There Is More Light Than Dark

Chapter Sixty Eight

Saturday August 20

Detective Dean McCoy took the first call of his day on the way into the city to be right there if the body from Thursday was going to be able to be identified.

'Yes, John?' He was caught somewhere between busy, frustrated and tired; and ended up at rude.

Senior Constable John Tyrell didn't flinch. He knew McCoy and he knew this was big.

'Well we've got confirmation regarding that Merc, Deano. That car definitely hit a human being.' He waited for a response but the line stayed silent. 'The impact points indicate they hit something around 180 centimetres tall at speed – around 85 kilometres an hour.'

'OK, well that's a start. Anything else?'

'They've got hair and skin samples from the bonnet, windscreen and side roof sills and they are running DNA on that.'

'Can you have them match it with the body we dug up Thursday as well, John? I'm heading in here now. At least if they're not on the system we can make sure the one poor bastard got all of it and not worry about a second body still lying around out there somewhere.' McCoy was confident it'd be a match but he still didn't want to assume anything at this point.

'Can do Deano. Wang's preliminary on the body is in – no match yet but they have injuries 'consistent with a high speed impact as a pedestrian with an automobile – small sedan slash low bonnet angle.' And then those fucking head injuries. Sounds like this guy got really unlucky.' John Tyrell always brought an element of informality to things which loosened the buttons on some of the more rigid cops.

'Yeah, thanks Johno.' McCoy was still deep in thought. He was thinking about a few things Harper Lewis had said to him over the last few days and each one of them was sounding closer to the mark than ever. He wasn't sure that she wasn't the best new Detective he had ever worked with, save for the fuck ups and attitude in the first couple of weeks. He looked at himself quickly in the mirror and questioned himself as to whether the attitude bit was more her or him, but he didn't stay long.

He didn't want to hear Katherine McCoy's answer.

'Sometimes it's just your time, you know?' McCoy hung up and drove the rest of the way in silence.

He stepped out into the grey Melbourne morning and pulled his jacket high up around his neck. He saw two other cars in the part of the carpark reserved for cops that weren't squad cars. One was a Jag, the other a Toyota Echo. He smiled as he recalled one of the older Senior Constables describing Lewis' car as 'like a wheelchair with a fucking roof on it.' The other was Dr. Martina Wang, the autopsist who was another of McCoy's favourite operators. She was straight down the line, no fuss, no bullshit.

He needed that more than ever with this one.

The rest of the Coronial Services Centre was abandoned on this Saturday morning – most eating at a Northcote Café or screaming at their kids across a football field.

He walked quickly through the sliding glass doors and instantly liked the vanilla backed disinfectant they used here these days. The post mortem room he was looking for was the first one on his right. As he put on his gloves he looked through the window pane in the door to see Wang and Lewis leaning closely to the upper part of the body on the bench. He reached to dab some Vicks under his nose but thought better of it as he saw Lewis hadn't bothered.

After twenty four years in the force the smell as he pushed the door open hadn't become any easier to ignore. He strode to the table and stood on the same side as Lewis. She took a step back so as to allow McCoy to be closer to where Wang was working but he put out his hand and gestured her to return.