Two For Mirth

Chapter Six

13:15

I was watching her, she was crying her eyes out. They were always so talkative when they were at the hospital, they always flirted with me, but as soon as I get them home, they fight me, they call me names, and tell me that they don’t like me in that way.

I let out a deep sigh, one of these days, I will pick the right one, I will get the one who wants to stay with me, who wants to be mine forever and never leave the room.

She was sniveling, her nose was bleeding, from where I had smacked her, her cries had been so loud that they were putting me off, and I didn’t want that nosey old bag next door wanting to know what was going on.

“You are my love.” He muttered to her. “I only want to take care of you like you deserve, you should be more grateful than this. If you would just submit to me, I would consider removing your bounds, and let you have the freedom you deserve, but I can't while you are acting like this.”

“Please, I love my boyfriend, I just want to see him again.” She begged through uncontrollable sobbing. I had taken her gag off, so she could have a drink and some food, he was regretting it now as she wouldn’t shut up about her boyfriend “I wanted to be friends, nothing more, why are you doing this to me? What did I do to deserve this?”

“You made me fall in love with you, you stupid b***h, now shut the f**k up and let me think,” I screamed making her jump. She went quiet, more out of shock than being scared. I need to calm down, or she would end up like the others, and I really do like this one, she is pretty, she is the right age, her beautiful blonde hair lay loose over the pillows, oh how beautiful she was, why can’t she just like me for who I am. Standing, I made my way over to her again, she tried to shy away from me, but her bounds put paid to that.

13:30

Cecelia was just redoing her hair as Riley did up his tie. She smoothed her hair back into a ponytail as the phone on her desk began to ring. Cecelia put it on speakerphone so she could continue getting herself presentable again.

“Doctor Montage speaking.” She said in a distant tone as she noticed the pink flush she had to her cheeks. She pulled the foundation out of her handbag and attempted to hide it the best she could.

“Doctor Montage it's Kelly on the main desk.” Came the voice of the young woman they had hired to replace Mandy Bartholomew after she was arrested and put away for life. She was what you would refer to as a typical blonde, but she was good at her job, even if she was a little dense. This suited Cecelia. The last one proved that intelligence isn’t always a good thing, and it could be very dangerous in the wrong hands. “I have a doctor Evelyn Marksman here asking for you.”

“Ok, thank you, Kelly, I will come and get her now,” Cecelia said as she straightened Riley’s tie for him before ending the call. “Go and wait for me in the conference room, after about twenty minutes come in, make it look like you have just arrived.”

“Why?” Riley asked with a frown.

“Sally wasn’t joking when she said Evelyn was good at her job, if she sees me with a flush and she sees you in my office, she will instantly know we have been up to no good in here,” Cecelia said opening the window in her office to let the cool air come into the room. She kissed him and they walked their separate ways down the hall. As Riley disappeared around the corner, Cecelia got into the elevator and rode it down to the ground floor.

As she walked through the security door and out into the main foyer, she saw a tall thin woman wearing jeans and a pink shirt. Her shoulder-length brown hair was pulled into a ponytail at the back of her head. Around her neck hung a big Ankh cross, something she never went anywhere without. She had always said that the only religion she could bring herself to believe was that of the Ancient Egyptians.

“Evelyn,” Cecelia said with a smile as she approached the woman. The briefly hugged

“Cecelia, oh wow look at you.” She said holding her friend by the shoulders and looking her up and down. “And you are pregnant!”

“Shhh….” Cecelia said, looking around to make sure no one had heard. “We are waiting until 12 weeks, let’s not blurt it out to the world just yet.”

“You look stunning, you are positively glowing!” She exclaimed.

“Why don’t you come on through to my office and we can chat there so that the whole world can’t hear us,” Cecelia said with a smile. She led her through and they took the stairs up to the top floor where Cecelia’s office was situated. Cecelia popped her head into where her secretary was sitting typing up some reports. “Jules, can you make a pot of tea and bring two mugs to my office please.”

“Of course Doctor Montage, I will bring it right through.” The secretary said with a warm smile. Something in her eyes told Cecelia she knew what had been going on in the office beforehand, this made the flush on her cheeks deepen.

