Michael Wood - Outside Looking In

Robert Walpole, Spencer Compton, Henry Pelham, Thomas Pelham-Holles, William Cavendish.

It had been a long time since Matilda had recited the names of the British Prime Ministers as an aid to relaxing. She hadn’t needed them since she’d given up drinking and learned to channel her grief. It seemed it only took the mere mention of Carl Meagan’s name and she was plunged back into her paranoiac nightmare.

‘We don’t come out very well I’m afraid. Were you contacted yesterday to contribute to this travesty?’

‘No.’

‘I thought not. It says you were unavailable for comment.’

‘I know,’ Matilda said, looking away from the paper. She didn’t need to see it; it was imprinted on her memory. ‘Why do they have to keep raking it up?’

‘It’s been a year. The parents want to keep the story alive. It’s understandable. He’s their son.’

‘I know,’ she said, bowing her head. ‘But I can’t keep doing this if I’m smacked in the face with Carl Meagan every time I’m working on a case.’

‘Matilda, leave the press to me. Do your job, a job you do incredibly well, and defy them all. I know you don’t believe this Matilda, but I’m with you 100 per cent,’ Valerie said when the expression on her DCI’s face remained hollow and drawn.

‘You’re right, I don’t believe it. I don’t believe it at all.’ She turned and left the room, not caring if there was more to the meeting.

Matilda didn’t have the energy to storm out and make a scene. What was the point in shouting and screaming from the rooftops if nothing was going to change? As Matilda walked away from the door and headed to the nearest toilets she was reminded of the saying ‘no man is an island’. Maybe not, but a high-ranking woman in the police force certainly was.

Matilda entered the pathology suite and was met immediately by a team of police officers milling around. It was imperative the body of Kevin Hardaker was not left alone at any time for fear of evidence tampering.

‘Morning Adele,’ Matilda said. ‘I see you’ve got a full house.’

‘We certainly have. The coroner has given the go-ahead for the Digital Autopsy.’

‘I’ve never seen one before. What are they like?’

‘It’s just looking at scans on a computer screen,’ she said, folding her arms.

‘You don’t seem impressed. Worried it might make you redundant?’

Three years before, Sheffield had become the first city in the country to open a state-of-the-art, non-invasive Digital Autopsy Facility. Its aim was to establish the cause of an unnatural death using sophisticated visualization software and a scanner rather than a scalpel. With the results available almost immediately, it was a huge step forward for the Sheffield police force, but Matilda could see why Adele might be concerned.

‘No, of course not. It actually makes my job a whole lot easier. You can rotate a body 360º without getting your hands dirty. I’m all for that.’

The doors opened and the radiologist, Claire Alexander, stepped out. She was a small woman in her mid-thirties, with long brown hair, tied back in a severe ponytail. She was wearing hospital scrubs that were a size too big for her.

‘Morning Claire, happy birthday,’ Adele said.

‘Thank you. I see you’ve got me a present.’ She nodded towards the black body bag containing Kevin Hardaker.

‘I certainly have. No peeking.’

‘We’re all set next door if you are.’

Victoria Pinder, Adele’s Assistant Technical Officer, led the way with the trolley. It was a short narrow corridor leading into the Digital Autopsy suite and the trolley banged loudly against the walls and door.

‘Mind my paintwork. It’s just been redone,’ Claire said.

The mood as everyone entered the suite quickly changed from one of levity to sombre professionalism. They were all here because of a dead man: a person whose life had been brutally cut short. He deserved respect and dignity.

The machine was simple in design. It reminded Matilda of the many times she accompanied her husband to the hospital in the early days of his diagnosis and the many scans he had to endure. This scanner didn’t seem as bulky as the one at the Northern General; it was obviously a newer model. It looked less daunting and not as claustrophobic.

Victoria and Claire lifted Kevin, still in the bag, onto the scanner and secured him in place using Velcro straps. Everyone then made their way into the control room.

The small room, with a bank of five large computer screens, was packed with police officers and technical staff. Claire squeezed her way through and seated herself behind a computer in front of the window looking out into the main room. She clicked a few buttons and the scan began.

‘What’s happening now?’ Matilda whispered to Adele.

‘You know those annoying Slinky things that go down stairs on their own?’

‘Yes.’

‘Well, imagine you’re standing in the middle of a large Slinky. The scan circles around the body from top to toe. Claire can adjust the thickness of the spirals to get a more detailed view of the body. The smaller the gap, the more detail we can pick up.’

‘So why is Claire doing this and not you, if you’re a pathologist?’

‘The scan works like an X-ray and you have radiographers for that. That’s what Claire is. All I do is interpret the results.’

‘It’s not noisy is it?’ Matilda whispered. ‘I remember going to an MRI with James and I could have done with earplugs.’

‘Everything is less noisy these days; with the exception of a Dyson vacuum cleaner.’

A ghost image of Kevin’s body appeared on the screen and looked like an X-ray. Leaning forward, Matilda frowned at the bright white objects on the body, but didn’t ask any questions. She’d save that for later.

Claire singled out the head and rescanned to get a better image. A full 3D picture of Kevin’s head filled the screen. She rotated it several times to get a good look at it from all angles; something that wouldn’t be possible in a traditional post-mortem without physically turning the body over.

‘The entry wound of the bullet was just below the left eye. You can see the bevelling of the bone as it enters. The exit wound,’ Claire said as she tilted the 3D image to view the back of the head, ‘is here. Just above the base of the skull. Those white specks are metal fragments from the bullet.’

Matilda’s question was answered.

‘What about the second bullet?’

Going back to the full body scan, Claire selected a second region of interest, the chest, and looked closer. The impact the bullet had on the body was shocking to see in glorious technicolour. The ribs and organs were easily identifiable but were in a condition Matilda had never seen before.

‘The bullet entered the chest just below the heart.’ Claire pointed to a bright white object the exact shape of a bullet, which was firmly lodged in Kevin Hardaker’s body. ‘It shattered the ribs, as you can see. The rib fragment has punctured his left lung, which is why it’s deflated. He suffered a pneumothorax.’

‘Is that what killed him?’

‘It depends which bullet came first. Either one was enough to kill him.’

‘What about the beating he received? Would that have led to his death?’

‘It’s not easy to pick up bruising on these scans but we can see where blood has settled. Look here,’ she said, pointing to the screen, ‘on the right side of his ribcage there are several fractures in the ribs. This doesn’t follow the trajectory of the bullet in his chest, so must have come from where he was kicked or beaten with something.’

‘So the killer was standing over Kevin while he was on the ground, and shot him?’