“Just a couple of points that need clarifying,” Rebus assured him, dragging a vacant chair over and settling himself on its arm. “If you don’t mind casting your mind back to that Phil Kennedy autopsy…”

“You’re persistent, Detective Sergeant.”

“Sorry about that, sir.” But Rebus didn’t manage to sound it. “You said that DI Gilmour and DS Blantyre were in the room when the deceased was being examined?”

“Nothing unusual in that.”

“Nobody else from CID was there? DS Paterson, DC Spence?”

The pathologist shook his head. “And no DS Rebus either.”

“I was still a detective constable back then.”

“And you’ve soared through the ranks since.”

Rebus glanced towards Fox and noted that the man was enjoying his discomfort—perhaps understandably.

“When I asked yesterday, I think you said you weren’t a hundred percent sure about DS Blantyre being present?”

“Ninety-five percent,” Cuttle stated.

“But you doubt we’d find any paperwork after all this time?”

“I suppose Professor Donner’s family might have kept copies of his reports.”

“You sound skeptical.”

“Comes with the territory.” Cuttle looked at Fox. “I did say to DS Rebus here, last time he saw fit to disrupt my daily routine, that I wondered if all this might not be a diversion from the Merchant killing.”

“Don’t think I’ve not harbored the same thoughts, sir,” Fox commented.

“But to get back to the autopsy itself,” Rebus pressed. “When you told me Professor Donner was in charge that day, you hesitated…”

“Did I?”

“As if you’d remembered something.”

Cuttle looked from one detective to the other. “Professor Donner is not here to defend himself, and I won’t speak ill of the dead.”

“He made a mistake?”

Cuttle shook his head slowly and rested his hands across his stomach. “The Y incision had been made, the ribcage prized open. Organs were in the process of being removed and weighed…”

“Yes?”

“We were short-staffed. The autopsy had been fast-tracked for some reason, when we could just as easily have left the cadaver in cold storage.”

“A lack of technicians?”

The old man nodded. “Meaning I took on the more menial role—fetching and carrying.”

Rebus felt like reaching across and shaking the pathologist. But he balled his fists instead and waited.

“I had to leave the room for a moment. Professor Donner had need of a clamp. It was in a room across the hall. While I was out, the postmortem examination continued.”

“There are supposed to be two pathologists present at all times,” Rebus said. “Scots law requires corroboration.”

“Does it really? Well, thanks for the lesson.”

“You knew at the time, and so did Donner.”

“Nevertheless, he chose not to wait. By the time I returned, the stomach had been cut open. The smell of spirits was overpowering.”

“To be expected in a man who’d been on a binge,” Fox stated.