The Man with No Face Read online

  ‘Really?’ Abernethy became acutely aware of his own ‘late baby’ status. That he had clearly been fit and healthy enough to pass the police entrance medical meant that he too must have had a lucky escape. It was something he had never before considered.

  ‘Really, though, only from a purely scientific perspective. In the real world there is emotional maturity to achieve, universities to attend, career foundations to be laid, life to be explored, miles to be travelled complete with backpack and all the rest of it which means that in the wider perspective, pregnancy before the mid to late teens is often a bit of a disaster. But from a purely medical point of view, seventeen or thereabouts is the optimum age for child-bearing. And this fella’s mum probably missed it, in his respect, anyway.

  ‘So in terms of ID you have stature, ethnic group, and a single tattoo. No other marks that I can detect which may point to his identity. He has short, curly black hair, I mention this for the report, grey at the edges and I would put his age at thirty-five to forty-five. I can’t be more accurate at the moment but I could take a tooth and cross-section it, which will give his age to within one year of his actual age. I’ll do that for you and I’ll also send his lower jaw to the School of Dentistry so that they can attempt to match his teeth with their dental records, always a useful source of information, your teeth are. If he had dental treatment in the city of Glasgow, his records will have been copied to the School of Dentistry archives, but I’ll only do that if you can’t determine his identification from his fingerprints…which…are intact…not surgically removed or lost by accident that I can see. I don’t mind getting to the bottom of things, but I could never see the point of work without a purpose…so if I chance my arm and assume that the fingerprints will provide the answer to the question of his ID, I’ll confine my efforts to the determination of the cause of his death. Keep it efficient, DC Abernethy, keep it efficient.’

  ‘Of course, sir.’

  ‘So, we’ll consider that now and also the approximate time of death, which will be a matter of hours ago…no decomposition, rigor just beginning to establish itself. This man was alive and walking and talking this time yesterday, possibly even alive and well and walking and talking this time yesterday evening, weren’t you, my friend?’ Reynolds laid his hands on the arm of the body. ‘It feels cold and stiff. So we are looking at death occurring between ten a.m. yesterday, and two a.m. this morning. We’ll narrow it down yet, though, don’t worry.’

  ‘Appreciate it, sir,’ said Abernethy, for want of something to say.

  ‘By far the best way to determine time of death in this instance, I would suggest, is by examining postmortem cooling. This is not as straightforward as it might seem, no Newtonian single exponential curve for we poor pathologists, too many other factors to consider. Humans are as complicated in death as they are in life.’

  ‘Indeed, sir,’ Abernethy said, having not the faintest idea what a Newtonian single exponential curve was, and who was in any event still preoccupied by the implications of his mother’s age when she gave birth.

  ‘Can’t assume that the living temperature was normal at ninety-eight point four degrees Fahrenheit or thirty-seven degrees centigrade and cannot be measured retrospectively anyway. I mean, of course, how can it? Can’t heat up a corpse. Did you know that there is a difference in temperature in different parts of the living body?’

  ‘Didn’t, sir, no’

  ‘Did you, Mr Millard?’

  ‘I had heard something along those lines, in fact, yes.’ The mortuary assistant’s eyes still gleamed as he surveyed the corpse, particularly the wound, the gaping crater where the face used to be.

  ‘They vary according to health as well. We’ve all run temperatures, but terminally ill folk have a cooler than normal body temperature. Day temperature is higher than night time temperature by as much as one degree centigrade. In scientific terms that’s a significant margin. But, to the matter in hand.

  ‘We have a thin body which will cool more quickly than average. He was lying face down, arms by his side, which is a rapidly cooling posture. That is to say, a posture which will permit rapid heat loss. If he was curled up in a foetal position, for example, that would lessen the rate of heat loss. Clothing…?’

  ‘At the Forensic Science Laboratory, sir, Pitt Street.’ Abernethy was quick to respond.