Cecelia went back into her office to find Evelyn already sitting in one of the chairs opposite Cecelia’s.

“So, how are you? I have heard you have had quite a trying start to your life here.” Evelyn said to her, concern conveyed in her eyes, something which was rarely seen. “I’ve heard quite a few stories on my travels, never sure which to believe, so I am going to get it straight from the horse’s mouth. So start talking to me.”

“Well, let’s start with that’s an understatement,” Cecelia said with a snort as she sat down in her comfy office chair. “It’s been a nightmare of a year, but I am plodding through the best I can. For everything terrible that has happened, something good has appeared from it, so I can’t complain too much.”

“Oh Cecelia,” Evelyn said with a soft sigh. “What are we going to do with you?”

“Damned if I know.” She said with a shrug and a sigh of her own.

“A night out is what you need. A real proper piss-up.” Cecelia replied, silently relieved that she had a pretty decent get-out clause.

“I would love the time for that, but I am in the middle of a murder case.”

“Spoilsport.” Evelyn declared with a pout.

“Yeah, that’s me.” She said. “And besides, I can’t get drunk. I’m pregnant.

“Pregnancy is such a bore.” She said with a chuckle. “I hear on the grapevine you are to be married also.”

“Indeed I am, yes. We were going for the year after next, but may have to bring it forward now that I’m pregnant, we would rather be married before we have children.” Cecelia said.

“You’re what 10 maybe 11 weeks at the most..” Evelyn said looking her friend over again. “Which would explain the rosy tint to those cheeks of yours, either that or you have been up to no good recently.”

“According to the doctor, I am ten weeks.” She replied a small smile spread across her face. She hadn’t forgotten how good Evelyn was at her job, it could be a pain in the backside at times.

“Not got long to plan it then.” Evelyn pointed out.

“It's twins as well so no doubt they will be premature.” She said. “So most likely May or June wedding.”

“Well let me know and I will make sure I am in the country for it,” Evelyn said with a warm smile.

“A new adventure?” Cecelia asked.

“Yes, I am going to do some work in South America, they have found some mass graves that they don’t know anything about. I said I would go and do some dating on the bones, see if we can get some faces to the skulls.”

“I hope you enjoy yourself. When do you go?” Cecelia asked.

“Next week, I just don’t know how long I will be out there for that is all.” She said. “But I will leave you a forwarding address if you need the best.”

“Oh I am glad, it’s a good job we have technology now, or you would have to fly back to look at any bones we get.” Cecelia chuckled.

“Speaking of bones. You’ve broken your nose since I last saw you.” Evelyn suddenly said bringing Cecelia to a sudden halt.

Cecelia put a hand protectively to her nose. “Yes, I had some trouble with a police officer back in May, he thought the fact he held the rank of DI meant he could do what he wanted to women. He broke my arm as well.” She told her. “And quite a few of my ribs.”

“Oh Christ, what a prick. The grapevine wasn’t lying then, you really have had a beast of a time of it since you started working here. You should come to work for me I can teach you the joys of anthropology.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t hear more about it, it was on the news all over the country,” Cecelia told her. “And I think I will pass, a lovely offer that it is and all, but bones bore me, I’m more of a flesh and blood kind of gal.”

“I don’t own a TV, you should know this by now, and I am never in one place long enough to have the time to read the papers.” Evelyn pointed out. “What happened to the prick?”

“He’s in prison now, not heard anything about him since he was put away,” Cecelia explained, a shiver going down her spine at the thought of the man. “Anyway, let's get back to the matter at hand. I have some bones for you to look at.”

“And here was me thinking you just wanted a social visit with the great Doctor Evelyn.” The woman said with a chuckle. “So what have we got?”

Cecelia pulled out the folder from her in-tray which had the reference number HD39870 on its front. “Well, we have found the remains of a girl, she has skin and muscle all over her body except the face hands, and feet. She was found by a farm hand who was plowing the field she was buried in”

“Ooh, I bet that went down well. Farmers are grumpy enough without unearthing dead bodies in their fields.” Evelyn said as she got her glasses out of her handbag.

“Yeah, well I don’t have to deal with any of that. That’s all down to the Police.” She muttered passing Evelyn crime scene photos that she had printed off once Sally had given her the memory card from the camera.

