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The Tooth Tattoo(37)

By:Peter Lovesey


‘What’s going on here?’ she asked Peter Diamond. ‘I wasn’t told we had a major incident.’

‘You’ve been away, ma’am.’

‘I wasn’t away from my BlackBerry, if you know what that is. I expect to be kept informed. What’s it about?’

‘A body found in the river. We’re treating it as suspicious.’

She eyed the display board. ‘It looks like a full blown murder investigation. Is all this justified?’

‘It is when there’s an international dimension.’

She twitched in alarm. ‘In what way?’

‘The victim – the deceased, I should say – is almost certainly from Japan.’

‘A tourist?’

‘Possibly. We’re working closely with the Border Agency and the Japanese embassy.’

‘Do you know who it is?’

He shook his head. ‘Female, below average height, twenty to thirty, with a tooth tattoo as the only distinguishing feature.’

‘What on earth …?’

Diamond explained. After the dig about the BlackBerry he wasn’t missing a chance to let the boss know he was street smart.

Georgina peered at the close-up. ‘It looks like a music note.’

‘A quaver, actually.’

‘I didn’t know you read music, Peter.’

‘I have hidden depths, ma’am.’

‘I’ve known that for a long time, but music is something else. So is this the only clue?’

‘An iPod has been found on the river bank in Green Park.’

‘Hers?’

‘We can’t say yet. I’m having the scene examined for evidence of violence.’

‘Was she attacked, then?’

‘Unfortunately she was in the water too long to tell.’

She paused as if to play the statement over. ‘I hate to say it, but this has all the hallmarks of an unsolved case.’

He wasn’t being goaded into submission. ‘You’re entitled to your opinion, ma’am.’

‘What makes you think this isn’t an accidental drowning?’

‘In all my time here, I can’t recall any accidents below Pulteney weir, where she was found. You don’t find swimmers or canoeists there.’

‘She could have climbed over the railing,’ Georgina said.

‘Why?’

‘Suicide, obviously.’

‘But the iPod was found on the river bank further down.’

‘So you’re working on the basis that she was murdered and dumped in the river? A pretty big assumption from one lost iPod.’

‘We’ll know more when the crime scene investigators report.’ He decided this wasn’t the best time to tell her he’d asked for a second autopsy.

‘You may know more. Have you checked with missing persons?’

‘The first thing we did. Since then we’ve enquired at all the colleges and hotels.’

‘No names yet?’

‘So far, no.’

‘You’ve hit the buffers, then. Better scale everything down and get the room back to normal.’

‘I haven’t told you about Professor Hackenschmidt.’

She blinked rapidly. ‘Who’s he?’

‘The world expert on facial reconstruction using computer imaging. He and his team in Philadelphia are already at work.’

‘Did you say Philadelphia?’ Georgina was tight-lipped now.

‘He works from CT scans.’ Another bit of technological jargon coming to his aid.

‘Is this coming out of your budget?’

Diamond’s way of dealing with awkward questions was to ask one himself. ‘I expect you’re up with computer imaging, ma’am?’

‘I’ve heard of it, but I didn’t expect you of all people to give any credence to it. How much will this cost?’

‘I’m told the professor is only too pleased to be involved.’

‘Small wonder, if we’re paying. I hope you asked for an estimate.’

‘One of my team is dealing with it.’

‘Who’s that?’

‘John Leaman.’

‘Good. He’s no fool.’ Having said this, even Georgina seemed to realise Diamond could take offence. ‘This is just the kind of outsourcing we’ve been discussing on the Home Office course. These are tough economic times. We can’t employ experts for this and that and go way over budget. We need to make better use of our own resources.’

Diamond wasn’t backing down. ‘I wouldn’t trust this lot to reconstruct a face. We’d end up with something out of Frankenstein.’

‘Be serious, Peter.’

‘I am. You asked if we’ve hit the buffers and I’m telling you we haven’t. It’s all in train, if you’ll excuse the pun. Can’t be stopped now. As soon as the professor sends us a likeness we’ll forward copies to Japan and get them on TV and in the papers. Speeds up the whole enquiry. Once the woman is identified we’ll get to the truth of it, I promise you. Maximise our resources.’ The last words tripped off his tongue so glibly that Georgina was caught off guard. She drew a long, fatalistic breath and returned upstairs to consider her options. Dismantling the incident room might not be the best way forward.