Page 48 of The Mercy Chair

‘Have you figured out what their interest is yet?’

Poe shook his head.

‘How did you find the Children of Job?’

‘Intense. And their views are outdated and abhorrent by today’s standards. Saying that, I got the feeling some of them are relieved Cornelius Green is dead. It seems he was the driving force behind the more extreme programmes.’

‘Do you think someone killed him to make them appear more progressive?’

‘Can’t rule it out.’

‘Speaking of Cornelius Green,’ Doyle said. ‘As clinically suspected, he died from blunt force trauma. Any number of the blows he took to the head could have proved fatal.’

‘There were no other injuries?’ Poe asked.

‘Did I say that?’

‘You didn’t. Sorry.’

Doyle smiled. ‘Still can’t help butting in, can you, Poe? Cornelius Green did in fact have other injuries. Quite interesting ones.’ She tilted her head towards her assistant. ‘Can we move the body on to its side, please? I want his back facing the viewing area.’

In a well-practised move, they manoeuvred the cadaver until Cornelius’s back was facing them. Like his chest, it was covered with religious tattoos. Crosses, crucifixes, the Virgin Mary, more obscure religious iconography.

Doyle pointed the inspection camera – one of those with a semi-rigid cable – at the base of Cornelius’s spine. The monitor in the viewing room flickered into life. Nightingale glanced at it and went back to her notebook. It seemed this was only for Poe’s benefit.

‘You can’t see these clearly because of his tattoos,’ Doyle said, ‘but there are recent histological changes to the skin. If you look here, here, here and here,’ – she tapped Cornelius’s back with a pen – ‘there are two pairs of dot-like lesions. There’s a third pair higher up, just under the shoulder blade.’

‘Three pairs?’ Poe said. ‘Not six separate ones?’

‘Each pair is exactly thirty-five millimetres apart, Poe.’

‘What are they?’

‘Burns.’

Poe frowned. ‘They can’t be from a cigarette, not if they’re so precisely spaced.’

‘They were caused by a stun gun,’ Doyle said. ‘The marks are quite specific, and once you know what they look like, they’re not difficult to identify. The lowest pair is the deepest. The other two pairs are relatively superficial.’

Poe ran through the most likely sequence of events. ‘The first was to debilitate him, the rest were unfriendly reminders,’ he said.

Nightingale looked up from her notebook. ‘That’s my line of thinking as well, Poe,’ she said. ‘The killer makes Cornelius wobbly with the first jolt then threatens him with more if he doesn’t comply. He has to be reminded of this twice. It explains how he was taken to the Lightning Tree without a noticeable struggle.’

‘We may not be looking for a big burly killer after all then.’

‘Nope,’ Nightingale agreed. ‘Anyonecould have killed Cornelius Green.’

Chapter 44

‘Was this the first time you’d worked with Professor Doyle since your engagement?’ Doctor Lang asked.

‘I think it probably was,’ Poe replied. ‘Why do you ask?’

‘Because she seemed unusually harsh on you. I’m wondering if in her desire to be seen as impartial, she overcompensated.’

‘You’re talking about when I asked if there were any other injuries on Cornelius Green?’

‘I am.’

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