“I won’t keep you.” He patted his pocket, the rectangular outline of a cigarette pack obvious. “I have to go too.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow then,” Val said as she entered the bathroom. She waited a few seconds and then slowly looked back out. Howie was gone and she ran to the drop-off bay to grab Jack. The two slipped back into the main morgue area and made it to autopsy room one undetected.

“Hurry, let’s get inside,” Val said. She picked up her ID card with shaky fingers and quickly ran it through the swipe pad. The red light on the pad refused to turn green. It was still locked. She repeated the motion a second and then a third time. She could barely say the words. “It’s not working. Gwen should already be inside. If she made it in, why isn’t she opening the door?”

“Try it slower,” Jack said.

Val ran the card again, slowly. This time the red light turned to green. She pushed on the handle, and as she did so, the door opened. Gwen was on the other side.

“Thank God,” Gwen said. “I thought that was you, but I wasn’t sure, otherwise I would have opened the door. What took so long?”

“Howie. But don’t worry. I think he believed the excuse I gave him.”

As soon as they were inside, Val turned on the lights. It was safe to do so. The door was sealed to keep any odors from escaping. It would also keep any light from shining round the perimeter. Unless someone walked in, no one would know they were in here. Her jaw dropped when she noticed what was sitting just a few feet in front of her.

Three skulls were on a small table. One was labeled Francine Donohue, the other Jeanne Coleman, and the third was marked as undetermined. Several containers, each holding human teeth, also sat on the table. Val couldn’t believe what she was looking at. She had wanted to inspect the evidence with this case since her second day on the job and here it was. All of it within grabbing distance.

“Why are these still here?” Gwen asked, pointing to the ones belonging to Francine and Jeanne. “Shouldn’t these have been released for burial?”

“Good question,” Jack said.

All three of them put on a set of latex gloves. Gwen picked up the unknown skull found in Devil’s Hole. “What do you think, Val? Were these teeth taken out or was this caused by the head being smashed on the rocks?”