They made their way through the double doors and into the main room, where Collins pulled open one of the storage drawers on the far wall where the bodies were kept. Inside was the chilled corpse of Raymond Chadwick.

Larcombe looked at her intently, then peered down at the body in the drawer.

‘You’re a bit late, Stacey,’ he said softly. ‘Someone’s already done an autopsy on this body. Twice by the look of things.’

‘I know this is highly unusual,’ said Collins, ‘but I need you to look at this body and tell me as much as you can about how this person died.’

‘You don’t trust the opinion of the first doctor?’

‘Let’s just say I’d be very interested to hear what you have to say.’

‘Then I suggest you don’t tell me anything more until I’ve finished my own examination. When I’ve finished it would be good to see the original reports for comparison.’

‘I’m having them sent over. They should be here soon.’

‘Then I suggest you make yourself comfortable. This could take quite a while.’

Collins sat in a corner while Larcombe went to work with gloved hands, probing and prodding at the body, a look of intense concentration on his face. Half an hour later the reports arrived by courier and he asked for them to be placed on a desk close to the examination table so that he could read them after his examination. It hadn’t taken long for Larcombe to finish. He snapped off his gloves and tossed them in the nearest bin while making his way over towards Collins.

‘It hasn’t been easy. There wasn’t a lot to work with in the first place,’ explained Larcombe, ‘and there has been more decomposition since the first post-mortems were carried out. That said, two things stand out. First, the incision to the chest cavity was made by someone not only with medical training but also with a great deal of experience. There are no hesitation cuts, and the amount of pressure used was correctly varied from the top of the thorax to the top of the pelvis to avoid damaging any internal organs. I know student doctors two years into the job who still can’t manage to get that right.

‘Second, the victim was given intravenous medication while they were being cut open. I’m going to assume it was some kind of anaesthesia or paralytic, most likely a combination of the two. That’s the kind of procedure you only ever get in a medical environment. I’ve never seen it in a crime victim. What was particularly interesting is that the entry point for the IV needle was at the base of the neck. A very unusual site, though a highly effective one. I found the mark quite easily but it seemed that it had recently been covered up. By make-up. Fresh make-up, applied since the body has been in the morgue. I have no idea why anyone would want to do that. So tell me, Stacey, what exactly is going on?’

Collins nodded towards the desk on the other side of the room. ‘I think it’s time for you to read the reports.’

Larcombe nodded and glanced at the large clock above the desk. ‘I hope I’m going to be able to get overtime for this.’

‘Edward, if you help me crack this case, I’ll make sure you get a medal.’

Larcombe read the report in absolute silence with Collins looking on intently. When he had finished he removed his reading glasses and folded them neatly on the desk beside the tightly bound sheets of paper that made up the report. He pinched at the bridge of his nose with his fingers before he spoke. ‘Well, Stacey, I’d have to say that ninety-five per cent of what has been put in the autopsy report is absolutely accurate. Dr Matthews did her job very competently. Very competently indeed.’

‘Ninety five per cent, you say. So what was she keeping back?’

‘Well, there’s no mention at all of the IV puncture mark – which is either a sign of enormous incompetence or a deliberate omission.’

‘Anything else?’

‘The toxicology reports are rather fascinating.’

‘I was told they held no relevant information.’

‘That couldn’t be further from the truth. They’ve come back positive for an analogue of rocuronium.’

‘Which is?’

‘In a nutshell, it’s a muscle relaxant and is used in surgery as part of the general anaesthesia when patients need to be intubated.’

‘You’ll have to spell this one out for me.’

‘Of course. If a patient has trouble breathing, we do what’s called an endotracheal intubation. You see it all the time on hospital dramas on TV. They use a metal pole with a curved stick a little like a sword on one end and slip it into the throat to hold the airways open, while a plastic tube is inserted down into the lungs.’

‘I’ve seen that. I know what you mean. But I don’t understand the relevance. Are you saying the killer has been intubating the victims?’

‘Not at all. The difficulty with trying to intubate a patient who is still conscious is that the gag reflex is still active. Anything inserted into the throat makes the patient cough violently. The throat tightens up and it’s impossible to get a breathing tube down there. It’s a huge problem.

‘Rocuronium is one of a family of drugs that instantly make the muscles relax. Within seconds of receiving the drug, the patient will be as limp as a ragdoll and their gag reflex will be disabled. They can be intubated without difficulty.’

‘So it’s like a tranquilizer.’

‘Not exactly. It doesn’t make people unconscious. It doesn’t prevent pain. It just prevents people from moving. It would render them totally and utterly paralysed. Any decent hospital would only ever administer it alongside other drugs so the patient would be asleep during the procedure. By all accounts, being given the drug on its own is a pretty scary experience. Because it paralyses all the muscles including those of the chest, those who are on it can feel like they are suffocating to death. It’s said to be akin to having a severe heart attack, only you can’t tell anyone about it; you can’t even scream.’

‘Did the tests find the presence of any kind of anaesthesia?’

‘This was the only drug present in all three victims. Nothing else was being used. Nothing at all.’

‘Are you telling me,’ said Collins, stuttering as she tried to get the words out, ‘that our victims would have known they were being cut open, operated on?’

There was a pause before Larcombe replied. ‘You have to understand, Stacey, that after a minute or two these people would have been in so much pain that their brains would not have been able to handle it. They would have blacked out to prevent them dying of shock. But up until that time they would have felt every single incision.’

20

DCI Anderson ignored the phone for the first few rings, convinced that he must be dreaming. It was only after his long-suffering wife leaned across and elbowed him in the ribs that he reached across and lifted the handset from the cradle.

‘Hello?’

Collins was determined to extract every ounce of pleasure out of being able to phone Anderson at 2 a.m.

‘I’m not waking you up, am I, sir?’

‘What the hell do you think, Collins? What do you want?’

She couldn’t help but smile at the grumpy, hoarse tone of his voice.

‘It’s Jessica Matthews,’ she said firmly. ‘She’s our killer.’

‘What are you talking about?’

‘This case. Chadwick and the others. I believe Matthews is responsible.’

She could almost hear Anderson blinking furiously in disbelief at what he had just heard.

‘Did you say Jessica Matthews?’

‘Yes, sir.’

‘Dr Jessica Matthews.’

‘Yes.’

‘The forensic pathologist?’

‘Yes.’

‘Your friend.’

‘Well, yes.’

‘Are you out of your mind?’

‘Sir, I’ve gathered a lot of information. I know it sounds unlikely at first but all the evidence points towards her.’

‘It better do for you to have woken me up at this time. Tell me what you’ve got.’