Mistletoe in the Mortuary (Inspector Rames)

Chapter 5

When Cassia woke up, she thought her head was being cut open with a bone saw. Again.

She lay still for a long time, aching all over. What hurt the most were her memories, although she wasn't surprised by them.

There had been something between her and Sebastian for a long time. On her worst nights with Miles, towards the end, she'd thought of Sebastian. And she'd felt guilty. But after the divorce...those nights had been accompanied by dreams. She hadn't felt guilty then, only flustered when she'd woken in the cold dawn, and foolish for liking the idea of being one of his women.

For a crazy moment last night, she'd thought they'd started something. She'd thought she'd finally get to know what is was like to be with him. Although it was something she'd resisted for a long time, her sober self wasn't relieved it hadn't happened. She was disappointed.

It turned out that she did like the thought of a one-night stand if that night was with Sebastian.

But he hadn't even wanted to kiss her.

She got ready for work and caught a tram to the hospital, trying to block out the dizzying noises of the city. In the mortuary's staff office, she read the information on the body she'd been assigned to examine. Zacharias passed her desk with a cold look that let her know she looked just as hungover as she'd feared.

Standing in the post-mortem room brought some focus.

Rachel had been discovered at the bottom of a metal staircase near the high street the previous evening. Photos from the scene showed her head twisted at an unnatural angle, suggesting a broken neck. Her husband hadn't been with her, but he'd told the police that Rachel had been drinking earlier in the evening. It was a believable story -- she was a known alcoholic.

But the police had also been called to her flat on several previous occasions when the neighbours had reported suspicions of domestic abuse. The husband had always escaped charges.

Rachel's medical records said that she'd suffered from coronary artery disease. She was forty, but she looked two decades older, and it wasn't the heart problems that had aged her -- it was the alcohol. The rest of her was a further slide of contradictions: she'd taken time over her nails, which were painted pink and sharpened like talons; but she'd left her dark hair greasy and her tracksuit was stained. There had probably been a time when she'd been a physically flawless individual. Then abuse and alcohol had taken hold of her.

After the external examination with clothes, P17 cut them off. Together, they noted everything about Rachel: race, height, weight, build, hair colour, eye colour, teeth, scars, tattoos, moles...nothing could go unnoticed with any body. What was the degree of rigor and livor mortis? Was there external evidence pointing to the cause of death, like signs of disease?

Cassia paid special attention to Rachel's skin. It was peppered with bruises, mainly along her arms and back. All of them had a brown or yellow discolouration, which meant they'd been made just over a week ago. The only exceptions were the dark contusions on her shins, but that was a common injury in alcoholics as they frequently blundered into things.

Cassia and P17 began the process of examining Rachel's internal organs in situ, then removing them for closer inspection. They discovered the report had been right -- she'd been drunk, because she smelled like a brewery, and she'd suffered a broken neck. But the spinal cord hadn't been severed. The injury wouldn't have killed her.

However, the heart attack might have done.

Upon examining Rachel's heart and finding a section of dead muscle, Cassia realised there were three possible scenarios. Rachel had suffered the heart attack at the top of the stairs, fallen down, broken her neck, and died where she'd fallen. Rachel had fallen down the stairs in a drunken accident, broken her neck, and the trauma had triggered the fatal heart attack. Or Rachel had been pushed down the stairs by her husband, broken her neck, and the trauma had triggered the fatal heart attack.