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Priscilla Masters: Frozen Charlotte

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Priscilla Masters Frozen Charlotte

Frozen Charlotte: краткое содержание, описание и аннотация

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Set in the medieval town of Shrewsbury, this is the third in the compelling '-Martha Gunn' series – When a woman arrives in A and E clutching a child in a pink blanket, Martha Gunn is not quite ready to make the discovery that the evening has in store for her. The baby is dead, and not only that, it has been mummified. Post mortem reveals the child to be a new born, deceased for over five years and, despite the mysterious woman's protestations that it is called '-poppy', most certainly a boy. As always coroner Martha Gunn reserves judgement until she is able to get to the bottom of the case.

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Alice simply shook her head.

They waited in awkward silence until Dr Delyth Fontaine appeared. A large, untidy woman with straggly, greying hair, she cared little for her appearance. All her energy was focussed on her career as a police surgeon (or Forensic Medical Examiner, as they were now called), and the smallholding she had to the south of the town where she bred Torddu sheep, a rare Welsh mountain breed. Both Gethin Roberts and Sergeant Talith were relieved that it was she who was on duty tonight. Her no-nonsense approach to her work was exactly what they needed in this situation. She gave them each a broad smile. ‘Nice of you to drag me out on such a snowy night.’

They didn’t respond. They knew she didn’t mind really. ‘I suppose,’ she said, ‘I’d better take a peek at the infant first?’

They led her into the cubicle. Slipping on a glove she took a swift glance. ‘OK,’ she said. ‘Looks like a neonate. A newborn,’ she explained to the two police officers. ‘It’s been dead for a number of years. I can’t say how many but at a guess more than five. I won’t undress it,’ she said. ‘There’s no point. It’ll be better if the clothing is removed at the post-mortem.’

‘Natural causes or…?’

She looked at the pair of them with amusement. ‘You really expect me to hazard a guess?’

Talith waited.

‘Not a clue,’ she said. ‘Now. Lead me to Lady Macbeth.’

She regarded Alice Sedgewick with interest before sitting down opposite her.

‘Mrs Sedgewick,’ she said, ‘I’m Dr Fontaine. I’m a police surgeon. I’ve been asked to come and see you because the police want to question you, preferably down at Monkmoor Police Station, about how you came to find yourself here, tonight, with the body of a child who is long-since dead. Can you tell me anything about it?’

Alice looked at her. ‘No,’ she said politely. ‘I’m afraid I can’t.’ she said. ‘I can’t tell you anything.’

‘Is this because you don’t want to or because you can’t remember?’

‘I can’t remember.’ A pause. ‘It’s possible that I don’t know.’

Interesting, Delyth Fontaine thought.

‘What do you remember?’

Alice turned puzzled eyes on her. ‘Sorry?’ she said, still in the same flat but polite, social voice.

‘Well – you know your name and you know your address.’

‘Yes.’

‘Do you remember how you got here tonight?’

‘I think – I don’t know. I’m not sure.’ She frowned. ‘I don’t know. I really don’t know.’

Jane Miles was standing behind her looking sceptical. Like most doctors she thought that amnesia could be just a little too convenient for people who had not quite worked out what to say.

Delyth Fontaine met her eyes, gave the slightest hint of a very cynical smile and continued. ‘Do you drive a car, Mrs Sedgewick?’

Alice nodded. ‘But I sometimes use the bus.’

Delyth Fontaine asked the next question deceptively casually. ‘You can’t remember which you did tonight?’

‘I think I would probably have driven.’

It was almost an admission.

In which case the car would be outside. Delyth looked up and met Paul Talith’s eyes. It wouldn’t take the police long to home in on the registration number and search the hospital car park.

‘Do you feel unwell at the moment?’

A shake of the head.

‘Do you take any pills?’

Alice’s eyes looked bright. ‘I take something for my blood pressure,’ she said, in a reassuringly normal voice. ‘It’s a little high -’ the words were accompanied by a small, tight smile – ‘so my doctor tells me.’

‘Who is your doctor?’

‘I belong to the group practice on the Ellesmere Road.’

Delyth made a note of it.

‘Do you know where you are now?’

Alice nodded. ‘I’m at the hospital, I think, in a room at the accident and emergency department.’

It was all very precise and lucid – with significant bits missing.

‘Do you remember what you were doing earlier on this evening – before you came to the hospital?’

‘Decorating.’

Which explained the paint spatters on her clothes.

‘Do you mind if I just check your pulse and blood pressure?’

‘Not at all.’

Apart from a rapid pulse – 120 a minute – all the readings were normal as the police surgeon had anticipated. Except, of course, that no one in their right mind would call this a normal situation.

‘Mrs Sedgewick,’ she continued, ‘you seemed very upset earlier when the nurse looked at the baby you were carrying, wrapped up in a shawl.’

Alice’s shoulders drooped.

‘Do you need something to calm you down?’

Wearily she shook her head, bowing it in submission.

‘Do you have any objection to going down to the police station, Mrs Sedgewick?’

‘No.’

‘OK then.’ Delyth sighed and stood up, then left the room, followed by Roberts and Talith. ‘Fit to detain,’ she said. ‘I’ll ring Martha first thing Monday morning. You may as well take the infant straight to the hospital mortuary.’ Her eyes met those of both Roberts and Talith and she smiled. ‘It’ll at least free up the security guard.’

She paused then turned to speak only to Paul Talith. ‘I don’t want to tell you how to do your job,’ she said in a low voice, ‘but if I was the investigating officer in this case one of the first questions I’d ask would be how long she’s lived at her current address.’ She paused. ‘Assuming, that is, that the corpse was found somewhere near there. It’s a snowy night. The blanket was dry. I doubt she’d have been wandering in the countryside somewhere and stumbled across it. From the condition of the body the baby was been mummified – that is kept in warm, dry conditions. I would assume then that this body turned up in her own house. Oh and by the way, I don’t know where the blanket came from. It is a baby’s blanket but that hasn’t been with the baby’s body all this time. It’s too clean and in too good condition. If it had been wrapped around the body it would have deteriorated. Got stained, eaten by moths, rotted.’

Roberts and Talith both nodded. ‘Thanks, doc.’

‘Under the McNaughton Rules,’ she added, ‘I’m not absolutely certain whether she has a full and complete understanding of what’s going on around her. I suspect she’s working on two levels. Part of her mind is aware of her surroundings and part is somewhere else.’ She glanced back through the window at Alice’s calm face. ‘God only knows where. But wherever it is it doesn’t appear to be troubling her.’ Almost to herself she added, ‘I would dearly love to know how all this came about.’

Roberts nodded, with relief. Delyth Fontaine had taken charge, done her job and now they could take this weird woman down to the station and question her, which was what he and Talith were dying to do. A porter brought the mortuary trolley and loaded up the pathetic little bundle, zipped now in a forensic body bag, then trundled along the corridor to the hospital mortuary. The security guard was summoned to another part of the hospital where a confused patient had just assaulted a nurse, while the police were left to focus on their side of the job. Though she patently wasn’t a threat to them they both felt uncomfortable with her. She was unpredictable. They wondered whether she might ask to see the infant again and if they denied her request whether she would ‘flip’. One of the problems with having no blinds or curtains in Sister’s Office was that the trolley in which the infant’s body was encased was clearly visible through the window. There was nothing they could do about it. Sister’s Office was designed to have a goldfish view of the entire department. It ensured smooth running.

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