“The body is that of a Caucasian male aged between thirty and thirty-five. Height, about five feet ten inches, approximate weight one hundred and eighty pounds.” He looked up. “That’s an estimate of course,” he said. “There was little flesh left on the bones when it was recovered, but there are other ways of making an estimate. I don’t suppose you want me to go over all the medical jargon.”
“No, that’s fine. Please carry on,” I said.
“Nothing remarkable was found about the skeletal structure. There is no evidence of healed fractures and no evidence of any bony disease. There was no evidence of obvious blunt force trauma. Now I have to qualify this. Blunt force trauma is − as its name suggests − a severe traumatic episode caused to the body or head with the sudden introduction of a blunt instrument used with great force. There was no evidence of a fracture on any part of the body, but I can’t exclude the possibility that the deceased received a blow on the head, for example, before he was put into the sea. A relatively light blow on the head might cause temporary unconsciousness and yet not be apparent on a subsequent examination of the skeletonized body. There are certainly marks on the skull and on other parts of the body which can’t be classified as pre- or postmortem. They may have been caused by the body bumping against rocks or debris after the deceased had died. The hyoid was intact. There was no evidence of subdural bleeding in the brain.”
Aquino stopped reading from the report and looked up.
“It may surprise you to learn that little is known about the process of decomposition of a body in salt water. Even if a body is weighted down it is likely to float to the surface within a few days, unless it’s confined inside a receptacle of some kind or trapped by rocks. Of course, as the flesh decomposes or diminishes as the result of scavenging by sea creatures then the buoyancy will gradually decrease and it will sink again. But because a body may float on the surface of the water for some time before it sinks it may end up very far indeed from the place where it first entered the water. Another factor that is highly variable is the rate of decomposition. Scientists in Canada did an experiment with three pig carcasses. Two of the carcasses were stripped to the bone by scavengers within a few days, but the other one was still largely intact after six weeks. What all this means is that my estimate of the duration of the submersion of the body is the result of educated guesswork. I estimated thirty-five to forty days. I should clarify that I believe that to be the minimum period, but it could have been a longer or shorter period than that. The upper limit is extremely hard to calculate. The body could have been in the water for several months.”
“And as you say, the place where the body was found may be far away from where it was when the death occurred.”
“Precisely, yes.”
“So all you are really able to say, apart from your estimate of ethnicity, height, weight, age and so on, is that although there was no indication of foul play the cause of death can’t be determined.”
“There are certainly no signs of strangulation, for example. The hyoid was intact. I understand that you are a private investigator so I’m sure I don’t need to explain the relevance of that. There were no signs of physical trauma to the bones or cartilage that remains. I can’t say whether the deceased drowned. I can’t even say if the deceased was dead before he went into the water. He could have been dead for days or even weeks before he was submerged. However, I should add that there’s no reason to believe that the body was weighted down when it went into the water, because there’s no sign of any ropes or bonds of any kind. People rarely use hemp these days. If he had been tied up or if a weight or weights had been tied to his body it is likely that plastic rope or string would have been used, and I would expect there to be at least a trace of that left. And there’s another thing for you to consider. Death by accidental drowning is unlikely in my opinion, although I can’t rule it out of course. Even if the deceased wasn’t a strong swimmer the human body is naturally buoyant and the waters off the coast here are relatively calm most of the time. Provided the deceased was able to breathe and keep air in his lungs he ought to have been able to keep afloat long enough to be spotted, perhaps even long enough to get ashore. Of course, if he panicked, or if the sea was unusually rough at the time, accidental drowning is still a possibility.”
Aquino looked over at us and removed his rimless glasses. “I’m sorry; I’m really not being much help, am I?”
“Perhaps you can assist in another way,” I said. “I understand the deceased’s wife purported to identify the body. How was she able to do that bearing in mind the state of decomposition?”
“She said she could identify him by his teeth. I suppose that’s perfectly plausible. Efforts have been made to see if there are any dental records, but if Mr. Sands visited a dentist in the Philippines the police haven’t been able to find any evidence of it yet. The deceased was at an age when most people with good dental hygiene have little need to visit a dentist.”
“You know of course that the police have categorized the identification as inconclusive,” I said.
“Yes, well, when a person purports to make an identification they are really doing no more than stating their opinion. Identification, other than by fingerprints or DNA or other medical means, is always suspect. That doesn’t mean that I doubt the integrity of Mrs. Sands. I don’t suppose anyone is likely to know what a person’s teeth are like better than a spouse; but there it is.”
“But you discovered a driving license bearing the name of Mr. Sands, I understand?
“Yes; in one of his shoes. The body had deck shoes on which were relatively intact, and the license was encased in plastic. Although the finding was possibly indicative of the identity of the corpse it’s only circumstantial. To be sure about the identification you really need to find something about the body itself.”
I couldn’t think of anything useful that hadn’t been covered. I turned to Lucy. “Do you have any questions for Doctor Aquino?”
She pursed her lips and furrowed her brow in an attempt to appear to be carefully analyzing Dr. Aquino’s findings. “Not at this moment in time,” she said.
