“He’s a real prince, isn’t he?” Molly said sarcastically. “Anyway, the bloody water was running all over the place. I made sure plenty got on him. Later that night I washed his clothes with the bloody sheet I kept from Francine’s apartment. Now, Francine’s DNA is on him too. Oh, after I killed Francine, I threw a chewing gum wrapper with Colin’s DNA under her bed. It all worked like a charm.”

Val’s arms felt lighter and she thought if she tried, she could move her hands. Molly’s voice was to the left of her. Now was her chance. She quickly tried to wiggle the fingers on her right hand. They moved.

“I kept Francine’s skull and arm, stripping the skin on the skull but baking the arm. I thought hell, why not. Honestly it was just meant to be a red herring. I actually got the idea from Phillip Blythe. He thought the first skull found, the one he claimed belonged to Jeanne Coleman, was baked because the post-mortem interval was too long. The post-mortem interval was too long!” Molly walked closer to Val and stopped talking for a second. Val wondered if Molly was assessing her for any movement and she remained as still as she could.

“I held my breath during the analysis. It could have killed my entire plan. And when he explained it away for this cause, I nearly peed my pants. What an idiot. This skull belonged to the real Julia DeHaviland and she was dead way before I placed it in Chestnut Ridge Park. I had no choice but to use Julia’s. I had no idea what Francine did with Jeanne’s actual skull. Well, not until after it was found in Devil’s Hole Park. For the DNA comparison, I substituted a piece of the bone surrounding one of Jeanne Coleman’s teeth. They were all in autopsy room one.”

Suddenly Val felt her entire body tingling, feeling like it was becoming her own again but she continued to be as still as she could.