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.Her age for a start.Perhaps it was the effect of the prolonged wrapping in the heavy plastic, or simply the result of the brutal compression, but her crushed face appeared old, that of a wrinkled old woman, while some other parts of her body—a thigh, a breast—seemed undeniably juvenile.The juxtaposition was disturbing, and Brock found his eyes wandering backwards and forwards, trying to reconcile a span of sixty years in the one body.In the end the pathologist called for X-rays of the teeth, as the only sure guide, but made an informed guess based on the weight of her organs, especially the liver and the spleen, which of all the main organs experience the greatest growth during puberty, and which in both cases were close to the median weight for a fourteen-year-old of similar build.How and when she died were also problematic.There were no wounds incompatible with the effects of the compactor, into which, the pathologist was fairly certain, she had been put after rigor mortis was well established.But this was only a guess, he explained, for who had any real evidence of what the relentless hydraulic forces of the machine could do to the joints of a human body, whether stiff with rigor or not? He could only estimate, too, that she had been dead for around seven days, which matched reasonably well with Cherry’s conjecture that, from her position in the cardboard mountain, she had probably been delivered to Number Three Shed four or five days before.Maybe.As for identity, the teeth would again most likely provide the most reliable evidence, apart from the Mexican silver ring.It struck Brock as obscene that this little trinket, completely unscathed, should now seem to contain more of her personality than anything else on the stainless-steel table.When it was over, and they set off again for their meeting with Chief Superintendent Forbes, Brock thought he sensed a certain satisfaction in Lowry that he had kept the senior officer waiting for a couple of hours for so little additional information.But he felt happier.He had, in some way that he couldn’t quite define, made contact with the victim, seen what had to be seen.It was the true starting point, from which the axis of the investigation would extend.The jackhammering was at full volume when they returned to the divisional station at Hornchurch Street.Lowry showed Brock to the fourth-floor conference room and departed.Forbes rose to his feet, smiling, as Brock walked in.This was a much more comfortable meeting room, with high-backed chairs and a long polished timber-board table.The noise was muffled in here, and Forbes waved Brock to a seat.‘So, how was the PM?’ he asked.‘Not as informative as I’d have liked.A fourteen-year-old girl, most probably, but nothing much more solid than that.Sorry to have held you up.’Forbes waved a large hand dismissively.‘Can’t stand autopsies.One was enough for me.Had she been interfered with?’‘We’ll have to wait for the tests.’‘Mmm.But nasty, you’d agree?’ He appeared keen to have Brock confirm this point.‘Yes.Certainly that.’‘A sticker, as my young colleagues would put it, eh?’Brock nodded.A sticker, certainly.‘Mmm.’ He seemed reassured.‘Wouldn’t like it said that we’d overreacted.’Perhaps that was what the insurance was for, protection against some sensitivity in the system to premature approaches to Area Major Investigation Pool Management.‘And an interesting case?’Again Brock nodded.Interesting indeed.‘No chance of further bodies out there?’‘They haven’t found any so far, but they’re less than halfway through searching.’‘Ah.So tell me, have you been able to give my proposal any further thought?’‘What exactly did you have in mind, sir? There’s no suggestion that North is connected to this other case.’‘No, no.But it has occurred to me since we last spoke that we might be able to come to some arrangement that would suit both our purposes.You want to spend time at Silvermeadow in the hope of tracking North, but don’t want it to be apparent, and we need top-calibre people there to support our investigations into the murder of this girl.Now suppose I, or rather AMIP, were to make a request to the Yard for high-level assistance with this murder, and you and your team were nominated [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]