Detective Erlendur 03 - Tainted Blood [Mýrin] by Arnaldur Indriðason

Author:Arnaldur Indriðason
Language: eng
Format: azw3
ISBN: 9780099513124
Published: 2010-05-02T04:00:00+00:00

22

Erlendur didn't immediately understand what the pathologist had said and looked at him as if he hadn't heard. He couldn't fathom what he was talking about. For a moment he looked down at the body, then looked up quickly again when he saw a bone from a little hand protruding from beneath the sheet. He didn't think he could handle the image of what was lying underneath it. He didn't want to know what the girl's earthly remains looked like. Didn't want that image to appear every time he thought about her.

"She's been opened up before," the pathologist said.

"Is the brain missing?" Erlendur groaned.

"An autopsy was performed before."

"Yes, at Keflavík hospital."

"When did she die?"

"1968," Erlendur said.

"And, if I understand correctly, Holberg was her father, but they didn't live together, her parents?"

"The girl only had her mother."

"Was permission given to use her organs for research purposes?" the pathologist continued. "Do you know about that at all? Did the mother give her permission?"

"She wouldn't have done," Erlendur said.

"It could have been taken without her permission. Who was looking after her when she died? Who was her doctor?"

Erlendur named Frank. The pathologist was silent for a while.

"I can't say that I'm entirely unfamiliar with such incidents. Relatives are sometimes asked whether organs may be removed for research purposes. All in the name of science, of course. We need that. For teaching, too. I know of instances when, if there is no next of kin, certain organs are removed for research before the body is buried. But I don't know many cases of organs being stolen outright when the relatives have been consulted."

"How could the brain be missing?" Erlendur went on asking.

"The head's been sawn in half and it was removed in one piece."

"No, I mean . . ."

"A neat job," the pathologist continued. "A skilled person at work. You cut through the spinal cord, through the neck from the rear here and take the brain out."

"I know the brain was studied in connection with a tumour," Erlendur said. "Do you mean that it wasn't put back?"

"That's one explanation," the pathologist said, covering up the body. "If they removed the brain to study it they would hardly have been able to return it in time for the funeral. It needs to be fixed."

"Fixed?"

"To make it better to work on. It turns like cheese. Brains take a while to fix."

"Wouldn't it have been enough just to take samples?"

"I don't know," the pathologist said. "All I know is that the brain isn't in place, which makes it difficult to determine the cause of death. Maybe we can see with DNA tests on the bones. That could tell us something."

There was no mistaking the look of astonishment on Frank's face when he opened the door and saw Erlendur standing on the steps again in a torrential downpour.

"We exhumed the girl", Erlendur said without any preamble, "and the brain's missing. Do you know anything about it?"

"Exhumed her? The brain?" the doctor said and showed Erlendur into his office. "What do you mean, the brain's missing?"

"What I say.

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