On the way back to the hotel I asked Lucy, “At this moment in time? What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It sounded better than just saying no,” she said. “So we’re no wiser then?”
“We’re no wiser,” I said, “but we are better informed.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It sounded better than just saying no,” I said.
Chapter Ten
The Café
“Ouch.”
“Don’t be a baby,” Lucy said.
She was applying sunscreen to my shoulders which were the worst affected part of my body, although my shins came a pretty close second and various other parts of my body a fairly close equal third. We were sitting by the hotel swimming pool again but this time I was under a large parasol. Clothes would have been a better shield against the sun but they were too painful to wear.
“I don’t need sunscreen,” I said. “I’m under an umbrella.”
“It doesn’t stop all the ultraviolet rays. Some of them still seep through.”
I could be in a bar somewhere, I thought, where a sun’s ray had never ventured, but Lucy wanted to work on her own tan and decided that we shouldn’t waste the afternoon. We needed to discuss the case, she told me. Her interest in the case had been bolstered by a trip to the mall on the way back from Aquino’s office where she had ordered her new business cards. The cards would announce, to anyone who cared to read one, that she was an ‘Assistant Investigator’ for Mark Kane Investigations. She was having them made with embossed writing so they wouldn’t be ready until tomorrow and we’d have to go back there again. If she’d been less picky we could have had them more or less straight away.
Paul Evans had called my cell phone just before lunch to make contact, but he wouldn’t be available to see us today. He confirmed that he k
new both Sands and Porter though, and seemed happy enough to tell me what he knew. I didn’t want to do it over the phone so we’d tentatively arranged to link up tomorrow sometime. It was early afternoon now and Lucy was standing in front of me with her arms outstretched admiring herself.
“I bet you wished you tanned naturally, like me,” she said.
“You’ve had time to do it gradually, that’s why.”
“Even in the beginning I didn’t look like a cooked lobster,” she retorted.
I’d been allowed a beer with which I was freezing my throat.
“Make it last,” warned Lucy, “it’s the only one we’ve got.”
“Okay, I’ll be the chairman, shall I?” I said. “I call this meeting to order. The first thing is to apply some common sense to what we were told this morning. In my opinion we can probably discount a natural death. First, as Aquino said, accidental drowning is unlikely. Second, if he had died of natural causes before he was put into the water why would he have been put there at all? Are you listening to this?”
Lucy was flat on her back on a lounger with a large pair of sunglasses covering her eyes. There was no visual means at my disposal to determine if she was still awake.
“Of course I’m listening,” she said. “In fact I was about to interrupt.”
“Why, because you want me to put some sunscreen on you?” I said.
“No, because I was going to add something to the meeting, if that’s okay. Or do I have to raise my hand first?”
“Please, go ahead. I’m all ears.”
“It’s fairly obvious that he wasn’t pushed overboard on purpose, right, because he might just have swum ashore? He wasn’t weighted down. He probably wasn’t rendered unconscious by a blow to the head because Aquino said there was no evidence of blunt force trauma, although he also said a blow sufficient to render him unconscious wouldn’t necessarily be apparent at the autopsy. The most obvious answer is that he was killed and then dumped into the sea to disguise the real cause of his death by having him eaten by the little fishes. I suspect he was stabbed or maybe poisoned. Or asphyxiated,” she added slowly, enjoying the word.
“Bravo,” I said. “That’s what I was about to say.”
“But I said it first,” Lucy said.
“Okay Miss Clever Pants. Why wasn’t the body weighted down?”
“Because whoever did it wanted him to be found.”
“And why would the killer want him found?”
“So that she could collect the insurance money.”
“You mean Cary,” I said.
“Maybe you would have worked it out,” said Lucy; “eventually.”
“So you think the killer is Cary? We haven’t even met her yet.”
“She’s up to her eyeballs in it,” Lucy said.
“Well it’s a perfectly sensible theory, I grant you that. But suspecting her and proving it are two different things.”
“I move for this meeting to be adjourned,” said Lucy “to give me time to think.”
“Okay,” I said, getting up. “I’m a bit worried about the ultraviolet rays seeping through this umbrella. I think I’m going to stretch my legs.”
“See you in the bar next door a bit later then,” she said.
Much later I hoped.
Sitting in the bar next to the hotel called simply ‘The Café’ I was on my third bottle of San Miguel before the alcohol began to anesthetize my burning skin. I was now as relaxed as a jellyfish on a waterbed. The news of the possible insurance payout had changed the whole perspective of the case provided that it was true, and I’d find that out tonight. I wondered why the police hadn’t checked that angle. Remembering the police report that Santos had gone over with me it seemed as if nobody had thought it worthwhile to interview Mrs. Sands at all. There was only a passing reference to her identification of the body.
It was natural, I guessed, for Cary to be keen to collect the insurance money and it didn’t necessarily mean that she was connected with the death. On the other hand, if she was connected with her husband’s death in some way she’d have no interest in an innocent man taking the rap. If she knew about the boat changing hands she’d have no reason not to confirm it. Dale couldn’t remember when he took the boat, or said he couldn’t remember. It was possible that he took the boat around the time of Larry’s disappearance and the two matters only appeared to be related. I didn’t even know whether Cary was aware of Dale’s arrest. He hadn’t told the police about the boat because he’d declined to be interviewed, so the police would have had no reason to contact Cary.
