‘There was severe blunt force trauma to Lizzie’s head, her shoulders, her right arm. A dozen blows at least.’
I start to shake, everywhere, uncontrollably. But I say, ‘Go on.’
‘The back of her skull was-’
‘Do we need this?’ Tony bursts out, ‘Do we really have to hear-’
‘No,’ Kay says immediately.
‘I do,’ I say, ‘I want to know. Everything.’
It is true. There’s a void, a hunger that can’t be sated. The gap left by Lizzie’s absence is huge. Unfathomable. I need to fill it with anything I can. Better to fill it with truth than fantasy. No matter how dark the contents of the report are, they will never match what I dredge up in my imagination.
‘Tony, if you want to wait?’ Kay says.
‘It’s fine… just…’ Tony clamps his hands over his mouth and squeezes his eyes shut tight.
Jack is silent, ashen, trembling as I am.
‘The back of Lizzie’s skull was crushed with multiple fractures, the right orbital socket around the eye was fractured, as well as the nose and the right ulna – in the arm. Cause of death was due to blunt force trauma. It is likely that she died as a result of one of the early blows.’ I wonder how they can possibly know that.
‘The weapon was long and narrow, cylindrical, almost certainly the poker that was recovered from the scene,’ Kay says.
‘Oh God,’ I breathe.
‘Poker?’ Tony says. The fire irons. Genuine antiques. Tony gave them to Lizzie and Jack when they put the wood-burner in. You can get modern ones almost identical, black cast iron. Long-handled shovel, tongs, brush and poker.
Jack presses his fist to his head, closing his eyes for a moment. ‘There could be fingerprints?’ he says, looking at Kay.
‘Were there any on the poker?’ I ask.
‘I don’t know,’ Kay says. ‘It will take some time for us to have forensic results back, but fingerprints are one of the first things to be recovered and examined. The CSIs will also look for footwear impressions, palm prints, anything they can find. And DNA traces on Lizzie’s body. Her body has been swabbed and her hair brushed, scrapings taken from under her nails. These are all areas where the attacker may have left traces that can help us to identify him.’
‘Was she raped?’ My voice is uneven.
Jack stiffens, and Tony hunches over in his seat.
‘There is no sign of that.’ Kay waits to see if we have any other questions before continuing. ‘There’s something else that the post-mortem revealed. Lizzie was pregnant.’
‘No!’ Jack says.
Tony and I look at each other, both bewildered.
