Banks glanced into the bin and nodded. “There might be some trace evidence inside. It’s possible he got into the bin by himself, maybe to escape someone, but I very much doubt it. Someone must have brought his body here and dumped him. Most likely by car. And there’s very little blood in the bin as far as I can see, which may also indicate he was killed elsewhere.”

Banks bent down and felt in the boy’s pockets. He pulled out a small package filled with white powder. He slipped it into an evidence bag and sealed it, then stood up, hearing his knees crack as he did so.

Dr. Burns knelt next, and Banks watched him make notations on his clipboard and check the time as his eyes roamed over the body.

When the doctor stood up, he looked grim. “Four stab wounds as far as I can count,” he said. “Of course, there may be others I can’t see, so when Dr. Glendenning gets him on the table he’ll be able to tell you more. It’s difficult for me to conduct a proper examination given the position and state of the body.”

“It won’t be Dr. Glendenning,” said Banks. “The doc’s retired. Well, semi-retired. He still likes to stand over Karen whenever he can and make sarcastic comments about her technique.”

“Dr. Karen Galway?”

“That’s right.” Dr. Karen Galway, who had worked for some years as Dr. Glendenning’s chief assistant, was now an official Home Office pathologist, qualified to carry out post-mortem examinations. She lacked the old doctor’s biting humor and irreverent approach, but nobody could fault her work thus far.

Dr. Burns nodded. “Excellent choice. I must say, I’d been thinking Dr. Glendenning was getting a bit long in the tooth.”

“Long in the tooth and deep in experience,” said Banks. “Anyway, what can you tell us so far?”

“Not much,” Dr. Burns admitted. “Those stab wounds are most likely the cause of death. One of them in particular might have nicked or pierced the right ventricle. There’s a fair bit of blood, but most of the bleeding would probably have been internal. I doubt it would have taken the poor lad very long to die, if that’s any consolation.”

“Not for him,” said Banks. “How long ago?”

“I can’t tell you precisely, but I’d estimate more than twelve hours. You can see full rigor’s set in. It was pretty mild last night, and he’s young. And he was stuffed in a container. Again, Dr. Galway will be able to give you a better idea when she gets him on the table. I’ll try to narrow it down a bit with temperature calculations in a minute, but they’re not always as accurate as I would wish, either. There are better tests these days, but they need to be done in the lab with the proper equipment.”

Banks nodded. “The timing makes sense. Twelve hours or so. Mrs. Grunwell says she put her rubbish out at ten o’clock last night, and the bin sat there out back in the same row as everyone else’s until the dustbin men came a short while ago. It’s twenty past eleven now.”