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with what Lola had told them.
Jack, Jack, said Mrs. Singh, shaking her head sadly, what s going on?
Jack took her to the bathroom, finding her a safe passage over the rotten
floorboards. Body in the shower. Probably been dead about a year.
A year? Well, as I said, dead men do
But then she saw the body. A flash went off at that moment to punctuate the
discovery.
Not much for me to work on, is there?
Not really.
The corpse wasn t much of a corpse. Since the body had been in a shower for
nearly a year, the flesh had been quite literally washed down the drain. All
that remained of the victim was a yellowish skeleton, held together by hardier
pieces of tendon and gristle. Wisps of hair were attached to a small area of
scalp on the side of the head, and the left foot, which was the only part of
the body outside the oversize shower basin, had putrefied and was now host to
a large crop of fungus.
The shower was on when you found him? asked Mrs. Singh.
Yes. Him?
Male skeleton. Mid-thirties at a guess, not far off six foot. But this is
what interests me.
She pointed at the small collection of lead bullets that lay scattered
beneath the corpse. They had dropped from the body as the surrounding tissue
rotted away but were too heavy to be moved by the water. Mrs. Singh pulled out
a Magic Marker and noted the position of one, and had the photographer take
several pictures before she picked it up with a pair of forceps and looked
closely at it.
Looks like a .32. Make any sense?
There are .32 cartridges scattered all over the carpet just behind you.
Any idea who he is? she asked without looking up.
We think his name is Tom Thomm, aged thirty-four and a missing person found
his wallet in a pair of rotted 501s. Do I need to ask how he died?
Mrs. Singh knelt by the shower basin. Jack squatted next to her.
Not really, she continued. One shot grazed his lowest rib just here but
was not fatal; another bullet that shattered the ulna indicates that he had
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raised his arm in an attempt to protect himself. There is another slug lodged
in the hip joint which probably caused him to fall over, and the last two were
fired to finish him off. One lodged in the side of his skull and the other
nicked his rib.
How do you know two shots were fired to finish him off?
She smiled and with a flourish drew back the shower curtain. It had three
bullet holes at abdomen height and then two much lower down.
Jack looked at the holes and got up, rubbed his chin and stood just outside
the bathroom door facing the shower. The ejected shell cases had been found
there, so it was a fair bet that this was where the shots had been fired from.
So they fire from here three times, hear the person slump in the shower and
shoot twice more?
Mrs. Singh stood up. I d say that s about the tune of it. Get Skinner to
have a look. I ll leave the corpse there until he s done. She stared down at
the body. Seems hard to believe that a shower could be run for a year. Didn t
anyone complain?
Next-door neighbor. Lola Vavoom
The actress?
The same. She complained, but they ignored her. No one lives below. It s a
mess down there, too. The damp has got into everything.
Mrs. Singh was deep in thought, but not, as Jack found out, about the corpse.
Lola Vavoom, eh? she said excitedly. I was about the only person who
likedMy Sister Used to Keep Geese, and my husband and I sawFancy Free in
Ludlow eight times. I must get her autograph.
She hurried off, leaving them both staring at the shower curtain.
Are you thinking what I m thinking? asked Jack.
Mrs. Dumpty?
Bingo. First three shots at abdomen level. Humpty was about four foot six.
If shethought he was in the shower, that s where she would have aimed.
What did Mrs. Dumpty say in her suicide note? mused Mary.
I went to his home and prayed for God to forgive me as I pulled the
trigger.
Only when we came around to interview her, continued Mary,
she didn t know we were investigating something that had happened that
morning she must have thought we d just discovered the body.
It explains why Dumpty had been lying low, added Jack. He obviously didn t
want her to have a second go at him.
He stared at the skeleton in the shower basin.
I reckon he d only just discovered Tom Thomm s body when Lola saw him.
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Why didn t he report it? asked Mary.
Because, said Jack simply, he was up to no good and up to no goodbig time.
But it still doesn t tell us where Humptyhad been living this past year.
So& are we any closer to who killed Humpty?
We know they used a .44-caliber handgun, that it s probable Winkie saw them
do it and He thought for a moment. And that s about it.
The rain had stopped by the time they stepped out of the building. The sky
had darkened even though it was barely midafternoon, and cautious motorists
had switched on their headlights, causing the wet road to glisten. The
doorman, inspired by all the activity, had put his pillbox hat on at a jaunty
angle and saluted as they walked past.
Briggs called, said Baker as he saw them to the Allegro.
Let me guess. Press conference?
In one.
30. Another Press Conference
CRIME BOSS JAILED
Notorious racketeer and underworld crime boss Giorgio Porgia was found guilty
yesterday on 208 counts of undertaking home improvements with menaces. The
court heard that Porgia and his gang would routinely use threats, violence and
intimidation to sell unwanted home improvements to frightened residents. Loft
conversions were carried out where no loft had been; double glazing was
replaced up to seven times on the same property, and houses were unnecessarily
rewired using string. Porgia was sentenced to thirty-five years in prison,
having already pleaded guilty to token charges of wanton lack of taste, poor
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