Gift Wrapped Read Online Free Page A

diplomacy.’
    â€˜I’ll step outside for a moment to let the SOCO officers take the last of their photographs and to allow them space to photograph the exhumation.’ Dr D’Acre moved thankfully out into the breathable air of the field and once again found herself pondering the fortune awaiting the person who invents an air-conditioning system which can be installed in inflatable tents for the use of the police. She, like Reginald Webster, found herself enjoying the rural setting to which her duties on that day had brought her and she was very pleased to be able to exchange the all-pervading smell of formaldehyde for the pleasing fresh country air. As she walked from the tent her eye was caught by a hawk – a sparrow hawk, she thought – hovering above an adjacent field, and she watched as the bird dived purposefully, disappeared from view amongst the wheat and then rose with a small object in its talons. The field mouse dies so that the hawk might live; life goes on. She noticed movement on the road and saw a farmer with a battered, mud-splattered, green canvas-topped Land Rover slow down as he passed the scene of the police activity. Dr D’Acre then realized it would be the talk of the pubs in Warthill and Gate Helmsley that evening and probably for a few more evenings to come. Gossip, she pondered, that just might cause a felon to have a sleepless night, as the news of the skeleton being found would be made public. Dr D’Acre knew that all such talk could be useful to the police; local gossip and wide publicity has all been known to make a felon trip himself up, or even, indeed, to walk into a police station desperately wishing to ease a terrible conscience which has been haunting him, or her, for years. But in this case it was clear to her that the wretched man with a hole in his skull was never intended to be found.
    The skeleton, once delicately raised to ground level, was gently laid on to the black heavy-duty plastic body bag by the two ashen-faced young constables, which was then closed and zipped shut, placed on a stretcher and carried solemnly to the black, windowless mortuary van which had been summoned and, upon arriving, had parked behind the police minibus. Dr D’Acre returned to the tent and looked into the hole and, observing no further human remains or other items of significance, she then vacated the tent and approached DCI Hennessey. ‘Nothing more for me to do here, sir,’ she spoke quietly. ‘I’ll proceed to the York District Hospital and await the arrival of the skeleton.’
    â€˜Very well, ma’am. I have a press release to prepare and then to issue, and I will join you immediately after that has been done. I am sure I will not be much delayed.’
    Dr D’Acre carefully studied the skeleton which lay upon the first of five stainless-steel tables which stood in a row in the pathology laboratory of the York District Hospital. It had been found on its side and in a foetal position, and was by then lying face-up with its arms by its sides and legs extended. Also present in the laboratory that afternoon were Eric Filey and DCI Hennessey, both of whom stood at a respectful distance from the dissecting table – Hennessey against the wall and Filey on the further side of the laboratory, against the bench which ran the length of the laboratory and beneath which were drawers containing instruments and other items which might be required by the pathologist. Dr D’Acre, Filey and Hennessey were each dressed in identical disposable green coveralls, complete with cap and foot covering. As on all previous occasions when George Hennessey had observed a post-mortem for the police, he once again found the air of the pathology laboratory heavy with the smell of bleach and industrial grade disinfectant. It permitted no natural light but instead was illuminated by a series of filament bulbs shielded by opaque Perspex screens, which prevented