A knock on the door caused both Val and Gwen to jump. “Come in,” Val tried to say nonchalantly. It still sounded guilty.

“I hope I’m not disturbing anything,” Howie said.

“Just girl talk,” Gwen said. “What’s up?”

“I’ve been asked to find Val.”

“I’m all yours,” Val said, trying to sound cheery. She really wanted to continue her discussion with Gwen and the last thing she wanted right now was to be pulled away. She rose from her chair and smiled, hoping this wouldn’t take long.

“Candace is looking for you,” Howie warned. “She asked if I could find you and send you to her.”

The smile immediately fell from her face and she stared at Howie, trying to read from his expression what this could possibly be about. “Why?” she asked cautiously.

“I’m sorry but she didn’t tell me what she wanted you for. She just asked me to get you.”

“Was she in a good mood?” Val tried to joke, knowing Candace was only in a good mood when she was screwing with people.

“She looked cranky, so I think you’re safe.” Howie was upbeat, trying to make her laugh. It didn’t work.

Did Gavin tell Blythe about her involvement at Francine’s apartment? Was she fired? Val headed towards Candace’s office. Her heart was in her throat as she knocked on the open door. Candace motioned for her to come in and sit down. She had a piece of paper on her desk and flipped it around so that Val could read what it said.

“Consider this your first written warning. After one more, you will be terminated,” Candace said bluntly. Val wondered why Dr. Blythe didn’t reprimand her himself. He was clearly behind this attack. Candace was merely carrying out his orders. But Val had to admit that she was somewhat relieved. Candace didn’t mention anything about her escapade yesterday. That’s not what this was about.

“I wrote in my report that the teeth were damaged and extremely fragile due to the fire. It would have been impossible to do my job without breaking them,” Val said, surprised at the accusation as Candace questioned her competence with the fire victim. “Dr. Blythe even complimented me on how well I wrote the report.”

“Yes. It is a well-written report. However, that doesn’t excuse the fact that you did break the teeth. We’ve overlooked some of your other errors and frankly, Dr. Blythe can’t do it anymore.”

Val looked into her eyes and saw Candace was enjoying every minute of this. Candace couldn’t have cared less why the teeth broke. What Val had feared for some time was becoming painfully obvious. Her days at the medical examiner’s office were numbered. It was only a matter of time before they fired her. Candace was now simply building the ammunition needed for a proper termination.

“What other errors?” Val asked.