Spider - Michael Morley [56]
‘Va bene,’ said Massimo, glad to be distracted from his thoughts. ‘And what does it tell us, Roberto? Why did this man pick out Cristina Barbuggiani? What made her the unlucky one?’
‘More than anything, she seemed simply to be in the wrong place at the wrong time –’ began the young researcher.
‘Bullshit!’ exploded Massimo, his hand again sheltering Cristina’s photograph from his more ‘colourful’ language. ‘Che cazzo stai dicendo!’
‘In English, Direttore,’ said Orsetta, with a smile.
Massimo glared at her and turned back to the researcher. ‘Roberto, do not even think of telling that to Jack King. BRK is not an opportunist; he’s not a common, spur-of-the-moment criminal. This man chose Cristina. He picked her out of the crowd. When Jack King asks you that question, do not shame this unit by telling him she was in the wrong place at the wrong time.’ Massimo turned to Orsetta, holding Cristina’s picture between his thumb and forefinger. ‘Find me a lookalike. Go to the film casting agencies and find me an actress who looks like our Cristina and can behave like Cristina did.’
‘I will fix it,’ said Orsetta.
‘And, Orsetta,’ continued Massimo. ‘What about Patologia, what did they have to say about the limbs?’
‘The limbs, or the head?’ she asked, opening her notebook.
‘The limbs first,’ answered Massimo, still not sure how he was going to break the news of the head to Jack. ‘They were dumped in various places in the sea, while, as we know, the head was sent here. So, I guess he got rid of the body parts first, and hung on to the girl’s head until the last moment?’
‘Most likely,’ said Orsetta, flicking to the relevant page of notes. ‘As you request, I will start with the limbs first. Dismemberment and then dispersal of the body parts in sea water made setting the time of death very difficult. The labs said it was also made harder by the fact that they had no body fluids to test…’
‘Madonna porca!’ swore Massimo. ‘How easy do these so-called scientists want their lives? How about we pass a law that all killers have to tag the bodies with the exact time of death before they dispose of them? Orsetta, save me from the excuses. Just tell me the facts that can help us.’
Orsetta, well used to his emotional flare-ups, continued unshaken. ‘Decomposition was pretty uniform across the body parts, give or take a few hours. All the flesh had begun softening and liquefying. He’d tied the severed limbs in the plastic bags before dumping them at sea, so they went through a fairly normal putrefaction cycle. There had been discoloration, marbling and some blistering.’
‘How long, Orsetta?’ asked Massimo impatiently. ‘How long had he kept her body?’
‘They couldn’t predict that accurately from the body parts, but –’
‘Affanculo!’ swore Massimo, slamming a meaty hand on his desk top. ‘Non mi rompere le palle!’
Orsetta reddened, not with embarrassment, but with anger. ‘With the greatest respect, Direttore, I am not breaking your balls; these are the path lab reports, not mine. The body parts don’t help us a lot because the decomposition rate is skewed by the fact that they were dumped in sea water.’
‘Mi dispiace,’ said Massimo, clasping his hands together as though in prayer. ‘Please continue.’ He reached out and once more gently touched the photograph of Cristina on his desk.
Orsetta picked up where she’d been stopped. ‘Pathology says it looks like Cristina had been dead for about six to eight days before her body was dismembered and then exposed to the sea water.’
‘Anything in the stomach or lungs that helps us?’ asked Massimo, hopefully.
Orsetta frowned. ‘Fortunately, Cristina’s torso had been wrapped quickly and tightly in the plastic sacks, presumably to avoid a lot of spillage at the crime scene, and this went a long way to preserving parts of the vital organs. Lung tissue analysis was difficult, but from what they could work out, no diatoms were found in the body organs. They checked bone marrow too, and that came back clear of the diatoms as well.’
‘Diatoms are microscopic organisms usually found in lakes, rivers