Dr. Blythe looked up from his desk. A pile of paperwork sat in front of him. “I could use some good news.” His sunken eyes clearly showed the stress he was under.

“I’ve hired someone for the death investigator position.” Again, Julia was positive. Her plan was to get in and out as quickly as possible.

“We were down to the wire on that. I wasn’t sure how we were going to function with just Howie.”

“This new person is also a dentist, so she’ll be able to do dental identifications too. With how busy we’ve been, this should help.”

Blythe raised his eyebrows. “A dentist? Why does she want to work here?”

“She can’t practice anymore. She had an accident.” Julia kept her answers brief, hoping to leave Blythe’s office unscathed. Once this was out of his hands and into that of the administration, she would be free and clear.

“I don’t remember Oliver mentioning this about her.”

“Apparently, Oliver promised the job to two people. This isn’t the one you’re thinking of. Here’s her résumé. I’ll have Candace get going on the paperwork. Dr. Knight can start tomorrow.” Julia handed him the document, turned and walked away. She made it as far as the doorway.

“Julia!” he called out, résumé in hand. “This seems to be missing something.”

“What?” she asked innocently.

“Experience?” He shook his head in disbelief. “How could Oliver have recommended someone like this?”

“She’s trainable,” Julia said, trying to appear as if this was no big deal.

“Damn it, Julia! How could you have hired her? I am up to my eyeballs in crap here. Can’t you see that?” He pointed to the papers littering his desk. “In addition to all of this, I’m now hounded by the hour on the Coleman murder. Since the press announced that toothless skull was found, it’s been nonstop. They’re not going to ease up until I give a positive ID.”

“Aren’t you ready to make one?”

“I have no doubt the skull belongs to Jeanne Coleman. I’m just waiting for the DNA results, which have been difficult to get. There’s been a lot of issues with it.”

“Like what?”

“It’s far too degraded.”

“It can’t be. She’s only been dead for a couple of months.”