He watched her as she busied herself doing absolutely nothing at all. She had a partially written report in front of her and could see Jack trying to read what was on the paper. Val picked up a pen and added new findings to her report, but each time she wrote something, she quickly crossed it off. She let out a frustrated sigh and attempted to write something again. The pen stopped mid-sentence.

“So, what happened here?” Jack asked of the charred body.

“He was found in the trunk of a burning car.” Her words were clipped, hoping to not give him any latitude to venture into a discussion that would make it obvious that she had no idea what to do with burn victims. Her heart began to pound when Jack circled around the body, quietly examining what lay on the table.

“Why they use fire is beyond me,” he stated.

“Excuse me?” Val asked, struggling to keep her tone even and uninterested as she broke out in a nervous sweat.

“It’s just that it doesn’t work. Or I should say, rarely works. Some criminals do manage to be successful, but I think that’s more out of luck than skill. Don’t you feel the same way about this tactic?”

“Uh huh.” Val held her breath and purposely didn’t lift her head to look at him as she feigned focus in her report. She had no idea what to say and prayed Jack wouldn’t keep asking questions.

“If you wanted to hide something about your crime, wouldn’t you use something that did a better job?”

“Honestly, Mr. Styles, fire can work well if it burns up the evidence,” she said, her eyes still on the report, convinced that he was pressing her intentionally. Her nerves were already worn thin and she didn’t know how much more she could take if he kept tugging at them.

“Please, call me Jack,” he said and then pointed to the victim. “Did fire work well here?” The tone suggested that he already knew the answer to the question.

Perspiration rolled down Val’s neck, but she was determined to be unaffected by this attack. She put down the pen, looked up and locked eyes with him. “That depends. If the cause and manner of death are incorrectly determined then yes. But as you can see, I’m not finished with my examination. So, Jack, I don’t have any answers yet.”

He nodded in agreement. It was a fair answer and Val felt relieved. The relief lasted only a few minutes.