Gwen listened carefully as Val continued to explain. “The person, who’s claiming to be Molly Dolan had the same infection. She has antibodies to it, antibodies to the same rare strain of Vibrio. Her saliva sample proved it. There’s a special type of oral fluid that flows out of the gum tissue around the teeth. It’s called crevicular fluid. It’s clear, and looks just like saliva, but it’s similar in content to blood since it’s derived from blood plasma. Antibody concentrations are high in this fluid and can be used to detect diseases that an individual has been exposed to.”

Gwen looked shocked as she started to see the significance of what Val was telling her.

“Lauren hasn’t been outside of Buffalo in over two years, Colin even longer than this. Only one person could have given Lauren this type of infection. Only the person who removed Lauren’s mole could have done it. Julia must have had the infection herself first, then took care of it right away with the correct antibiotic,” Val said. “Oh, by the way, they use doxycycline to fight it.”

Val took a sip of her wine. “And if you need more to convince you Julia and Molly are one and the same, let me try this. There was only one person again who could have infected Lauren and also have known about my Florida license. There is also only one person who could have done all of this and incriminated Colin by washing his clothes. What are the chances now this is someone other than Julia?”

“Julia passed the DNA test. How did she do that?”

“I think it all has to do with the blood and teeth found in Julia’s house. They did match each other, as well as the bloody fingerprint that Colin left, but that crime scene was staged. Thomas and Jack knew it was. If this is true, it’s pretty clever because it throws all suspicion away from her. In fact, for all practical purposes, it proves that Molly Dolan and Julia DeHaviland can’t be one and the same because the evidence left in that house doesn’t match Molly.”

Gwen’s eyes opened wide. “The teeth and blood belong to someone else.”

“They have to. Gavin only had the crime lab compare the DNA of the blood and the teeth to other personal items in the house to confirm the identity of Julia. That’s pretty standard.” Val shook her head. “Even if they were to look for Molly’s DNA there, Molly was Julia’s friend. And if Molly’s DNA is found in the house, so what, she visited her friend. She’s covered her ass any way you look at it.”

“Jesus Christ, Val, this woman is dangerous.”