The Case of the Curious Corpse by Howard of Warwick

Author:Howard of Warwick [Warwick, Howard of]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Caput XII

Abdul stood in silent contemplation of Umair’s body as it lay in its tent. He bowed his head and muttered some words in his own incomprehensible language. The others kept a respectable distance, although Wat was swaying about a bit, William’s flagon of wine still in his hand.

The guard to this place had been sleeping across the entrance and had to be woken to grant them access. He had opened his bleary eyes, seen a fine Saracen figure standing before him and run howling off into the camp, screaming that Umair had risen from the dead to punish them all.

Abdul had called that interesting, but said no more.

‘Let us examine the body then,’ he said, having paid his respects. ‘Of course the Normans should have had the decency to bury him within the day, but they are heathens so perhaps we must make allowance.’

Hermitage nodded his agreement that the Normans were heathens. Then he thought that no, they weren’t. They were as Christian as the next man. Well, perhaps not the next man, but the next appallingly bad Christian who never went to church and sinned pretty much constantly. Perhaps to Abdul even Hermitage, Wat and Cwen were heathens. Well, that was one thing he was wrong about. Hermitage would have to explain about heathens when he had a moment. Meanwhile he moved to Umair’s head and peered closely at the wound.

‘A telling mark, my friend,’ Abdul raised a cautionary hand. ‘but there is much we can tell before we examine what we are told was the fatal wound.’

Hermitage didn’t know what more information they needed to confirm that Umair was dead, other than his dead body.

Abdul knelt at his compatriot’s side and lifted Umair’s hand before letting it drop again. ‘Hm,’ he said.

‘Hand,’ said Cwen, apparently thinking he might not know the word.

‘It is,’ Abdul confirmed. ‘And you note how it drops once lifted.’

‘They usually do.’

‘Depending on the time,’ Abdul said, in a friendly, informative manner. ‘You doubtless know that after death the body stiffens.’

‘Surprise,’ said Cwen, knowledgeably.

‘I beg your pardon?’ Abdul asked.

‘Surprise,’ Cwen repeated, explaining how this worked. ‘That’s why bodies go stiff. It’s surprise at being dead.’

‘Fascinating,’ said Abdul as he looked like was controlling a shaking that was going on somewhere in his body. ‘But not the standard theory.’ He even wiped a tear from his eye, doubtless at the sadness of the occasion. ‘The Romans would call the process rigor mortis, and poor Umair here has passed through that stage. Meaning that he has probably been dead for at least four days. Given the low temperature in your country.’

Hermitage moved his attention to the arm. This Abdul seemed very knowledgeable. He wondered how many deaths the man had investigated.

‘First comes pallor mortis, the loss of colour. Then algor mortis, the change of heat.’ Abdul seemed to give this some careful thought. ‘You know, I will risk a speculation that in your chilly surroundings the body may actually lose heat to become the same as its surroundings.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.