This programme contains strong language and scenes some viewers may find distressing
All right, Jackie?
Danny.
What are you doing here?
Kenny Glass asked me to drop by.
He's got a family emergency.
Tell me what you want.
You've got an unidentified female.
He's been asked to take a look into a missing persons case.
Saskia someone or other, uh, disappeared six months ago.
Brought her dental records.
No, I don't do teeth.
Leave it on the side.
I'm sure we can get someone to take a look.
Can't ID her by any other means.
Can you not give me something?
Uh...
It's not even nine. What's the rush?
You know how it works.
What, you want to see her? Is that it?
The headlines will do.
OK.
Uh, mid to late 20s,
5'3, 110 lbs,
soaking wet.
Just found hanging in her bedroom.
And evidence of foul play?
No. They'd have brought in the Home Office boys if there were.
Mm.
Suicide then.
Yeah. What else?
Sex game gone wrong.
Really?
She tried to sever her radial artery first.
What with? I don't know, something sharp.
It's all in the police report, Danny.
So she made a mess of it then.
Mm. Half a dozen hesitation wounds,
one single deep cut.
Blood alcohol?
No idea.
We won't see the tox report for a while.
Now, if you don't mind, I've got a lot of work to do
so bye, Danny.
What about these?
Found on her person, I think.
Any idea what they are?
Not my field.
Might she have taken some?
I've told you,
we won't know for some time.
Most likely weeks.
Hesitation, wouldn't you say?
They always hesitate.
She was afraid.
Maybe she was searching for a reason to stay alive.
Or a reason to die.
Take your pick.
I'll let you know.
If we find out it's your girl.
OK.
Thanks.
It's Christine.
My daughter.
Danny, you shouldn't be in here.
Get off me.
Chris...
Danny. Danny.
Richard wants to speak to you.
Danny.
Go and sit outside.
I'll be there shortly.
Danny.
Tell me what happened.
I already did.
Then tell me again.
Tell me why my Christina is lying there.
Danny. Oh, my God.
My heart goes out to you.
But this just isn't the right place or time for this conversation.
Come on. Let's just get out of here.
Danny, what are you doing?
What happened to her?
Tell me.
Tell me!
She killed herself.
I carried out a routine examination.
Nothing about this is routine.
I'm sorry, I wasn't to know. She had no idea on her.
Now, come on, Danny, give me the key.
Let's wait outside for Richard.
Take me through it, from the top.
Where was she found?
Uh, a flat, off Riverside.
What was she doing there?
I haven't a clue. Well, you've read the police report.
She was in the bedroom. There was blood on the rug,
mostly likely where the original attempt took place,
and by the door, where she was found.
There's more severe haemorrhaging than I'd expect
from a partial severance.
It's possible the tox report will reveal the presence of some kind of
anticoagulant agent.
She certainly didn't bleed to death,
but it was sufficient for it to drip
between the floorboards and through the ceiling below.
The woman who lives there called it in.
How long had she been there? Danny,
you know better than to ask me that.
Uh...
The neighbour told your colleagues that she heard someone
between 1 and 2am.
She thinks. She's a light sleeper, apparently.
Was there a note?
Not that I'm aware of.
And no evidence of a struggle.
Nothing at all to indicate that it wasn't suicide.
Yet she was found in a strange flat with no ID on her.
You don't think any of that sounds suspicious?
It's not my job, Danny.
Well, what happened to lateral thinking?
I'm a hospital pathologist, I'm not a police officer.
I report what's in front of me.
Was she fully dressed?
No scratch marks, no broken nails,
no sign that she resisted in any way.
But she might have been drugged.
And the volume of blood,
it was consistent with the veins
and her wrist being severed before she died?
I haven't been to the scene.
Is that it?
There's livor mortis in the lower part of the body
and petechiae in the eyes and gums, what you'd expect.
You get off on those, don't you?
What? Those fancy words.
They're technical terms.
My daughter is dead.
Is that technical enough for you?
I'm sorry, Danny, but it is my job.
Just call a spade a spade.
OK!
This ends now.
Open the door.
Danny!
Open the door!
Come on.
Open it.
Open the door.
Danny!
Christina didn't kill herself.
Give me that.
Would the angle be different if someone was trying to make it look
like she'd done it herself? Danny, stop.
You can't fake hesitation wounds.
You can fake anything.
She died of asphyxiation.
She was strangled, then.
Look at this.
The ligature marks are diagonal
and rising to the point of suspension just behind her ear.
They're consistent with her body weight being suspended.
There would almost certainly be lateral marks encircling her neck
if she'd been strangled
and there's no sign of any trauma to the back of the neck.
Do you know how much force it takes to throttle someone?
OK.
What about internally?
What do you mean? Well, I don't know, you're the expert.
Broken vertebrae, bleeding.
Isn't there some way to distinguish between suicide and homicide?
I'd expect multiple fractures of the laryngohyoid complex
in the case of strangulation
and localised contusion in the neck muscles as well.
So you checked for that, yes? I did a wide dissection, yes.
And? And it seemed undamaged. Intact.
Show me where it says that?
Are you calling me a liar?
Is this the one you use?
Petechiae in the sclera and the...
Find it.
The trachea, proximal bronchi...
No sign of any fractures in the hyoid bone and thyroid cartilage.
Satisfied?
What about the marks on her face?
They're old injuries, they're not related to her death.
But they could prove she's been the victim of violence.
You're clutching at straws.
An autopsy isn't based on supposition.
It's a scientific equation.
It's a process of elimination.
Show me.
It's not going to happen.
That thing in her neck -
you mention it in your report.
it's not conclusive on its own.
You need an X-ray or MRI to confirm it.
Open her up or I'll do it myself.
Stop.
Huh? All right!
I wouldn't have expected this of you, Danny.
You don't know anything about me.
But I do know about your daughter.
No signs of substance abuse.
Track marks.
Perforated septum.
You feel you let her down, is that it?
What?
You want the postmortem to say that it's not your fault.
Shut the fuck up!
Don't you speak to me like that.
I speak to everyone like that.
Well, I'm not everyone.
Please, Jackie.
Please.
Mm.
I need scissors.
Autopsy knife.
What are you doing?
I've had enough of this.
Danny!
Richard, he locked me in!
What? Give me the keys. Danny!
Come on, then. I dare you.
They are going to throw the fucking book at you for this.
Are you all right?
I'm fine.
Really, Richard, I'm fine.
The fuck you playing at?
He's lost his mind. Can you wait for me? Yeah.
Jackie doesn't know her arse from her elbow.
She's the best in her field.
I'm so sorry, Danny...
..that you had to find her like this.
Christina's been murdered.
There's... There's no evidence to support that.
You need to investigate this.
OK.
I'll ask Mike Pickersgill to take a look, make sure
it's all been handled by the book.
Has the scene been properly documented?
Of course. But Mike will double check everything
before we close the file.
Good.
You're in shock.
I'm here as a friend, Danny, and I'll do whatever I can
to support you but this isn't helping anyone.
You need to call Susannah, come on.
She was afraid.
I wasn't there for her.
It's not your fault.
Please, give me two minutes.
Two minutes with her to say goodbye.
I can't.
You can.
As a friend.
Please.
Two minutes.
I'll be right outside.
Where have you been this whole time, huh?
..been this whole time...
Just have to find another way.
..find another way...