  ‘Comprised’—Reynolds consulted his notes—‘suit, ankle socks, shoes, shirt, undergarments…insufficient clothing for the time of year really…but…well, more your province than mine, but I would have thought that that would indicate the murder having taken place indoors…something perhaps for you to think about?’

  ‘Yes, sir, I’ll pass it up.’

  ‘But from my point of view, the scarcity of clothing means that the clothing would not have inhibited heat loss, so heat loss is looking ever more rapid in this case. The clothing was dampened by rain and that would assist heat loss…and so I err on the side of a rapid heat loss. These are rule-of-thumb measurements, DC Abernethy…I’ll do more accurate calculations after I’ve performed the PM…this is offered as something for you to work on.’

  ‘Understand, sir.’

  ‘The air temperature when I viewed the scene was two degrees centigrade and the ground temperature was one degree centigrade. Again, this would cause a rapid heat loss. The rectal temperature of the deceased was recorded as thirty-two degrees centigrade. There is a fairly complicated model…Henschke’s nomogram method which I favour above other methods. It has been found to have been accurate in the past when it’s been able to be checked against police findings and confessions, for example. I’ll phone DI Donoghue with the results of that method later today. It’ll be this afternoon, won’t be able to get it to him before lunch. But with a rectal temperature of thirty-two degrees centigrade, and factors which indicate a rapid heat loss, then without committing myself I’d say this chap had his face blown out from behind at about midnight, plus or minus an hour, maybe two hours to keep me safe.’ Reynolds smiled. ‘He was cooled between ten o’clock last night and two o’clock this morning.’

  ‘Between ten and two,’ Abernethy repeated. ‘I presume that means the gunshot did kill him. I mean, he wasn’t already deceased when he was shot?’

  ‘Most probably…but at the moment all we can say is that if the gunshot didn’t kill him then it followed hard upon the heels of whatever it was that did. But let’s remain with the issue of time of death…Mr Millard, can I have the scalpel, please?’ Millard handed Reynolds the scalpel, placing its handle firmly in Reynolds’s palm. Reynolds placed the scalpel at the thorax of the corpse and drew the blade down to the groin. As he did so he said for the benefit of the tape, ‘Standard midline incision made.’ He peeled the skin back from each side of the incision. ‘Small stomach…’

  ‘Sir?’ Abernethy leaned forward.

  ‘I just mention that he has a small stomach. Odd organ, the stomach, can vary greatly from person to person, but there’s no obvious outward sign of the size of it. Some people can drink a pint of beer in one go and can pack away a huge meal with minimal effort, such is often the only way of determining the size of the person’s stomach without actually opening him up. But Mr Case No. whatever here had, still has, a small stomach. Has he perchance been a guest of Her Majesty’s of late?’

  ‘Sergeant Sussock’s contention is that he has, sir. The clothing appears to be prison discharge issue.’

  ‘It would fit. And it probably means that we can be assured that the fingerprints will be able to prove his identity. I confess the only stomachs I have seen which are as small as this are of those who were teetotal in life, or of those who have been a recent long-term guest of Her Majesty and whose stomachs have for said long term been denied the stomach-expanding properties of alcohol-induced carbohydrates. You get lean and fit quick in the nick, or so ’tis my ever so humble observation.’

  ‘Indeed, sir.’

  ‘So let’s see what he had for his last meal.’ Reynolds slid the
scalpel blade across the stomach and it opened effortlessly with a minimum escape of gas. ‘Quite healthy, quite a muscular stomach. Again, that would fit if he has spent time in the prison gym pushing weights. Over all, in fact, he is quite muscular. Oh…he was hungry when he died. Digestion can continue after death, like facial hair can grow after death. The corpse’s whiskers are well documented, and in fact the deceased here has a stubble on his chin which is markedly increased over the stubble I noted when I first saw him at the locus. There appears to be the remnants of meat, thin meat, bacon perhaps, and bread. A very late-taken breakfast, perhaps. But nothing, I’d say, for, well, eight, ten, twelve hours before he died.’

  ‘Hungry, as you say, sir.’

