Stuart MacBride - Shatter the Bones

‘No. And you’re married.’

‘Laz, I’m gay, no’ dead…’

The head of CID zipped up his hood, then did the introductions — Steel holding onto Superintendent Green’s hand for way longer than was either necessary or professional. When she finally let go, Finnie pointed across the cutting table. ‘And last, but not least, this is Dr Duncan Fraser. Our forensic pathologist.’

Doc Fraser gave the superintendent a wave. ‘Retired.’ Sniff. ‘Who’s corroborating?’

Finnie pulled on a facemask.

Steel rocked back and forth on her heels.

Logan cleared his throat. ‘You’re it, Doc. Isobel’s off at some conference and the new guy, Hudson’s-’

‘Indisposed.’ Sarah, the APT, glided back into the cutting room, carrying a stainless steel tray with a pair of white plastic clogs on it. The kind with little holes in the top to let your feet breathe. She froze, then turned to stare at the stereo. ‘Tsk…’

Steel nodded. ‘Dose of the killer squits, apparently. Turning himself inside out as we speak.’

The APT rolled her eyes, then placed the clogs on the floor at Doc Fraser’s feet. ‘Most … unfortunate .’ She stalked over to the iPod, and five seconds later Barber’s Adagio was back.

Doc Fraser rolled his shoulders, an indistinct rustling inside his white paper suit. ‘Ah well, I’m not happy about it, but McRae said it was urgent, so I suppose needs must.’ He drummed his fingers on the cutting table. ‘Sheila, can you fetch the little girl’s remains please? And can we please listen to something a bit cheerier? Bad enough as it is.’

The APT nodded at the tray, spotlights sparking off the shiny surface. A small evidence bag sat on one side.

The pathologist looked at her. ‘What?’

She plucked the bag from the tray and lowered it reverently onto the slab. ‘The remains.’

Silence. Just the mournful dirge of violins coming from the stereo.

‘Seriously?’ He opened the bag and tipped Jenny McGregor’s toe out onto his palm. ‘Is this it ?’

Which probably made him the only person in the country who didn’t know.

Doc Fraser held the digit up to the light, turning it back and forth, round and round. ‘Unbelievable…’

It had been cleaned up since Logan last saw it, all the congealed blood removed for testing, the whole thing gone over with sticky tape to lift any fibres so they could be analysed. Nothing left but flesh, nail, and bone.

Steel tried to put her hands into pockets that weren’t there. ‘Do you no’ read the papers?’

‘Inspector, one of the best things about retiring — apart from the golf, the gardening, and the Viagra — is not having to wallow in society’s filth every morning.’ He raised his safety goggles, until they were sitting on top of his head, and peered at the pale yellow chunk of little girl.

Finnie stepped closer to the table. ‘What can you tell us?’ There was a long pause. Then the pathologist placed the digit back on the slab.

‘You see, this is why I retired.’ Doc Fraser crumpled for a moment. Sighed. Then peeled back the hood of his SOC suit. ‘Sheila, I want the usual tests.’

‘Yes, Doctor.’

Finnie leant over the cutting table. ‘What?’

Doc Fraser shuffled over to the pedal bin in the corner, peeled off his gloves and dropped them in. ‘We’re finished here.’

That had to go on record as the shortest post mortem ever.

‘Doctor?’ Finnie straightened up. ‘Where are you-’

‘She’s dead.’ He removed his mask and apron, and sent them after the gloves. ‘A wee girl…’

Steel groaned. Superintendent Green straightened his shoulders, chin up. Finnie swore.

Logan stared at the severed toe. Pale, bloodless, almost translucent. ‘Are you sure she isn’t just-’

‘Look at the cut end.’ Doc Fraser unzipped his SOC suit. ‘No bruising, no discolouration, no lividity. Cut a toe off a living person and you make a hell of a mess: the tissue gets inflamed, blood flows to the damaged area, capillaries burst, subcutaneous bleeding makes a dark stain around the wound.’ He struggled out of the suit, stood there in his vest and pants, one sock crumpled around an ankle. ‘That toe was cut from a dead body. Your wee girl’s dead.’

Logan followed DI Steel back up the mortuary steps and out onto the sun-bathed tarmac of the Rear Podium car park. It was bounded on one side by the seven-storey bulk of FHQ; the squat admin and mortuary blocks on two others; and — across a narrow lane — the dark granite wall of tenement buildings that made up the back of King Street. Normally it was wrapped in chilly shadows, but today it was positively Mediterranean.

Logan didn’t bother stifling a jaw-cracking yawn. Shuddered. Blinked. Dug his hands deeper into his pockets.

Steel paused beside a CID pool car with ‘DIRTY PIGGY BASTARDS!!!’ spray-painted in dripping letters along the side, and produced a little plastic stick coloured to look like a cigarette. She stuck it in her mouth and tried for a puff. Then pulled the thing out and squinted at it. Had another go, sooking her cheeks hollow.

‘Sodding bugger-monkeys…’ She thrust the fake cigarette at Logan. ‘You — man — fix.’

Logan watched DCI Finnie storm through the back doors into FHQ, Superintendent Green flowing along behind him. Like a cat in a reasonably-priced suit.

‘When the press find out Jenny’s dead, we’re screwed. They’ll-’

‘Fix it, fix it, fix it!’

Logan twisted the fake plastic filter, and the e-cigarette went ‘ click ’, then the end glowed an artificial ruby colour. He handed it back. ‘SOCA’s going to take over the investigation; we’ll all be up in front of Professional Standards; and every newspaper, TV crew, and tosser on the street, is going to play Bash Grampian Police.’

Steel sucked on her fake cigarette. A thin wisp of vapour curled from the end. ‘Aye, that’s the real tragedy here, isn’t it? No’ a wee girl being dead or anything.’

Logan could feel the blush rushing up his cheeks, ears tingling.

Six years old, and they barely had enough to bury.

He looked away. ‘Yeah, sorry.’

Fuck.

So much for the compassionate face of modern policing.

Steel patted him on the arm. ‘Don’t sweat it. I’ll bet Finnie’s arse isn’t eating his frilly man-panties because Jenny’s dead either. But do you no’ think it might be nice if someone kept an eye on what actually matters?’ Another sook. ‘But you’re right — we are fucked.’

‘So what do we do now?’

‘Well, I don’t know about you,’ Steel marched off towards the back door, sticking the fake fag back in her pocket, ‘but I’m no’ lying back and thinking of England.’

They pushed through the double doors into the custody area — a bare concrete floor, breezeblock walls, ‘HAVE YOU SEEN THIS MAN?’ posters, the smell of old sweat and stale biscuits.

A shrill, jagged, cry echoed down the corridor: ‘I want a fucking doctor!’

The reply sounded as if it was being spat between gritted teeth: ‘If you don’t quiet down-’

‘I’M FUCKING DYING!’

Logan turned the corner to the cell block. A Police Custody and Security Officer was peering through the hatch of number five, hands on her hips, white shirt rucked up at the back. One epaulette nearly torn off. Hairdo all skewed to one side. ‘You don’t need a doctor, you need a good kick up the-’

‘Morning Kathy.’ DI Steel paused on the way past to slap the PCSO on the bum.

‘Hoy!’ Kathy glowered, both cheeks deep pink, eyes scrunched into narrow slits. Then she saw Logan. ‘ You! ’