Dead Like You

stomach. It was making him feel increasingly queasy and he was beginning to perspire. He looked at her again, then away, breathing deeply through his mouth. He glanced at the others in the room. They were all smelling the same thing, with the same associations too; he knew that, they’d talked about this before, yet none of them seemed affected by it the way he was. Were they all so used to it?
    ‘Here’s something interesting,’ the pathologist announced nonchalantly, holding up an oval object, about an inch wide, in his tweezers.
    It was translucent, scorched and partially melted.
    ‘See this, Detective Sergeant Grace?’ Theobald seemed to be addressing him specifically.
    Reluctantly, he moved closer to the corpse. It looked like it might be a contact lens of some kind.
    ‘This is most curious,’ the pathologist said. ‘Not what I would have expected to find in someone driving a motor vehicle.’
    ‘What is it?’ Grace asked.
    ‘An eye shield.’
    ‘Eye shield?’
    Theobald nodded. ‘They’re used in mortuaries. The eyes start to sink quite quickly post-mortem, so morticians pop them in between the eyelids and the globes – makes them look nicer for viewing.’ He gave a wry smile. ‘As I said, not what I’d expect the driver of a motor vehicle to be wearing.’
    Grace frowned. ‘Why might this woman have been wearing it?’
    ‘I suppose possibly if she had a false eye, or had had some kind of reconstructive surgery, it could be there for cosmetic purposes. But not in both eyes.’
    ‘Are you suggesting she was blind, Dr Theobald?’ Arthur Trumble said, with a mischievous twinkle.
    ‘A bit more than that, I’m afraid,’ he replied. ‘She was dead quite a long time before she was put into this vehicle.’
    There was a long silence.
    ‘Are you absolutely certain?’ the Coroner’s Officer asked him.
    ‘There’s a small amount of lung tissue that’s survived, which I’ll need to take and examine in the lab, but from what I can see with my naked eye there is no sign of smoke or flame inhalation – which, to put it bluntly, means she wasn’t breathing when the fire started.’
    ‘You’re saying she was dead before the accident happened?’
    ‘Yes, I am,’ he said. ‘I’m certain she was.’
    Trying to make sense of this in his mind, Grace asked, ‘Are you able to estimate her age, Dr Theobald?’
    ‘I would say she’s quite old – late seventies, eighties. I can’t be specific without tests, but certainly she’s no younger than mid-fifties. I can get you a more accurate estimate in a couple of days.’
    ‘But definitely no younger than mid-fifties?’
    Theobald nodded. ‘Absolutely not.’
    ‘What about dental records?’ Grace asked.
    The pathologist pointed his probe at her jaw. ‘I’m afraid one of the effects of intense heat is to cause the crowns to explode. There’s nothing I can see remaining that would get you anywhere with dental records. I think DNA’s going to be your best chance.’
    Grace stared back down at the corpse again. His revulsion was fading just a fraction, as he got more accustomed to the sight of her.
    If you’re not Rachael Ryan, who are you? What were you doing in this van? Who put you there?
    And why?

Now

75
    Wednesday 14 January
    Roy Grace followed Tony Case down the back stone staircase into the basement of the CID headquarters. No one could accuse Sussex Police of squandering money on the decor here, he observed wryly, walking past cracked walls with chunks of plaster missing.
    Then the Senior Support Officer led him along the familiar, gloomily lit corridor that felt like it was leading to a dungeon. Case stopped in front of a closed door and pointed at the digi-alarm pad on the wall, then raised his index finger.
    ‘OK, first thing, Roy. Anyone wanting access would need the code for this – only a handful of people, such as your good self, have it – and I’ve given it to them personally.’
    Case was a solidly built man in his mid-fifties, with close-cropped hair and tough good looks, dressed in a fawn suit, shirt and tie. A former police officer himself, he had rejoined the force as a civilian after retirement. With a small team, he ran the CID headquarters and was responsible for all the equipment here, as well as in the three other Major Crime Suites in the county. He could be an invaluable aide to those officers he respected and a total pain in the butt to those he didn’t, and his judgement was usually right. Fortunately