  ‘But his last meal was, as I said, perhaps bacon and bread. A bacon roll, perhaps. It may be important. I mean if you do get a positive identity and then someone says that they had a chicken curry with him at an Indian restaurant just before midnight last night, you’ll know that that person is giving false information, if not telling a downright porkpie. You know, I think this chap slept late yesterday, like a lot of ex-lags do, had a bacon roll at lunchtime and then had nothing else to eat. Ever. But for our purposes I’m afraid that the content of the stomach can’t help determine the time of death. Stomach contents have helped in the past. If, for example, they have a recently ingested and identifiable meal which he was seen eating, and no other food, then it would confirm that meal he was seen eating was his last meal, and thereby indicate the time of death.’

  ‘But in this case…?’

  ‘In this case it tells us nothing. His stomach, like his face, is a cavity. But you know your DI, Mr Donoghue, he has a phrase that he employs from time to time: “a stone worth turning over”, I think it is. Opening his stomach was a stone worth turning over. There was nothing underneath it, as it happened, but it was worth a keek in a keyhole, to mix my metaphors.’

  ‘Yes, sir.’

  ‘In other circumstances we could attempt to gauge the time of death by examining vitreous humour taken from the eye and testing the potassium concentration, there being a significant and graded increase in the level of potassium in the eye fluid after death. The greater the potassium level, the longer the time since death occurred. But as we have been denied access to both eyes courtesy of a high-velocity, large-calibre bullet, it seems that is not an option we can explore.’

  ‘No, sir.’

  ‘The only other method of determining approximate time since death is by examination of the postmortem chemical changes, which are extremely useful in a corpse of some years of age, by which I mean when death occurred some years hence, bodies found in shallow graves, for example, but in respect of such a recent corpse, the messages given out by chemical changes are rapid and confused and not a reliable indicator. Which brings us back to determining time of death by considering body cooling. I’ll do a careful calculation, but 111 say now, off the record, he died about midnight last night.’ Then, clearly for the tape, Reynolds said in a more authoritative voice, ‘Stomach was small and healthy, covered by muscular tissue. It contained what appeared to be meat and bread, remnants of a snack taken approximately twelve hours before death. Early indications are that death occurred at midnight on the twenty-fourth/twenty-fifth October. Clocks went back last night, didn’t they?’

  ‘Yes, sir. At oh-hundred hours, to be exact. Oh-hundred became eleven p.m. Bad luck for the night-shift boys.’

  ‘Could complicate your enquiry. But possibly not. Well now, we turn to the second question, being the cause of death. Death by gunshot or death by other means. We shall see.’ Reynolds pondered the corpse, pinching his nose between thumb and forefinger in an unselfconscious, involuntary manner as he did so. ‘Well, immediately obvious as a probable cause of death is massive trauma to the head. It appears to be an injury caused by a bullet fired from a weapon with a high-muzzle velocity. It impacted at the base of the skull and it appears that the kinetic energy has in effect, caused the head to explode. No trace of the face, apart from the jaw, is recognizable. It is in the manner of a cavity. There has been complete disintegration of the skull and a traumatic removal of all cerebral tissue.’ Reynolds paused. ‘I confess it is as near a case of brains being blown out as I have ever come across—you could get a haggis in there.

  ‘Mr Millard?’

  ‘Sir?’

  ‘I’d like to rotate the body…if you grab the ankles, I’ll handle the shoulders…this way round, clockwise from my perspective, anti from yours…three, two, now Abernethy watched as the corpse was flipped over on to its front in a manner clearly practised by Reynolds and Millard. Millard grabbed the white towel and placed it neatly over the corpse’s small buttocks.

