The coroner looked up from his own copy of the report. "In layman's terms – a broken neck?"
"That is so."
"Go on."
"There was no other evidence of any injury or illness apart from the findings described above."
"Have you anything to add to your report. Dr. Blane?"
"No The child's neck was broken by the fall. Prior to that he was in a good state of health."
The coroner turned to Lessing. "Do you wish to question the witness?"
Lessing shook his head.
"Miss Crayshaw, is there any question you wish to ask on behalf of Mr. Fleming?"
Thirza stood up. "Please – if I may. Dr. Blane, does your phrase 'any other injury' cover sexual assault?"
"Yes."
"Were you requested to examine the child with that in mind?"
"My examination would have included that – without a request being made."
"But the request was made?"
"Yes – by Dr. Preston."
"There was no evidence of this?"
"As I have stated m my report – no."
Thirza turned to the coroner. "I believe Dr. Preston is being called as a witness?"
"Yes, immediately following Dr. Blane."
"Then that is all I wish to ask this witness. Thank you." • The exchange of question and answer was to Fleming like the sharp bouncing of a ping-pong ball across a table. He still couldn't connect it with David. That the pathologist's hands had actually touched and explored David's flesh was a fact he could accept intellectually but not emotionally. The post-mortem had seemed more real to him when he had sat at The Lantern with Shulter and had tried to blot it out of his mind This tall thin man with the staccato voice was as far removed from David as David now was far removed from this green-lit circus Dr Preston was sworn in He stated that he had seen the body in the hold and had pronounced the child dead He then went on to report on the removal of the body to the mortuary.
The coroner turned to Thirza again "You have a question for this witness0"
"Yes. sir " Thirza took the sketch out of her briefcase and requested that it might be passed to Dr Preston The coroner agreed "But if I see it first, and then Mr. Lessing and the jury, we'll understand where your questions are leading "
The sketch passed from hand to hand. One of the jurors tittered, the rest, together with the coroner himself, looked puzzled Lessing's glance was brief and dismissive, he looked slightly amused.
Thirza asked, "You've seen this sketch before. Dr. Preston?"
"Yes. In my surgery. The child's father showed it to me."
The coroner interrupted "Would you describe the drawing to the rest of the court, Dr Preston, please – and then explain its significance."
Dr Preston looked down at the sketch and then up from it towards Fleming. He acknowledged him briefly with a little nod of sympathy. "It's a sketch of a caterpillar – a caterpillar hugely out of proportion – on a bed Under it is written 'Wolly (a child's mis-spelling of Woolly) Bear on D's bed'. It's significance lies in the fact that it's regressive. By that I mean that David Fleming at the age of twelve – within a week or so of his death – drew a picture that was symptomatic of a period of distress he went through at the age of six. At six he awoke alone in a strange room at night and was terrified – the caterpillar was on his face. From then on for a period of two years or so he had nightmares. The caterpillar was the projection of his fear. He drew it to show his state of mind and left the sketches where his parents could find them and tear them up… graphic representation of something he couldn't bring himself to speak about." He paused and looked at Fleming. "The child's father could put it better than I can, but that is roughly how he explained it to me."
Thirza said quickly, "I don't think we need ask Mr. Fleming to add to that. You've explained it quite clearly. David drew the sketch as a child of six would draw it. He wrote the words as a child of six would write them. He was twelve and had the intelligence of a twelve-year-old. His other work showed no sign of regression. A shock, either sexual assault, which has been discounted, or some form of intolerable bullying would perhaps result in this sketch. It could have been a cry for help. Would you agree to this, Doctor?"
"It's possible."
"Wouldn't you say probable?"
"I'm not a psychiatrist, I found the sketch disturbing. So much so that I mentioned it to the pathologist. Beyond that, anything I say is conjecture."
The coroner, aware that what should have been a brisk and sympathetic walk from a to be was taking an awkward and unforeseen turn, asked for more clarification. "Are you trying to say that the boy's state of mind was suddenly unbalanced by something – and that his fall might have been deliberate?"
Thirza said, "I saw the hatch to the hold this morning. He couldn't have tripped and fallen – the edge of the hatch came too high. The fact that he wore a blindfold is extremely worrying."
"You're implying suicide?"
"I'm open-minded. The doctor, on his admission, is worried by the sketch."
Lessing was on his feet "Dr Preston-I have the greatest regard for your competence as a general practitioner, but on your own admission your knowledge of psychiatry is slight. Wouldn't you say that only an expert witness in the field of psychiatry would be competent to give an opinion?"
Preston looked at Fleming again "Unfortunately the child's parents didn't call in a psychiatrist during the early years when the symptoms occurred fairly frequently. This last drawing was after a lapse of time during which the boy had no nightmares. Something triggered it."
Lessing looked at the jury and then at the public in the courtroom. "One of the jurors saw the drawing and laughed – quite honestly, it's a funny picture. The kind of thing a lad might have drawn as a joke. I'm not a psychiatrist – any more than Dr. Preston is a psychiatrist. It didn't strike me, when I saw it just now, as being sinister. Dr. Preston might not have seen it as sinister if the child's father, who was naturally very overwrought, hadn't backed it with lurid tales of long ago…"
Fleming's anger until now held in control suddenly burst to the surface. "What the hell are you trying to say – that I'm a liar?"
Thirza said an agonised, "Please!"
The coroner spoke above her. "Mr. Fleming-Miss Crayshaw is representing you here. There are rules of procedure and I can't allow you to disrupt them. Mr. Lessing's turn of phrase was unfortunate. I'm sure as from now he'll choose his words with more care."