A Flood of Sorrow by J.R. Sinclair

Author:J.R. Sinclair [Sinclair, J.R.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-06-14T16:00:00+00:00

The sickly sweet smell that had been absent with Hannah’s body hit Joseph as they walked into the autopsy room where the victim’s body had been laid out on a stainless steel table. The extraction fans were running at full speed, but were doing little to reduce the smell. It reminded the DI of a rotting leg of lamb he’d once had to deal with when his mam’s chest freezer had broken down. But this was worse, much worse, and had more than a hint of human faeces to it.

Over the years, Joseph had learnt to suppress the gag reflex triggered by the smell of a dead body, especially one several days dead, but he was already popping a Silvermint into his mouth. He quickly offered Megan one too. Her face had gone pale. Without any argument, she accepted it. Then they both tied their masks as tight as possible to try and keep the stench out.

‘Oh good, you’re here,’ Doctor Jacobs said, looking up from the skin abrasions around the victim's neck he’d been examining with Doctor Reece.

Joseph was relieved to see whatever internal rummaging they had been up to must have been completed, because the woman’s chest cavity had been neatly sewn up.

‘Those look like the same wire marks around her neck,’ Megan said, as she handed over the enormous cups of coffee they’d brought the pathologists.

‘That’s because they are,’ Doctor Reece replied. ‘It appears that the victim has been strangled to death with a ligature in exactly the same way that Hannah Emmerson was.’

Joseph nodded as he approached the body, trying to make himself as emotionally detached as possible. ‘Is there any confirmation of her identity yet?’

‘I already had Millie Dexter’s dental records at the ready, just in case she turned up like this,’ Doctor Jacobs said. ‘I’m afraid they’re an exact match. We also have the father, Geoffrey Dexter, who is coming over to identify his daughter’s body.’

‘Is that strictly necessary?’ Megan asked, staring at him.

‘No, it’s not. However, like many parents who find themselves in this awful situation, he insisted. There will certainly be no pressure from me to go through with it when he arrives. But as distressing as it is, I suppose confronting death in this way has a finality to it, and actually can be a form of closure. No false hope that we have the wrong person, and all that, so they can get on with the grieving process.’

‘But Mr Dexter has no idea what he’s letting himself in for,’ Megan said.

Doctor Reece shrugged. ‘Sadly, the relatives rarely do, especially when the victim has gone through a violent death like this one.’

Joseph gazed at Millie’s bloated face, and tried not to imagine it was Ellie on that slab.

As the DI’s gaze swept over the woman’s body, he noticed for the first time her skin had become transformed into a mosaic of colours, from deep scarlets to yellows and greens, the patterns resembling some sort of exotic marble. There was an almost macabre beauty to it.

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