  Thank you,’ Reynolds said automatically. ‘The entrance wound is clearly visible…the muzzle of the gun was not held against the skin. I would expect to see the so-called “muzzle imprint” were that the case…neither does there appear to be any evidence of muzzle gases entering the subcutaneous skin. It was close though. That is to say, the muzzle was close to the point of entry, a few inches away. The wound is circular and there is a distinct abrasion collar. The perimeter of the wound is everted, or raggedy, due to the skin being torn by the bullet. The hairs at the back of the neck, his scalp hair, that is, is clubbed or singed, caused by heat melting the keratin. There is a small amount of bruising which may increase with the postmortem interval. That, Mr Abernethy, is another indication that this gentleman was shot just a matter of hours before he was found. In twelve hours’ time this bruising will have become more evident. Bruising does not occur after death, it can’t, but bruising sustained at the time of death becomes more marked as the time period after death increases.’

  ‘I see, sir.’

  ‘So, barely evident bruising is a further indication of recent death…I find the tattooing round the wound of interest…a circular pattern around the wound…but distinctly of powder grain, not soot. Soot, if I am not mistaken, but will check my references, does not travel much above six inches from the muzzle of the gun, but powder grains travel up to eighteen inches. From this you can say that the muzzle of the gun was more than six inches from the victim when it was fired, but not more than eighteen inches…now…here…here…I can help you…I can assist you greatly.’

  ‘Oh?’ Abernethy stepped forward.

  ‘Blue…blue bits of explosive…this is unburned explosive…minute, barely discernible to the naked eye…but I’ll collect it for you. It will help to determine the manufacturer of the ammunition…you could perhaps trace that to a user…but only perhaps…because my inclination is that this is the work of someone who has an illegally held weapon…designed for military use…not target-practice use. I can’t determine the exact distance between the muzzle and the entrance wound without data from test firing of the weapon itself or a similar weapon, but, as I said, given the tattooing, the fouling, the presence of unburned explosive…between six and eighteen inches is a reasonable estimate.’

  That’s close enough, I should think, sir.’ Abernethy smiled his thanks.

  ‘Certainly means it’s unlikely to be accidental.’ Reynolds looked at his assistant. ‘Could we flip him over, please…same direction as before…three, two…now.’

  Again Abernethy watched the practised procedure and the deft grabbing and replacing of the towel by Millard.

  ‘Often’—Reynolds spoke as if to the room, as if to a lecture hall full of students, as if to himself, but did not speak directly to either Abernethy or Millard—‘often a high-velocity bullet comes out the other side…it has a through-and-through characteristic…so much so that not only does the bullet pass straight through the body, but the exit wound can look…well, not dissimilar to the entrance wound. So what has happened here?’ Reynolds tapped the side of the table with his fingertips. ‘What has caused his face to explode and pull his brains out after it? My guess is two things, that is, one of two things or a combination of both. In the first place, the bullet has struck the upper
vertebrae, that has shattered the bone and may well have also shattered the bullet causing a dumdum effect. You know what a dumdum bullet is, DC Abernethy?’

  Abernethy said, yes…he did know.

  They were first used near the town of Dum Dum just to the north of Calcutta during the Indian Mutiny. Hence the name. Quite true. If ever you’re looking for quiz questions for the division’s Christmas party, that’s a good one to use.’

  ‘I’ll bear that in mind, sir.’

  ‘So, either this was a dumdum bullet, or the bullet shattered upon impact and had a dumdum effect, or this is a good example of cavitation. I confess I think the latter.’

  ‘Cavitation?’

  ‘A comparatively recently understood phenomenon, DC Abernethy. Essentially, just as a speeding bullet pushes energy out in front of it, it also pushes energy out all around it as it travels at about one mile per second. And the higher the velocity, the greater the energy being pushed out all around it. If said bullet were then to enter an area of soft tissue such as brain, which is encased in a hard shell such as the human skull, then the energy waves are trapped, they have nowhere to escape to and so are transmitted back inside the skull, turning the grey matter to mush in the process until they have somewhere to escape to which is provided by the bullet, or many parts of same forcing an exit wound. In this case at the front of the head. The energy waves desperate for somewhere to escape to effectively follow the bullet out, bringing the brain with them. And all this happens in a nanosecond. In the twink of an eye.’