“So other than female, what else can you tell me?” She said as she looked over them.

“The body is badly decomposed, but by the shape and width of the pelvis I can make out female, I have yet to autopsy what is left of the skin. The skull has a depression at that back, hemorrhagic staining suggests this was caused around the time of death, but I don’t think it was the cause of death.”

“I’d say it was, there is a lot of staining,” Evelyn said pointing to the caved-in part of the skull in one of the photos. “Heavy blunt object. The state of it, I would say it was an instantaneous death, if not instantaneous, it was definitely not long after this blow that this girl died, I will know more once I see the bones. The removal of the skin around the hands feet and face is a trait to hide the identity of the person. It looks like it was cut and then those parts were boiled off. The bones are very clean, compared to what they would have looked like if the body had just decomposed. I will bet that you will see scoring marks on the bone once I can get a proper look. What about the teeth?”

“No teeth, they were all gone,” Cecelia said taking her glasses off and running her hands over her face in tiredness.

“Yeah, someone didn’t want you to identify this girl. I would say from the height and size of the skull and what is left of the body she was between 25 and 30 when she was killed.”

“That was my estimation as well, but I am still dubious about the cause of death, I’m not filing it as the head wound just yet.” She pulled out another photo. “There is also a stab wound here, right where the heart is.”

“I’m guessing by lack of photos you haven’t done the autopsy yet,” Evelyn said, not looking up from the photos which now covered Cecelia’s desk.

“No, I was waiting for you to get back to me,” Cecelia said looking at her watch. “Sally should be back soon and then we can get on with it.”

“Speak of the devil and she shall appear,” Evelyn said causing Cecelia to look up to her door.

“Oh it’s such a pleasure to see you again Evelyn,” Sally said sarcastically as she walked into the room Riley trailed behind her.

“And who is this fine specimen of a gentleman,” Evelyn said looking Riley up and down with an appreciative eye as he made his way towards the desk to stand at the end of it. Cecelia smiled at Riley, he must have heard Sally arriving and started to make his way down.

“DCI Blackman, meet Doctor Evelyn Marksman, Forensic anthropologist, Evelyn, this is Detective Chief Inspector Riley Blackman of Huntingdon CID.” Cecelia introduced, and she would let Evelyn dig her hole a little deeper before she introduced him as her fiancé.

“And what prey tell are your plans for this evening?” Evelyn asked obliviously.

“Spending a night in with my fiancée and celebrating our good news.” He said with a reply shaking hands with the new woman.

“Oh, why are all the good-looking ones either taken or gay?” She muttered. “It’s so not fair. Let me guess, you’re that good looking, you must be gay and taken.”

“Ha,” Sally blurted. “You will love this one Riley, she’s such a hoot.”

“So, where are you planning on taking me tonight then Riley?” Cecelia said, putting the poor man out of his misery. He looked like a deer caught in headlights as he looked between the three women. He smiled graciously at her.

“Oh my, Cecelia, I feel like such a pig now,” Evelyn said as she put two and two together.

“Look like one too,” Sally muttered, there really was no love lost between these two. Cecelia looked between her best friends and snorted. This was going to be an interesting afternoon indeed.

“Right, shall we get this autopsy over and done with?” Cecelia said, hoping to head off a full-blown scrap between the two of them in her office, Riley just looked at her with a raised eyebrow. She shrugged and they all went down to the morgue. Riley managed to trail back with Sally as Cecelia and Evelyn walked on ahead.

“She’s a live wire.” He whispered.

“She’s a royal pain in the backside,” Sally replied. “She is good at her job, I will give her that, but I can’t stand the woman otherwise. Cecelia seems to have formed a bit of an attachment to her, and we all know that’s not an easy thing for her to do.”

“I don’t know what I think of her, to be honest,” Riley said with a frown.

“She might grow on you, but don’t be surprised if she doesn’t,” Sally said matter-of-factly as they arrived by the viewing room.

“I will see you in a moment or two then, I'll go and make myself comfortable.” He said with a chuckle.

Sally chuckled and left him to it, following Cecelia and Evelyn into the changing rooms where she showered and changed into her scrubs.

