‘Don’t take this the wrong way,’ Lawrence answered, ‘but if I killed you then cut your fingers off, I could use them to leave your fingerprints wherever I wanted.’
Moran closed his eyes as he worked out the implications of what Lawrence had just said. If the dismembered body was Aiden Lang, then whoever had killed him had also murdered the three women. And they were back to square one.
Chapter Twenty-Four
When Moran, Lawrence and Jane arrived at Ladywell Mortuary, Peter Carey, the forensic odontologist from Guy’s Hospital, was already there waiting for them. Entering the mortuary examination area, they could see the flayed head had already been placed on a table by the pathologist.
‘Bloody hell, it’s even worse than you described, Sergeant Lawrence,’ Carey remarked.
Although Lawrence, Jane and Moran had already seen the head, it still made them wince. Carey gowned up before attaching dental forceps to the four corners of the mouth to hold it open. The upper and lower teeth, as well as the gums, were now all fully exposed, making the wide-open mouth look like an evil, smiling clown.
‘We think the victim may be—’ Moran started to say.
Carey was quick to hold his hand up and stop him. ‘Sorry, DCI Moran. It’s best I don’t know anything about who you think it may be, or the victim’s background. I don’t want anything to influence my examination.’
Using a pair of dental probes, Carey started to examine the teeth and make notes.
‘It’s strange looking into a mouth with no tongue. The teeth are in good condition, though, and I would estimate an age range for the victim of between eighteen and twenty-two years. The upper left lateral incisor has recently been replaced with a temporary plate.’
‘Could we have things in layman’s terms, please?’ Moran asked.
‘Your victim’s wearing a plastic plate, which has a false tooth attached to it. I’d say it’s just a temporary replacement used while the gums and supporting bone are healing.’ Carey put his fingers into the mouth. He unclipped the temporary plate and handed it to Lawrence. ‘There should still be a plaster mold in existence for this plate. It would have been made by whoever did the dental work. If you find the plaster mold, I’ll be able to tell you if it was made for this poor chap.’
‘Who makes the plates?’ Lawrence asked.
‘A dental lab, usually, though some dentists do it themselves.’
‘I noticed you made notes on a diagram. Would the dentist have done the same?’ Moran asked.
‘Most certainly, yes. And they should have taken X-rays of the teeth prior to any examination.’
‘Would the dentist have used novocaine?’ Jane asked.
‘Yes, when the abutment tooth was prepared for the temporary plate. And when the new plate was fitted.’
‘Could a novocaine injection kill someone?’ Jane asked.
‘It’s possible, if the patient had an unknown allergy to the drug. They could suffer a severe hypersensitive reaction, which could result in death. And if injected into a blood vessel in a large quantity, novocaine can cause heart seizure and death in anyone.’
Jane made a mental note to contact Hilary Peters to see if she knew where and when her brother Aiden was last treated by a dentist. And if he was allergic to novocaine.
‘What makes you ask about novocaine, officer?’ Carey asked.
‘We think a dentist may be involved in the murder and dismemberment of our unknown victim,’ Moran replied.
Carey didn’t look surprised. ‘It takes all kinds to make a world. I can assure you I won’t say anything outside of this room,’ he said, removing his surgical gloves. ‘If your victim had a tongue, I’d expect to find the needle wound and traces of novocaine around it.’
‘Could a toxicology test find novocaine in other parts of the victim’s body or the blood?’ Lawrence asked.
‘I doubt it if his death was from an instantaneous heart seizure. The decomposition of the dismembered parts will also affect the blood and destroy any traces of novocaine.’
‘So we’ll have no way of telling if he was given a fatal dose of novocaine?’ Moran said, the disappointment clear in his voice.
‘There’s something new that might be worth a try,’ Carey suggested. ‘The toxicology department at Guy’s Hospital have been doing some ground-breaking work testing vitreous humor for drugs.’
Moran perked up. ‘What’s vitreous humor?’
‘Fluid contained within the globe of the eye, between the retina and the lens. It’s suitable for post-mortem chemical analysis. Vitreous is relatively isolated from blood and other body fluids that are affected by decomposition,’ Carey said, picking up a needle and syringe from the equipment trolley.
Jane and Moran cringed as Carey pushed a needle into one of the eyeballs and slowly withdrew the vitreous into the syringe. He then ejected it into a small glass container.
Carey held up the eye fluid. ‘I’ll take this direct to Guy’s toxicology department for urgent analysis.’ He pointed to the head. ‘Your victim had previous dental treatment — a couple of fillings, at least. It might have been done by someone other than your suspect dentist. If so, a written record and X-rays of his treatment should still exist. If you find them, I can do a comparison and tell you if it’s the same person.’
Moran waited until Carey had left the post-mortem room to speak with his colleagues.
‘Good work, Paul. After what Carey said, it looks like you were right about the dismembered body being Aiden Lang.’
‘We still have to prove it,’ Lawrence replied. ‘But if that is Lang, and Professor Martin is right about the time of death being seven days ago, then he certainly can’t have murdered Eileen Summers.’
Jane picked up on Lawrence’s observation. ‘If Lang was involved, or knew about the first two murders, he would have posed a serious threat to Simmonds.’ The inference was that Simmonds had murdered Lang.
Moran kicked the leg of the mortuary table in frustration, causing the severed head to wobble. ‘Getting Lang to confess would have been our best chance of nailing Simmonds. Now it’s gone.’
Jane knew she had to take some of the blame. ‘Because of my stupidity at his Peckham practice, Simmonds must know we suspect him. He’ll probably have destroyed every shred of evidence linking him to the three women and Lang’s murders.’
Moran wasn’t in the mood to reprimand her. ‘What’s done is done, Jane.’
‘Simmonds is clearly a highly intelligent man. He’s always been one step ahead of us all,’ Lawrence said reassuringly.
‘Are you going to arrest Simmonds?’ Jane asked Moran.
‘Not yet. Even intelligent men make mistakes. And there’s more than one way to skin a cat,’ he answered with a wry smile.
Driving into the station yard, Moran and Jane saw Edwards striding towards them. As they got out of the CID car, Edwards held up a plastic property bag.
‘I found it, guv. I’ve used one of these myself a few times fishing for trout. You’re not going to believe what it’s called,’ he added with a grin.
Moran peered at the bag. ‘I’ve no idea, Edwards. Why don’t you tell us?’
‘A Bloody Butcher!’
Moran smiled. ‘Good work, Edwards. Now tell me, when did you last visit the dentist?’
Edwards looked confused. ‘I don’t know. About two years ago.’
Moran smiled. ‘Then you’re just the man for the job.’
‘What job?’
‘The one that might rattle Simmonds’ cage enough to make him slip up and lead us to some evidence.’
Twenty minutes later a peeved-looking Edwards walked into the CID office, followed by Moran and Lawrence. Everyone stopped what they were doing to gawp at him. His hair was a tangled mess and his face was smeared with dirt. He was dressed in worn black trousers, which just about covered his ankles, a jumper with holes in it, a coat with what looked like vomit stains down the front, and scuffed shoes, one of which had no laces. A few of the detectives started to laugh.