Lost Souls by Jenny O'Brien (android e book reader txt) 📕

thankful for as she took in his work-roughened fingers, the nails split and ingrained. Instead she stepped back and let Owen take the lead. Her thoughts returned to the hunt for Ellie Fry and her phone’s disappointing silence.

‘Mr Penrose, this is DI Darin,’ Owen said, flicking his head in Gaby’s direction. ‘If you could repeat what you told me earlier so that we can visualise it for ourselves?’

She watched Martin lever himself from the wall and make his way across to the cremator, his hand working the handle that barricaded the metal door. ‘Like I said earlier, this is the business end of cremations. After the ashes have cooled, they have to be raked out. There’s never much apart from the bones but occasionally we get some metal fragments like gold fillings and if the person had a joint replacement.’ He crossed back to the bench and tapped the edge of the metal tray. ‘This is where the bits and pieces get sorted. The bone fragments then go into the crusher while the metal parts get separated for disposal later. That’s it. The whole process in a nutshell. There’s nothing else to tell except that yesterday instead of finding the maximum of two artificial hips there were three.’

‘And there’s no way there could have been a mix-up?’ Owen said, catching Gaby’s frown. ‘Maybe from a cremation a few days ago?’

‘None whatsoever. I had sole responsibility over the weekend and I can assure you that the three hips were from the last service.’

‘Okay, let’s move on a little, Mr Penrose. Do you have any suggestions as to what might have happened? Perhaps someone slipped a second body into the coffin or even had one already in the cremator when Mr Broome joined it?’

Mr Penrose shook his head in utter disbelief, reinforcing Gaby’s view as to his innocence. Even his look of distrust earlier led her to believe that he was nothing if not genuine. There would be no reason for him to go to the police with some jumped-up story that was far too strange to be immediately believable.

‘I’ve no idea how they got there – that’s the thing that’s worrying me the most,’ he said, a nervous tick appearing in his cheek. ‘That and the boss using it as an excuse to get rid of me.’ He rubbed his hand across the back of his neck. ‘I always double-check that I’ve cleaned the cremator. It’s only fair for relatives to know that all of their loved ones’ remains are returned to them,’ he said, his voice cracking.

‘You sound as if you’re speaking from experience?’

‘I am.’ He shook his head and Gaby knew that he wouldn’t answer any further questions on that score.

‘Okay, let’s back up a little. You said that the part that’s worrying you the most is how the extra hip joint got into the coffin. What do you mean by that?’

‘The problem is that it’s impossible. Crematoriums already know how easy it would be for people to use the furnace to dispose of bodies. That’s why they’ve set up precautions like the furnace only taking one coffin.’

‘And what about when it’s up to temperature? Couldn’t somebody have added a second body then?’

He laughed, his head shaking a second time. ‘Not if they were interested in living. The cremator runs at around 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit, but not only that – there’s a safety mechanism, which means that the door is clamped shut until the unit has cooled down to a safe temperature.’

‘But the fact remains that three hip prosthetics were found following one cremation?’

‘And no bloody way of explaining it. I’ve checked with the boss. Mr Broome had what we term an open casket, which means that it wasn’t sealed until right up to him being placed into the cremator.’ He raised his head from where he’d been staring down at his hands, working away at trying to remove the dirt from under his fingernails. ‘I saw the body and I can tell you there is no way that anything could have been hidden.’ Pulling back his sleeve, he glanced at his watch. ‘Is there anything else? I really do have to get on or it will be another black mark against me.’

‘You seem to have a difficult relationship with Mr Beeton?’ Gaby said, her voice soft.

‘You could say that. He demands absolute commitment and doesn’t like that I have to leave early in order to pick up my daughter from school on the odd occasion she’s unable to take the bus. He doesn’t seem to get that as a single dad I don’t have a choice in the matter.’

‘He doesn’t appear to be the most sympathetic of individuals.’

‘You’re telling me! The things I could tell you …’

Chapter 16

Owen

Monday 3 August, 4.05 p.m. St Asaph Hospital

‘Ah, Owen, it’s grand to see you. Do take a seat – and you’ve brought coffee too. Thank you,’ Rusty Mulholland said, peeling back the lid of the cup set in front of him and taking a long sip. ‘I was only thinking what I’d give for a decent drink right now. I believe that congratulations are in order, by the way? You must be over the moon.’

Owen had entered Rusty’s office after a brief knock, a large brown envelope clutched under his arm and a couple of take-outs in his hands. While he felt he had a good relationship with the often taciturn senior pathologist, interrupting him without warning wasn’t his normal way of working, hence the coffee pacifier.

‘Indeed. Although I do seem to be hitting the caffeine rather hard. My daughter certainly has a fine pair of lungs.’

‘She’s in practice for when she’s in a relationship, no doubt,’ he replied, his voice taking on a dry note. ‘I hear you’ve called her after Kate’s sister. I always thought Angelica a beautiful name.’

‘Yes, well. It was the right thing to do,’ Owen said, flipping open the envelope and shuffling through the pages to select the one he wanted. It was still