The Belfast Telegraph was delivered.  One of the girls brought it into Ruth’s office.  The headlines read: MURDERED PROSTITUTE FOUND OFF GOLDEN MILE.  A man on his way home from a club in the city centre, while taking a shortcut, had found the body of Lisa Craig.  Her throat had been cut.  Detectives investigating the crime were appealing for information.  They said that the killing bore no paramilitary hallmarks.  They also declined to speculate on who had committed the crime, but no doubt they would be interviewing her regular customers for a start…..presuming that they could track them down with the help of other women who worked the streets.

CHAPTER 6

  THE FIRST BODY FOUND.

The Doctor examined the body at the crime scene.  She felt the victim’s jaw, to see if it moved freely. 

“Why’s she doing that?” the young Constable asked.

“If it moves freely, then rigor mortis hasn’t set in,” Millar casually informed him.

“What’s she doing now?”

“She’s feeling under the armpit.  If there’s some warmth left in there, then the victim has been murdered within the last six hours.  She’ll work out an estimate of how long the victim’s actually been there from her rectal or vaginal temperature.”

The Constable screwed up his face, looking disgusted.

“Didn’t you learn all this in training?”

“I might have been off sick that day Sir,” he replied.

‘No excuse!’  Millar thought.  “She’s turning the body over now, to look for signs of lividity.  You do remember that bit I hope?  Reddening where the blood drains to the lowest part of the body.”

“Yes.  I remember that bit.”

“Uh huh!  And how long does this take?”

“Er…..is it 3 to 5 hours Sir?”

“Correct.  She’ll remove the body to the City Morgue now, examine the stomach contents and so on.  Know all about that?  Ever watch an autopsy?”

“Never.”  The colour drained from the Constable’s face.  He was dreading being asked if he’d want to watch one.  Watching all this from a distance was enough for him.