Val placed her keys in her jacket pocket and then tossed the jacket onto the back of her office chair. It barely caught the edge, holding on for a couple of seconds before falling to the floor. It was going to be one of those days. She picked it up, wiped off the dust, and set it on the counter this time. Then she quickly got situated. There was so much to do this morning and she really needed to get started.

Dr. Stedman was scheduled to perform the autopsy later today on the old man who died on the commode. Her report from the scene needed to be done before that. She opened the file from the case and sat down.

Val stared at the blank page, picked up a pen and began her documentation. After a few minutes she set the pen down, looked at the clock and then flipped through the remaining blank pages to see how many she needed to fill out. She let out a sigh and picked the pen back up, tapping it on the counter this time. It was no use. She couldn’t concentrate.

All she could think about were the remains at the landfill and that made it hard to focus on anything else. Last night she was in charge of the evidence in this high-profile case. The lead detective wanted her professional opinion. God that felt good, to be a respected professional again, even if was only for a few minutes. Val pictured the skull, trying to remember the unusual breaks, then wondered what Jeanne Coleman’s skull looked like. Did her teeth come out the same way?

Though Detective Gavin gave her his business card last night, she wasn’t sure if she should call him. She wanted to tell him her thoughts, what she’d noticed. She just didn’t know how important it was and didn’t want to look foolish if it turned out to be nothing.

If only she could get another look at the skull she would be more certain. Inspecting it again would be impossible. Dr. Blythe would never allow it: everything she’d experienced so far told her that. He was excluding her. His entire demeanor towards her suggested he knew that she had lied to get this job.

But if that’s the case, why not fire me right away? she wondered.

Julia. Julia was the only answer. Julia must be protecting her somehow. But what power did she have even over her own boss? Val was deep in thought when a knock on the door made her look up.

Howie poked his nose in. “Are you almost finished with the report from yesterday’s case?”

Val glanced down at the three lines she had written. “Not quite.”

“When you’re done, two bodies just came in. They need dental IDs.”

“Okay. This won’t take long.” She crinkled her nose and asked of the bodies, “How bad are they?”