Child 44 Part 15

Leo had circled the last point. Since the ground was frozen the killer must have brought the soil with him. He must have planned the murder. There was intention, preparation. But why bring soil at all? It was a c.u.mbersome means to silence someone, a rag, or cloth or even a hand would have been far easier. With no answers Leo had decided to belatedly take Fyodor's advice. He was going to see the body for himself.

When he'd asked where her body was being kept he'd been told to go to Hospital 379. Leo hadn't expected forensic laboratories, pathologists or a dedicated morgue. He knew there was no specialized apparatus for dealing with wrongful death. How could there be when there was no wrongful death? In the hospital the militia were forced to canva.s.s for a doctor's spare moment, such as a meal break or ten minutes before surgery. These doctors, with no training beyond their own medical qualifications, would take an educated guess at what might have happened to the victim. The autopsy report Leo had read was based on notes taken during one of these s.n.a.t.c.hed sessions with a doctor. The notes would have been typed up several days later by a different person altogether. There could be little doubt that much of the truth had been lost along the way.

379 was one of the most famous hospitals in the country and reportedly one of the finest free-to-all hospitals in the world. Situated at the end of Chkalova Street, the hospital was spread over several hectares with landscaped grounds stretching into the forest. Leo was impressed. This was no mere propaganda project. Plenty of money had been invested in these facilities and he could understand why dignitaries reportedly travelled many kilometres to recuperate in the picturesque surroundings. He presumed that the lavish funding was primarily intended to ensure that the Volga's workforce was kept healthy and productive.

At reception he asked if he could speak to a doctor, explaining that he needed help with the examination of a murder victim, a young girl they had in their morgue. The receptionist seemed uncomfortable with the request, asking if it was urgent and wondering if he couldn't come back at a less busy time. Leo understood: this man wanted nothing to do with the case.

-It's urgent.

The man reluctantly moved off to see who was available.

Leo's fingers tapped against the front desk. He was uneasy, glancing over his shoulder at the entrance. His visit was unauthorized, independent. What did he hope to achieve? His job was to find evidence confirming a suspect's guilt, not question the guilt itself. Though he'd been exiled from the prestigious world of political crime to the dirty secret of conventional crime, the process was much the same. He'd dismissed the death of Fyodor's little boy as an accident not because of any evidence but because the Party line necessitated a dismissal. He'd made arrests based upon a list of names given to him, names drawn up behind closed doors. That had been his method. Leo wasn't naive enough to think that he could change the direction of the investigation. He had no authority. Even if he'd been the top-ranking officer he couldn't reverse the proceedings. A course had been set, a suspect chosen. It was inevitable that Babinich was going to be found guilty and inevitable that he was going to die. The system didn't allow for deviation or admissions of fallibility. Apparent efficiency was far more important than the truth.

And what did it have to do with him, anyway? This wasn't his town. These weren't his people. He hadn't pledged to the girl's parents that he'd find the killer. He hadn't known the girl or been touched by the story of her life. What's more, the suspect was a danger to societyhe'd taken a baby. These were excellent reasons for doing nothing and there was one more reason besides:

What difference can I make?

The receptionist returned with a man in his early forties, Dr Tyapkin, who agreed to show Leo down to the morgue as long as it didn't involve any paperwork and on the condition that his name didn't show up on any doc.u.ments.

As they walked the doctor expressed doubts as to whether the girl's body was still there.

-We don't keep them for long unless we're asked to. We were under the impression the militia had all the information they required.

-Did you carry out the initial examination?

-No. But I've heard about the murder. I thought you'd already caught the man responsible.

-Yes, it's possible.

-I hope you don't mind me asking but I haven't seen you before.

-I arrived recently.

-Where are you from?

-Moscow.

-Transferred here?

-Yes.

-I was sent here three years ago, also from Moscow. No doubt you're disappointed to be here?

Leo remained silent.

-Yes, don't answer. At the time I was disappointed. I had a reputation, acquaintances, family. I was good friends with Professor Vovsi. I felt coming here was a demotion. Of course, it turned out to be a blessing.

Leo recognized the nameProfessor Vovsi was one of many leading Jewish doctors arrested. His arrest and the arrest of his colleagues had marked the acceleration of a Jewish purge driven by Stalin. Plans had been drawn up. Leo had seen the papers. The removal of key Jewish figures within influential spheres was to be followed by wider purge, targeting any Jewish citizens whether they were prominent or not, plans cut short by Stalin's death.

