“Since we have no written documentation of them, it would not be in the best interest of this office for me to discuss anything considered exploratory.”

“If I’ve done things wrong, I have the right to know what they are.” Val knew there were no such errors.

Candace gave a sympathetic look. “Yes, of course you do. That’s why we’re starting here. Everything else is just water under the bridge.” She pushed the paperwork across the desk towards Val. A pen lay on top and she pointed to a blank line at the bottom of the page. “I need your signature here to document that I’ve given you this written warning.”

Val picked up the pen and signed her name in large letters. “Is there anything else?” she asked as she got up from the desk.

“I just would be more careful if I were you. And, I do mean that in a constructive way,” Candace warned.

Val exited the office and walked down the corridor, not completely sure where she was going. Her mind couldn’t grasp a single thought. At first she was seething, she wanted to scream, “Screw it all!” and walk out. They were going to eventually fire her, she was sure of it. The next time she did anything even slightly wrong, she was going to be let go. The broken teeth were beyond her control. If they were going to fault her for that, then they were looking with a searchlight for any reason to get rid of her.

She knew that this wasn’t because of her involvement with Thomas and Jack. It couldn’t have been. She would have been terminated immediately for that. Dr. Blythe wouldn’t need to be going through this in such a roundabout way.

Without even realizing it, Val had circled around the building and was now standing in front of the door leading to the loading bay, where the dead were dropped off and picked up. Several hearses were parked and undertakers were busy wheeling bodies into the back of them. Suddenly her anger was replaced with a worse emotion, dread, and the reality of the situation hit hard. She was going to be unemployed again. No job. No money. No life.

No life. The thought caught her as she watched one mortician slam the back door of the hearse. She was so busy being mad that she hadn’t even thought about this additional problem. If Blythe was involved with the murders, if he found out what she was up to, that she was trying to prove he was guilty, he wouldn’t want to just fire her, he’d want to do much worse.