Val looked around, straightened a wrinkle in the tablecloth, and repositioned the napkin on her lap. Twice. “I’d rather not say.”

“Dammit, Val.” Gavin shot back in his chair and shook his head. After a second or two he came forward again and curled his finger for Val to sit forward too, to come closer, to listen to what he had to say. “There’s a proper way to conduct an investigation. You work for the medical examiner’s office, not the damn Hardy Boys.”

He knew about Jack, that he was behind this. It was obvious. Val cringed, but came forward and met Gavin’s eyes. There was something she had to get out, put out in the open between them. “Mitch, you normally don’t have a problem when I investigate leads. What gives now?” She knew this was personal for Gavin. Would he admit to it?

Gavin took a breath. “What did you find? You must have found something otherwise we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”

Val also took a deep breath. “I found a key.”

Val mentioned nothing about keeping the key.

As far as Gavin was concerned, she left it in Gabrielle’s pocket. He did, however, confirm that no lock box was confiscated from Gabrielle’s house.

15

The first thing Val did the next day was leave voicemail messages for both Bethany Arias and Melinda Holbright asking them to meet with her as soon as possible.

Now, Val sat in her office, reviewing the police and autopsy reports from fifteen years ago, from the twins drowning. Gavin gave her a copy of both. If Dr. Maddox also saw the post-mortem results, he didn’t share his opinions with Val. There was good reason for it, because there really was nothing to be gained. What was done back then fit in line with the most rudimentary of autopsies she’d ever read about. Basically, this report said nothing beyond the obvious. The twins drowned. End of story. This autopsy was an orchestrated formality so that the ugly incident could be swept under the rug for the wealthy Morgan family, so that their daughter wouldn’t be dragged over hot coals. Gabrielle was supposed to be watching the twins and she screwed up.

The question now was just how much.

The timeframe in the police report was the big question. Gabrielle, or someone else, removed the children from the water about thirty minutes before the 911 call. There was no way they were still floating when Gabrielle made that call. Scared kid, not knowing what to do? Plausible, but the more Val read, the more she realized the entire call was nothing more than theatrics. Which was not innocent. Suggesting Gabrielle knew exactly what she was doing. Or what she thought she should do. She was only sixteen after all. But at the age of sixteen, Gabrielle attempted a cover-up.