Unaware of his companion's train of thought, Tyapkin blithely continued.

-I was worried I was being sent to some rural health clinic. But 379 has become the envy of the region. If anything it's a little too successful. Many of the mill-workers prefer a night in our clean beds with inside toilets and running water to their own homes. We got wise to the fact that not everyone was as ill as they claimed. Some of them went as far as cutting off part of a finger in order to guarantee a week in here. The only solution was to have MGB officers police the wards. It wasn't that we didn't sympathize with the mill-workers. We've all seen their homes. But if overall productivity fell due to illness then we'd be accused of neglect. Keeping people healthy has become a matter of life and death not just for the patients but for us doctors as well.

-I understand.

-Were you a member of the Moscow militia?

Should Leo admit to being a member of the MGB or lie and pretend he was merely a member of the militia? A lie would be easier. He didn't want to ruin the doctor's talkative mood.

-Yes, I was.

The morgue was in the bas.e.m.e.nt, built deep into ground that was frozen throughout the long winter. As a result the corridors were naturally cold. Tyapkin led Leo to a large room with a tiled floor and a low ceiling. On one side there was a rectangular vat, shaped like a small swimming pool. On the far side of the room there was a steel door which led through to the morgue itself.

-Unless relatives can make arrangements we incinerate bodies within twelve hours. The TB victims are incinerated within an hour. We don't have much need for storage. Wait here, I'll be back.

The doctor unlocked the steel door and entered the morgue. Waiting, Leo approached the vat, peering over the edge. It was filled with a dark, gelatinous liquid. He was unable to see anything except his own reflection. The surface was still, black, although from the stains on the concrete sides he could see it was in fact dark orange. On the side there was a hook, a long metal pole with a barbed p.r.o.ng on the end. He picked it up, tentatively prodding the surface. Like syrup, it broke and then re-formed, becoming smooth once again. Leo sunk the hook deeper, this time feeling something movesomething heavy. He pushed down harder. A naked body rose to the surface, slowly rotating one hundred and eighty degrees, before sinking again. Tyapkin emerged from the morgue pus.h.i.+ng a gurney.

-Those bodies are going to be packed in ice and s.h.i.+pped to Sverdlovsk for dissection. They have a medical college there. I've found your girl.

Larisa Petrova lay on her back. Her skin was pale, criss-crossed with blue veins as thin as spider's web. Her hair was blonde. A large part of the fringe had been unevenly cut off: the part Varlam had taken. Her mouth was no longer stuffed with soilthat had been removedbut her jaw was still open, locked in the same position. Her teeth and tongue were dirty, stained brown with the remnants of earth that had been forced in.

-There was soil in her mouth.

-Was there? I'm sorry, this is the first time I've seen her body.

-Her mouth was stuffed with soil.

-Perhaps the doctor washed it out in order to examine her throat.

-It hasn't been kept?

-I would think it very unlikely.

The girl's eyes were open. They were blue. Perhaps her mother had been transferred from a town near the Finnish border, from one of the Baltic regions. Recalling the superst.i.tion that the face of a murderer was captured on the surface of a victim's eye Leo leaned closer, studying the pale blue eyes. Suddenly embarra.s.sed, he stood up straight. Tyapkin smiled.

-We all checkdoctors and detectives alike. It doesn't matter if our brains tell us that there'll be nothing there, we all want to make sure. Of course it would make your job a whole lot easier if it was true.

-If it was true then murderers would always cut out their victims' eyes.

Having never studied a dead body before, at least with any forensic interest, Leo was unsure how to proceed. To his mind the mutilation was so frenzied it could only be the work of someone insane. Her torso had been ripped apart. He'd seen enough. Varlam Babinich fitted the bill. He must have brought the soil for his own incomprehensible reasons.

Leo was ready to leave but Tyapkin, having come all the way down to the bas.e.m.e.nt, seemed to be in no hurry. He leaned closer, staring at what appeared to be nothing more than a savaged mess of flesh and tissue. Using the tip of his pen he probed into the mangled midriff, examining the wounds.

-Can you tell me what the report said?

