Murder in Ballyhasset Read Online Free PDF Page B

corpse, concealed with a sheet. Libby shivered, feeling the coldness of the room.
    A long narrow desk lay against the whole of one wall. Dr Gallagher sat with his back to them on a stool at the bench, writing up notes. His assistant labelled samples.
    The doctor raised his head and turned around when he heard the two women approach. A small energetic man of fifty plus, he had a red complexion and white unruly hair. He occasionally wore large thick glasses, which he kept dangling from a silver chain around his neck when not in use. Dr Gallagher was one of two State Pathologists for the whole Cork area.
    'Hey Libby, how are you?' he enquired, with a grin. 'It's been a while.'
    'I'm great, Doctor,' she replied.
    'How's the new job going?'
    'We're busy enough.' She smiled. 'You're looking good yourself, Doctor, very tanned and healthy. Have you been abroad?'
    'Sadly no. I went fishing last weekend though, and fell asleep in the sun, hence the tan.' He glanced at her with curiosity. 'So what brings you here?'
    He knows exactly why I'm here, Libby thought. Everyone in this town is talking about this murder. 'The young doctor who was murdered up in the hospital.'
    'Terrible tragedy. I met Kathleen once - she was a fiery girl, all right. She gave out to me for being too slow producing a report, on one of her patients.'
    Libby asked with amusement, 'And were you really too slow?'
    'Not at all,' he replied. 'Kathleen wanted the report quickly, because she was going on holiday.'
    He rummaged through a pile of papers on the bench. 'I did the post-mortem last week. I have the photos here somewhere.'
    'Can I see them?' she asked.
    'Hang on a second.' He grabbed a pile of large photographs. 'Here we are.'
    'So what's your conclusion on how she died, Dr Gallagher?' Libby asked.
    'Someone suffocated our poor wee lady.' He flicked through the pictures, stopping at one. 'Here's the one I want.' He pointed at the photo. 'See these bruises,' he said, 'they're called petechiae.' Libby noticed little dark-red blotches on the white surface of the victim's eyeball. 'There is slight bruising to the tongue,' he added, showing her another photo.
    'See this red mark on the nose, the mouth is swollen and her larynx is bruised.' He paused, then he added, 'Notice her tongue is injured.' Libby examined the graphic images carefully.
    The doctor said, 'All of these signs are consistent with someone holding a pillow forcefully over her nose and mouth, stopping her breathing. The police forensic team found fibres around her nose, which they tell me, are from the pillow.'
    Libby stared at him. 'So this was our killer's weapon, the humble pillow.'
    He nodded. 'The blood tests showed high levels of carbon dioxide.'
    Libby's forehead creased. 'Any sign of sexual assault?'
    He shook his head. 'None.'
    'And no sign of robbery. So we have no clear motive as yet.'
    The doctor put his photographs back in order.
    'What time did Kathleen Lynch die?' asked Libby.
    'I'd say she was dead about eight hours when I first examined her.' He stopped for a few moments and checked his notes. 'Let us see, that was at ten am. So I reckon she died around two am that day, which was let me see...' Dr Gallagher paused. 'Last Tuesday morning.'
    'Kathleen must have really angered someone for them to kill her so brutally,' Libby said quietly.
    'To end up on a trolley in here, after all her hard work.' Dawn shrugged. 'Qualifying as a gynaecologist and all. Doesn't seem fair.'

Chapter 6
    Finbar Meenan summoned Libby into his private office, first thing on Friday morning. Finbar founded Mooney's Detective Agency ten years previously along with Libby's father. Their main clients were women seeking evidence of cheating husbands.
     Finbar was an army officer who had taken early retirement. Aged sixty-five, he was six feet four in height, with a large stomach that betrayed his fondness for pints of Guinness. He had oversized facial features – big beaky nose, high cheekbones, strong chin set in a