Ten Guilty Men (A DCI Morton Crime Novel Book 3) Read Online Free Page B

with Death
    Ellis DeLange’s body was tiny in death, lying atop a full-size gurney which could have accommodated her body twice over. Her eyes had been closed out of respect and a paper covering guarded her modesty. Dr Larry Chiswick leant over the body to take a final sample, his bear-like shoulders almost obscuring Morton and Ayala’s view.
    Next, Doctor Chiswick picked up a hypodermic needle with his left hand, and spoke gruffly as he held it aloft: ‘I’ll be with you in a moment. Got most of your samples bagged and tagged. There was something organic under her nails. That’s already gone off to DNA. On the shelf there, you’ve got liver, brain, bile and blood samples. Just got to get this last one.’
    Chiswick swept a hand towards a metal tray behind him which held the evidence, ready to be sent over to the Met’s forensics department by the diener. Morton glanced at the blood samples. The nearest one was labelled ‘Femoral Artery’ followed by Ellis’ name, and various numbers. The other was marked ‘ Heart ’.
    Ayala followed Morton’s gaze and frowned.
    ‘Doc, why do we need multiple blood samples?’ Ayala asked as he focused hard on the row of vials. It was his first time attending an autopsy. Morton wondered how long it would be before Ayala excused himself due to the smell.
    The coroner swung round, pointing the high-gauge needle in Ayala’s direction. ‘You said there were drugs found in the house. If we’re testing the full range, we need two samples because the concentration can vary in different parts of the body. Basic science, you know.’
    Chiswick turned back to the body, and used the thumb of his right hand to push open Ellis’ left eyelid. Moments too late, Ayala drew back as he realised what was about to happen. The coroner deftly plunged the needle into the eye, then pulled back on the syringe end to withdraw a sample from the vitreous humour. He injected the fluid into a glass phial, then set the needle down.
    Ayala retched, then bolted from the room.
    ‘Eight minutes. That’s a new record, even for you. You should get a new second-in-command. That lad doesn’t seem to have the stomach for this sort of work,’ Chiswick said.
    ‘If only. I think I’m stuck with him. Besides, if I ditch him I’ll only have Mayberry left and nobody wants that.’
    Chiswick’s expression darkened. ‘I wondered who’d get stuck with him. Sorry it had to be you.’
    ‘Office politics. With Vaughn gone, I had to promote Ayala from within and Mayberry is Ayala’s replacement. How’s life down here treating you, Larry?’
    ‘Can’t complain. Compared to my patients, I’m doing dandy,’ the coroner joked.
    Morton scowled at the coroner’s dark sense of humour, and then glanced out into the corridor.
    ‘Ayala’s long gone. Let’s get on with it. I’ll catch him up later.’
    ‘Right you are. Ellis DeLange, age thirty. Death was caused by blunt force trauma to the back of the head resulting in a subdural haematoma. Her brain bled out from the inside. It would have been pretty quick.’
    ‘Definitely murder then?’
    ‘Unless she ran backwards at about fifteen miles an hour into a solid object, then threw her own body in the pool to cover it up, I think we can rule out accidental death or suicide.’
    ‘What was she hit with?’
    ‘Damned if I know,’ Chiswick said. ‘Something oblong, reasonably heavy. The force was dispersed over a large contact area, so it wasn’t as narrow as a pipe. I’d be tempted to say a brick, but there doesn’t appear to be any transfer evidence to support that. You find anything like that?’
    ‘Nope. All we found were drugs, condoms, pizza boxes and a towel in the garden.’
    Chiswick leant against his workbench, and smiled. ‘Sounds like my student days.’
    ‘She was a bit old for that, and not looking too good for her age either.’
    ‘That’s nothing more than a poor diet, her make-up being washed off in the water and a touch of