‘Any film?’
‘There are no CCTV cameras on Leopold Street. Jane’s going to sift through any film for the Normanton area between two and three this morning.’
Brook took another bite. ‘We might have to take the inquiry up a notch if we want to shake something out.’
‘Charlton won’t buy into that.’
‘Probably not.’
‘So the tip about the squat panned out.’
‘I think so. The place is being used as a body farm, John. Tommy McTiernan and Barry Kirk were there. Somebody’s supplying lots of drink to keep a stock of vagrants in one place. There was a case of whisky. Barley wine too. I just missed Jock’s abduction.’
‘You didn’t actually see it happen then?’
Brook looked up. ‘No.’ Before Noble could comment, he held up a hand. ‘I know, I know. He’s a vagrant. He could’ve just wandered off. But somebody turned up to deliver alcohol in the early hours of the morning and I don’t see an alcoholic tramp wandering away from that.’
‘Maybe,’ said Noble. ‘You should brief Jane. She’s working The Embalmer solo for now.’
Brook paused over his next bite. ‘What does that mean?’
‘It’s your other case. It’s pretty labour intensive. Me, Rob and Dave have been-’
‘Other case? What are you talking about?’
‘The missing students from Derby College,’ explained Noble. Brook narrowed his eyes in confusion. ‘I thought you knew.’
‘I’ve been living rough for the best part of three days, John. How would I know?’
‘Well, you’re logged as the SIO.’
‘I’m what!’ exclaimed Brook.
‘You were there at initial contact with the parent. You even took charge of a piece of evidence, so Sergeant Grey put you down as Senior Officer.’
Brook stared into the distance and closed his eyes. ‘Deity.’ He opened them again and pulled out the leaflet left by Alice Kennedy. He handed it to Noble. ‘I just picked it up. I forgot all about it. Grey — that sneaky. .’ Brook omitted the noun he wanted to use. ‘That’s just great.’
Brook nodded, suddenly feeling very tired. ‘The mother. .’ He looked up to Noble for a prompt.
‘Alice Kennedy.’
‘She found it in her son’s room — didn’t she?’
‘She did.’
‘That’ll teach me to take an interest.’
Noble typed the Deity web address into Brook’s computer. ‘Closed for refurbishment.’
‘Same as last time.’ Brooks sighed. ‘So The Embalmer. .’
‘Sir, the Chief Super was very clear. As it’s not a murder case, Jane’s flying it solo at the moment.’
Brook shook his head in frustration. ‘I read the Kirk Forensics note. No other developments?’
‘That’s it. It looks the same MO as McTiernan. There are traces of make-up on the loincloth. The fabric is Egyptian cotton — identical to the cloth we found in the Derwent.’
‘Egyptian cotton,’ repeated Brook.
‘It’s pretty common. You think it’s significant?’
‘Who knows? What else?’
‘The rest you know. The heart was chronically diseased — it was removed then put back; the rest of the organs and the large intestine were gone and the blood drained. There was the same stitching on the gash in his side. His remaining hair looked like it had been cut — it’s hard to tell. What fingernails Kirk had left were tidy and might have been clipped but they can’t tell if the body was cleaned after so long in the water.’ Noble shrugged.
‘And still no COD?’
‘The lab’s working on it. It’s tricky with an even longer immersion.’
‘So it could still be murder.’
‘Habib thinks not, but they’re still doing tests.’
‘What else?’
‘The scars below the nostrils were also caused by some kind of sharp tool pushed into the nose to puncture the membrane on the brain and let the fluid drain away.’
‘Same as McTiernan.’
‘Right. One difference: Habib said Barry Kirk’s brain was more cut up and the scarring was much deeper. The right upper lip was almost sliced through.’
‘Did you run the MO through HOLMES and the PNC?’
‘No hits on either database. Nothing even close to this MO came back.’
Brook fired up his computer and logged on to his internal email account. ‘Ancient anatomy,’ he muttered, narrowing his eyes.
‘Sorry?’
‘Something Dr Petty said. Is Egypt a member of Interpol?’
‘I think so. I can check.’
Brook took a sip of his tea and ran his eye down the list of contacts. He clicked on Habib’s email address and typed a few words and numbers, then sent it off to him marked for Dr Petty’s attention. ‘If they are, run the MO past the Interpol database.’
‘You mean. .’
‘Yes, I mean ask Jane to do it,’ replied Brook testily.
Noble raised an eyebrow. ‘Because of the cotton?’
‘No, because they have an ancient culture of embalming the dead.’ Brook sighed. ‘We have little enough to go on. The chances are the Egyptian police are still in disarray after the revolution, but it might be worth asking the question. Also. .’ Brook blinked and turned to him.
‘What is it?’ asked Noble.
‘Kirk’s upper lip was almost sliced through, you say.’
‘Yes.’
‘Worse than Tommy?’
‘That’s right.’
Brook pushed his chair back and stood. ‘Kirk was dumped at least fifteen days before McTiernan.’
Noble’s face wasn’t registering enlightenment. ‘Maybe longer.’
Brook smiled. ‘My God, John. He’s practising.’
‘Practising?’
Brook nodded. ‘Practising on the bodies.’
‘For what?’
‘When we know that, we’ll know who we’re looking for. He’s removing all the organs, including the brain, and trying to leave the corpse cosmetically intact. But he’s having the most trouble extracting the brain without leaving a mark, so he needs more bodies. With Kirk he was clumsy and almost sliced through his top lip but with Tommy, his technique had improved; the scarring wasn’t as pronounced.’
‘And you think Jock will turn up with less scarring than McTiernan under the nostrils because The Embalmer’s improving his technique — interesting.’
‘We should speak to Charlton.’
‘We can’t.’
‘We must. Suppose the vagrants are just the first? Suppose he perfects what he does and gets ready to show us what he can really do.’
‘Hasn’t he already?’
‘I don’t think so. He’s barely started. He’s honing his skills, getting better, but he’s still not good enough. Once he’d cut McTiernan’s upper lip, he stopped hacking at the brain. He needs to leave the body without a
