Yrsa Sigurdardottir - Last Rituals

"That's the big question." The doctor smiled. "To pick up where I left off, I should tell you first about the information that we used to estimate the time of death. I don't remember whether I mentioned it, but the sooner the body is found after death, the more reliable the clues are. In this case the interval was a day and a half, which is not so bad. And because the body was indoors, the ambient temperature is a known value." He opened the yellow folder and glanced at the text on one of the pages. "According to the police investigation, Harald was last seen alive by an impartial witness at 23:42 on the Saturday night when he allegedly paid for and got out of a taxi on Hringbraut. You can call that the terminus a quo for the possible time of death. The terminus ad quem is of course when the body was found, at 7:20 on the morning of Monday, October thirty-first."

He paused and looked at them both. Thora nodded to show that she followed and he should continue. Matthew was statuelike, as ever.

"When the police arrived on the scene following the discovery of the corpse, the body temperature was measured immediately and it turned out to be the same as the ambient temperature. That indicated that some time had elapsed since his death. The exact rate depends on various factors; for example, it happens faster for a thin person than a fat person who has a proportionally larger surface area of thermal emission." The doctor gesticulated. "It also depends on the clothing and state of the body, its position, and the air currents, humidity, and various other factors. Information about all of these things adds to the clues I mentioned."

"And what came out of all this?" Matthew asked.

"Nothing really. It merely enabled us to narrow down the time frame a little. This method can obviously only provide us with information about the time of death if the body temperature differs from the ambient temperature." He sighed. "After the body temperature has reached the ambient temperature it remains there, understandably. But we can calculate how long it takes the body to reach that temperature, and infer that as the minimum time since death occurred." He looked down the page. "Here it is. In this case the analysis narrowed down the terminus ad quem to more than twenty hours from the time of death."

"This is all very interesting, no question of that," Matthew said. "But I would like to know when Harald is thought to have died and how it happened." He did not look at Thora.

"Yes, of course, sorry," the doctor said. "Rigor mortis indicated that the death occurred at least twenty-four hours before the body was found, which narrows the time frame even further." He looked at Matthew and Thora in turn. "Do you want me to go into detail about rigor mortis? I can give a brief explanation if you want."

"Please do," said Thora, at exactly the same time as Matthew said: "No, there's no need for that."

"Isn't it etiquette to allow the lady to decide?" The doctor smiled at Thora. She beamed back at him. Matthew gave her a sideways glance, quite a grumpy one as far as Thora could see. She ignored it.

"As its name suggests, rigor mortis is the stiffening of the body after death. The condition is caused by chemical changes in muscular protein following a reduction in the acidity of muscle cells after death. No oxygen, no glucose, and the pH of the cells drops. Then when the volume of ATP nucleotide falls below a critical threshold, rigor mortis sets in, because ATP prevents the actin and myosin from bonding."

Thora was about to ask more about this interesting actin and myosin but quickly restrained herself when Matthew deliberately stepped on her foot. Instead, she simply said, "I understand," which of course could not have been further from the truth. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Matthew the statue smile for the first time that morning.

The doctor continued. "Rigor mortis begins in the muscles that are used most and gradually spreads to the rest. When it reaches a peak the body becomes stiff, remaining in the position it was in when the rigor mortis became dominant. That stage does not last long because rigor mortis wears off and the body relaxes again. Under normal conditions rigor mortis is complete twelve hours after death, then begins to wear off after thirty-six to forty-eight hours. However, in a case like Harald's, where the cause of death is asphyxiation, the process begins somewhat later." The doctor looked through the papers, took out a photograph and showed them. "As you can see, Harald's body was totally stiff when it was found."

Matthew beat Thora to the photograph. He looked at it without a flicker of emotion, then handed it to her. "It's quite disgusting," he said as she took it.

"Disgusting" was not a strong enough word to describe what Thora saw. The picture showed the young man whom Thora knew from family photographs as Harald Guntlieb lying on the floor in a peculiar position she recognized from the photographs in the case file. But those had been so grainy and badly reproduced that they were almost fit to show on children's television compared with what greeted her eyes now. One of Harald's arms stood straight up from the elbow, as if pointing at the ceiling. There was nothing to keep the arm in that position or support it. Nonetheless, it was evident from the photograph that Harald Gottlieb was dead. His face was swollen, bloated, and strangely colored, which Thora knew was not because the photograph had been poorly developed. Yet what disturbed her most was the eyes; or, more precisely, the eye sockets. She hurriedly returned the photographs to Matthew.

"As you can see, the body was probably resting against something and the hand became stuck in that position. You doubtless know that the murder was not committed in the corridor. He fell out of an alcove when one of the lecturers opened the door that Monday morning. Judging from his account, the body had been hidden there and either fell against the door or was arranged to fall when the door was opened. As the photo shows, the alcove door opens out into the corridor."

Matthew scrutinized the photograph, then nodded without saying a word. Thora made do with that; she had no desire to see it again. "But you haven't told us when you think he died," Matthew said, handing him back the photograph.

"Yes, sorry," the doctor said, leafing through the papers. He straightened up when he found what he was looking for. "Taking into account the contents of the stomach and the absorption of amphetamine in the blood, the time of death is estimated to have been somewhere between one and one-thirty A.M." He looked up to explain in more detail. "The time of intake of both the pizza and the amphetamine was known. He had eaten a pizza around nine that evening and snorted amphetamine just before leaving the party at around eleven-thirty." He selected another photograph from the stack and handed it to Matthew. "Digestion of pizza is relatively well known and documented."

Matthew looked at the photograph, his face impassive. Then he looked up and handed it to Thora. He smiled for the second time that morning. "Fancy a pizza?"

Thora took the photograph, which showed the contents of Harald's stomach. It would be a while before she ordered another pizza. Trying to keep her composure, she returned the photograph to Matthew.

"The amphetamine analysis was made by the Pharmacological Institute. You will receive a copy of their report along with the autopsy results. An ecstasy tablet was also found in his stomach, half-digested. But we don't know when it was taken so it was of no use in determining the time of death."

"Fine," said Matthew.

The doctor continued. "It should be mentioned that the autopsy revealed that the body had been moved after death, a few hours later. We can determine that from bruising that forms in the lowest points of the body as soon as the blood supply stops. When that happens, blood begins to accumulate like puddles due to the force of gravity. We noticed bruising in places that were incompatible, namely, on the back, buttocks, and calves, but also on the soles of the feet, fingers, and chin. The former areas were less pronounced, which might indicate that the body was on its back to begin with, then placed upright some time later. Also, his shoes show signs that the body was dragged some distance; presumably the perpetrator held Harald under the armpits and his feet dragged along. Why this was done, we are not sure. In my view the most likely explanation is that the murderer killed Harald in his own home but was unable to dispose of the body immediately, perhaps due to intoxication. Why he chose to take the body to the faculty building is another mystery. It's not exactly the first place anyone facing this problem would think of."