‘I’m saying nothing of the sort, Craig, at least not for the moment. We don’t know what this thing is yet. Nevertheless, the puncture wound has prima facie similarities with the use of a knife, even down to a slight element of gape rendered in the adipocere on the point of entry. If so, a fragment of the weapon has remained behind in the wound. In the context of a modern stabbing that would be most unusual. I have conducted over four hundred autopsies involving a stabbing in my career, and I cannot recall a single case where a blade fragment remained behind in the wound.’

‘But you say this thing was corroded; would the adipocere have done that?’

‘It’s too early to tell. It does appear to be metallic because of the bright image on X-ray, and the uneven shape may be indicative of corrosion. One remote possibility of course, is that during the excavation, a piece of debris got pushed into the neck to cause the observed injury. If the corpse had been in better condition I might be able to ascertain whether the injury was pre or post-mortem, but I’d rather not try to remove the item at this stage, because it might break up.’

‘What are the possibilities?’

‘As I see it, there are only three ways it could have got there. One, as we mentioned, is a stabbing, though it was clearly a very unusual weapon. Two, it’s a piece of debris that got forced into the neck during the excavation, or three, it’s a piece of debris that got forced in some other way.’

‘How are we going to narrow those down?’

‘I’m hoping that Dr Hancock will have some ideas. He’s on his way now, and seems rather excited.’

‘May I come and join you?’

‘Of course.’

Gillard thanked the forensic pathologist and hung up.

Gillard was delayed by phone calls once he arrived at Mount Browne, and only got to the mortuary at eleven. He made his way to the examination room, where Dr Hancock, wearing a white coat, beard net and hairnet and latex gloves was deep in conversation with Delahaye, similarly dressed. Between them, on the slab lay half a dozen grey pieces of humanity, like a first disastrous clay mould made by an apprentice from Madame Tussauds. The two men looked up at the detective’s approach.

‘Ah, Craig, I think we’ve got something fantastic here,’ Hancock said, leading Gillard to a lightbox, where an X-ray was on display. ‘This is Dr Delahaye’s first image, using a conventional medical setting on the machine.’

Gillard could see the bright fragment, alien amongst the softer greys of the body. It was clearly embedded between two vertebrae, and seemed to have displaced the line of the spine. ‘That is a pretty graphic injury,’ he said.

‘Most certainly,’ Delahaye said.