It’s near enough to being soap as makes little difference.’ The speaker prodded the pallid fat of a disintegrating leg which was lying before him on an enamel tray. Professor Powell seemed to be enjoying himself. Apart from the rubber gloves on his hands, he looked more like a successful stockbroker having a chat at his club than a coroner’s pathologist at work. ‘What exactly does that mean?’ asked Charles Pacey, who was seated on the other side of John Ellis-Morgan’s consulting room desk. The little doctor had offered them the use of his surgery for the afternoon, so that the Home Office man could study the remains in comparative comfort. Leighton Powell began to explain: ‘It forms when the body is exposed to a lot of damp – the fats are changed to a kind of soap. This change is permanent, as far as I know. It lasts for many years, anyway – unless rats come and eat it, which is quite common.’ Pacey looked a little disappointed.
What do You think about The Thread Of Evidence (2015)?
