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have – on the right-hand side of the ribcage there is something, I think. Can you hand me a magnifying glass, please, Eric?’
    Once again Eric Filey responded with a promptness and an eagerness which impressed Hennessey, placing a rectangular-shaped magnifying lens in Dr D’Acre’s hand. She held the magnifying glass six inches from the ribcage and said, ‘Would you care to come and have a look at this, Chief Inspector ... it is quite interesting. Possibly.’
    Hennessey advanced confidently across the linoleum-covered floor of the laboratory until he stood shoulder to shoulder with Dr D’Acre, who handed him the magnifying glass. ‘Just here.’ She pointed to the right side of the ribcage of the skeleton with her slender first finger.
    â€˜I can’t ...’ Hennessey struggled. ‘Where?’
    â€˜A little nick ... a small V-shaped groove in the upper rib ...’
    â€˜Oh, yes, heavens, you know, I freely confess I wouldn’t have seen that ...’ Hennessey spoke softly.
    â€˜But you’re not a pathologist.’ Dr D’Acre smiled. ‘I am, and I am expected to notice such things, but I can’t think what could have caused it, though.’
    â€˜A knife?’ Hennessey handed the magnifying glass back to Dr D’Acre.
    â€˜No ... it’s been forced in upright; a knife would slide on its side between the ribs, but this is not a knife.’ Dr D’Acre turned to Eric Filey. ‘Eric ... come and look at this, and tell us what you think.’
    Eric Filey strode across to the dissecting table and took hold of the magnifying glass. ‘Just a few millimetres deep,’ he observed. ‘I’ve never seen an injury like this, ma’am, but, you know, I think I have a tool at home which would probably cause such a wound.’
    â€˜Oh?’
    â€˜Yes, ma’am,’ Eric Filey continued, ‘it’s a file ... it is V-shaped in cross-section, or rather it’s triangular in cross-section with three sides and with a different texture on each side. It’s about ten inches long and has a blunt tip, but the tip could easily be filed down into quite a murderous point.’
    â€˜I think I know the type of file,’ Hennessey growled. ‘I have indeed seen the like.’
    â€˜Yes, I too think I have seen the sort of file about which you speak,’ Dr D’Acre murmured, ‘and if that sort of file was used with a pointed end ... and if it was as long as your file, Eric, then it would easily be of sufficient length to reach the heart. So the blow to the head disabled the man, and the thrust into the ribcage with a long file which is thin and triangular in cross-section finished him off. It would have stopped the heart in an instant.’
    â€˜Then he was buried in a shallow grave with trees planted on top of him.’ Hennessey sighed. ‘He deserves justice.’
    The woman sat content in the living room of her home and glanced out of the window at the full array of bloom that was her back garden. She had just listened with interest to the hourly news bulletin broadcast on the local radio and she had heard about the discovery of a body near the village of Gate Helmsley, the report saying only that the remains were those of an adult male and adding that the police were appealing for anyone with information to come forward.
    The woman allowed herself a brief smile. ‘Well, they have got themselves there,’ she said to herself. ‘They have got there ... so far so good.’ She stood calmly, switched off the radio and then walked into her kitchen; she had her husband’s evening meal to prepare.
    â€˜So,’ Dr D’Acre said, ‘let us now return to the issue of identification.’ She drummed her slender fingers on the stainless-steel table. ‘I’ll have the skull photographed, front and side – that will be sufficient for a computer-generated image of his