14:30

Cecelia walked through into the morgue from the changing area, wearing clean scrubs a plastic apron, and a mask hanging around her neck. She pulled a pair of extra small gloves from a box on the wall and pulled them on before pulling out a second pair to go over the top of the first. She turned and smiled up at Riley in the viewing area. He pressed the button to speak.

“No heavy lifting Cecelia, you leave that to these two if they can keep themselves apart long enough,” Riley said through the intercom.

“Don’t start Riley,” Cecelia said. He grinned and stepped back away from the screen to watch.

“Right,” Cecelia said turning on the tape recorder. “Autopsy of Jane Doe HD39870. Present are Doctors Cecelia Jayne Montage, Sally Elizabeth Birch, and Forensic Anthropologist Doctor Evelyn Marksman. Assisting is Jacob Cardew. Police attendance is Detective Chief Inspector Riley Blackman.”

Sally unzipped the body bag to reveal the badly decomposed body.

“Ah yes, now I can see better,” Evelyn said. “Female, age estimate is between 20 and 25. The pictures did her no justice whatsoever. Let me guess, you were behind the lens Sally.”

“Bring on the day I have to take yours,” Sally muttered under her breath.

“The poor girl definitely suffered,” Evelyn said as she looked at the exposed bones, having ignored Sally’s comment. “I only hope that her teeth were removed post-mortem, not pre.”

“So there is no way of identifying this person?” Riley asked through the intercom.

“Well, I can get you a reconstruction of the face, it won’t be spot on but I know someone who can do them. It will be good enough to put in the paper in the hope someone will come forward to know her.” Evelyn said, looking up to him. “Or maybe you might have a missing person you might be able to match her to.”

“I will get it sorted, all I need you to do Eve is put the markers in,” Cecelia said as she finished making the Y incision and pulled decomposing skin and muscle back from the rib cage.

“Of course I can Cee. Cause of death is this here.” Evelyn said pointing to the smash on the back of the head with her little finger. “As I said earlier Cee, this would have pretty much been instantaneous. The hemorrhagic discoloration will confirm this”

“Now are you sure about that?” Sally said, looking up from where she was standing over the body.

“Of course I am sure, I know what I am doing.” She retorted sarcastically. “Unlike some people who can’t even take a decent photo.”

“Well, then if that’s the case, I won’t point out that the heart here has a very nice puncture wound in it, and looking at the skin, there is bruising to it, as well as the hemorrhagic bruising to the ribs where it looks like a knife went through.” Sally pointed out moving the flap of skin back and forth for Evelyn’s benefit. Evelyn came over and looked at it.

“Well, I will be damned. The Cow found something.” Evelyn snorted. Riley flinched as he saw red rising up Sally’s neck. It would seem that Sally had found her match.

“Am I going to need to split you two up?” Riley asked through the intercom attempting to defuse the situation and coming to Sally’s defense. Normally he wouldn’t really care if they fought it out between them, but with Cecelia in the room, and being pregnant, he would rather they didn’t in fear, of her coming between them and getting hurt, and for once he was on Sally’s side. This woman seemed like she could be very sly.

“You learn to ignore it,” Cecelia said to Riley as she continued to look at the body. “Well, this could be fun.”

“What?” Evelyn asked looking up

“There is a small nick on the maxilla here, this could also be cause of death. It’s right where the jugular could have been cut.”

“How can you tell which came first?” Riley asked.

“With great difficulty,” Cecelia said with a sigh. “Although personally, I think this nick could have been when the skin was being cut off. Evelyn you were right, there are score marks around the ankles wrist, and neck.”

“By finding the person who did it,” Sally added in response to his question. “But unfortunately that’s your job Riley, so we have no hope.”

“I will kick you, Birch, don’t think I won’t,” Riley said with a grin, she smiled back at him, but the normal flare wasn’t in her eyes. This woman really was getting to her, maybe he should stick around to make sure they didn’t kill each other.

“I would still bet my car on the head wound, there is bruising to the bones which would suggest it was this that caused it, but I think you need to magnify it more to see, and it’s an unusual dent. There may still be particulates in it to see what caused it.” Evelyn mumbled. Cecelia came up and took a look, brushing over the bone a little over a pot, collecting anything she could send for testing.

