trouble than usual with you people and that’s about all it’ll amount to. No offence meant, but that’s the way things go. Anyway, I’ve told you, I don’t mind a chat any time as long as it’s in the afternoon. I sleep in the mornings when I’m working.’
‘Thanks.’
‘I’ll put the light on for you. These stairs are a bit dark.’
He felt he ought to shake hands. It had been a very helpful conversation for him, after all. But his hand lagged behind his feelings and Carla, seeing his hesitation almost before he was aware of it himself, withdrew quickly to save him embarrassment, saying goodbye and shutting the door. He felt ashamed.
‘ “One: Time of death approximately three days previously.
Two: Cause of death first of multiple fractures of the cranium, see photographs attached.
Further to the examination of the body in situ an autopsy carried out by the undersigned Prof. Forli, Ernesto established as follows:
a)The blows to the head were effected with a smooth wooden object and the first of the seven blows was fatal.
b)The victim offered no resistance to the attack (see (e)).
c)Livor mortis discernible on the lower back and under the forearm indicates that the body lay whole and supine for 10 to 12 hours after death occurred (see (d)).
d)The limbs and head were severed by mechanical means—probably an electrically powered saw— more than 12 hours after death occurred.
e)The contents of the stomach indicate the consumption of a heavy meal immediately before death and the administration of a sleeping draught mixed with red wine.
The above information and the lack of any traces of blood on the site where the body was recovered indicate that the attack took place in another locality and that the body remained there, intact, for at least 12 hours.
General note: The subject, a male, age approximately 20 years, was severely anæmic, a condition attendant on the constant administration of female hormones. As noted in a preliminary report the victim had been given artificial breasts of silicone. As regards the identification of the subject, it should be noted that these weighed 11 ½ ozs. and that the normal maximum weight would be approximately 8 ozs.
No clothing was recovered for examination but the disposition of the marks of livor mortis indicates that the victim was dressed when the attack took place and remained so until the time when the limbs were severed.” ’
The Marshal paused in his reading and looked at Ferrini who was examining one of the photographs. ‘Shall I read his summary?’
‘I don’t think you need to. It seems clear enough. Nice meal with a sleeping pill in the wine. A blow on the head once he’d passed out—and then the long wait—why the long wait? An electric saw . . . My God . . .’
‘Perhaps he didn’t have one,’ suggested the Marshal.
‘You could be right. I mean, if all this happened at night there are no all-night ironmongers like there are all-night chemists.’
‘No. I’d better switch the light on.’ They were closeted in the Marshal’s office on the afternoon following his visit to Carla. At half past five it was already going dark. The photographs, suddenly illuminated, were sharp and detailed but hardly shocking. It was too difficult to connect them with anything human. Except for the head, of which only a part had been eaten away. It was the head that Ferrini was staring at.
‘So it’s Lulu,’ he said. ‘It seemed likely enough yesterday when the Spanish doctor said he hadn’t turned up for the appointment, but those eleven and a half ounces tell the story. Eleven and a half ounces, for Christ’s sake! He mentioned that on the phone. It’s unheard of—and apparently they were giving some trouble which was why he was going back to the clinic. Do you reckon that’s sufficient for an official identification?’
‘It’s a bit unusual. The Public Prosecutor’s the one to decide. I suppose I’d better inform him . . .’ He