Aftermath Read Online Free PDF

shortly after they had been found, that they had, with resignation, turned on their sides and awaited their own death. Hennessey watched Dr D’Acre as she worked, moving in a slow but determined, and yet gentle, manner, using as little force as necessary and handling each corpse as if it was a living being, and so she managed to create a distinct sense of reverence for the deceased. Her eyes, too, when he was able to see them, he noted, displayed a look of respect for the dead. Her mouth was kept closed as she worked, her soft jawline set firm. A single act of clumsiness, Hennessey realized, a needless look of distaste for the work she performed, or a smile, no matter how brief, or a split-second gleam in her eyes, or of eye contact with him or Eric Filey, would ruin everything, because her attitude, her professionalism, was example setting. She was leading from the front, and Hennessey and Eric Filey were willing followers and responded by exhibiting the same decorum.
    Having laid out the skeletons, with the occasional help of Eric Filey, Dr D’Acre turned her attention to the least decomposed of the four, and as such, clearly the most recent of the five bodies to have been brought to Bromyards.
    ‘The body . . . oh, please give this a number and today’s date, Kate.’ Dr D’Acre spoke for the benefit of the microphone, which was attached to an angle poise that was bolted into the ceiling. ‘Kate’ was, Hennessey assumed, clearly a skilled audio-typist who knew what to write in the report and what not to write. It seemed clear that D’Acre and ‘Kate’ knew each other very well and that they worked well together. ‘The body,’ Dr D’Acre continued, ‘is in an advanced state of decomposition and is almost completely skeletonized. It is that of an adult of the female sex. There is an absence of any significant injury to the skeleton. The skull and all long bones, ribs etcetera, appear intact. There is no sign of trauma at all.’ She turned to Hennessey, ‘That is worrying in a sense.’
    ‘Yes, ma’am,’ Hennessey nodded. He stood as far away from the dissecting table as possible, his place to be called forward to examine or witness something of significance only if invited to do so by Dr D’Acre. He was dressed similarly to Dr D’Acre and Eric Filey in green coveralls, including hat and slippers. They were worn over underclothing and always were incinerated after a single usage.
    ‘Early days, yet,’ Dr D’Acre returned her attention to the corpse, ‘but the absence of peri-mortem trauma indicates a slow and a lingering death.’ Dr D’Acre took the scalpel to the stomach, still discernible, and opened it with a single linear incision. ‘Nothing in there . . . there might still have been some small trace of food even after this length of time, but its complete absence could mean that she was deprived of food in the last twelve or twenty-four hours of life . . . but decay is too advanced . . . the kidneys, too, are too decayed to be able to determine if she was deprived of fluid during the same period.’ Dr D’Acre laid the scalpel in the stainless steel tray containing a generous amount of disinfectant. ‘I will give all due attention to the task in hand, all due address, but if this corpse is typical of those found at the location in question, then I am obliged to give you advance warning that I am unlikely to be able to determine the cause of death.’
    ‘Appreciate that, ma’am.’
    ‘It’s likely going to be asphyxiation, plastic bag over the head . . . or thirst or starvation . . . in lessening degrees of mercy. Asphyxiation takes a matter of minutes, thirst will take a few days . . . but if the victim is allowed fluid then starvation could take weeks.’
    ‘We wondered about the possibility of them freezing to death?’
    ‘Yes, hypothermia, that is indeed a fourth possibility, which will take a short time in the depths of winter and will also leave no trace upon