“There are so many,” I said.
“Aye,” Artair said. “Sixteen hundred and eighty-eight complete skulls tae be exact, but only a small portion from Edinburgh. Most of them were sent tae the school from former students as they began practicing medicine all throughout the world.”
“The skulls were all used in the medical school?” Elias said.
“Aye,” Artair responded. “It’s a nasty history sometimes, figuring oot how the body works, trying tae understand how tae fix things. We have our share of horror stories, but it cannae be denied that we’ve a wonderful medical school that probably only benefited from the terrible things that happened in the past,” Artair said. “Not that I condone those terrible things.”
“Burke and Hare?” I said.
Artair cringed. “Aye, a bad lot, the two of them. It would be difficult tae give them any credit, but dead bodies were needed. Supply and demand. Och, a bad history, no matter.”
“I’ve gotten to know Dr. Eban a little bit.” I knew Artair wasn’t all the way up to speed on what had been happening regarding Mallory’s murder, but Tom said his father did know about it.
“Aye?”
“Don’t like him?” I asked, based on his tone.
“It’s not that. I do like him. He’s a brilliant teacher, but he’s … obsessive might be the word for it.”
“What about his wife, Dr. Carson?” I asked. “Do you get along with her?”
“She’s even more brilliant,” Artair said.
When he didn’t say anything else, Elias and I looked at him expectantly, but he just rubbed his finger under his nose.
“Do you like her?” I asked.
“I don’t know her personally at all. She’s not an easy one tae get tae know, but she is brilliant.”
“Artair, is it okay to ask you if you knew them back during the Dr. Glenn days?”
“It’s fine. I didn’t know any of them any better personally, but they were an admired group of people. They were considered kind, even … even Dr. Glenn. They helped the community; they helped the world with their studies.”
“Was Dr. Carson different back then? Nicer, maybe?” I asked.
Artair thought a long moment. “No, not nicer. She’s always been aloof. But she was happier, with less of an edge. Lass, Dr. Glenn’s activities changed all of us at the university, but perhaps what he did changed her most of all. I hadn’t ever thought about that before, but that’s a possibility. She might have changed the most. Why did you bring up Dr. Glenn?”
I looked at Elias before looking back at Artair. “I don’t know for sure, but I think the police are considering—considering only—that Dr. Glenn might in some way have been a part of Mallory Clacher’s murder.”
I thought he’d be surprised, maybe even gasp, but Artair only fell into thought for another moment, and then said, “Well, that would be terrible, lass, but considering everything, it would not be a surprise.”
“Really?” I said.
“You would have had tae live it tae understand it maybe, but the four doctors were together all the time, did everything as a group, and as far as I know none of them suspected Dr. Glenn was a fake. He’s been in hiding, or so that was assumed. Perhaps he thought it was time tae show himself, in the way he knows how. It’s just not a surprise. It’s devastating, aye, but not a surprise.”
“I bet that’s how the police are looking at it,” I said.
Elias nodded.
We walked to another display case, one without skulls.
“Oh. I heard about these,” I said.
“Aye. The other items,” Artair said. “Abnormal embryonic development.”
“Oh. I see,” I said as I looked closer. “Fascinating.”
“We have ultrasounds now,” Artair said.
“Goodness,” Elias said as he bent over and looked more closely too.
“If we’d been able to see inside us like we can now, we might have been able tae save them, and in some cases the mothers lost their lives too. Birthing babies might be something that’s been done since the beginning of tiem, but it’s a dangerous and risky business, and was particularly so before so many medical advancements.”
It sounded like Artair was quoting from a script.
“You give many tours?” I asked.
“I used tae. Not so much lately. There hasn’t been as much interest over the last few years. I blame the Internet. Many of these skulls are from the collection of Sir William Turner. He was an anatomist here in the early 1900s, and very well respected. I read a book aboot him not long ago that told me something I hadn’t learned yet. He knew Charles Darwin. Can ye even imagine the discussions the two of them must have had?”
“I can only imagine,” I said.
“Is the room what ye expected?” Artair asked.
“More, probably. Do you know if any skulls have gone missing? Or pieces of skulls?”
“No, I don’t think so. Have ye found one?”
“One was left by Mallory Clacher’s body,” I said.
“Och, poor lass. I hadn’t heard about the skull,” Artair said.
“It’s not been made public.”
“I see. Well, nothing has been stolen from here, at least that I’ve been made aware of. The collection is well guarded, and I’ve not heard of any thefts or damage. I’ll ask around tae make sure, though.”
I noticed something on the end of one of the shelves. I became so focused on it that Elias had to quickly step out of my way as I approached it.
“Is that a scalpel?” I said as I pointed.
There was no question that it was exactly that, and there was no question that it looked like the others I’d seen lately.
“Aye. One of Dr. Robert Knox’s, if the small sign there is tae be believed,” Artair said.
“But you don’t know for sure that it was his?”
“Well, I cannae be sure, but I doubt the folks who set up these displays would mark it
