctured by a rib.’
‘How would that little puncture wound kill him?’ Chapman asked.
‘When the spleen ruptures, it can easily bleed internally, leading to haemorrhagic shock and death.’
‘What’s haemorrhagic shock?’
‘A life-threatening condition that occurs with major blood loss, which results in inadequate oxygen supply to the body’s tissues and organs, which in turn causes death.
A ruptured spleen is a medical emergency requiring swift diagnosis, intervention and sometimes surgery.
If he’d gone straight to a hospital after the injury, he might have survived. ’
‘Would he have been in a lot of pain?’ Jessica asked.
‘Yes. Bleeding from the rupture can irritate a nerve that runs from your neck and down through the left side of your chest. Other symptoms are dizziness, disorientation, anxiety and nausea, to name but a few.’
‘So, whoever or whatever caused his ruptured spleen was responsible for his death?’ Chapman asked.
‘Technically, yes. I’m certain the rupture didn’t occur when he was gagged, bound and tortured.’
‘Would the eggshell skull rule apply?’ Chapman asked.
‘That would be for the CPS and a court to decide, not me,’ Nicki replied.
‘What’s the eggshell rule?’ Jessica asked Chapman.
‘The rule protects vulnerable individuals and ensures that a defendant is held accountable for the full extent of the harm they cause during an assault, regardless of the victim’s pre-existing condition or vulnerability.’
‘The torture with the cigar is grievous bodily harm and could be a contributing factor, but it’s a very fine line in this case, DI Chapman. I’ll need to do histopathology on his organs and brain before confirming the exact cause of death.’
‘There were signs of a struggle between Johan and his assailant at the De Klerk house. If Wheeler was responsible, then it could be Johan broke his ribs and caused the ruptured spleen,’ Jessica told them.
‘That’s a viable theory,’ Nicki said.
‘Now that Wheeler’s dead, only De Klerk can tell us what happened,’ Chapman said.
‘Maybe whoever Wheeler contacted on the burner phone knows what happened,’ Jessica suggested.
‘At the moment, we haven’t a clue who he is, and if he’s left the country, we are screwed,’ Chapman said dejectedly.
‘I think we should stop speculating until I finish the postmortem,’ Nicki said as she removed the internal organs and put Wheeler’s spleen in a separate container before opening the stomach to examine the contents. ‘Can you photograph this for me, please, Jessica?’
‘What is it?’ Chapman asked.
Using tweezers, Nicki lifted the object from Wheeler’s stomach.
‘It’s a condom with something wrapped in cling film and tape inside it.
It looks like Wheeler’s a drug mule and was trying to smuggle these to Dubai.
When swallowed like this, it’s harder to detect them using traditional X-ray or computed tomography imagery. ’
‘So it could have been drugs that were in the lockbox or stolen from De Klerk’s safe,’ Chapman suggested.
‘How many are in his stomach?’ Jessica asked.
‘I can see three more, but I need to have a feel around in case there are others.’
‘Rather you than me,’ Chapman winced.
‘If one had burst, the drugs in it would have killed him,’ Nicki said, removing two more condoms from Wheeler’s stomach.
‘Diane said she found five Durex wrappers in Wheeler’s bedroom bin,’ Jessica reminded them.
‘That’s not a lot for a drugs mule. Generally, in postmortem cases with drug mules, I recover anywhere between thirty and fifty wrapped condoms,’ Nicki said.
‘I think we need to look inside one and see what we’re dealing with,’ Jessica suggested. Nicki put one of the condoms on a chopping board and, using a scalpel, slowly cut it open before carefully unwrapping the cling film and tape to reveal the contents. Chapman leaned in to get a closer look.
‘Looks like different sizes of coloured pebbles. Is it some form of crack cocaine?’ he asked.
Jessica was equally perplexed. ‘I don’t know. We can test them back at the lab.’
Nicki smiled. ‘I’ve only ever seen this once before, during a presentation at a pathology conference last year. Unlike their polished counterparts, which display a brilliant sparkle, raw diamonds have a rough exterior and resemble ordinary rocks or pebbles.’
‘They’re fucking diamonds?’ Chapman exclaimed. ‘Excuse my French.’
‘It looks like it. You’d best get an expert to look at them for a more definitive answer,’ Nicki told them.
‘How many are there?’ he asked.
‘There’s five in the one I just opened, so assuming there’s the same in each condom, that’s at least twenty diamonds, maybe more.’
‘What sort of value would we be talking about?’ Chapman asked.
Nicki shrugged. ‘I haven’t a clue. I believe it would depend on the carat and type of diamond. You could be talking between a few thousand pounds to two hundred thousand, maybe more once they’re polished and cut. There’s a few really good-sized ones.’
‘I’ll arrange for a marked response vehicle to take the diamonds to the lab,’ Chapman said.
‘I’m perfectly capable of doing that,’ Jessica said.
‘I know, but you could be involved in an accident or a carjacking, and I’m not prepared to risk losing thousands of pounds’ worth of vital evidence. Or you,’ he added with a smile.
The postmortem lasted nearly three hours as Nicki examined all of Wheeler’s internal organs, then cut open his skull and examined his brain. She also took blood, urine and hair samples to be examined for drugs.
‘Is the spleen injury the definite cause of death, then?’ Chapman finally asked.
‘I don’t know yet, but as I said before, it would have eventually killed him without medical intervention. Wheeler was a fit man with a healthy heart, but he might have died from takotsubo cardiomyopathy.’
‘What’s that?’ Chapman asked.
‘It’s also known as broken heart syndrome.
A weakening of the left ventricle, the heart’s main pumping chamber, can occur when a person experiences severe emotional or physical stress.
A rush of overwhelming stress hormones, like cortisol and adrenaline, putting sudden stress on the heart, which Wheeler could have suffered when tied up and tortured.
Again, without medical assistance, it could have killed him. ’
‘If that’s how he died, whoever tied him up and tortured him is responsible for his death,’ Jessica said.