She did know one thing, though. She needed another look in Samantha Ritcher’s apartment. Her death couldn’t have been an accident. And Val knew exactly what she needed to see.

26

Val waited outside Samantha’s residence. Samantha’s boyfriend, Eddie, looked at her skeptically. He sized her up and down, deciding whether to let her in or not. Val had no authorized documentation to gain entrance to this house. She’d only be let in by his invitation and her ability to convince him to extend this to her.

Jack and Thomas had told her that she needed to do this on her own. Since she was still working this case officially as a death investigator, she had a better chance of appearing legitimate if she didn’t have an entourage with her.

“We think she died of an allergic reaction and we just need to find out what that was. It would be a great help if I could take another look around to see what it could have been. That way we could prove it was an accident and not homicide,” Val lied, not letting on she already knew how Samantha died. Dr. Blythe still hadn’t signed her death certificate. There was no way Eddie could know this. He had been considered a suspect in Samantha’s death early on and he seemed to relax once Val mentioned “allergic reaction” and “accident.”

“I guess it’ll be okay. Will it take long? I have some work to do on my truck.” He motioned towards an old red pickup sitting in the driveway and then moved out of the doorway to let Val enter.

“Oh, I can go through her medications myself. You can take care of your truck and I’ll just call you if I need to,” she said, hoping to get him out of the house. She wanted a few minutes alone. It would be much easier to do what she came here to do if Eddie was outside, out of her way.

He shrugged his shoulders and seemed undecided on where he was going at this point. “Where were you thinking of starting?”

“The bathroom would be best, that’s probably where any pills would have been kept.”

He silently led Val to the bathroom. She stayed a couple of steps behind, trying not to get too close, but when they reached the entrance he turned, blocking the doorway.

“It’s not all that clean in there,” he warned.

“Don’t worry about it, you should see my place.” Before he had a chance to say anything more, Val boldly slid past him and walked inside. She immediately wondered if she’d done the right thing or not. She was confined now.

Eddie leaned against the door watching her every move. It was obvious he wasn’t going to leave and she needed to do something to get rid of him. Fast.