Not all, but most of the bodies recovered here have still been strapped into their seats.
`Most of all though, I'd say it was the heather. It's so thick up here it seems to have had a certain cushioning effect. When the plane impacted, the fuselage disintegrated, the seats were ripped up and their occupants thrown all around. They were probably all killed instantly at that stage, incidentally. When the bodies landed again, you'd have expected dismemberment to a great extent, but the heather seems to have stopped that.'
Skinner thought of the body which he had found on the hillside and nodded.
`What about burning?' he asked.
`Not much,' said Sarah. 'The explosion of the wing-tanks and the disintegration of the fuselage seem to have happened simultaneously, so apart from a few scorched people in the central area, that hasn't had the effect you'd imagine. What is noteworthy, and the point that will interest you most, is that the greatest burning effect and the greatest damage to the corpses seems to have been found on those recovered from the far end of the valley, and we assume from the front area of the plane.'
`Where the Defence Secretary was sitting,' said Skinner.
She looked at him. Was he on board?'
`Yes. Let's look at the front of the tent.' Rather than walk among the rows of bodies, he led the way out of the marquee and walked along its side to the eastward entrance.
Three body bags, side by side, lay along the end canvas wall. `The flight crew?' Skinner asked.
`Yes. They were brought in about ten minutes ago.'
One of the bags seemed smaller than the others. Skinner knelt beside it and unzipped it from the top. As it opened, he saw the grey, dead, but unmarked face of April, the stewardess who had saved young Mark McGrath's life. Dark, wet hair was plastered against her temples.
I will order an autopsy on her, for sure,' said Sarah. 'As I thought, the two pilots have broken necks and seat-belt crushing injuries, but I'm almost certain that she drowned.'
Alarm flooded Skinner's face in an instant. She read his mind. 'No, Bob. She'd have been dead for quite a time before you found the boy. You can't save the world, you know.'
He shrugged his shoulders. It was a gesture of helpless frustration.
`These bodies here,' he asked, after a few seconds, 'these are the ones with burns?'
`Yes,' she said, 'but not like they've been in a fire.'
`Like they've been in an explosion? Like last year?'
She stared at him. She had been so involved in the gruesome business of certifying and arranging the dead that she had not had time to ask herself the questions which would have been second nature in a more normal situation.
`Yes,' she said softly. 'But not at the seat of a blast. Caught in its heat, but not torn by it.'
And these are the bodies found furthest north?'
`Yes. They were still in their seats, the recovery teams said, in rows. There were none beyond them, and the whole of the northern half of the valley has been cleared. The eighteen bodies in the three front rows are the most mutilated we've recovered' She pulled down the zip of a body bag. Skinner glimpsed a black, scorched woman's face surmounted by frizzled hair.
`We've got to do some more searching,' Skinner said to Hardy, who stood stiff beside him, teeth clenched. 'So far we haven't looked south at all. We've been assuming that the plane's tail marked the beginning of the wreckage. But none of these…' he waved a hand towards the lines of body bags `.. can have been in the front row.
`Why not?'
`Because there are six of them to each row. Wee Mark McGrath was in the cockpit, so we know that one seat was empty when the disaster happened. Major Legge and I did an air search to the north of here and found nothing between the main crash site and the reservoir. And the divers had a look at the cockpit below the water. They reported that it was torn off around the bulkhead, with no seats attached.
`We need to find the centre of the explosion before we can begin to find the cause. Those front-row seats, and what's left of their occupants, must be out there somewhere. I have to get the choppers airborne again.'
Once I've done that, Secretary of State, I think it's time we gave a statement to the press.'
FIFTEEN
‘I have to tell you formally what you know already.' The Secretary of State's voice shook for a moment as he surveyed the media crammed into the back-up mobile police station.
Op 'The seven a.m. London-Edinburgh shuttle crashed on the Lammermuirs just after eight this morning, with two hundred and five people on board.
I have to tell you also that the passengers included Colin Davey, the Secretary of State for Defence, Roland McGrath, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Scottish Office pp and Shaun Massey, the Secretary for Defense of the United States.' A flurry of hisses and gasps swept through his audience.
A full list of the dead will be issued at the conclusion of this briefing. It will show that I have lost many colleagues in addition to those in Government whom I have mentioned, including fellow members of the House, and several in the civil service. Sir James Proud, who sits beside me, has lost a distinguished serving officer, and many families have been bereaved.
`However, even in the midst of this disaster, we can take comfort from one remarkable event. One of the two hundred and five people on board the aircraft, a young child, has survived, and uninjured at that. I will not reveal his identity, although I expect that it will become public knowledge in due course. When that happens, I hope that you will all desist from doing anything which might add to his distress or affect his recovery from an event whose nature and scale he does not yet understand'
Hardy paused. 'In the main I will leave briefing on the details of the accident to the police and to the airline representatives, but I will take one or two questions'
Hands shot up, awkwardly in the enclosed space. 'Sir!' `Secretary of State!' Mr Hardy!'
Reporters shouted over each other clamouring for attention. Alan Royston, the Police Media Relations Manager stood up, calming the throng. He pointed to a Chinese girl in the front row.
Annabel Yi, Radio Forth. Can you give us any indication of the cause of the accident, sir.
Was it engine failure?'
Obviously,' said the Secretary of State, precise to the end. `But the experts must confirm what caused that failure.'
Was the child on board with his parents?' asked John Hunter, an ever-present freelance whom Hardy knew well.
`With one parent, John, the fact of whose death he does not yet understand. Now no more questions on that subject, please.' Is he still here?' asked Annabel Yi.
`Nor said Bob Skinner firmly, from his standing position at the side of the small table.
`What effect will this have on your majority?' a tabloid reporter called from the centre of the group.
All parties seem to have suffered in this tragedy,' Hardy said curtly. 'I doubt if any of us are thinking of majorities right now.'
`How many MPs were on board, sir?'
`Six in all. You will see them on your list.'
`What was Mr McGrath's majority in Edinburgh Dean, Mr Hardy?'
The Secretary of State shook his head emphatically. He needed no reminding that his dead colleague's majority had been less than secure. I'm sorry,' he said, with a trace of temper,
'but I am not going to be drawn by that line of questioning. Ladies and gentlemen, that is all I have to say.' He stood up and left the trailer, with Skinner following. His black chauffeured Rover was parked outside, with its driver standing by, in grey uniform and peaked cap.
I must be on my way, Mr Skinner,' he said quietly. 'I'm going to the airport now to collect Leona McGrath. Roland's agent's meeting me there too.'
`Good luck to you both,' said the policeman sincerely. 'Tell the lady from me she's got a great wee boy. And
