The Tooth Tattoo(33)
‘It’s looking more and more as if she was a tourist,’ Halliwell said.
‘So what did Paul Gilbert find?’
Silence.
‘He must be still out there.’
The hotels had been easier to check than the colleges. Registers existed and were reliable. It was just a matter of getting round to them all. The extra help from uniformed officers had lightened the load. There remained a number of bed and breakfast houses that would wait for the morning.
‘A day visitor?’ Halliwell said.
‘In a coach party? They count them back in, don’t they?’
‘I was thinking she may have been travelling alone – by train, say, from London. Plenty do.’
‘There’s no way of finding out.’
‘Unless her people back in Japan report that she hasn’t returned. Have we asked the embassy?’
‘One of the first calls I made – and wouldn’t you know it, there’s a chain of command. It’s always the way with bureaucracy. They have to check ten times over before they tell you what day of the week it is.’
‘It’s in their interest to cooperate.’
‘I’m not saying anyone is being obstructive. The people I spoke to were ultra-polite. They’ll check with their government and the police and we’ll get a response by Christmas.’
‘We haven’t much to help them apart from describing the clothes.’
‘We emailed the dental record and the all-important tooth tattoo.’
‘DNA?’
‘DNA as well.’
‘Did we send a photo?’ Halliwell said.
Diamond tilted his head towards the shots of the corpse. ‘That? You wouldn’t identify anyone from that.’
From across the room John Leaman had overheard what was said. ‘Just a thought, guv.’
‘What’s that?’
‘Something we may be able to do. There are experts who can reconstruct a face from a skull.’
‘A decomposing skull?’
‘They put it through a CT scanner and get the digital data to produce a computer image, one you can rotate and look at from all angles. From that, they make an exact model in styrene foam with a computer-controlled milling machine – ’
‘You’re losing me,’ Diamond said.
‘A replica of the actual skull. Then they use wax or clay to add the muscles and tissue.’
‘Hold on. How do they know how much wax to add on?’
‘I’m not sure. Generally you’ve got an artist – a sculptor – working closely with a forensic anthropologist.’
‘Not the best of combinations.’
‘It’s not infallible, I grant you.’
‘And slow, I wouldn’t mind betting.’
‘But there is a quicker method.’
‘What’s that?’
‘When it’s all done on the computer, using a high-resolution 3D image of the skull. They have a large stock of facial features that they manipulate into place until something fits.’
Diamond gave him a squint. ‘Is that more reliable than the wax?’
A pause. ‘I couldn’t say. I’m not an expert.’
‘Sounds like trial and error. Where did you pick up these pearls of wisdom?’
‘From one of those CSI shows on TV.’
‘Say no more.’
Halliwell came to Leaman’s defence. ‘Some computer-generated images would look good on the display board.’
Swayed by the suggestion, Diamond tapped the point of his chin. ‘D’you think so?’
‘Doesn’t matter what I think. The ACC would like it.’
‘Georgina?’ A fleeting smile. He knew exactly what Halliwell was getting at. The Assistant Chief Constable, Georgina Dallymore, had him down as a technophobe. ‘On second thoughts, maybe it’s worth a try.’
‘The computer graphics option?’ Leaman said.
‘Definitely.’ Even Georgina would think a wax head was over the top.
‘Why don’t you find out some more?’ Halliwell said to Leaman.
That evening Diamond walked the towpath alone. He’d heard nothing from Paloma since the bust-up at the Dolphin and his pride wouldn’t allow him to call her. She’d dumped him, so it was up to her to get in touch if she still had any regard for him. Actually the speed of her departure had caught him unprepared. A few unguarded words from him and she was off.
You and I are through.
He’d gone over it repeatedly. Maybe she had a point, he had decided as the days went on. He’d treated her as if she was staff. What was the word he’d used when she’d told him a trouble shared was a trouble halved? Claptrap. Not a nice thing to say in the circumstances, and she didn’t know she’d touched a raw nerve. He didn’t want to share his troubles with anyone.