“It’s got an unusual curve to it.” Cecelia pointed out. She picked up some tweezers and pulled some particulates out of one of the cracks in the bone. “It looks like it could be something arched that hit it. Jacob, if you could use some putty to get an imprint of it, I will see if I can find a match to it.”

“Yes, Doctor Montage.” The young man said getting what he needed. Cecelia stood back and looked over the body for a moment.

“Everything okay Cee?” Riley asked through the intercom, he could see by her face she was considering some possibilities.

“It was the puncture to the heart that came first.” She blurted.

“What makes you say that?” Evelyn said, her tone a little surprised that Cecelia had taken Sally’s side, not hers.

“Ok, picture this scenario, the girl is fighting with her attacker, he grabs her by the scruff of her shirt and stabs her in the heart, then as the blood slowly stops pumping and she is dying, he either hits her over the head or shoves her backward, her head hitting something hard enough to cave the back of her skull in and finishing her off,” Cecelia explains. “Thus making the cause of death stab to the heart, and the blunt force trauma to the head. Estimated time of death is between four months and six months ago.”

“I hold my hat out to you Cecelia, I would never have picked up on that,” Evelyn said with a look of curious surprise on her face.

“Sometimes, the flesh is a bonus to the bones.” She said smiling at Evelyn’s compliment, they weren’t something that came often.

“It’s more likely that Cecelia is better at her job than you,” Sally muttered, Evelyn flashed her a dirty look and Cecelia just sighed.

“Will you two give it a rest?” Cecelia said. They both apologized as if they were children getting a dressing down from their mother.

They finished up what they could of the autopsy before leaving Jacob to tidy up. They went through to shower and change before returning to Cecelia’s office.

“I shall get that number for you,” Evelyn said as she sat down. Joules, Cecelia’s secretary took this moment to appear in the room with more tea for them all.

“What number?” Cecelia asked with a frown as she filled out the forms she needed and put the tape in the folder before passing it to Jules for her to type up. “Sorry for any arguments on it Jules, these two can’t play nice.”

“No problems Cee.” She said with a warm smile. “I’ve deciphered worse I am sure.”

“The facial reconstruction artist,” Evelyn replied as Jules retreated quietly from the room.

“No need, we have someone here who can do that,” Cecelia said. “Christ I could go for some chocolate right now.”

“Here,” Riley said handing her a chocolate bar that had been in his suit jacket pocket. She took it from him.

“Do you always keep chocolate in your suit jacket?” Evelyn asked as Cecelia opened it.

“No, but I have finally worked out where the chocolate has been going, so I had a feeling a craving might appear so made sure I had it.” He said with a smile.

“Oh now that is just adorable,” Evelyn said.

“He’s also full of s**t,” Cecelia told her finishing the chocolate and throwing the wrapper in her rubbish bin. “He has a sweet tooth.”

Riley grinned, with a shrug he said. “It was worth a try.”

“I will have Jules type up the reports and a copy sent to you as soon as possible. Once I have heard back from the Entomologist, I will give you a call. I will also send you photos once the reconstruction is done. Samples have also been sent off to Toxicology in the hope we may have something, but I won’t be holding out too much hope on that one.” Cecelia told him. “

“I will get Suzy to pop over and get it from you if necessary.” He said.

“Really? No thanks, I will just send it to you.” She told him with a cringe.

“I wish you two would get on with each other, it would make my life so much easier,” Riley said

“That’s like asking me and her to get on with one another,” Sally said pointing at Evelyn.

“Over my dead body,” Evelyn muttered.

“It can be arranged,” Sally replied.

“Girls! Enough before I arrest you both and make you spend a night in a cell together.” Riley said. “You will either be friends by the morning or you will have killed each other, I will be happy with either or.”

“Try it.” Evelyn tempted.

“I wouldn’t if I were you,” Sally said. “He’s not joking.”

“Right, on that note I am going to get back to my office and crack on. Cecelia I will see you tonight, I will take you out for dinner so have a think of where you would like to go.”

“Ok, honey, I will call you if I have anything else.” Cecelia said, he leant down and kissed her before leaving.