Next, she picked up a large pair of long-handled garden loppers. God, it was six weeks ago when she saw Dr. Chen using the same instrument on a decedent’s ribs. She’d never have thought a pruning tool would have so many uses in a morgue, let alone be the instrument of choice for cutting the bones. Val placed the blade into the area just under the nose on the upper jaw, the maxilla.

Awkwardly, she stretched out her small arms as far as they would go, attempting to maneuver the large instrument. Gripping the handles and arms widely extended, she didn’t have enough strength to bring the ends of the loppers together. Jesus, Dr. Chen had made it look so easy with the ribs.

Sweat started to form on her brow from the exertion and her arms began to ache from the pulling. Val glanced at the book again to make sure that she had the technique right. She jumped when the doors opened and Gwen came in. She stopped and stared.

“You need to bring the handles closer together,” Gwen said. “Here, let me show you an easier way.”

“I’m doing just fine. I can manage.” Val gritted her teeth and pulled again, desperate to hear the bone snap, desperate to accomplish this in front of Gwen. She grunted and pulled on the ends as hard as she could. After trying several times, she finally let the loppers drop, mostly out of sheer exhaustion.

Gwen reached for the tool. She placed the long handles close together, only opening the blades wide enough to get them around the jaw. With a quick push, they snapped through the bone. “If the handles are too far apart, you won’t get any leverage.” She held the instrument in place and moved out of the way. “Here, give it try.”

Val did exactly as Gwen showed her and was amazed at how much easier it was. She quickly moved the instrument around the upper jaw and on the last snip, it detached from the man’s body.

“That’s a good trick. I never tried it that way before,” Val said, smiling to herself. This technically wasn’t a lie, since she’d really never tried it in any way before.

“If you can break away for a second, there’s an investigator here to see you. That’s what I came to tell you,” Gwen said.

“An investigator? Is it Detective Gavin?” Val’s interest perked up at the possibility.

“No, it’s someone else. He wanted to speak to Dr. Blythe, but Blythe’s unavailable. The man wants to know if he can talk to you in the meantime.”

“What does he want to see me for?” she said, disappointed it wasn’t Gavin.

“He’s here about Julia DeHaviland’s murder.”