Leo took out his notes and read them aloud. Tyapkin continued his examination.

-That fails to mention her stomach is missing. It's been cut out, severed from the oesophagus.

-How precise, I mean in terms of...

-You mean did a doctor do this?

The doctor smiled, remarking: -Possibly but the cuts are ragged, not surgical. Not skilled. Although I would be surprised if this was the first time they'd handled a knife, at least to cut flesh. The cuts aren't skilful but they are confident. They're targeted, not random.

-This might not be the first child that he's killed?

-I'd be surprised.

Leo touched his forehead and found that despite the cold he was sweating. How could the two deathsFyodor's little boy and this girlhave anything to do with each other?

-How large would her stomach have been?

Above the girl's torso Tyapkin indicated a rough outline of a stomach's shape with his pen tip. He asked: -Was it not found nearby?

-No.

It was either missed in the search which seemed unlikely or it had been taken away by the killer.

Leo remained silent for a moment then asked: -Was she raped?

Tyapkin examined the girl's v.a.g.i.n.a.

-She wasn't a virgin.

-But that doesn't mean she was raped.

-She'd had previous s.e.xual encounters?

-That's what I'm told.

-There's no trauma to her genitals. No bruising, no incisions. Also notice that the injuries weren't targeted at her s.e.xual organs. There are no cuts to the b.r.e.a.s.t.s or to her face. The man who did this was interested in a narrow band below her ribcage and above her v.a.g.i.n.a, her gutsher digestive organs. It looks savage but actually it's quite controlled.

Leo had rushed to the conclusion that this was a frenzied attack. The blood and mutilation represented chaos to his mind. But it was no such thing. It was ordered, precise, planned.

-Do you label the bodies when you bring them infor identification purposes?

-Not that I'm aware.

-What is that?

Around the girl's ankle was a loop of string. It had been tied in a tight noose and a small length drooped down off the gurney. It looked like a pauper's anklet. There were burn marks where the string had rubbed against the skin.

Tyapkin saw him first. General Nesterov was standing at the door. It was impossible to say how long he'd been there, watching them. Leo stepped away from the body.

-I came here to familiarize myself with procedure.

Nesterov addressed Tyapkin.

-Would you excuse us?

-Yes, of course.

Tyapkin glanced at Leo, as though wis.h.i.+ng him luck, before moving away. Nesterov approached. As a crude way of deflecting attention, Leo began summarizing the recent observations.

-The original report doesn't mention that her stomach has been removed. We have a specific question to put to Varlam: why did he cut out her stomach and what did he do with it afterwards?

-What are you doing in Voualsk?

Nesterov was now standing opposite Leo. The girl's body was in between them.

-I was transferred here.

-Why?

-I can't say.

-I think you're still MGB.

Leo remained silent. Nesterov continued.

-That doesn't explain why you'd be so interested in this murder. We released Mikoyan without charge, as we were instructed to.

Leo had no idea who Mikoyan was.

-Yes, I know.

-He had nothing to do with this girl's murder.

Mikoyan must be the name of the Party official. He'd been protected. But was a man who beat a prost.i.tute the same man who murdered this young girl? Leo didn't think it likely. Nesterov continued.

-I haven't arrested Varlam because he said the wrong thing, or forgot to attend a march in Red Square. I arrested him because he killed that girl, because he's dangerous and because this town is safer with him in custody.

-He didn't do it.

Nesterov scratched the side of his face.

-Whatever it is that you've been sent here to do, remember that you're not in Moscow anymore. Here, we have an arrangement. My men are safe. None of them have ever or will ever be arrested. If you do anything to endanger my team, if you report anything which undermines my authority, if you disobey an order, if you derail a prosecution, if you portray my officers as incompetent, if you make any denouncements regarding my men: if you do any of these things, I'll kill you.

20 March Raisa touched the window frame. The nails that had been hammered in to keep the bedroom window shut had all been prised out. She turned around, moving to the door and opening it. In the hallway she could hear noise from the restaurant downstairs but there was no sign of Basarov. It was late in the evening, his busiest time. Shutting the door and locking it, Raisa returned to the window, opening it and glancing down. Directly below was a sloping roof, part of the kitchen. The snow had been disturbed where Leo had climbed down. She was furious. Having survived by the thinnest of margins, he was now gambling with both their lives.