I just wrote this. Quite depressing really. Death was never pretty, but the longer a body was left to decompose, the uglier it got. Nightingale knew that if he touched the flesh it would be soft. Bodies tended to go stiff about three hours after death – rigor mortis – but within a day they started to relax again. At the moment of death the body’s individual cells begin to die, broken down by scavenging bacteria. Neurones died within minutes, skin cells could survive for up to a week. Within minutes of the heart stopping pumping, the blood would begin to settle at the lowest points of the body, in this case the man’s legs, from his knees down to his bare feet. The bacteria in the gut would then multiply rapidly and start to break down the tissues around them. As the body decomposed, hydrogen sulphide and methane and half a dozen other foul-smelling gases were released, creating the distinctive odour produced by rotting flesh. The base of the wardrobe was coated in a thick, treacly green fluid, another by-product of putrefaction. Flies loved putrefied flesh and would smell it from half a mile away, finding any way into the flat to feed. Then they’d lay their eggs, up to three hundred at a time, close to the food supply, and in any skin openings they could find, the mouth, the eyes, the nose, and in any open wounds. Maggots would hatch within a day and immediately start to suck up the putrefied liquids. Then they would move up the body, burrowing into the flesh, little marvels of nature designed to be able to eat and breathe at the same time. Over the first three or four days the flesh would change into the consistency of cottage cheese, then after a week it would start to discolour, starting at the abdomen and moving outwards. The skin would blacken and the veins would become visible and the whole body would puff out, bloated by the gases inside. ‘How long do you think?’ asked Chalmers. ‘Two weeks,’ said Nightingale. ‘Maybe three. The abdomen is well bloated so the internal gas is pretty much at maximum pressure. Central heating’s off so it’s not been too warm. A couple of the fingernails have fallen off, that usually happens at three weeks or so, right?’
Posted on: Sat, 21 Sep 2013 12:34:24 +0000