At five Lucy turned up to collect me from the bar. We had to get ready and we’d need time to prepare what Lucy called ‘a plan of action’. I went with her as docile as a puppy summoned to its evening meal. I took a cold shower then put a new blade in my razor and shaved gingerly with very hot water and lots of foam. Luckily my face wasn’t too burnt and the stinging was beginning to fade on the rest of my body too. We had a few words about the approach we should adopt for our dinner meeting.
“I’m not going to mention what Dale told us about the boat − I want to see if she volunteers anything without being prompted. It occurred to me earlier that if Dale took the boat on the day that Larry went missing then Cary might have mistakenly thought that her husband had taken the boat out. In fact, she didn’t tell the police that her husband’s disappearance and the disappearance of the boat were connected. She only described them as simultaneous events.”
Lucy was drying her hair and attempting to shake water out of her ear at the same time and wasn’t paying very close attention.
“Sorry, can you run that past me again?” she said.
“I was saying that Dale’s version and Cary’s version about the boat could conceivably both be true. Dale claims he can’t remember when he collected the boat. Suppose he happened to collect it around the same time as Larry disappeared. It doesn’t mean that the two things are connected. Let me use a simple analogy: last night there was a full moon and I had a headache. It doesn’t mean that the full moon and my headache were connected. It doesn’t mean the full moon caused my headache.”
“It may have,” Lucy said. “Some people think the phases of the moon can affect people’s brains and drive them mad; that’s why they’re called lunatics. They may be right too; if the moon’s gravity can cause tides in the ocean just think what it could do to a little bitty brain.”
“You’re missing the point,” I sighed, “there wasn’t actually a full moon last night and I didn’t have a headache either. I was just using that as an example.”
Lucy grinned at me. “I know – I’m only kidding. Don’t worry; I’ll make use of my feminine intuition tonight. You can do most of the talking and I’ll sit quietly observing her demeanor,” she said, drawing out the word ‘demeanor’ to an unnatural length.
I walked over to the window and gazed up at the sky.
“What are you looking at?” Lucy asked.
“Just checking to see if there’s a full moon,” I said.
Chapter Eleven
Cary
Cary’s house was in a small track off the main highway, about halfway between our hotel and Olongapo. Luckily our taxi driver knew how to get there. It was a single story house in a lot just large enough to accommodate it. Even in the darkness I could see that it was relatively new. The yard, such as it was, a narrow strip which encircled the house, was neatly tended with small shrubs and cacti. Interspersed between the plants were colored stones. The heavy front door was molded in dark wood and was a little too imposing for the house itself. Cary opened the door as I was paying the driver. She was of average height, by the standards of her race, or perhaps a shade taller; she was perhaps five feet three, slim, square shouldered with a generous bosom, narrow hips and thick, jet-black, hair which shone under the porch light. Her face was devoid of make-up, as far as I could tell, and she smiled with even white teeth which appeared to be her own. She
looked to be in her early twenties, but could have been a few years older. She was not beautiful, but she was attractive − not so much because of her features, but as a result of that indefinable something else that she had in spades – sex appeal. Although simply dressed and unadorned by jewelry, save for her wedding band, she had a radiant quality about her. The overall effect was striking. It was easy to see why Larry had been attracted to her.
“Hi,” she said, embracing Lucy and then shaking me by the hand. “I was afraid you wouldn’t find me, it’s a bit out of the way.” She spoke perfect English, but with the familiar twang of the Filipina.
“I’m not very good at Western food. I’ve made some chicken adobo, I hope you’ll like it,” she said.
“I’m sure we will,” said Lucy. “What a charming house.”
“We only built it just over a year ago,” she said. “My family has owned this piece of land for generations and Larry paid for the house to be built. It has air conditioning and everything,” she said proudly. “I don’t know what I’m going to do without Larry.” The corners of her mouth turned down and I thought she was about to burst into tears. We sat down on a sofa which looked as if it was upholstered in PVC but it was hard to tell because the whole thing was covered in a thick clear plastic.
“Would you like some orange juice, or cola?” she said.
“Either would be nice,” I said.
We sat there with our drinks and Cary sat on the edge of an armchair opposite us. The armchair was covered in thick plastic too.
“I’d better get straight to the point,” I said. “We’re here to look into the circumstances of Larry’s death, and also to try to help Dale Porter. Did you know that Dale had been arrested in connection with your husband’s death before Lucy spoke to you yesterday?”
“Yes; it’s awful. Dale would never have hurt Larry, they were friends.”
“Do you know why he was arrested?”
“It’s because of the boat; Larry’s boat.”
“What can you tell us about that?”
The Black Widow - Mark Kane Mysteries - Book Three: A Private Investigator Crime Series of Murder, Mystery, Suspense & Thriller Stories...with a dash of Romance Page 8
