While waiting in the scrubs area, Riddick paced. ‘They could do with some bloody windows.’
‘In my experience, mortuaries are always in the arse-end of hospitals,’ Gardner said, tipping some tic tacs into her hand.
‘No sunlight. It’d be like seasonal affective disorder in this dungeon all year round!’
‘I’ve met plenty of pathologists who prefer it this way.’ She crunched the tic tacs.
‘Hugo has always been an odd ball.’
‘Let me guess, you went to school with him too?’ Gardner asked.
Riddick nodded. ‘Although, unlike Neil, he isn’t a dickhead, just odd.’
‘You’re very good at putting people into labelled boxes. What’s the label on mine?’
‘At the moment you defy classification, boss.’
She smiled and nodded. ‘I like that.’
Riddick continued pacing. ‘Forget the dark, how could anyone work with this smell of detergent—’
The door opened, and Hugo walked in, wearing his scrubs.
He had his blood-stained gloved hands up in the air. Was this a clear warning to all concerned not to offer him a handshake? ‘Afternoon.’ He pulled off his plastic gloves with a snap, pinned his foot to a lever on his bin, and threw the offending items away. He then went to the sink and scrubbed his hands.
Gardner launched her notepad over to Riddick who caught it in both hands. ‘Notes.’
He saluted her. ‘Actually, I take back what I just said… I do actually have a clearly labelled box for you.’
Gardner spoke to Hugo’s back. ‘So, what have we got?’
Hugo reached for a towel, and turned to look at her, drying his hands as he did so.
Here we go again, Gardner thought. It’s like having a conversation with a bloody sloth!
She felt like saying, ‘I thought it was going to get easier when you had him on your table,’ but forced her words back.
Eventually, he spoke. ‘I can tell you, without a shadow of a doubt, that the cause of death is asphyxiation.’
Hallelujah, a conclusion! ‘I see.’
‘Marks on his neck have actually started to show. This usually happens when the skin begins to dry. It becomes more transparent and marks to the tissue become more evident. There are also contusions on his windpipe. I’ve taken swabs, but I don’t think you’ll find any DNA. We have some fibres, though. You see, he was strangled in a choke hold. The police, yes, that would be you, used choke holds to subdue suspects once upon a time. It was stopped after a spate of accidental deaths.’
Gardner exchanged a glance with Riddick. Hugo’s accusatory tone could suggest that he believed the current crop of police officers had the same capacity for police brutality as the old – total nonsense of course.
‘What other conclusions have you reached?’ Gardner asked.
She waited for his measured response. ‘The pattern of the emerging bruising and contusions does suggest dragging. I’d say your assailant was taller than the victim, and strong. I’m not ruling out a woman, but a man is more likely. Bradley would have lost consciousness before he died. So, the assailant could have stopped when he went limp. In wrestling, they used to call it a sleeper hold for that reason.’
‘We know the time of death was between nine and twelve,’ Gardner said. ‘Are you able to narrow it down more for us?’
‘I’d say closer to twelve than nine,’ Hugo said. ‘If it’d been nine, the bruising would more likely have shown up at the crime scene.’
‘Okay, thanks, that’s useful.’
‘Oh, there’s also some evidence of a struggle. The victim reached behind himself to grab at the arms cutting off his oxygen. We have recovered some more fibres from the fingernails, but no skin or blood I’m afraid.’
This was disappointing. She usually gathered more from the post-mortem than this. The fact that the murder weapon was someone’s covered arm didn’t help matters. Face-to-face strangulation using hands often brought DNA.
‘Had he had sex recently?’ Riddick asked.
‘Yes,’ Hugo said. ‘Very recently – within the time frame we’ve already mentioned. There was also evidence of spermicide. I suspect he used a condom.’
Gardner and Riddick exchanged another look.
The used condom at the scene. Who had Bradley been having sex with by the castle keep, overlooking the viaduct?
‘There’s something else,’ Hugo said. ‘The crème de la crème, actually.’
Gardner was taken aback by his use of figurative language. He actually smiled too, which came across as somewhat creepy.
‘Our clearest indication that this was deliberate and pre-meditated. You see, the assailant left a mark on the victim’s lower back, underneath where his belt sits. The mark is only about two inches long and one inch wide and was done post-mortem. They used a sharp knife and then taped a gauze pad over it. That’s why it went unnoticed at the crime scene, and there was no blood on the shirt. The mark looks like the letter E to me.’
Gardner exchanged another look with Riddick. His look said it all: in Knaresborough?
She felt a cold sensation in the bottom of her back, in the same spot that Bradley had been scarred. ‘We need to see it.’
‘I know,’ Hugo said, nodding at some scrubs hanging on a rail at the back of the room. ‘That’s why I got these ready for you.’